TAKE YOUR PIC

Here are this month’s reader photos, with tips from Toast Coetzer. Send your best shots to takeyourpic@gomag.co.za

Share your best photo with us and you could win a go! camera bag worth R650.

ANDRIES JANSE VAN RENSBURG

Canon EOS 5D Mark III Canon 300 mm lens with a 2x converter

ANDRIES WRITES: I used to live in Newcastle in northern KZN. One afternoon I drove to the Chelmsford Nature Reserve outside town. I was very lucky and came across a Cape fox and four pups playing in the veld. The sun was setting and I captured these two chasing each other.

TOAST SAYS: Nature is unpredictable and always has a surprise waiting. Somewhere, sometime, you’ll see something special.

You might visit a reserve like Chelmsford many times and never see a Cape fox, and then one day you get lucky…

That’s what happened to Andries: He had his camera ready, with the right lens fitted, and the conditions were favourable. The golden afternoon sunlight makes the foxes look like Labrador pups on a calendar – you want to pick them up for a snuggle. (Don’t – their mom will take a bite out of your leg.) There’s a sparkle in the pups’ eyes – this gives life to any animal photo. I also like the green background, the yellow foreground and the flowers that give a sense of scale to the photo.

Everything in its place. Perfect!

BRAEME HOLLAND

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Canon 100 – 400 mm lens

BRAEME WRITES: I photographed this scrub hare during the first week of January 2020, in Addo Elephant National Park. I took lots of shots of him in different positions, but I really wanted him to turn and face me. I waited patiently and he eventually did. My aperture was f5.6, shutter speed 1/640 second and ISO 640.

I took the photo from inside my car, but I parked further away on the other side of the road to get a better angle with my telephoto lens, and so not as to shoot downwards.

It was my first trip to Addo – the whole family really enjoyed it. We especially liked Hapoor Dam, where many elephants with cute babies came to drink.

TOAST SAYS: A scrub hare is not easy to photograph, especially if you’re on foot. For starters, it’s a camouflage king and invisible until you almost step on it. Once spooked, it darts off like Cheslin Kolbe towards the try line, before you’ve even had time to recover from the skrik or figure out whether it was a scrub hare or a Cape hare, never mind switch on your camera. This hare must have taken a chill pill. (All those leafy greens? Vegetarians swear by them.) It allowed Braeme plenty of time to take his photo. Animals tend to get used to vehicles in nature reserves, which helps.

This photo is all about the angle that Braeme managed to achieve. The eye-to-eye perspective is unusual and gives the portrait a certain intimacy. The shallow depth of field brings out the glistening eyes, the fine hairs on the hare’s face, and the delicate veins in its attentive ears.

It’s a wonderful animal portrait and the worthy winner of this month’s go! camera bag. Well done, Braeme!

JOHAN ROOS

Canon PowerShot SX70 HS

JOHAN WRITES: I took this photo at Mpayathutlwa on the Botswana side of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. My camera is a basic Canon PowerShot SX 70 HS and I was in my car. The saddle-billed storks were slowly moving towards each other and then they flew off. The quality might not by great, but I think it’s a lekker shot.

TOAST SAYS: For sure! Sometimes your opinion is the only one that matters. It’s your photo and you should like it. But I agree that it’s a lekker photo and that’s why I picked it this month.

Two saddle-billed storks together might not be unusual, but both with their wings spread open? Definitely not something you see every day. The bird on the right is a female – you can tell by the yellow eye. It’s hard to see the other bird’s eye, but it seems to be brown, so it could be a male. They might have been in the middle of a mating dance. In that case, you captured something unique, Johan!

MARIE LOOTS

Nikon D3200

Nikon 50 – 200 mm lens

MARIE WRITES: I took this photo at Sunset Dam near Lower Sabie in the Kruger Park. We arrived at the dam early in the morning and waited for something to happen – there’s always action at Sunset. This croc enjoyed its fish without the chips.

TOAST SAYS: I prefer my fish with chips, and with lots of salt and vinegar… But I won’t argue with a crocodile! And anyway, this kurper looks like it’s only the starter course.

Marie had the right idea. Go sit at a dam or waterhole early in the morning and something is bound to happen. Just don’t fall asleep when the sun makes you drowsy around 11 am, and don’t be tempted to play with your cellphone because you’ll miss all the action.

