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| 09-17-2007, 10:32 PM | #31 |
| 09-18-2007, 03:47 PM | #32 |
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Like mindie said, keep 'em coming! I've done some traveling myself, but never had any desire to go to Africa, for whatever reason. Your pictures are convincing me to add it to my list!  Really great stuff! -Chris | |
| 09-18-2007, 06:17 PM | #33 |
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lol  ... Trust me ... I had no desire to go, and was pretty much guilted into going. Had it not been for the comment from my wife that I always wanted a 'real' camera and here was my justification... that tipped the scale. And I went all out (as you can see by all my acquisitions shown in my sig, all done within the month before leaving!).As I want to get in on a particular Fotki contest I'm going to jump a few days ahead to convert & post what I think to be one of the prizes of my journey ... stay tuned. I need to be done with it tonight. | |
| 09-18-2007, 09:44 PM | #34 |
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As I wanted to share one of the Cub shots in a Fotki contest, I decided I'd convert more then just them, and do a few of the momma too. The Serengeti has these huge rock outcroppings all around it called Kopjes. The lions sit ontop or them, or on the trees growing on them, and watch over their territory. As we were leaving the one large pride of lions that were laying around and munching on the Giraffe they'd just killed (pics to come in a few weeks ; not all that striking) , we came upon another kopje with this one lone female and her three cubs. One stayed by momma, while the other two were climbing up and around the cliff face behind her. I put the camera on bracket exposure and was shooting 3 images at a time. Big long prime lens + 2X TC has its disadvantages at times; wish I had a zoom ever more here to fit more of momma in the shot, or show the rock-scape behind her some. Oh well. Ultimate quality and sharpness has its downside.  So, I'm jumping ahead 3 days for the moment. I'll come back to the remainder of 07/08/17 in a few weeks to come (at the rate it's taking me to go through each day). What an incredible series, with a herd of Giraffe fighting for their pecking order (you ever see Giraffes fight?), the lions around their Giraffe kill (unrelated to the herd previously mentioned), other lions atop other kopjes, sunset, the balloon ride at dawn, and shots of sunrise. You'll just have to wait!  But for now, I give you my best 'taste' I had of the magnificent cats of the Serengeti... (very little annotation needed. Originals can be had off each image page under here: 070817 - [Cats] Serengeti National Park album | m8o | Fotki.com and like any of my pics from Tanzania you can order prints (no charge, just the cost Fotki charges).  You know I am!)      (I wasn't too nuts about the quality of pix of the cubs climbing the rock, so they're omitted, at least for now. I may add more here later)    | |
| 09-18-2007, 09:50 PM | #35 |
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This silly cub climbed up the cliff-side, onto these rocks, then didn't know how to get back down to her mother, making whimpering sounds which her mother summarily ignored.   Wants to pounce on her sister... I know it!     These two climbed to the top of the kopje, behind brush, where we lost them.  And momma just continued to pant heavily...  ...The Lions didn't get any better then that for me this whole trip.... | |
| 09-19-2007, 08:52 PM | #36 |
 Originally posted by Mechan1k  Nice shots ... I still can't believe you haven't seen the Milky Way with your naked eye before. I guess I am just used to seeing it every clear night at home. ...I take comfort in knowing I'm not alone in that case!  Yes, you are very lucky. In my case, the security guard of the 1st camp we were in, Tarangire, who patrolled the long camp along a ridge, protecting us against wild animals with a bow and arrow, had to chase me inside. I could not rip myself away from the view once I look up; my wife, she couldn't care. The guard wouldn't leave until I went inside however, for my own protection. ...I snuck out later... | |
| 06-05-2008, 08:46 PM | #37 |
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Some great shots, and like you I like the noise, dust, and heat distortion that you mentioned in one of the pictures. Makes for some real-life images. And fascinating how it wasn’t the sky in the background, but the crater wall. I didn’t know it was that steep. Are the water croc free in there ? Your overview of the plains are great too, with the little specs being the animals. You should read up on Andy Biggs and Lloyd Chambers, on stopping down lenses for wildlife shooting. Andy often goes to f/11 - f/14 on his Eos 1Ds series cameras. This will of cause make it more difficult to use your Polarise filter, and TC's, but lens will be sharper and more of the animal will be in focus. Your lens seem plenty sharp, but after reading the articles of the Pro's Andy and Lloyd; I do see their point. I love my K10, but for the cleaner high Iso, the K20 is a better choice, and why Wim brought one or two for his Africa trip. Great stories to follow your pictures, and though I've seen many Africa images, I learned more about the place from your photos Originally posted by m8o  (which do you prefer? eyes of the 2nd are caught pretty well) Hope the lion cup made it down. Looking forward to your future trips Edit : Here is another Pentax user's trip to Africa : Africa | Photo Gallery I think he brought two K20, can't remember Last edited by Jonson PL; 06-05-2008 at 08:56 PM. | |
| 06-20-2008, 07:33 PM | #38 |
