This portrait of a Burchell’s zebra (Equus quagga) was taken some years ago in the Kenneth Stainbank Nature Reserve, a small, semi-urban wildlife sanctuary within the greater Durban area on South Africa’s east coast.

It was the second-last shot I took, quite late in the afternoon, so the lighting was from the side and back, putting much of the background in shadow. The result is a pleasing rim-light along the zebra’s mane and around its ears.

Camera was a Canon Digital Rebel (EOS 300D) fitted with a Canon EOS 80-200mm F2.8 zoom lens at focal length of 110mm; shutter-speed was 1/1000 at aperture of F8.

This photograph of an elephant walking across a partly dried out pan was taken in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. It was late afternoon so the slanting rays of the setting sun have bathed the background in warm light. The elephant is following a path where others have previously crossed and broken through the crusty surface of the pan.

I used a Canon EOS 400D with 70-300mm IS zoom lens at a focal length of 200mm. Aperture was F5.6, shutter speed 1/80th and ISO 200.

While driving along a dry riverbed in Botswana’s Mashatu Game Reserve we came across these two Whitefronted Bee-eaters (Merops bullockoides) perched on a twig with the riverbank in the background. This provided an attractive, sand-coloured backdrop that’s different from the usual blue sky and/or green leaves against which perching birds are normally photographed.

I used a borrowed Canon 300mm F4 image-stabilised lens with a 1.4x converter attached to my Canon EOS 450D body for the picture. Shutter speed was 1/400 sec with aperture-priority set to F8. The 300mm is an excellent lens for wildlife as it’s relatively light and not too bulky, so can be carried on a vehicle without too many hassles. Even with the converter it’s a little short for bird photography, but is great for most animal shots.

Redbilled and Yellowbilled Hornbills

I posted the above pic on my Wildlife Photography Blog yesterday and decided I like it enough to feature it here as well. There is nothing unusual about the subject – hornbills, both redbilled and yellowbilled – are common in the bushveld areas of South and southern Africa and safari visitors, once they’ve seen the first one, hardly give them another look. So it’s more the composition that appeals to me, with the prominent redbilled bird in the foreground and the others out of focus in the background but their shapes and colours sufficiently clear to make them easily recognisable.

The scientific names for the redbilled hornbill is Tockus erythrorhynchus and Tockus flavirostris for the yellowbilled. Local safari guides like to refer to them as the “flying chilli pepper” and “flying banana” respectively – certainly more descriptive for the average safari visitor! The photograph was taken in South Africa’s Kruger National Park, using a Canon EOS 400D (Digital Rebel XTi) and Canon 70-200 F2.8L IS USM lens.

Black-backed Jackal

This photo of a black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas) trotting through gold-coloured winter vegetation was taken in Mashatu Game Reserve, Botswana and originally appeared on my Wildlife Photography Blog. I used a slow shutter speed (1/30th) to blur the background and subsequently digitally “simplified” the image by removing extraneous detail, using software called Buzz Simplifier.

This software unfortunately is no longer available, but what I like about it is the way it softens the image, giving it a painterly feel, without blurring the edges, so sharp areas of the picture remain so.

I used a Canon EOS 450D (Canon Rebel XSi 12.2MP) camera with a Canon EF70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM lens at full zoom. Shutter speed was 1/30, aperture f16 and ISO of 400.