Safari Photography 101: Wildlife Photography Cheat Sheet
When you are planning to go on safari, you will most likely want to capture your experiences. Your photos and videos will bring back memories of your safari and allow you to take a little piece of Africa home with you. This blog will give you a general idea of the basic photography gear and knowledge you will need to snap some epic shots on your next safari. For more detailed information about specific lens sizes, camera brands, type of DSLR or mirrorless cameras, have a look at these resources:
By Thom Photographic Travel blog
10+ years of experience photographing African wildlife
Africa is a diverse continent, with many different destinations and activities that may require different gear. If you are looking for a quick wildlife photography cheat sheet, this guide will give you a general idea of the gear you may need for a classic African photographic safari, the main settings you need to know and our favourite post-production and editing software, tips & tricks.
1. Before you leave on safari: get your gear ready
Gear checklist
- Camera: DSLR or mirrorless body with a high-resolution sensor, high FPS (12+) and continuous autofocus (with animal eye detection. If you have it, consider bringing a second body to avoid changing lenses in the dust!
- Lenses: wide-angle lens (24-100mm) and telephoto lens (200-400mm) are good options. A super-telephoto lens (400mm or more) for Great Migration or birding safaris. A 70-200mm f/2.8 is a good compromise for a private luxury safari, as you’ll be able to get close enough to the wildlife. You can also consider a 1.4x or 2x teleconverter.
- Phone: don’t underestimate the power of today’s smartphone cameras! A smartphone is wonderful for landscapes, portraits, and making videos for candid captures.
- Go Pro: fun for time lapses and capturing wide angle shots + sturdy enough to use on-the-go
- Tech: plenty of batteries (2 extra minimum), battery charger, spare memory cards (128GB, the faster the better), a laptop, card reader, external HD to transfer/edit photos.
- Cleaning equipment: Africa gets dusty! Bring cleaning cloths and a blower brush to keep your camera clean, and zip lock bags to keep your smaller accessories protected.
- Bean bag: a bean bag is useful for resting your camera on the vehicle's cross bars or window edge. Enquire with your lodge, as they often provide this on location.
- Tri- or monopod: useful for star- and night photography to help stabilize your camera.
- Waistcoat or gilet: a waistcoat or gilet with pockets can help you easily access spare accessories
- Waterproof camera backpack or hard case: roads in Africa are bumpy & weather can switch in an instant!
Insider tips:
Drones: most game reserves do not allow flying of drones for security reasons and drone pilot rules are very strict in most African countries. We don’t recommend bringing a drone!
Photographic Guides: Wild Wonderful World has photographic guides available who will travel with you to optimise your experience and even help edit your photos and document your trip and fellow travellers on safari! Enquire about their availability before your trip.
Rentals: Many luxury lodges offer high-end photographic equipment for rent (or complementary included in your package). This can save yourself a lot of hassle and carting around heavy & expensive equipment!
Before You Leave: Download the Cheat Sheet here!
2: Photographing wildlife on safari: get your settings right
Composition
Composition guides the viewer’s eye towards the most important elements of your photo.
Rule of Thirds
Divide your viewfinder into 9 rectangles, and place the subject in the middle of them or on the intersections of the dividing lines. As you can see in the below photos, the subject of the photos is placed perfectly based on the rule of thirds. Use the rule of thirds to place your subject off-centre to create a more interesting photo, or in the centre to create symmetry.
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The Golden Spiral
Based on the Fibonacci Spiral, it uses the golden ratio to mathematically show where the main focus of a photo should be.
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Leading lines
Use straight lines in the landscape or surrounds as a guide towards the subject. This helps guide the eye and makes your subject pop even more.
Other composition tips:
- Depth of field: decrease your distance to the subject but increase the distance with the background to increase your depth of field without changing lenses or increasing aperture. Very useful in bright conditions!
- Framing: use objects, or branches in front of your subject, to frame and create a feeling of immersion
- Viewpoint: think about where you are in relation to the subject (higher, lower, close, far) and adjust your framing and balance accordingly. This is where requesting or travelling with a photographic guide is extremely useful, as they are experienced in predicting animal behaviour and can position the vehicle at the optimal angles for the photo you are trying to achieve!
Settings
Shooting mode
Get to know your shooting modes before your trip, and select the right one for you.
