East Africa: Open Safari Vehicles vs. Closed Safari Vehicles
Many people are unaware that the types of vehicles typically used for wildlife viewing safaris in eastern Africa differ from those used in southern Africa. In southern Africa, most game drive vehicles are very open like the ones shown below. In eastern Africa (namely Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda) one will typically find closed safari... » read more
Stable Shooting With Telephoto Lenses– A Bean Bag Is The Key accessories
By Buddy Eleazer, owner of Magnum Excursions, LLC Figure 1- Canon 400mm DO with 1.4x teleconverter (560mm), Canon 1Dx MkII at f/5.6, 1/2500 sec., ISO 500 The Bottom Line Summary Bean Bags are a very low cost solution for sharper images when shooting telephoto lenses Bean Bags allow sharper images, even at lower shutter speeds.... » read more
Trip Report: The Ultimate Safari – May 2014 – Part 2 of 2
If you missed it, here’s a link to Part 1 of this trip review: http://tinyurl.com/p655a6p Timbavati Private Reserve within Greater Kruger National Park For Clarity, we want to explain what the Greater Kruger National Park is. Kruger National Park is one of the largest game reserve in Africa. It was formed in 1898 and covers an... » read more
Trip Report: The Ultimate Safari – May 2014 – Part 1 of 2
We billed it as ‘The Ultimate Safari” because we were sure participants would ‘see it all’ and they did. Our May trip included 6 days/5 nights at Chobe National Park and 5 days/4 nights in Timbavati Private Reserve, which is part of the Greater Kruger National Park and two nights in Johannesburg. The prior stated... » read more
A Photographic African Journey with Magnum Excursions
Article and photos by Stephanie Brooks “Every morning in Africa, a Gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a Lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest Gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter whether you are... » read more
Photo Tips: Elements to Consider in Composition
This is an edited reprint of an article I wrote several years ago in my blog, www.ChobeSafari.com. Same text and many of the photos have changed, but the need to know the basics of composition is timeless. Many see a photo they like but when asked why they like the image, they lack the words... » read more
This or That – The Photographer’s Challenge
Many wildlife photographers love pure images with minimal editing right out of the camera. Buddy Eleazer, one of our Magnum Excursion leaders does also. Many photographers these days see the ability to create very dynamic shots by using editing tools by software makes such as Topaz Labs, Nik, Photomatics and Redfield. Some are taking even... » read more
A Workshop Participant’s Story: What “First Timers” Should Expect From A Photography Trip Into The South African Bush
Article and images by Lee Levin-Friend (Lee was a participant in the Magnum Excursions May 2012 workshop at Leadwood Private Camp in Timbavati Game Reserve, adjacent to Kruger National Park in South Africa. We look forward to Lee joining us again on an upcoming excursion … and from her excitement regarding the first trip, we’re... » read more