Safari photography

Make the most of a dream trip to photograph wildlife in Africa with these useful tips.

Lenses with focal lengths of 300mm and longer are essential for frame-filling shots when you’re taking pictures from a safari vehicle, but standard zooms and wide-angle lenses can be useful for showing animals in their environment, along with landscapes and general travel photos. Consider taking a second camera body, as this will allow you to use a telephoto zoom.

When you arrive at a promising location, ask your driver to turn off the vehicle’s engine and wait until your fellow passengers have stopped moving around before you start taking pictures. Choose Image Stabiliser lenses to improve your chances of taking a sharp shot. If your lens has an IS Mode switch, use Mode 1 for static subjects and Mode 2 if you’re panning the camera to follow action.

Avoid changing lenses when your safari vehicle is in motion, as the air will be thick with dust. Make sure that you pack a camera and lens cleaning kit so that you can remove dust and dirt from your equipment each time that you return to camp. Use this opportunity to recharge the camera batteries as well, but remember not to leave the batteries or camera in direct sunlight. Also, don’t forget to pack plenty of memory cards and back up your photos each day.

You can’t guarantee that you’ll capture animal behaviour, but you can at least request that your driver gets you in a position where you’re shooting from the side of the animal that’s being lit by the sun. If your safari driver is amenable, skip breakfast and get out early: the light can rapidly get very harsh when you’re on the open plains, so make use of the soft, warm light at dawn. You'll usually do another game drive later in the afternoon, giving you another chance to shoot in the golden hour. Be prepared to increase the ISO as the light levels drop, to ensure you get sharp results. When you're back at camp, take the opportunity to photograph the smaller animals that visit in search of shade among the buildings.

Have your camera switched on and set up at all times so that you can take a shot quickly. Make sure that you've disabled the beep sound, so that you and everyone else can enjoy the sounds of nature rather than the sound of your camera. Keep the drive mode set to high-speed continuous shooting and be ready to switch from One Shot AF mode for a stationary subject to Servo/AI Servo AF for action shots. If you have this option available to you, set up your camera for back button focusing to speed up this process.

If you can’t get close enough to an animal to create a frame-filling image, try placing them off-centre in the image. Use the AF points in the viewfinder as a guide. Leave more space in front of the animal in the frame than behind it, so that it’s looking or moving into the picture rather than out of it.

When you've got the shot, geotagging – adding location data to the image from your smartphone using the Canon Camera Connect app – will give you a precise record of where you spotted that rare animal. Check with your guide before you do so, as you may not want to indicate where certain animals have been sighted when you share your images online. Using GPS reduces battery life, so switch it off when you don't need it, and pack an extra battery or two as a precaution.