WOW! Eye Opening Numbers For Wildlife Photography!

Good Morning Everybody,

Last evening we had a fun Zoom meeting with our first Safari group.  Don Dickson, who runs the "Internationally" famous Texas School [link] put the whole thing together for us.  It was a "hoot" reminiscing about the great times we all had on that trip.

Yep, we do get kind of close to the animals, lion included.  That's probably the biggest surprise for first-time safari adventurers. Thanks to Kevin Dooley of Idube Photo Safaris [link] for sending this photo over to me this morning. That's me next to the driver with LaDawn behind him. We are really only a few feet away from the lions - safaris are definitely an adventure!

We joined the Dicksons on their Safari and then were to follow up with two more of our own when the bottom dropped out of our travels. No problem though, we already have them rescheduled for about the same time next year.  I put the links at the end of this post.

Anyway, I hope you all got a chance to view the YouTube video I put up just a few days ago.  It really shows what an exciting trip it was. If you missed it, here is the [link] to the video one more time - Enjoy!  Now on with the show....
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WOW!  Eye Opening Numbers For Wildlife Photography!

Last Thursday I did a post entitled "Camera Settings for Wildlife Photography - Mostly Manual Mode and Why" [link] which really got down to the "nitty-gritty" of my wildlife shooting strategy.  Today I want to ramp up that post with some surprising statistics about the Shutter Speeds, Apertures, and ISOs I used most often.  These numbers are based on the EXIF data of 20,179 wildlife images I made two years ago during our safaris back then.

Shutter Speed

Take a look at the table to the right.  I think you will be surprised by the numbers here. As you can see, my exposures ranged from 1/50 second and lower up to 1/8000 second.  OK, how did I come up with this data?  It was easy once I really got the "hang" of some of Lightroom's EXIF data reporting features. I asked Lightroom to just report all exposure data from my Canon 5D Mk3 and my Canon 7D Mk2 and presto, the Shutter Speed info appeared!

OK, back to the numbers. Take a closer look at the chart to the right. Notice that 67% - that's 67% - of my shutter speeds were 1/1600, 1/2000, or 1/2500 second! A quick point of clarification... NOT all those exposures were made on Manual mode. A large number of them were made on Shutter Priority mode as well.  I'll cover that shooting strategy in an upcoming post next week. Needless to say, two-thirds of my photos were made at very high speeds for all the reasons stated in my post referenced above.

Keep in mind that safari shooting conditions vary widely.  Birds are flying, animals are moving, and the safari vehicle is bouncing, sometimes like crazy.  All these factors require faster shutter speeds to freeze the action.

Aperture

Now let's move on to Apertures. I used the same Lightroom reporting technique to determine my most used range of shooting apertures. Once again, check the table to the right.

In most cases, I was shooting wide open with my telephoto lenses. When shooting the Canon 5D Mk3 I mounted my Sigma 150-600mm lens with its maximum aperture of F6.3.

When shooting my Canon 7D Mk2 fitted with its 100-400mm lens (my all-time favorite wildlife shooting combo), again maximum aperture F6.3. You can see from the data that nearly 1/2 of all my exposers were at the maximum apertures of both the lenses.

If the light was bright, like at mid-day, I would stop down 1/2 to one full stop just to pick up a little more depth of field.  I found that mostly helped with my bird photography.

Still, you may be questioning my use of both lenses maximum apertures for so many of my photos.  The answer is quite simple - both of these lenses are super sharp lenses.  I never felt I was compromising the image in any way when shooting wide open.

ISO

Now on to ISOs ...  As I mentioned in my early post (referenced above), I do like to "float the ISO in these kinds of shooting conditions. I don't want the ISO to go to high, but I do want it fast enough to allow me to use the necessary shutter speeds I need for my wildlife photography. Now take a look at the ISO chart to the right. OK, OK, I did let the ISO float a little on some occasions - I'll get to that in a minute. But DO notice that 56% on my images were in the ISO 1600 - 6400 range.

The reason for the higher ISOs is accounted for by our early morning and our late afternoon/early evening shooting.  But, let's re-analyze the data differently. If you total the ISOs from ISO 400 to ISO 2000, the total number of exposures accounts for over 44% of my images.  That means that most of my images were made at very manageable ISOs.

With the use of software like Lightroom, I can easily manage the slightly higher ISOs.  Heck, back in my "wedding days"  I would routinely shoot all my reception images at ISO 3200.

