The Botswana Grasslands and Okavango Delta
Nov 25, 2021 14:21:52 #
The grasslands and Okavango Delta area of Botswana has so many animals that makes it one of the better places for a photo safari. Our first stop for 6 days was Bushman Plains. The guide and spotter were superb. The Toyota Land Cruiser was an older model and had no place for a beanbag, so all the shots there were handheld. I used a rented D850 with a 500 5.6 PF lens and my D810 with a rented 70-200 that was the best model 70-200. I had carefully evaluated all the advise from fellow Hogs and left the default settings at f8, ISO 800 Aperture with group focusing and tracking.
It was my first efforts at wildlife photography and I made MANY mistakes. The worst was not setting the focus level so that I could switch from group focus to spot focus. I was afraid to mess with the settings for fear I could screw it up and we had no internet in case I needed some advice. The group focus often focused on the grass in front of the animals, leaving the animal soft focus. However, we were with another couple who used an excellent Lumix P&S that had me covered for the images I screwed up.
The only mishap I had was that when we were chasing a pack of wild dogs that had just killed a baby impala antelope the Land Cruiser hit a large bump which knocked out one of my lower incisors. We managed to find the dogs fairly quickly, but the impala was already devoured. I managed several good captures of the dogs fighting over the bones. However, my prospective dental bills will make our safari one of the most costly in history.
The elephants are terribly destructive and many, many trees have been killed. The remaining "skeletons" of the trees make for interesting shapes and excellent perches for the many species of beautiful birds. Here's one of the trees:
It was my first efforts at wildlife photography and I made MANY mistakes. The worst was not setting the focus level so that I could switch from group focus to spot focus. I was afraid to mess with the settings for fear I could screw it up and we had no internet in case I needed some advice. The group focus often focused on the grass in front of the animals, leaving the animal soft focus. However, we were with another couple who used an excellent Lumix P&S that had me covered for the images I screwed up.
The only mishap I had was that when we were chasing a pack of wild dogs that had just killed a baby impala antelope the Land Cruiser hit a large bump which knocked out one of my lower incisors. We managed to find the dogs fairly quickly, but the impala was already devoured. I managed several good captures of the dogs fighting over the bones. However, my prospective dental bills will make our safari one of the most costly in history.
The elephants are terribly destructive and many, many trees have been killed. The remaining "skeletons" of the trees make for interesting shapes and excellent perches for the many species of beautiful birds. Here's one of the trees:
Nov 25, 2021 14:30:48 #
Beautiful shot, Rick! I hope you will post more soon. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.
Nov 25, 2021 14:33:35 #
UTMike wrote:
Beautiful shot, Rick! I hope you will post more soon. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.
Thanks and Happy T-giving to you and yours, Mike.
Nov 25, 2021 14:35:06 #
Nov 25, 2021 14:40:22 #
Nov 26, 2021 07:12:43 #
Nov 26, 2021 08:09:03 #
yssirk123 wrote:
Beautiful image!
Thanks ys. Couldn't pass up the perfect composition in nature
Nov 26, 2021 20:03:31 #
Nov 27, 2021 07:38:00 #
GreyOwl40 wrote:
Great shot, greymule! Sorry to hear about your misfortune.
Thanks much G-O
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.