At Tom Bol Photo Workshops, we celebrate great images created on our workshops by selecting a Photo of the Month. For November we chose an image from our Botswana and Zimbabwe Photo Workshop created by Alex Sneiders. Alex has photographed wildlife in Africa several times and was happy to finally see a Serval Cat on this trip. We hope you enjoy Alex’s images as much as we do!
Congratulations to November 2022 ‘s featured photographer – Alex Sneiders
The Story…
I was enjoying the scene. I was fascinated by the vultures waiting in the wings on the tree. I visualized the clouds as they were coming in and the impending rain. I tried to capture all of that in the photo.
The dead elephant had a whole pride of lions enthralled with eating. They totally ignored us.
I was captivated by the elephant being in one corner of the frame and the vultures in another corner.
I shot in Infrared with the intent of shooting a couple of unique images. This was my favorite so far.
I converted the camera with Lifepixel. It is much easier to shoot IR with a mirrorless camera. The focus is automatic with mirrorless but not with a SLR or DSLR.
I was trying to do a color conversion at first. I found that with the color conversion, there was too great of a departure from what it actually looked like. I find that the black and white versions frequently come out elegantly.
EXIF Data:
Nikon Z7 with IR Conversion, Nikon 24-70mm 2.8 lens shot at 51 mm
ISO 800 1/2500 sec f4
Aperture Priority Mode
About Photographing in Botswana and Zimbabwe
The difference between these countries and my previous safaris was mainly the Chobe River in Botswana. There were lower views of the wildlife and faster action.
There was a different variety of animals, particularly in the bird life. That was the highlight of the trip for me.
When using the pre-release feature while photographing Malachite Kingfishers, I learned that the jpeg images are quite good. You have to be patient and keep your finger on the shutter button.
When using Pre-release, you have to cull through all of your images to find a few pieces of gold.
Alex’s Tips for Photographing on Safari:
Tip 1: Bring lots of cards. I took 45 thousand photos on this trip. That is a record for me. Using Pre-release with the Nikon Z9 added a ton of jpegs
Tip 2: Be patient
Tip 3: Practice focusing. Play around with different focus patterns modes like 3D, wide area large and single point. Practice switching between them as well.
On Alex’s Horizon:
Antarctica
Greenland
Namibia
Mongolia
Indonesia
Faroe Islands
Pantanal
Svalbard
Galapagos
Workshop News
Just Added: Masking Made Easy: Online Editing Class. Join us in mid January to brush up on your editing skills and learn how to use all the new masking features in either PhotoShop or Lightroom. Click here to learn more.
Space is still available on our Old Car City Workshop from March 30-April 2, 2023. Photograph classic cars in the Georgia hardwoods. Learn about speed lights for creative effect. Click here to read more.
Where are Tom and Cree?
We are traveling in Argentina and Chile right now with our Patagonia Workshop. Look for updates on social media.
Enjoy the holidays. Thanks for reading our posts!
Tom and Cree