I’ve had a lot going on recently on the editing side for my images and have been experimenting with new workflows and combinations of software. I’ve recently made the move from Lightroom over to On1 Photo Raw, and while it is a big learning curve, I am definitely enjoying the process. I had downloaded the trial of On1 after reading reviews that suggested it might be a better option than Lightroom for Fuji X raw files (I’m in the process of making the jump from Nikon to Fuji; new camera and new software all at once). What impressed me the most with the On1 software, and the reason I took the plunge with it, was I opened up some raw files both from my Nikon cameras and my Panasonic camera, and found they appeared much sharper just from the initial work of the raw processing engine, without me doing anything to the files.
I had flagged this photo to work on, and it is definitely a challenging image. It was shot at 1/250sec, f5.6, ISO 25,600 at 5:15 in the evening and the lion cub was in a deep, heavily shaded thicket. Whether the steps I took are the ones I would do again, I don’t know, but I am pleased with the end result for this one.
The starting point.
I knew I wanted to use Topaz Denoise for my noise reduction, so I moved the image from On1 Photo Raw into Photoshop to do my editing work. Other than the initial raw processing with lens corrections, I didn’t do any editing work on this image in On1 Photo Raw.
I ran Topaz Denoise 6 as a filter from Photoshop, and selected the Nikon D800 ISO 25600 preset, as they don’t have presets for the D600 or D610, and I found the results for the D800 gave me the best image quality.
Image at 200% as shot, to show the noise.Image at 200% after running Denoise 6.Full image after running Topaz Denoise6.
After Denoise was complete, I could have gone back into On1 to do further work on the image, but I decided to stay within Photoshop and instead played around with the new Topaz Studio that I downloaded earlier this week (I’ve been using the Topaz suite for some time as filters from Photoshop, but they haven’t been go-to’s in my workflow).
In Topaz Studio, I selected the preset “Light sharpen contrast under the basic panel as my starting point. I adjusted the colour temperature slightly and added a subtle vignette to the image.
Sharpening was my final step, which is a little tricky when you have an image that is really noisy. I stayed within Topaz Studio and went to Detail to see what could be done.
Using Topaz Detail within Studio, I selected the micro contrast enhancement 1 preset to add a bit of sharpening to the image, without adding back a lot of the noise I got rid of in step one.The final result.
There are dozens of different ways to work on this image. I’m sure I could have done everything in Photoshop, Lightroom, On1 Photo Raw or Topaz Studio, or using a combinations of plugins like MacPhun’s Intensify and Focus or the GoogleNik filters. This was just the way I decided to work on this image, as I look to see how the new resources I have work and how to make them work together. Right now, I am doing my raw processing in On1 and using Photoshop when I want to use other filters and plugins, but I can’t say I have any real sort of workflow using these new tools. It’s all a work in progress 🙂
Let me know if you like the Before and After posts; I’ve done one previously also working on a seriously noisy image. You can find that here if you are interested (and I must say, looking back at that image, the workflow I used here yielded much better results!)
The photo challenge theme for this week is waiting… showing the moments before the action. Many of the wild animals that I love to watch so much are incredibly masterful at waiting. Lions lounge around most of the day conserving energy, and then only truly pursue a hunt when the prey is in the correct range. Leopards and cheetah are much the same. Spending time on safari, you must learn to be comfortable with waiting as well. More often than not, you’ll be spending time with animals while they are in their waiting periods; it’s certainly not all action with cheetahs taking down gazelle at full speed like you see on the wildlife documentaries. But even so, there’s no other place I’d rather be 🙂
I hope you enjoy my take on waiting.
One of the wild dog pack members, watching the road and awaiting further instructions from the pack leader. Botswana, April 2017.A leopard pauses on his afternoon rounds, listening perhaps for the sounds of other leopards nearby, or prey is the distance. He was very deliberate in his patrol, often pausing to listen, then make a slight correction to the direction he was heading. Botswana, April 2017.A lioness looks off into the distance, towards a herd of impala and zebra. She’s wasn’t making a move at this time, as the herd had spotted her, and pursuit would have been futile. Much better to watch, and wait. South Africa, May 2017.
It’s difficult to distill the last few days of my trip into a few paragraphs, because we saw so much, and had so many amazing and memorable moments, that I don’t really know how to explain it all and frankly, I don’t know if I even have the words to properly convey how it all felt. Returning to Londolozi Tree Camp felt like a homecoming. We were warmly welcomed with hugs, had the chance to reconnect with many familiar faces and were able to relax in what is, without a doubt, our very favourite place on the planet.