Still, I think the analysis of this data is really fascinating to see.  It really shows what the Apertures, ISOs, and Shutter Speeds need to be to get the optimum photograph with the gear I was using. Had I been using a 300mm/F2.8 lens, my data would have been different, obviously.  But I was using gear that worked great for these wildlife shooting situations.  The gear is reasonably priced and gave me a great result for our Safari experiences.

Take a look at the photo having "lunch" to the right. Notice the camera specs: Canon 7D Mk2 fitted with 100-400mm Sigma lens: 1/2000 second @ F5.6 zoomed to 123mm at ISO 2500. Anything less than the higher shutter speed and high ISO and I would have missed the photo.

I hope everyone enjoyed the discussion today and I certainly hope it will at least give you some starting points in any upcoming African adventures you may have in your future.

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Hey Gang,

That's it for me today.  I can't believe it's Friday already. Have a great weekend and I'll hope to see you next week for a few more ideas and discussions.

Cheers for now, David


Oh, BTW, Here are the links to our rescheduled Safaris for next year.

South Africa at Thakadu: March 30 - April 9, 2021 [link]

Botswana, Africa at Mashatu: April 9 - 19, 2021 [link]

We are sorry we couldn't continue on Safari this year but both LaDawn and I are really looking forward to next year - hope to see you there!  David and LaDawn

Quick Hit Monday: iPad Card Readers; HDR Coolness; Zone System Wonderfulness; & A Little Inspiration

Good Morning Everybody,

When I signed off Friday, I mentioned that I would be hailing to you today from Phoenix.  Well, not quite, today I’m coming to you from beautiful downtown Palm Springs, California.  We left the Napa/Sonoma area about 9:30 a.m. yesterday and made it as far as Palm Springs, CA. about 7 hours later. Here is the view from our hotel room – pretty nice. 

We checked in, grabbed an adult beverage, ordered room service, watched the football game (sorry Dallas), and hit the sack. We are really living the high life aren't we;~)

Today we head out to Phoenix, about a 4 hour drive though the desert, and should land by early afternoon.  We got a little business to take care of but the trip also includes a few days off in Sedona, AZ.

Steve Jobs Bio – Very Interesting

I have to tell you, the highlight of our travels from Northern California has been listening to Steve Jobs biography which I downloaded from Audible.com.   So far, it has been a fascinating listen.  What is coming across so far is that he could be a real jerk, but he was one of the top visionaries of our time as well. The book is more than an biography of Mr. Jobs, but coincidentally a biography of Apple too which is also quite interesting.  Anyway, we'll get to listen to 4 more hours today as we travel to Phoenix.

Hey gang, I thought for today's post I'd get back to our regular Quick Hit Monday series. I've got a few tidbits for you so let's get right to it. 

New Card Readers for iPad

That's right.  I just caught this over at Photojojo.com  Ever since Apple neutered the power to the  USB adapter, it's been a bit trickier to get your images conveniently onto the iPad, particularly for us wedding photographers.  I've blogged about a few solutions over the last few months. 

I think these two adapters from Photojojo.com look very promising. Here is the link right here.  The price is right too.  These may be the ones I'm picking up for my iPad.  Hey, while you're over there shopping, check out the other very interesting items they have in their store too [link]. Many cool, geeky camera items that look kind of fun.

HDR - Multiple White Balances

A few weeks ago, I stumbled on this very interesting article by John Neel at Pixiq.com describing a HDR technique using multiple white balances.  The results looked very cool.  I've only considered doing HDR the old fashioned way but never considered HRD with different color balances.  Check it out right here.

Why You NEED the Zone System for Digital Photography

In my Captured By The Light tour which we  wrapped last week, I discuss in depth how I establish the correct exposure.  Part of that discussion includes how I relate my correct exposure to Ansel Adam's Zone System.  By the way, if you missed my Captured By The Light tour, you can pick up the entire LIVE recording right here.

Anyway, you've got to check out this post right here by blogging buddy and talented photographer, Gavin Seim, which goes into a quit a bit of detail about how the Zone System can be used in many aspects of our digital photography.  High 5's to Gavin and F164.com for a great post!

How About A Little Monday Morning Inspiration for You?

1. 20 Impressive Examples Of Panoramic Photography (far right):  Way cool panos that are just fun to look at and enjoy.  Here is the link right here.

2. Nighttime Locations Illuminated Through Light Painting on an Epic Scale (left): Epic scale may be an understatement - very cool images right here.

