The Southern Pride is on the move. In the menacing darkness, a dozen hungry lions circle a large herd of impala.
Chaos erupts in the bush as the big cats launch their attack, taking down a huge ram only a few metres from our Land Cruiser.
Moving in on the action, we position ourselves close enough to capture the ensuing feeding frenzy without disturbing the diners. It’s every cat for itself as the pride piles onto the fresh kill like a crazed rugby scrum, snarling, snapping and fighting to devour still beating organs and rip bloody chunks of flesh from bone.
Tonight, I’m an eyewitness to an awesome display of primal brutality. And confident that I’ll have the stunning pictures to prove it because I’m engaging the services of a professional safari photographer to assist me with every step.
Capturing such visceral wildlife encounters on camera has always been an integral part of the safari experience. Now, private game reserves such as Sabi Sabi, adjacent to South Africa’s Kruger National Park, offer their guests the unique opportunity to have an expert guide them through the intricacies of taking that perfect, once-in-a-lifetime coffee table book cover shot.
“Professional photographic safaris offer an incredible opportunity to take much better pictures, improving and enhancing your total safari experience,� says Zulch Conradie, manager of Sabi Sabi’s Earth Lodge.
“It’s almost like you’re opening the curtains on a whole new subject.�
The professional photo safari I recently took in Sabi Sabi is tailored to travellers who can afford more expensive pro and “prosumer� SLR cameras but don’t know how to most effectively use them in a challenging environment like the African bush.
It’s also a great option if you’d rather hire the services and gear of a pro for a day or two on safari than haul around expensive, hefty cameras and telephoto lenses with enough zoom to capture that perfect, once-in-a-lifetime, wildlife picture.
Either way, booking the services of a pro safari photo guide like Sabi Sabi’s Andrew Schoeman is a great idea if you want National Geographic-calibre memories.
For a few hundred dollars, this former safari guide turned photographer will accompany lodge guests on game drives, providing expert, hands-on guidance on subjects such as proper framing of your subject, what angles to use and how to use the available light in multiple situations. Then he’ll walk you through a streamlined post-production process using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom to help make them look their best.
“Most of our guests arrive with basic camera knowledge and are looking for the simple explanations that can sometimes lead to that Eureka moment,� says Schoeman one afternoon as we roam the dense terrain of the Sabi Sabi reserve in a land cruiser, searching for prime lion, leopard and elephant photo ops.
“You can read about all of the camera functions in a manual,� he adds. “But it’s not getting processed. There’s nothing like having someone there alongside you explaining that if you push this button or turn that dial you get completely different results.�
Click here to Book Accommodation in Cradock, Graaf Reinett, Hofmeyer or surrounds.
Article source: http://www.theprovince.com/travel/Shutterbug+safari+finds+focus/8616312/story.html