We were surprised from the outset, as we had requested our ranger from our previous trip, Dave, when we booked the trip, but then found out he was leaving Londolozi to take some time to travel. I thought the dates were such that he would be finished just before we arrived, but it turned out we were his last clients, and we had three wonderful days with him and his tracker, Judas, to explore the property. Since we had been on safari with Dave before, he knew exactly what we liked, which was to head out and see what happens, and we did just that. At the end of our time, Dave said he figured he had the 6 best consecutive drives of his career. The experiences we had were just that good.
I will be sharing loads more photos from my time at Londolozi in future posts, but for now, here are a few of the memorable moments from the last stop on my African adventure.
Our first game drive, we ended up amongst two male leopards in a territory battle! It was definitely reminiscent of our very first trip to Africa, when we experienced the same thing on Londolozi (with different leopards, of course). We had some crazy 4×4 trekking through the bush, watched and listened to the posturing leopards until the sun was going down, and then went for a leisurely drinks stop before making our way back to camp.
The Flat Rock male leopard walking through the tall grass as the sun was setting. The territory battle was definitely not over at that point.
The next morning we headed out and found ourselves with two female and one male lion, and listened to the male roaring away the morning, calling to his brother who was some distance away. His brother was injured with a broken leg, and sadly, I heard has since died during a conflict with rival lions.
Our second afternoon game drive found us having a leisurely drive around the reserve, until we heard on the radio that a lioness had been found on a giraffe kill with her two tiny cubs. As this was Dave’s favourite lioness, we went to the sighting, and as it started to grow dark, we watched the tiny cubs scampering around under the bushes, and gnawing on the giraffe’s horns and ears. The Mom, the Tsalala tailless lioness, is one that I recall seeing on my previous trip to Londolozi.
Very challenging conditions for capturing photographs. I shot these at ISO 25,600 and still could have used a bit more light!
Our second morning drive, we ended up on some tracks of a leopard that was denning with tiny cubs that no one had seen, but didn’t end up finding her. We did end up seeing another leopard and her two cubs though, and spent an enjoyable morning watching the cubs playing. They spent ages scampering around a swampy pool, climbing on fallen trees, and attacking each other with paw swipes and tail bites. We were even entertained watching Mom join in on the action, chasing the cubs around and pouncing through the grass at them.
The little cub at the back always seemed to be the instigator, biting and swiping at its sibling.The cubs look off towards where Mom was stationed, briefly checking in before beginning the chase each other around the tree.
Our third afternoon drive was a quiet affair at the start; we enjoyed the scenery and some general game, but then came across tracks of the female leopard with tiny cubs, and began looking further to see if we could find a sign of her. Another vehicle ended up having the sighting of a lifetime, seeing her a couple hundred meters from where we were looking, moving one of her cubs to a new den site. We were able to drive past and see her moving one of the cubs within the den, and then set off on her hunt. Photographically, there isn’t much to show for it, but I have memories that will last forever. After that beautiful moment, we thought we were stopping for a sundowner drink, but instead found a private bush barbecue set up for us in a dry riverbed. Two of the camp managers, Phil and Will, were making us a gourmet BBQ dinner, while we enjoyed craft beers in the bush and lots of wonderful conversation. We headed back to camp that evening driving beneath a blanket of stars. It was truly a magical last night in the bush.
Our final game drive, we set out from camp and quickly came upon a small herd of elephants that had found an underground water pipe and dug it up to have a drink. Here I had an experience with the elephants that is almost hard for me to describe. There was a young calf, probably a year old, drinking with his Mom, and he walked over to the vehicle on three different occasions, stood right next to me, and stared into my eyes. The look on his face could only be described as smiling. He didn’t pay attention to anyone else in the vehicle, and went back to his Mom after each visit. I could have reached out and touch his trunk or his ear, he was so close to me. I was awed after this, and then about 10 minutes later, another mother came by with a calf even younger, and after he took a drink, he came right over to the vehicle and looked into my eyes. He too looked as if he was smiling, and then headed back to his Mom. I’ve always felt very drawn to elephants and consider them to be a spirit animal for me, so this had to be one of the highlights of any game drive I have been on.
When the young elephant kept approaching me, I could barely get a photo he was so close. And frankly, I didn’t want to ruin the moment. Here is the older of the two, tucked behind Mom’s trunk.
After my experience with the elephants, I didn’t think that things could get any better. Dave laughed and suggested we go look for Tamboti, the leopard we caught a glimpse of the night before, so we headed off to the area that we saw her in previously. And there we saw her, carrying one of her cubs, moving den sites again. We were able to follow her, find the location of the new den, and spend time watching the two tiny leopards peek out from the hollow log and play with each other and their Mom on the grass outside. Seeing a leopard at all is an amazing experience, but to see how carefully the Mom walked along with her baby, occasionally setting it down to rest, was a magical experience. The location we were in was very dense, so after hundreds of rapid fire photographs, we moved off to allow another vehicle the opportunity to spend time with the cubs before they settled down to sleep.
