If you are anything like me, you find professional cameras a bit intimidating. But if you are going on an African Safari, you will need to take good photos and may need to brush up your photography skills.
So you might have wondered what it takes, to get better Safari photos. After taking really bad photos and video on a visit to Nairobi National Park, I did some research online on how to take better Safari photos. I also consulted two of my friends who are professional photographers to get a feel of what the professionals do to get good photos.
In this article, I have tried to simplify the information so that it makes sense to those who of us who may not understand a lot about photography.
20 Beginner Tips on Taking Better Safari Photos
I ran these tips by two of my friends who are professional photographers and they agreed that they are good tips for beginners going on Safari.
Here are the 20 Tips:
- Understand when to use a Cellphone Camera.
- Understand how light affects photography
- Use a Zoom Lens
- Don’t Just Point and Shoot (Composition)
- Get a good Driver/Guide
- How to choose a driver that will help you get good photos
- Build Good Rapport with your Driver/ Guide
- Spend more time with one subject
- Manage Camera Shake
- Photograph in the Morning and Evenings (Golden Hour)
- Don’t forget the landscapes
- Tell a Story
- Practice Before you Go
- Be Patient
- Carry Enough Memory/storage
- Carry Extra Batteries
- Keep the Camera Close & Ready
- Go on a Multi-Day Safari
- Stay Safe
- Understand your Camera & Its Limitations
1. Understand when to use a Cellphone Camera.
if you have read any of the guys out there you may have noticed that they all lead in with a recommendation for you to get a better camera since cellphones are not suitable for safari photography.
While it is true that you can’t take very good close up photos of wildlife that is far away using your cell phone, phones have improved enough for me to challenge the conventional advice. I think that cell phones have cameras that are good enough to take great landscape or portrait photos on a safari. You will also be able to get decent photos of animals that come close to the vehicle with your cellphone
The only challenge with cellphones is the fact that most animals don’t normally come near vehicles and you will need to zoom in in order for you to get a good close up photo. And when you try to zoom in, the quality of the photo degrades.
One of the main drawbacks of using a cellphone to take safari photography is that you are not able to zoom in to the wildlife without losing the quality of the photo.
Since none of the safari parks allow visitors to drive off-road, you will be quite a distance from the animals and getting decent photos of the animals using a cellphone will be a challenge.
But does that mean that you need to spend thousands of dollars on a new camera?
No. There are lots of affordable and easy to use cameras that would give you better Safari photos than a cell phone and you will not have to spend thousands of dollars on a camera with setting you will never get to use.
So, What camera should you use? Check out my recommended list of beginner cameras Here
2. Understand how light affects photography
The quality of your safari photos will be mainly affected by light. This means that the quality of your photos will improve when you master how to manage light and work with the natural light to take your safari photos.
Always try to have your back to the sun every time you are taking your photos. This will help you avoid having Photos that have too much light.
Since you cannot control where the sun sits, you will need to talk with your guide /driver to place the vehicle in a way that does not put you in front of the direct sun.
I would also advise you to practice taking outdoor photos before you leave for your Safari. This will give you a sufficient chance to familiarize yourself with the scenarios you will be working with when you come to your Safari.
3. Use a Zoom Lens
While doing research for this article I talked to one of my friends who is a professional photographer and she advised that you will need to use a zoom lens if you want to get good results with your safari photography.
A good zoom lens should allow you to get photos of animals that are far away without losing the quality of your photo or needing to get any closer.
My recommended gear page on safari lenses goes into detail to help you determine whether you actually need a safari lens and exactly what you need to consider when choosing a good safari camera lens.Â
A good zoom lens should allow you to get photos of animals that are far away without losing the quality of your photo or needing to get any closer
The alternative to using a lens is getting a point and shoot camera that has really good zoom capabilities. I have listed a few suggestions on cameras that don’t need a zoom lens on the recommended cameras page
4. Don’t Just Point and Shoot (Composition)
For you to take great safari photos, you will need to avoid just pointing and shooting the camera at the first sighting of an animal. Sometimes this may not be very practical since the animal may be running past to your field of view, but in a number of cases, you will have enough time with the animal for you to think about how exactly you want your photo to look.