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Jonson, thanx for your post and thoughts. Turns out that Baboon portrait was my only photo accepted into the PPG. Granted, I haven't tried to get many approved, but I was feeling a little to 'bold' when that was my first attempt and it was accepted. Boy was I brought down to earth however when all of my subsequent photos that had gotten glowing comments on this board were summarily declined ... :ugh:Boy, have I let this thread -- nay, my much bigger task of laboriously agonizing over the PP treatment of each image as I convert still over thousand (and a half?) more PEFs to JPG -- go for far too long. For that reason, I finally went through the 2nd day of the Ngorongoro shots, and posted about 250 new images to my Fotki gallery; actually I just realized, a bunch of Lions in the grass still to be uploaded. Too many dus, such as a lot of stinky hippos to delete that are not that well focused. So I'll be making a "Best of" album still of 08/15/2007, and posting some of them here, in a follow-up post. I don't believe there are crocs in those waters. Ngorongoro is amazing in that basically every type of environment exists in there. But I didn't see any even in the greenest wettest area. Good thing too, as it just so happens to be the place where dozens of Land Rovers stops @ noon where everyone has their box lunches, and relieve themselves in the 'latrines'. Ya, the K20D would certainly allow me to stop the lens down more. It would have helped the images in many ways, from less color fringing to better sharpness. However w/the 2x TC, and usually having very gray skies until afternoon, I really needed the wide aperture. A "Best of the Best" of 08/15/2007 series to come... And actually, the lion cubs all climbed the kopji to the top out of sight. I would have loved to have seen them up there however. | |
| 06-20-2008, 08:25 PM | #39 |
| 06-21-2008, 10:19 AM | #40 |
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cupic et al who have posted appreciation. Much thanx... I aim to please. <wink> It's been a while since I've written one of these simulated 'photojournalistic' posts. Lets see if I can get the hang of it again. Upon entering the crater, we came upon this Hawk, that did a good deal of posing for us:  As a matter of fact, it was a great day for Avians in general... (all Avians seen here: 070815 - [Avian] Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area album | m8o | Fotki.com ) If I recall, these birds mate for life? As I understand, the more colorful Male:  The less colorful Female:  What colors!  A face only a mother could love?  Some fantastic Crown Crane action...  (here's where that greater DOF would have been good, but it was quite overcast at the time)   The flamingos that become pink from their diet, weren't quite that pink here, or this time of the season...   These buggers are extremely bold at all the parking areas where people stop to eat and rest. Will not necessarily swoop down and take your lunch...   However, these WILL and DO! I saw it happen to someone right in-front of me... And then taunt you by eating the meal they just stole at the tops of the trees well out of reach.  These Tanzanian 'pheasants' were also extremely bold around the feeding hole walking by me only feet away....  ...finally, a gratuitous shot illustrating the exceptional Bokeh of the Sigma 300mm f/2.8 <wink>  Ok, gotta run for now. To say "more to come is an understatement", would be an extreme understatement! <lol> p.s. smilies removed so I could maximize images included, which max @ 15 per post. <wink> | |
| 06-21-2008, 07:39 PM | #41 |
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Along the lines of the Avians are some of my other favorites of the day, those massive flightless birds, Ostriches. Some females  (Again, that blue is not sky but rather crater wall off in the distance color shifted from the air...)  Up periscope....  And the males were doing their darnedest to attract the attention of the females   With their skin becoming a blazing red. This male suddenly broke into a running dance, shaking his vestigial wings and body in check, as well as rubbing against the ground flapping his wings. Wow, that was pretty wild. Being the looser I am I didn't get any even halfway sharp pictures of the whole showing; except this barely acceptably sharp image... Which I wouldn't otherwise share, but shared here only to illustrate the emblazoned coloring he takes on when trying to attract a mate.  Sadly for him, this 'little chickadee' wanted nothing to do with it/him as she went the other way... warning, ostrich crossing!   | |
| 06-21-2008, 08:15 PM | #42 |
| Rated: TVMA
I forgot to provide a link to all my Ostriches of that day in the post before. Here it is: 070815 - [Ostrich] Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area album | m8o | Fotki.com And along the lines of that "chicken dance" I was making mention of... let me just say there was definitely something in the air that day... and I'm not talking about just dust. I'm talk'n 'bout love!    Whoop... false start. Let's try this again...   And FTW, I kid you not...  =-=-=-=-=-=-= Malinda and Diego both saying... "Ya, whatever..."  Diego changes his tune, saying "Hmm... I got some free time..."  As Melinda exists stage right as she plays hard to get, Diego has a strange ritual to make himself more appealing  Getting back to Diego and Melinda...  Diego has a sit-down after that  HOLY CRAP! I swear I didn't realize he was sport'n a 5th leg before taking this shot.  And ironically all Melinda still has to say is "ya, whatever"...  | |
| 06-24-2008, 12:36 PM | #43 |