This was a dream sighting for our ranger, Dave. I don’t know if I was happy because I was getting to experience this, or happy because I got to watch him experience this sighting. I think it is a bit of both, but to see someone else’s thrill at a sighting, especially when they spend every day in the bush, is truly special.Tamboti moving so carefully through the bush with her cub.Dave could not have gotten our vehicle in better position. Amazing!Two tiny faces peeking out from the new den.
You’d think that would be enough, but we still had one more sighting on that morning drive. We heard another vehicle was following up on lions calling in another area of the reserve, so we went over to give assistance. It didn’t take very long before we found a male and female lion, obviously a mating couple, each lazing about on their own termite mound. They periodically got up and moved to new spots and we followed along. At one point, we parked up against a termite mound to watch them walking down the road towards us, and they proceeded to climb onto the termite mound and mate in front of our vehicle. They were about 2-3 feet from the tracker’s seat (luckily he was in the back with us).
This was just before the bout of mating; I was sitting behind the Dave, who you can see was getting eyed up by this lion. He walked past the vehicle so close, I could have reached out and touched his mane.
It was bittersweet having our last breakfast before heading to the airstrip and beginning our journey back home. The only way I can make myself get on the plane, is to know in my heart that I will be back to the beauty of Southern Africa again sometime (hopefully soon!)
I can say in all honesty, if I could only pick one place to return to for the rest of my life, it would be Londolozi. It is a truly special place for so much more than just the animal sightings.
It was a soggy day flying from Phinda to Ngala, which was my second to last stop on my trip. It’s tough thought o be too upset about rain in locations where it has been desperately needed for years, and besides, we only had two days with any rain over a four week period, which is pretty fantastic from a sightseeing perspective (especially in an open vehicle). I have spent time at Ngala previously (you can check out some past highlights here if you want).
We only had two days at the camp, but they were filled with lots of laughs with our wonderful ranger Lee-Anne, some fantastic game viewing, and really great meals. The first game drive was a soggy one, but we didn’t let that get our spirits down, and we ended up seeing both lion and leopard on the same game drive – not too shabby!
I hope you enjoy a small selection of the photos that I took at this beautiful property.
Not the most amazing image, but what a sight to see. I was in the furthest tent from the main lodge, and as I left my room to head over for some lunch, I noticed a pair of elephants climbing the banks on the opposite side of the dry riverbed. Here one of them pauses to dig a bit in the dirt on the side of the steep bank.Fabulous things happen when you follow the clues provided by nature, rather than having a hard and fast plan as to what needs to be seen. Lee-Anne spotted a large number of vultures moving swiftly in one direction, so we followed the birds and found this young male leopard with an impala kill.Family greetings, lion style. I chose monochrome for this image as I feel it really highlights how well these big cats can blend into the bushes. I’m sure you didn’t notice the two cats blurred in the background, and you probably wouldn’t see them if driving past on the road either. Animals have wonderful ways to camouflage themselves.After the rainstorm, we woke up to a chilly morning and this grey go-away bird had not warmed up enough yet to fly. He was perched on a branch right next to the road, allowing me to get a few nice shots.If ever a face said “Non shall pass” this is it. This old bull was lying in our pathway through the riverbed, but we certainly were not going to try and make him move. Our vehicle may have been bigger, but we went around.A lioness looks on towards a herd of zebra and impala. The herd saw her immediately, so there was no point in moving any closer.A small dam and the dissipating clouds from an early morning storm.An amazing sky during a small morning rain shower. We had some rain, and amazing sunrise and double rainbows all at one time.
After my time in Botswana, we finished out our trip at three different camps in South Africa. All were places we had visited previously and liked so much we wanted to return to experience them again.
Travelling from the Okavango Delta to the Durban area in South Africa is pretty much a full day event. We didn’t have time for a morning game drive, so we had an early breakfast and took a leisurely 1 1/2 hour drive to the airstrip that was being used by Machaba while the local strip was flooded. From camp we flew to Maun, onwards to Johannesburg and then finally into Durban, arriving around 9pm. Rather than take another flight, we had a driving transfer from Durban to Phinda, around a 2 1/2 hour drive, that left our hotel around 10 the next morning.
Arriving at Vlei lodge, we were greeted like family with welcoming hugs from Kathryn, the camp manager (whom we had also met during our previous stay). We also had a chance to reconnect with the wonderful chef Happiness, who even asked us for our favourite items from the previous stay, so she could make sure they were on the menu during our visit.
