Almost everything that makes a wildlife photograph good is decided before you touch a setting: where the vehicle is parked, and how low you are.
Eye level is everything
A picture taken from a standing position in a roof hatch looks down at the animal. It is the angle every casual safari photograph is taken from, and it is why they all look the same.
Drop down and shoot through the window instead. Lower is better, the background separates, and the animal fills the frame with sky or grass behind it rather than dirt.
Stability
Tripods are useless in a vehicle. A bean bag over the window frame or the roof edge is what everybody serious uses — it damps vibration and lets you swing quickly. Bring one and fill it with rice or beans when you arrive.
And ask the driver to switch the engine off. A running diesel shakes the whole vehicle, and at 600mm you will see it.
Light
The first and last hour are the reason you get up at 5.30. Between ten and four the light is flat and harsh and the animals are asleep anyway. Use the middle of the day to back up cards and clean sensors.
Settings that survive contact with reality
- Shutter priority or manual with auto ISO — animals move without warning.
- 1/1000 or faster for anything running; 1/250 can work for a sleeping lion.
- Do not be afraid of high ISO. A sharp noisy frame beats a clean blurred one.
- Back-button focus, if your camera has it. It separates focusing from shooting and it matters when something suddenly runs.
- Shoot raw, and bring more cards than you think.
Dust
The real enemy. Change lenses as little as possible, and never with the vehicle moving. A dry bag or even a plastic bag over the body while driving saves a lot of cleaning later.
The thing worth more than any lens
A private vehicle, or a photographic one with three people instead of six. The ability to stay somewhere for another forty minutes because the light is about to be right is the entire difference between holiday snaps and photographs.