3. Digital Art by Nathalia Suellen (below):  I am constantly amazed by the work of digital artists and have previously posted links to many artist's work here at DPT.

You know, it's just a different way to look at the world and I love it.  Please check out the work of Nathalia Suellen right here.

Learn Digital In Delray

I'm doing this plug for my buddy Rick Sammon because I loved the images that went along with his announcement of his upcoming workshop series.  They were just so striking to me - the colors and composition really got my attention.  Rick has an entire series of workshops happening in 2012 and the price is right too - why not check them out right here.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today.  We are hitting the road shortly for Phoenix but before we head East, I'm trying to wrap tomorrow's Technique Tuesday post.  It's a bit more involved than I thought pulling all the images for the post.

I know I've got your curiosity up just a bit.  It's the post I wanted to do last week of cheating the sync.  It will be an in depth peek on how you can make that little bit of camera trickery really open up some cool ideas for your portrait photography.  Tune in on Tuesday and check it out.

See ya' tomorrow everybody,  David

Friday -

Good Morning Everybody,

What a nice dinner LaDawn and I had with Bert Monroy last night. We took him to the "world famous" Montgomery Inn at the Boathouse. If you ever hit Cincy - this place is the place to go for "finger lickin' good" ribs - they sell more ribs than any restaurant in the world. Bert told us about a new project he is starting that is going to take him two years! to complete - and the technology to complete the huge project is not quite in place - whew! I'll let him tell you the whole story when he visits a city near you on the Photoshop CS3 Creativity Tour. Nice visit last night.

Speaking of visitors, I asked Mary Mannix, our regional Canon rep, if I could borrow her Canon EOS 1D Mark III and the WFT-E2A Wireless File Transmitter for my Pre-Con shoot at Photoshop World next week. She graciously agreed and headed on over to get me up to speed on the wireless system. I have to say, this was really easy to set up and it worked flawlessly - and it is super small. I really loved the "Live View" mode too. This is going to be a great teaching tool for me. Can't wait to give it a try. And, look closely now, what's that in my hands - you are right - the brand new Canon 40D. Huge viewfinder, highlight Tone Priority, and a bunch more features - can't wait to get my hands on one - I hear they are shipping in the next few weeks. I'll keep you posted. Thanks to Mary for all the help and the Canon 40D preview.

Well, how about we get on with some news.

Canon Mark III Review:
Speaking of the Canon Mark III, I just found a brand new review over at Steve's Digicams. Click here for the link and review. This is a thorough review of the camera, so if you are thinking of making the jump, give it a read.

Podcast with Pete Turner:

Since I was a kid reading Popular Photography - I still read it by the way - I have always admired Pete Turner's work. He is the "Master of color photography." He talks about how he got started in photography and his early experiments with color. Along the way this legendary pioneer of color photography talks us through the creation of dozens of his “signature” photographs. Here is the podcast link. Enjoy.

Canon 580EX Replacement Foot with Sync Port:

I was checking on the comments posted to the Digital ProTalk blog and saw a note from Ryan Dlugosz. He is a freelance photographer and tech guru in Cincinnati, OH. Can you believe it right here in Cincy - we are almost neighbors. He has a great site, by the way - check it out here. Anyway, while reviewing his posts I saw this little piece of great news about the Canon 580Ex replacement foot. I've been been looking for something like this since I purchased my 580EX's. I always wanted to fire them remotely with my Quantum radio transmitters - finally a solution. If you are the least bit interested in this, check out - here is the info and link. Hey Ryan, thanks for the tip - great blog too.

Apple talking with Volkswagen over 'iCar':

I know what you are thinking - an iWhat? - yep, an iCar - a car with more Apple gadgets in it than any car in the world. Actually Bert mentioned this last night to me at dinner so I had to check it out when we got home. Click here for the link for the AppleInsider news story. What will they think of next?

Food for Thought:

MediaStorm has another great piece of photo-journalistic media that is worth a look - it's only about 10 minutes long. It's entitled "Two Years After Katrina - Finding a Way Home." The manner in which the images are combined the video and dialogue makes the a compelling documentary on a subject that has been to soon forgotten by many of us. The beautifully produced and thought provoking presentation can be found by clicking here.

Well, after my wedding shoot on Sunday (I'll post a few images next week), I packing my bags and heading to Photoshop World in Las Vegas. Hope to see you there. Have a wonderful labor-free Labor Day weekend everybody. --David