| Originally posted by m8o Jonson, thanx for your post and thoughts. Turns out that Baboon portrait was my only photo accepted into the PPG. Granted, I haven't tried to get many approved, but I was feeling a little to 'bold' when that was my first attempt and it was accepted. Boy was I brought down to earth however when all of my subsequent photos that had gotten glowing comments on this board were summarily declined ... :ugh:Well there is a difference between seeing an exciting thread telling about a dream vacation and with good pictures to illustrate; and then gallery material images that needs to stand on their own and be flawless in execution, composition, focus, sharpness, etc. When using a super tele lens with a TCx2, I think you need to stop down a bit; for optimum IQ, though this is more possible with K20. The user Marc has the FA* 300/2.8, and also uses it with TCx1.4 or TCx2. He felt that he got into trouble, as he wanted to stop down, but couldn’t go much more than Iso 640-800, for optimum IQ on the K10. He is using his work in high profile competitions. Here are some recent samples from him : https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/post-your-photos/26923-african-wildlife-a...4x36-hung.html He is also using the Sigma 500/4.5, and looking forward to a Pentax 400/2.8. With a 300/2.8 and a 1.4xTC, it should be possible to stop down somewhat. With a 2xTC you would need a lot of light, to stop down, or be using a K20 or upcoming models. The Pro Andy Biggs is often critical on how the tourists that he guides out in the bush, don’t stop down their fast glass; like they’ve finally bought it and want to use it to full extent. For some of your scenic overview pictures, you could for sure stop down to f/16 or f/22, since you had along a mono- or tripod. The user Mousehill was in the BBC Wildlife competition, where he got special mentioning in certain categories. I wrote to him, on some of the tips that Mark Carwardine, Chairman of the judges, gave in their February 2008 issue (p. 57) : “Then you have to be honest with yourself and edit ruthlessly. It is all too easy to become emotionally attached to certain images and this is when people tend to enter ‘almost’ shots. Resist this temptation. Just because a picture shows an endangered species that was taken on your once-in-a-lifetime holiday to the other side of the world, in the first light at 4am, while you were waist-deep in mud and being bitten my malaria-carrying mosquitoes, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s any good. The fact is mediocre shots won’t win. Be hard on yourself, is the image pin-sharp or is it slightly soft ? is the light subtle and beautiful or harsh and contrasty ? Have you captured a perfect moment or have you just missed it ? is the background clean and simple or is it spoilt by unwanted branches and other distractions ? is there an interesting symmetry to the picture or does it feel uncomfortable ? These are some of the probing questions you must ask yourself. Be a tough editor”. I like this one, I think it has potential to make it into the gallery as well. If you want hard critique, you can ask at DPr, why a series of images didn’t make it into the PPG. Not that I’m any particularly good photographer, wildlife photography just interests me a lot, and I’ve seen and read a lot about it. Looking forward to your pictures of Giraffes fighting, and from the balloon ride at dawn. Did the lions make it to the top of the rim, so as to exit the crater ? Do you have other future trips planned ? Glad to have you on the site, learned a lot from this thread. | |
| 06-24-2008, 03:01 PM | #44 |
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Thanx for your interest. I thought about re-annotating the last two posts, but did do it. I think my online gallery strips EXIF; those images are all ISO800 already actually. I set the camera there in the morning and forgot it knowing I'd need the stops to make up for the loss from the 2X TC. That's the thing about a 2X TC. ... the Sunny-16 rule becomes a Sunny-8 rule. Given you want to freeze animal movement, you tend to want to goe a faster shutter than slower. Leaving me pretty wide on the aperture. But even the 12-24mm ones (which didn't need to be) were at that high ISO. Now there's reallya place I made a mistake, setting the shutter to f/5.6. It was still a few more days before I was making less of those mistakes. As I'd thought, but the end of the trip I had a pretty good idea of how to use my gear by then.  I considered trying the one you point out. I just worry about all the color fringing/CA in the highlight edges in the OOF area on the body. Most of the images posted have some lens compensation applied. I tried all I could to compensate in Lightroom but there's still that blue @ the boundary of white & gray I couldn't "tune-out". I need Photoshop instead of Lightroom for that, I know. | |
| 06-24-2008, 03:25 PM | #45 |
| Originally posted by Jonson PL The Pro Andy Biggs is often critical on how the tourists that he guides out in the bush, don’t stop down their fast glass; like they’ve finally bought it and want to use it to full extent. I did lean towards keeping the aperture wider for both that, and to maximize OOF blur.My wife if going w/o me with her parents to China this summer. (they're getting old so they are cramming in the last of their major travel these past few years) I decided not to go because: 1) wicked hot in the summer 2) worried about pollution @ this point in time there 3) they'll be passing through as the Olympics start ... it's already crowded; will be insanely crowded. 4) It's mostly a bus tour, when not on the boat (I would have loved the 6 day on the boat part) 5) They're going on for a 3rd week to Vietnam... I had to get back to go to work. And I couldn't book my own flying arraignments or be sure of what seat I would get on the plane. You know as a single flier that I'd get stuck in the middle of 3 seats. As a 6'2" guy, middleaged and a bit overweight (not too badly thankfully) I'm not going to put myself in a position to live that misery for 12 or 15 hours. 6) Care of my 3 dogs and some issues surrounding them. ...so, no epic journey this year.  I do want to go to the Galapagos w/just the wife myself; not a tour with the in-laws.
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