Taking a few seconds to figure out how exactly you are going to frame your photo will dramatically improve the quality of your photographs and will allow you to have photos that tell a story rather than 50 photos of the same animal photographed from the same angle.
Taking a moment to think about your photos will also prevent you from cutting off limbs from your photos or capturing sections of a tree or landscape that would have appeared more visually appealing if they were viewed in their entirety.
Taking a few seconds to figure out how exactly you are going to frame your photo will dramatically improve the quality of your photographs
At the same time, while you do not want to just point and shoot randomly at the first sighting of an animal, you also do not want to just take one or two photos of that animal.
While ensuring that your photos are framed correctly and that you’ve put some thought into each photograph, you want to increase the number of photos you actually take.
You increase your chances of getting a good photo by taking lots of thoughtfully Taken photos.
5. Get a good Driver/Guide
I think this is one of the most important ways of improving your photos since if you cannot be able to spot where the animals are, you will end up just having photos of landscapes or animals that you aren’t really interested in photographing.
A good safari guide will have connections with the Park Rangers and will be able to know where to find the best sightings of animals. They will also be very familiar with the park and know where to go to get to good views and great vantage points.
How to choose a driver that will help you get good photos
The best way of getting a driver that will help you get good photos is choosing a safari company that is reputable and established and that has a lot of experience in doing safaris.
A good way of establishing whether our company is experienced in doing safaris is checking whether they are registered with their associations of tour operators in the country.
most associations of tour operators have websites that list their members and you can view their websites to establish whether the company you are intending to use for your safari is one of their members. To make your work easier, here is a list of the official websites of the Association of Tour Operator the countries that are popular with safaris.
- Kenya: Kenya Association of Tour Operators’ Members List
- Tanzania: Tanzania Association of Tour Operators’ Member List
- Botswana: Hospitality and tour Operators Association of Botswana’s Members List
- South Africa: The Southern Africa Tourism Services Association’s Members List
- Rwanda: Rwanda Tours and Travel Association Members List
- Namibia: Tour and Safari Association of Namibia Members List
6. Build Good Rapport with your Driver/ Guide
A good relationship between you and your driver who also doubles up as your guide is one of the quick and easy ways of taking better safari photos.
This is because, when the driver is working with you he’s able to place the vehicle in angles that allow you to take the very best photos. With a good relationship between you and the driver, they will not be hesitant to change the position of a vehicle to allow you to get a better shot.
A good relationship between you and your driver… is one of the quick and easy ways of taking better safari photos.
You can build rapport with your driver by asking them questions and generally being friendly. your relationship will also be improved by you being considerate and kind in the way that you engage with your driver.
As a result, they will be more inclined to accommodate your wishes and this cooperation will result in better photos.
7. Spend more time with one subject
Once you’ve spotted on anymore and have taken of you photos of it you might be tempted to move on to something else so that you can capture as many pictures as possible.
While this may seem like a logical thing to do, it’s not a very good idea since the first few photos just get you familiar with your subject. Spending a few more minutes with the animal will give you more ideas of different angles or perspectives you can take and you might find that the photos you take last as some of your best.
Working with your driver to change perspectives will help you adjust your angles and find better ways of framing your photos.
8. Manage Camera Shake
There are few safari roads that are paved or smooth and this can negatively affect the quality of your photos. the bumpy roads that your safari van will be traveling on introduce the danger that many of your photos are going to be shaky.
an easy way of controlling this is carrying a bean bag that you can put under the camera to stabilize your shots.
You can get one of these Bean bags on amazon to stabilize your photos when on safaris. (Check out the Price on Amazon)
The bag is normally sold empty and you actually want it this way since the fill will just add unnecessary weight to your luggage. Once you arrive in your safari destination, you can buy some rice or beans to fill it with. You can visit any store and find this easily and if you don’t know where to find some, ask the hotel staff to assist. They would gladly help you out or give you directions.
9. Photograph in the Morning and Evenings (Golden Hour)
You should target to shoot during the Golden hour for some of the best results. The Golden hour is just before the sun sets or rises. The light is usually not harsh and you will get really warm tones that could only be achieved by stage lights at any other time.
Golden hour will be one of the easiest times for you as a beginner to take photos of wildlife and you should take advantage of it.
