I had a specific mission in mind when I took my camera out. I wanted to get good images on our safari trip that was coming up in just a couple weeks. I needed to get good shots of animals that might be moving, not too close, and in all kinds of lighting.
I went over to Torrey Pines Reserve every chance I had before the trip and took photos of the peregrine falcon on the cliffs and the shore birds in the surf. I set the camera to program so that I could focus on the most basic aspects of taking pictures – framing and focusing. I bought the Magic Lantern Guides: Nikon D200, to get some extra details on how some of the camera settings worked. I love this book and still take it with me when I travel. It has great detailed explanations of how the different settings work, and why you might want one setting over another (the “why” is usually left out of the camera manual, and sometimes I need to know that to decide what setting I want). I like this because I’m always trying to learn a little more about how to make my photos better technically.
The reason I was targeting birds is because they don’t let you get too close, and these birds are on the move –I figured if I could get them in focus I would do just fine taking photos from a moving jeep, of animals running, or up in trees. At first I was a little overwhelmed by the focusing options I had, and thought that I had really bought a camera totally out of my league (all those buttons and choices – oh my!). So I pulled out the manual and focused on learning about the focus mode selector on one outing. Then I spent a day just learning about the AF-area mode selector. It was a worthwhile way to learn what the settings did, and I was starting to get better focus in my photos (and actually knew why). I brought the manual with me and kept it in an outside pocket so I could refer to it often. What was so clear in reading at my desk was often forgotten in the field as I had an opportunity to shoot something outside my “assignment” for the day.
By the time we left for Africa I felt totally comfortable with the camera. I was able to change some of the settings without having to pull out the manual, and I was having fun with the quick turnaround of digital. I got instant feedback on my shots, and often went right back out to test something that didn’t work out the first time. I didn’t have a laptop at the time, so I went home and looked at the photos on my computer. That’s the best place to really see if the images are in focus anyway. And if I wanted to test something specific I could go out and shoot the flowers in my front yard. Often there was a breeze so I could still test trying to capture my moving subjects in focus.
I surveyed some friends about shooting high res jpg or RAW before I left. I was torn because RAW files are so large. I ended up going with high res jpg for this trip. At the time the idea of processing my photos was a little intimidating, and I didn’t understand just what I could gain from the process. Since then I always shoot RAW and love the flexibility it gives me. I’ve got a laptop and can process some of the files in the downtime on a trip, if I want to. And even if I don’t get to them during a trip, it doesn’t take that long when I get back, to run through the images. Most images don’t need any special attention, but when you’ve taken a photo that’s needs some work, it is nice to have the extra information to make adjustments.
We had an incredible time on this trip and I feel like I got a lot of great images. Part of that was the practice I put in before we left, and part of it was luck. We were closer to things than I expected us to be. Most animals were so habituated to people and trucks that they really didn’t care that we were nearby. In the excitement I forgot about changing some of the camera settings for some shots (like birds flying past – should have had the focus mode on constant instead of fixed). But I was thrilled that when I was reviewing the images that I knew what I had done wrong. And in the scheme of things I got a lot of great images. I was especially glad that I had the 200 with the doubler. In some cases, it really felt like it pulled the animals right into the jeep with us!
So I’m heading back to the reserve to practice up for the next big trip!
Dear Reader: I’m interested in how you do things, please share!
What kind of assignments do you give yourself to improve your photography skills?