Michael’s Photography Tips

Please bear in mind that these tips are offered for safari going photographers looking for good action shots and the occasional portrait.

Being a professionally qualified engineer I would say “Read the Manual” - and if you are using a modern top end camera read the manual more than once. In my experience, having read the manual about 5 times, I would say that most photographers do not understand what today’s cameras are capable of doing for you - even some professional photographers under utilise the available technology. I am not talking about shooting on P for Program or even Tv or Av (I mostly shoot manual or Av) but rather the settings around Autofocus and Auto ISO and the clever interactions that are possible in the Fn section of the manual.

Apart from this I would say set yourself up for the “special” shot! No point these days setting up for the usual lion resting in the grass shot. Set the shutter speed at minimum of 1000th of a second (or more if the light is good). Give yourself some depth of field (circa f 8) unless you are looking for bokeh to help in the event of an explosive event (again if the light permits). Limit Auto ISO to 1600 for perfect shots and say 6,400 if the light is a problem. Most importantly, use the memory settings (C1, C2, C3) to set up say a portrait option, an action shot and perhaps a landscape or lower light setting. Then these setups can be selected immediately by the touch of a single button.