The convenient coincidence is that most game drives ( when you go out to see the animals) happen in the early morning before the sun rises up to around 10 a.m. and resume in the evening when the sun is about to set.
Staying in a hotel that is located within the park allows you to start your game drive before the sun rises and stay a bit longer after the sunsets since you are not required to leave the park in the evening.
10. Don’t forget the landscapes
It’s easy for you to just focus on getting pictures of the wildlife and forget some of the amazing landscapes that the African Savannah has. look for opportunities to take pictures of landscapes and do so frequently since the Landscape keeps changing and you might find a perfect angle that gives you one of your best photos.
The Golden hour is also a very good time to get landscape photos and being on the lookout for a good photo opportunity is a good idea.
12. Tell a Story
There are thousands of very well taken safari photos out in the world and just doing more random photos taken in the same exact way is not very unique. What would make your photos unique would be to tell a story of your own journey. This will add personality to your photos and make them more memorable to anyone that views them. They will also be more meaningful to you since they will not just be random photos of another lion or elephant, they will be a well-told story of adventure and discovery.
Try to document the little moments on your safari and work to weave it into a story that would be memorable as someone Scrolls through your timeline.
Pictures of the people you meet and the places you visit, even though they may not be within the National Park, will help to enhance the quality of your story and, as a result, the quality of your pictures.
13. Practice Before you Go
Taking some time to practice your photography skills will be essential to taking good photos when you get to your Safari destination. practicing will make you more comfortable with your camera and help you to avoid beginner mistakes like the ones below:
Beginner mistakes in photography
- Photos that are out of focus
- Photos that are too bright or too dark
- Shaky photos
- Cutting things off the edge of your photo (like legs or trees)
- Obvious angles of animals or other subjects
- Tilted photos that are not aligned with the horizon
- Forgetting extra batteries or memory cards
Want a few videos on beginner photography and read a few blogs to help you improve your photography. you don’t have to spend a lot of time here but a few hours will dramatically improve the quality of your safari photos.
One of the things that you can do to practice taking photos while on your safari is to start with a small national park is one of the first places you will visit before heading on to Bigger parks. This will allow you to have some practice in the actual National Park before going to the parks that have larger numbers of animals.
14. Be Patient
One of the things you will discover when you start your African safari is that you may have to drive around for a while before you find a good sighting. and even when you do find a group of animals they may be either too far away or positioned in a way that will not allow you to have very good photos.
This is where patience comes in. don’t give up too soon. take your time to plan your shot and don’t be frustrated in the first few don’t look very good.
If the animals you’re photographing are not angled in the right way and you are not able to change your position, you can move on and try your luck elsewhere.
When you have a good safari guide/ driver, you will get sufficient opportunities for photography since they will be good at tracking and spotting where the animals are.
15. Carry Enough Memory/storage
| Image Size | Average File Size per photo (MBs) | Total File Space for memory cards if you’re transferring pictures to a laptop each day | Total File Space for memory cards for the entire 10 days of Safari |
| Small 3 (S1) (Lowest Quality) | 0.16 MB | 320MB | 3.2GBs |
| Small 2 (S2) | 0.86 MB | 1.7GB | 17GB |
| Small 1 (S3) | 1.4 MB | 2.8GB | 28GB |
| Medium (M) | 2.6 MB | 5.2GB | 52GB |
| Large (L) | 5.52 MB | 11GB | 110GB |
| Raw + Large | 22 MB | 44GB | 440GB |
| Raw (Highest Quality) | 25 Mb | 50GB | 500GB |
A high-quality mid-sized image from a Canon camera is about 5MBs. This size will vary depending on the level of detail in the picture and the number of colors in the photo. Assuming that you will be talking an average of 2000 photos per day and if you don’t intend on transferring them to a computer at the end of the day, you may end up using 100Gb of space on a 10 day Safari.
Carry enough memory cards to avoid running out in the middle of your Safari.
16. Carry Extra Batteries
One of the critical pieces of advice I received when doing research for this article is that you need to carry extra batteries with you when going on an African safari.
There are a number of reasons why this is important
- You may forget to charge your camera after a long day on safari and miss the next day’s photos because you can’t use your camera,
- Africa sometimes has power cuts and some of these happen at night, the time you are likely to be charging your batteries.