ISO
International Standards Organization measures the sensitivity of the image sensor, brightening or darkening your photo. However the higher the ISO, the more grainy the photo will be.
Aperture or F-stop
The hole within the lens that allows light to travel through to the camera body’s internal sensor. Controls light and depth of field. F-stops are numbers indicating how open or closed the aperture itself is. The smaller an f-stop, the wider its corresponding aperture will be and the more depth of field you have.
Shutter speed
The length of time a camera shutter is open, exposing light onto the sensor. Shutter speed should match the speed of what you are shooting: something moving quickly needs a faster shutter speed.
White Balance
Changes the colour balance to warmer or cooler depending on the light conditions.
Exposure
All of the above work together! When shooting with low levels of light, lenses with larger apertures, such as f/2.8, allow light into the camera, so you’ll be able to use a faster shutter speed at the same ISO.
Insider tips
Travel with a photographic guide: Wild Wonderful World has several private guides who specialise in photography, with extensive expertise in animal behaviour predictions. They will advise on the best times to head out, the best vehicle positioning, adjusting camera settings to fast-changing conditions, approaching animals on foot for unique angles, assist with post-production editing, and documenting travellers on their safari.
Choose your lodges carefully: Some lodges have dedicated editing and photo printing facilities, as well as high-end camera rental options. Be sure to enquire about these options with your travel agent.
Photography on Safari: Download the Cheat Sheet here!
3. Bring out the best: post-production & editing
Editing software for wildlife photography
Some of our favourite editing tools are:
- Adobe Lightroom: both on phone and laptop, Lightroom is our favourite editing tool for photos. The AI features are very user-friendly, and you can even buy presets to help you colour-grade your photos. It also offers composition overlays like a rule-of-thirds or golden spiral grid, to help you with cropping and resizing your photos.
- Premiere Pro: for easy and intuitive video editing. Lighter options are Apple iMovie or Adobe Premiere Rush, which you can also use on your phone.
The extra mile: lodges specialising in photography
Some lodges have invested significantly in their services to wildlife photographers. They offer exclusive photography hides at wildlife hotspots, high-end photography equipment complementary or for rent, editing suites with editing programs, and even professional printing facilities to print your favourite photos on location:
- Londolozi - Sabi Sands, South Africa: the Londolozi photographic studio first opened its doors over ten years ago and was the first of its kind, offering travellers a chance to edit their photos with professional equipment and software whilst still on safari. Travellers can pre-book camera gear to rent.
- Wilderness lodges, Zimbabwe & Botswana: great, strategically placed photographic hides.
- Singita, Africa-wide: all Singita lodges offer photographic equipment, specialised for wildlife photography, for hire as well as editing suites with professional software.
- Tinga Lion Sands - Sabi Sands, South Africa: offers a Creative Lab to edit and print your photos onto high-quality canvas, to create a special keepsake or pass on as gifts. You can also rent camera gear.
- Mara Plains Camp, Kenya: each suite has a complementary professional camera available for guests.
- Tswalu The Motse - Kalahari, South Africa: guests can enjoy the on-site photo editing room & printing facilities.
Insider tip: Visiting South Africa? At Wild Wonderful World, we can arrange high-end camera equipment rentals for you, no matter which lodge you are visiting! Be sure to enquire about this option.
Print your best, on safari!
As we‘ve mentioned before, some lodges offer on-site printing facilities, either on high quality photo paper or canvas, which will then be rolled up and stored in an art tube for easier transport. However, for large size prints, we recommend getting in touch with a printing company that is local to you, to help you print and even frame your best photos. Whichever option you choose, hanging one of your own safari photos in your home is one of the best ways to remember a trip of a lifetime and bring some of Africa into your everyday!
Post-production: Download the Cheat Sheet here!
Photographic safari with Wild Wonderful World
We give personalised photographic advice, complete with full country guide to all our travellers based on their destinations, chosen activities and specific requirements. Our team has been photographing wildlife for the better part of the last decade, and our photographic guides are always available to offer advice before you leave or even travel with you on safari. Enquire with our travel team to explore these options!
Here are some ways to contact us:
- Book a free exploration call with our travel team, to discuss your needs and wants and see if we are a good fit for your family.
- Send us an email with your request
- Complete our online enquiry form
Written by Evelyn Poole
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