Unlike the lodges we visited later that were adjacent to Kruger, Phinda is a fully fenced reserve, and as such have taken the difficult decision to de-horn the rhino population in an effort to curb poaching. With horns or without, rhino are such impressive creatures to come across. It is just so sad that it has come to this in order to keep them safe. Like the properties in both Namibia and Botswana, Phinda had received an abundance of rain during the rainy season, after several years of rather severe drought. The abundance of food and water meant that general game were much more scattered, and often the game drives were quite for periods when we didn’t see any animals around. We did have one epic morning drive though filled with fun elephant encounters as well as several groups of rhino.
Phinda is definitely a good place to go if you are interested in seeing cheetah. We saw 6 different cheetah during our stay, including a mom with 3 cubs.
Here are a few of my images from my recent visit to Phinda. If you are interested, you can find some from my previous visit here and here.
A nightjar spotted by our guide Dumi on the way back to camp one evening. This was the first time I had a chance to photograph one of these birds. As with anything, a bit more practice required!We spotted this herd of zebra, along with a large number of wildebeest on an afternoon game drive. It was a very blustery day, and the herd seemed quite on edge.This group of five de-horned white rhino just wasn’t interested in cooperating and facing the same way for a photograph.We spent time with a breeding herd at the water hole on a morning game drive. Close encounters of the elephant variety! This guy was on route to the water hole, and wasn’t about to let our driving on the road slow down his pace.We found these cheetah cubs and their mother later on the windy afternoon. They too were on edge and on high alert.Our first afternoon game drive, we came across three lionesses wandering down the road.Being investigated by one of the elephants at the watering hole.A yellow-throated long claw found on a foggy morning game drive.Drink in hand and a full moon rising. This was a lovely break on what was otherwise a rather quiet game drive, where we saw only a few small groups of general game like impala and zebra.
The photo challenge prompt of the week is textures. There are a lot of directions that this can be taken; I decided on a combination of animals in their environment and animal portraits.
I hope you enjoy my take on texture.
Agama Lizard, Kenya, September 2016. I like the contrast of the colourful, scaly agama lizard against the drab brown tree trunk and the spiky thorn branches.A lioness walks through the desert in Namibia, April, 2017. Desert environments can seem one dimensional from a distance, but they are full of an amazing variety of textures. Sharp rocky outcrops, weathered wood, shifting sand, sparse vegetation and of course, the landscape occasionally dotted with animals and birds.Dense fog, dry grass, the pitted sides of a termite mound. Oh, and a cheetah too 🙂 South Africa, May 2017Soft fur, spiky whiskers and a whole lot of slippery slime. A leopard cub plays in a very swampy area of the bush. South Africa, May 2017.The wrinkly skin of the elephant is mimicked in the tree branch shadows falling above the eye and on the ear. Kenya, September 2016.
I wish I had an extra couple hours in each day; then I would have the free time to figure out how to extract the audio from some clips I have of this lion and his brother roaring into the night. Our vehicle was parked between the two, and being amongst lions roaring in surround sound is a heart-stopping experience. Even the cubs playing nearby stopped in their tracks! But alas, video isn’t something I’ve invested time in, so you’ll just have to make due with an image instead. But it’s a pretty nice image, if I do say so myself.
I’m busily working behind the scenes trying to get my photos catalogued and rated so I can started the editing process. Good thing I still have a stock pile of edited images that I can share.
Today, some of my artistic impression images.
I hope you enjoy, and wishing everyone a fantastic week ahead.
Last week I shared some images from my time in Ishasha, and this week, a mixed bag of images from my time in the Masai Mara region of Kenya.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend ahead!
A zebra giving me a quick stare down. I find it is not too often that I get the opportunity to photograph a zebra straight on, as usually they turn away from the camera.A lion cub giving us the once over, before moving off to play with its sibling and a stick!A good 50% of the elephants that passed by our vehicle stopped and used this tree as a scratching post.Mama topi with a very small baby.A cheetah on a wildebeest kill. The weather was just calming after a torrential downpour, which might account for the miserable look on this cheetah’s face. That, or the vultures hanging around nearby.
I decided on a bit of a mixed bag this week from my time in Kenya.
Wishing everyone a wonderful week ahead.
A lion contemplating whether to get up, or go back to sleep. Sleep won, at least while we were there.A group of wildebeest make it to the banks of the river, avoiding the crocodiles and being trampled.One elephant of a large herd that passed through the Ol Kinyei Conservancy near the Masai Mara. It was such a joy to spend time with so many ellies.A small group of wildebeest crossing a part of the Amboseli marsh.A lioness on patrol in the Mara.