Be alert, with your camera switched on and in your lap. Try to predict where the action will take place. If there’s movement in the water, aim your camera at the splash or ripple: The rubbery ears of a hippo might pop out, or the rugged back of a croc, or even the slender neck of an African darter. And snap!

HELGARDT PRETORIUS

Canon EOS 7D Mark II Canon 100 – 400 mm lens

HELGARDT WRITES: I photographed these gemsbok from a helicopter – I was flying over the Makgadikgadi Pans in Botswana with Helicopter Horizons, based in Maun. We spent the night at a luxurious spot called Camp Kalahari, on the edge of the pans.

My settings: aperture f7.1; shutter speed 1/2 500 second; ISO 500.

TOAST SAYS: The Makgadikgadi is one of the top attractions in Botswana. There are accessible areas like the Nata Bird Sanctuary on the eastern side of the pans, and 4x4 destinations like Kubu Island, which is one of the most special places to take photos in Africa.

Botswana is as flat as a pancake. If you want to shell out for a scenic flight in an aeroplane or a helicopter, Bots is the place to do it. When you fly over the Okavango Delta, you’ll see the vast scale of the wetland in just 45 minutes – something that’s impossible to do on ground level in your vehicle. The same goes for the Makgadikgadi – you get a true sense of the size of the pans from the air, and you’ll see game from kilometres away.

Helgardt managed to get an unusual perspective on the gemsbok. Usually you photograph them from a vehicle, at eye-level. You can also see the shadows of the antelope, something you wouldn’t have been able to capture on the ground. Stunning!

STEPHEN KENNY

Nikon D7200

Nikon 18 – 140 mm lens

STEPHEN WRITES: In October 2019, I took part in a game census in Khaudum National Park in northeastern Namibia. Among other tasks, our group spent three days at one specific waterhole to count all the animals that came by.

This African rock python was one of the visitors. I’d never been this close to a python in its natural habitat. The snake was about

1,5 m long and appeared to be in good health.

My settings: aperture f11; shutter speed 1/500 second; ISO 400.

TOAST SAYS: If a snake shows up at a braai, the braai tongs usually go flying as people jump onto chairs or run for cover. But snakes are mostly softies. There is always a snake nearby when you’re in the veld, but they prefer their own company and you usually only see them when you get too close with your stomping human feet.

I like how Stephen has filled the entire frame with the snake, from one corner to the other and from the front to the back. Even though the snake is mostly in shade, it’s okay because its head is in the sun. You want the head and eyes to be in good light, and sharp, when you’re taking a portrait of an animal.

The camera could easily have focused on the wrong part of the snake here – the head and eyes might have been blurry. This will ruin your day when you open the photo on your computer later.

If you have a patient subject like a python and you have time to take a few photos, always make 100 % sure that your focus is good. Bring up the photo on your camera screen and zoom in to check. Don’t just assume you’ve nailed it.

What would have made this photo better? A s-s-s-sliver of s-s-s-snake tongue.

MANDY MITCHELL

Canon EOS 70D

Canon 100 – 400 mm lens

MANDY WRITES: We live on a thornveld farm outside Ixopo in KZN. Much to our excitement, a family of red-billed oxpeckers moved into a euphorbia in our garden and raised their chicks there. We’ve lived here for 15 years and it is the first time we’ve seen the birds in the area.

They have grown quite accustomed to us over time – and to me taking photos of them! We’ve seen them feeding on the cattle, and on antelope like nyala and impala. We’re always careful about using oxpecker-friendly cattle dips. We want them to stay.

TOAST SAYS: I love Mandy’s story, and her pic! You tend to associate oxpeckers with wildlife reserves, but if you have the right habitat, they might just settle on your farm.

The colours are so vivid here, from the green of the euphorbia to the browns of the bird, to the perfectly blue sky. There’s almost an element of graphic design to it; the clear lines and bright colours reminiscent of a welldesigned business card, or a good national flag like our own – or Kenya or Zimbabwe’s.

Of course, it’s the red bill and red eye in that yellow eye-ring that really make the bird “pop” off the page. If this were a business card, the head of the oxpecker would be the logo!

I also like how the bird sits at the top of the “branch” of the euphorbia, and your eye is naturally drawn to that point of the composition.

Great stuff, Mandy. Thanks for sharing your photo with us.