TAKE YOUR PIC

Moorhens battle for a mate, foxes frolic in the Arctic and a sunset blazes near Mossel Bay. Did your photo make the cut this month?

IG: @altap.2

Nikon D5300

Nikon 200 – 500 mm lens

ALTA WRITES: I took this photo at Rietvlei Nature Reserve in Gauteng. I was watching some ducks at Otter Bridge when the early morning peace was shattered by two male common moorhens – they apparently had a score to settle before breakfast.

It probably had something to do with the female in the foreground. She was distressed, swimming around them while making a racket of her own. The males tackled one another with

# 172 their long claws and even tried to dunk each other under the water. Then, as quickly as the altercation had started, it was over again – as if nothing had happened.

It was early and the light was poor. I pushed my ISO to 640 so I could use a fast-enough shutter speed to freeze the action (1/1 250 second at aperture f5.6). I don’t like going beyond 640 when it comes to ISO because I feel that the image gets a bit too grainy.

The original photo was a bit underexposed; I brightened it later using Lightroom.

TOAST SAYS: This looks like a fight scene between wildlings in Game of Thrones!

In the animal kingdom, drama comes in many guises. You might be lucky enough to see the big boys like lions boxing it out around a fresh kill in the Kruger, but more often you’ll be in a less glamorous reserve where smaller animals, like birds, can provide equally potent photo drama. Fighting about food, territory or the attentions of a female can make even the stateliest fowl get flustered. Alta was in the right place at the right time to cash in. Her angle is perfect: The two males are photographed from the side, which makes it look like a boxing match. The female even seems to be the “referee” in the foreground.

Don’t be shy to use editing software to correct “mistakes” made while shooting. That’s what it’s for! Alta had to weigh up a brighter exposure versus using a fast shutter speed. Correctly, she chose the latter. Freezing the action was more important; she knew she’d probably be able to bring out more detail later.

Well done, Alta, you win the camera bag this month.

IG: @andrieswildlife Nikon D500

Nikon 200 – 400 mm lens

ANDRIES WRITES: In August 2019, I went on a photography trip to the Norwegian island of Svalbard in the Arctic Circle. I was part of a group of 12 photographers and we spent 10 days on an expedition ship called the MS Origo. From the ship, we boarded zodiac boats that took us closer to shore where the animals were. It was challenging, since the little boat was constantly moving on the ocean. That’s why I used the fastest possible shutter speed for this photo – 1/4 000 second at ISO 1 600.

August is the last month of the

Arctic summer. We enjoyed some semblance of daylight for 24 hours each day. The “golden hour” lasted much longer than usual – we had soft light aplenty.

These two Arctic foxes played around near the shore, chasing each other.

TOAST SAYS: Wow, what a shot! Under the circumstances, Andries did very well to get the focus pin sharp. Photographing on the move isn’t easy, especially when you’re on a rubber duck at sea and you don’t just have to deal with backwardsforwards motion, but also the upand-down of the ocean. Of course, the foxes didn’t stand still either! In a situation like this, composition often takes a back seat – at least to start with. You’ll generally try to shoot with the fastest possible shutter speed and trust that autofocus will do the rest. Later, while editing, you can re-crop a photo to strengthen the composition.

Andries captured the playful nature of the foxes; their tails in the air give the shot a boisterous mood. It’s great that we can see one of their faces, as this adds a dash of personality. The soft light is wonderful. Andries mastered the conditions well – it could easily (accidentally) have turned into a silhouette photo if he’d taken the light reading for the bright background instead of the foxes.

The curve of the boulder that the foxes are standing on creates a great leading line in the frame – it takes your eye right to the action.

Good work!

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IG: @hbadgerphotography Canon EOS 7D Mark II Canon 100 – 400 mm lens

TOAST SAYS: Elephants are the bulldozers of the bush but they also have a softer side, especially when it comes to motherhood. A baby ellie like this one (photographed in Pilanesberg) potentially has a long life ahead of him. His mother – and the rest of the herd – will protect that life with all she’s got.

Helgardt converted his photo to black-and-white, which allowed the textures of the wrinkled, bark-like skin to come to the fore. Stripping out the colour also makes you focus more on the subject: You get a sense of the calf’s frailty – it needs the shelter provided by its mother. Helgardt’s tight framing makes us look at the calf and nothing else. The leg of its mother to the left helps to create a natural frame, and it also creates an opening for the delicately curled trunk of the little one to rest. Perfect!

IG: @francoisdmeyer Canon EOS 70D Canon 50 mm lens

TOAST SAYS: The African jacana is a real busybody, and it makes for a good photographic subject when you’re in a bird hide because it tends to operate in the open, rather than taking cover in the reeds like many other waterbirds. Francois took this photo at Lake Panic near Skukuza in the Kruger Park. He says it’s one of his favourite hides because of the photographic opportunities on offer. He adds that it was a quiet morning, with only the jacana for company.

The bird was very close to the hide, which meant he didn’t need a zoom lens. We tend to get addicted to our zoom lenses and we become obsessed with photographing every bird in close-up. But why? Often the best shot is a wider frame, which shows more background and context.

By framing wider, you instantly give yourself at least 10 compositions to choose from. Francois framed his photo horizontally, with his main subject almost – but not quite – obeying the Rule of Thirds. He could have placed it in the middle for a central composition, or exhausted all the Rule of Thirds options by placing it bottom left, top left, top right or bottom right. Then he could have turned his camera upright and done the same five options in portrait format. Within seconds, you have 10 takes on the same scene.