- Cameras run out of charge quickly when filming a video and you may end up not taking pictures after a 20-minute video
Carry at least two spare batteries on your trip and remember not to forget the charger
You do not want to be kicking yourself because of a mistake that could easily be avoided.
Spare batteries for cameras should be easy to find and I would encourage you to order yours on Amazon before your Safari
17. Keep the Camera Close & Ready
There are times when you will just have a few seconds to take a photo. Keeping your camera close and ready will ensure that you do not miss that perfect Photo.
Using a camera strap and having it around your neck will allow you to be ready to go in just a few seconds compared to if you put your camera in a bag.
18. Go on a Multi-Day Safari
Try as much as possible to have your safari extend for more than 3 or 4 days. This will allow you many opportunities to take great photos and even if you miss it on one day you have an opportunity to do it on the next.
As a beginner safari photographer, the more chances you have to take photos, the higher your chances that a number of the many pictures you will take will be really great.
A Multi-Day Safari will allow you many opportunities to take great photos and … an opportunity to do it on the next day.
19. Stay Safe
No photo is worth putting yourself in danger. Even though you may want to get amazing safari photos, getting injured when taking them is not a wise idea. A few things you should consider when taking photos on your Safari:
- Do not get out of the vehicle to take your photos. You are in the wild and these are untrained and untamed animals.
- Don’t try to attract the attention of animals for a better photo: While rousing an animal seems like the best way of getting a better photo, you may put yourself in danger if the animal tries to charge at you.
- Don’t dangle your limbs outside the car. You never know what is lurking behind your vehicle when you are doing this.
20. Understand your Camera & Its Limitations
Whatever camera you choose, buy it early and practice using it for a few weeks. This will give you a sufficient opportunity to figure out the settings that give you the highest quality photos. You will also develop muscle memory with your camera which means you will not have to be constantly thinking about the physical actions of taking a photo. You will be able to focus on the animals and the subjects will be photographing rather than the physical actions required to get a good photo.
Is Renting a Camera & Lens for Your Safari worth it?
One of the questions you may have asked yourself is whether renting a camera Gear for your safari is worth it. Considering the fact that a single camera could cost you thousands of dollars to buy and not counting the lenses and accessories. After doing a bit of research on this topic, my advice is that you should rent your camera Gear if you do not have a camera that is good enough for you to go on safari with.
I did a bit of research and found that there are a number of companies that rent out camera equipment. looking through the forums, I found that the best advice would be to rent the camera or lens from your home country then travel with it for your Safari.
you should rent your camera Gear if you do not have a camera that is good enough for you to go on safari with
I found out LensRentals.com. They are a camera gear rental company based in the US. You can check them out if you are interested in renting out camera gear for your safari.
How Many Lenses Should I Carry for an African Safari?
Based on the research I did, I found that you need at least two lenses.
- One that will have a long-range zoom and allow you to take photos of animals that are distant. This will help you get most of your safari photos because of its great zoom capability. However, when you have an animal that is very close to your vehicle, you may need to use a shorter lens.
- A shorter zoom lens for subjects that are more up close: This will be used to take pictures when an animal is too close to the vehicle. It is also perfect for city pictures and pictures of people you will be interacting with.
Prepare For the Dust
One of the things I will need to warn you about safari destinations is that they can get very dusty. None of the roads in many Safari estimations are paved and this means that dust will inevitably be part of the Safari.
That will definitely affect the quality of your photos when out on safari if touches the lenses And you would be wise to prepare with a cleaning kit to clean the lenses each day.
In addition to this, dust seems to attach itself to everything else you will be carrying and it may get annoying when you safari equipment is all Brown from dust. There’s not a lot that you can do to avoid this So my advice to you would find ways of managing it.
Here are a few tips on what you can do to manage the dust from getting into your camera equipment
- Keep everything that you are not using away
- Clean your lenses every day
- Keep the caps to the lenses on for both ends
- Ensure that you seal up the camera body when its lenses are not attached.
Conclusion
In order to improve your safari photography, you will need to practice using your camera before you start your trip then practice on wildlife in less popular parks as you graduate the more popular parks.
Don’t be intimidated by the fancy cameras you see other tourists have, all you will need is a camera that is able to take decent pictures from a distance and easy to use.
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