Competitions
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In this situation we were shooting handheld through glass with telephotos so high shutter speeds and wide lens apertures were most definitely in order. Our photographers were using 70-200mm or 70-300mm zooms and with ISO settings of at least 400, so shutter speeds were in the order of 1/500sec and more with a wide aperture. It helped that it was bright even though it was cloudy because it kept contrast down. The sun did appear from time to time though to give us some variety. Soon enough it was into the tigers’ enclosure, closing the car windows first, of course. They were busy snacking so not a great deal of movement but lots of gnawing with the occasional lifting of a majestic head. Just like snapping animals in the wild, patience is essential, so too is being ready to rattle off a series of frames when something interesting happens. It helped that our readers were equipped with high performance Samsung PRO SD cards so buffering was not an issue. VIP driver Steve did his best to get us in as close as possible, especially when the old male left his food and went for a little wander hoping to pinch another tiger’s food. That got everyone shooting quickly and his blood-stained paws made for good pictures. He gave up and went back to his own food. There are two lion enclosures, one with three cats and the other with a great many more. It is all to do with the management of different prides and in the busier enclosure, some younger animals were behind fencing. The busier enclosure also gave different shooting experiences and the chance to shoot as some of the cats wandered right up to and past our vehicle. There was some interaction too between a couple of younger cubs with the pride head and that was worth photographing. Many of the pride, though, were snoozing but even they were very photogenic. Just like snapping animals in thewild, patience is essential, so too is being ready to rattle off a series of frames
TOP “I use CF cards and this was my first time with an SD card – and the Samsung PRO card worked perfectly,” says Jayne Bond. TOP RIGHT Cuddling monkeys. “I was shooting at 10fps much of the time and there was no sign of buffering on the Samsung PRO card,” says Andy Ames. MIDDLE Patience is needed when the animals are eating and you have to be ready for a shot when they look up. LEFT Sunbathing lion by Barry Horne. “My Samsung PRO card performed brilliantly with no buffering even when shooting high speed bursts on my DSLR,” he says.
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Issue 19 | Photography News
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