The big, round shapes of the lily leaves provide a nice background for the bird. But it’s not a passive background – notice how certain parts of the frame draw your eye more than others, like where the clouds reflect brightly on the water top left; and the flower itself of course, which is such a strong presence that it begins to compete with the bird.

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IG: @charmainelindhorstjoubert Canon EOS 550D

Canon 55 – 250 mm lens

CHARMAINE WRITES: I took this photo back in 2011, using my very first D-SLR camera. We were in the Kruger and waiting for animals to come and drink at our favourite waterhole, where the angle of light is perfect for lateafternoon photography.

The sun was already quite low and the light was beautiful, when five white rhinos came over the ridge. It was so special seeing so many rhinos at the same waterhole – I have never seen five rhinos together in the Kruger since.

I tried to include all five in the photo but there was no balance, so I recomposed and took this photo of four together. I converted the image to black-and-white because the colour from the sunset was very intense and distracted from the story.

The contrast between shadow and light also added more mood, in my opinion.

TOAST SAYS: The more you visit a park like the Kruger, the better you’ll get to know the best spots for photography. With experience, for example, you’ll come to know whether a waterhole is better situated for morning photography or afternoon photography. It’s all about which direction the animals tend to approach from – you want the sunlight to be shining from behind you, onto the faces of the animals. (We’re not mentioning the name of this particular waterhole for the safety of the rhinos.)

Much like Helgardt’s elephant pic, Charmaine chose her subject well for a conversion to black-andwhite. Rhinos are also grey and their skins also provide great textures that become more prominent in monochrome.

Of course, there’s the delight of capturing not one but four of these special mammals together in one frame. Not something that happens every day!

Late-afternoon light can sometimes overpower a scene

– too much warm, orange colour and the scene can feel oversaturated, which can detract from your composition and your subject. Removing the colour allows the low sun to function more as a spotlight, setting the stage for these beauties to make their entrance. You can almost hear the applause!

I love how each horn stands proud, and how the horns of the rhinos second from left and far right both show up against the almost-black background, which make them pop just a touch more than the other two. The reflection doubles the magic: eight rhinos, tick, let’s head back to camp for an Amarula already!

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Canon EOS 7D Mark II Canon 70 – 200mm lens

JEHAN WRITES: I live in Dubai, but I took this photo in Botlierskop Private Game Reserve near Mossel Bay when I visited family in

South Africa.

We were heading back to the lodge after a game drive when I noticed this waterbuck cow and her calf posing in the late-afternoon sun. I decided to focus on the calf with a shallow depth of field (aperture f2.8), to make it stand out.

Although the background was quite dark in the original photo, I made it almost completely black while editing later on my computer.

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TOAST SAYS: It’s quite difficult to get a completely black background while shooting wildlife with the sun still up. But look around, especially late in the afternoon, and you’ll start seeing the right kind of conditions. It’s usually more obvious when you’re using a zoom lens, as there might only be a small part of the background that is this dark.

Now you need a good subject that’s standing in bright sunlight. Line up the subject with that patch of dark background (maybe a shaded riverbank, or a dark patch of bush). Expose for the brightest part of your subject, as Jehan did – that way the already-dim background will become even darker, and the contrast with the bright subject will be enhanced.

Jehan emphasized this effect by making the background almost entirely black using editing software, but I suspect it would have been a strong photograph even without the editing.

Lighting tweaks aside, the true strength of the photo is in the composition. Jehan knew that the smaller waterbuck in the background was the main attraction. By lining up the two antelope, the outline of the one in the foreground was used – just the suggestion of a shape was enough – to frame the one in the background.

The more you look at the out-offocus waterbuck, the more you see. Can you spot where its eye should be? There’s a sparkle there; can you see it?

Indeed, Jehan proves that photography is as much about vision as it is about subject. He turned an ordinary scene into a striking image. The other people on the game-viewer were probably asking themselves what the heck he was taking a picture of!

IG: @jrhammond8 Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Canon 24 – 105 mm lens

RIAAN WRITES: I love “Take Your Pic” and I really enjoy the tips you share. I took this photo in December 2019, between Pienaarstrand and Groot Brak near Mossel Bay. This particular section of beach is usually quiet – it’s our family tradition to go there together for a sunset walk at the end of the year, if the weather and tide permits. There’s a certain dune that we all climb together, too. My settings: shutter speed 1/200 second; aperture f5.6; ISO 100.

TOAST SAYS: Nothing beats a photo that is also a love letter, or at least a document that shows you how much you enjoy a particular place. Riaan’s photo is like that: It makes you long for a peaceful stroll with your loved ones, or an hour with your dog for a bit of fetch and stretch.

When you’re taking this kind of photo, take as many shots as you can because the composition will change with every step your subjects take. You might have to break into a jog to keep up! Pay close attention to where they’re moving and press the shutter button when they drift into the best parts of the frame. Look at the area of wet sand in the empty bottom-left quarter of the frame: If the dog had been here, it would have added a lot of impact. Even the couple walking hand in hand: Had they been five metres to the left, walking on the wet sand, you might have seen their reflections.

The wet sand is like a highway through the scene. Its saturated, golden colour holds your attention and leads you to the more distant silhouetted figures, and eventually to the low disc of the sun, about to dip behind the horizon.