STEP BY STEP GET SET UP TO CAPTURE ‘SAFARI’ SHOTS

Capturing these ferocious felines is tough, but we show you how best to go about it

01 LENS CHOICE

We used an EF 100-400mm telephoto-zoom – but as we got close to the animals, we could get away with a standard zoom too. Longer focal lengths and faster apertures enable you to achieve a shallower depth of field – all important for that ‘on safari’ look.

02 EXPOSURE AND APERTURE

Shoot in Aperture Priority or Manual and start with an aperture of around f/5.6. This’ll ensure the animals’ facial features are sharp with their body slowly falling out of focus – distracting backgrounds, such as fences that give the game away, will be blurred.

03 SPOT METERING

It’s crucial that the animal is properly exposed – set Spot metering so the exposure is weighted towards the selected focus point, which’ll be on the cat. The centre-weighted metering mode would try to expose the entire scene, but the subject is more important.

04 ISO AND SHUTTER SPEED

The big cats we were shooting weren’t running around so we didn’t need a super-fast shutter – just enough to avoid camera shake. Aim for at least ‘one over’ the longest focal length of the lens – so 1/400 sec for a 400mm. Increase the ISO, if needed, to achieve this.

05 GO CONTINUOUS

Set Continuous autofocus (AI Servo AF) mode to track the animals combined with Low-speed Continuous burst mode – rather than High-speed Continuous, to avoid filling up the memory card. You don’t need to be shooting at 10fps for these cats!

06 PIN-POINT FOCUS

Set Single Point AF mode and position this at one side of the frame so there’s negative space for the cat to move into. Keep focus on the animal’s nearest eye so it’s sharp as you follow it around. Zoom in and out to capture a variety of body shots and close-up portraits.