Well, the middle of the afternoon is not usually the best time for photos, but if that's when your safari is scheduled, that's what you have to deal with! ; Fortunately, clouds and off-and-on rain that day had kept the sun from being at its harshest. ; The heat was still there though! On this safari, the rains seem to have awakened many of the animals that often hide or lay down behind trees...many were active, and some like the secretive bongo and other antelope in the shadowy jungle areas near the beginning of the safari were making themselves available to photograph for the first time for me. ; All in all, a successful safari! ; Here's some of this trip's captures: Here are the elusive bongos...even on a bright afternoon, this forest section requires ISO800 at the least to catch these guys from the moving truck: The crocs were chilling, as usual. ; The open mouth is to help control excessive body heat: Sable antelope...the symbol of Animal Kingdom: An eland...really close: Ankole cattle...I'd be laying down too if I had those on my head in that heat!: A cute little 'Tommy' close-up: Elephant: Even the lion was up and pacing around!: Had to use 350mm of zoom and shoot fast from the moving truck to try to get a closeup of that face: Even ISO400 wasn't enough, as 1/400 couldn't stop the truck motion entirely. ; Next time, ISO800 and 1/800 at least!: Warthog: Scimitar-horned Oryx: White Rhino: Pulling back in after the safari, we parked for a bit next to the safari ride office, tucked off in the forest: And of course the Warden's post on the way back to Harambe: The Warden doesn't park very well: That was my Safari for June 09!
next time!! next time!!, i do not have even 1 shot in 10 years of a lion on it's feet, and you're fussing about the iso?? ; i refuse to believe they are not animatronics
I thought so too for a long time Gary. ; If they are animatronics, they've upgraded to V2.0, because those suckers can move around pretty well! ; Thanks Goofmick, Craig and Goofy. ; I think after the rain is a very good time to go...the animals probably don't like lying down on the wet ground right after a rain, plus the rains cool things off nicely. ; You can see there is still some spotty wetness on the rhino and elephant...we were just a few minutes after a nice storm.
Thanks Cooleo! ; It's taken many years, but I seem to be getting luckier each time with the lions. ; Persistence, and the ability to go to Disney 5 or 6 times a year, is finally paying off! ;
You said it Craig!! ; I don't care how many bumps there are or if the lions are sleeping or the driver doesn't stop at all, I just want to be on that ride and taking pictures. Nice shots Justin.
Great shots Justin! ; It seems that more and more of you all are catching that Lion up and around. ; I wonder if I will be so lucky myself.
The faster the shutter speed the better on those "jeeps". ; On my last trip, it was a bright morning which was great for for 1/1000 or better shutter speeds. ; Though the first part where the Bongos are was very dark and shadowy. ; Nice going getting that shot, Justin.
Most definitely...1/1000 is great to make sure everything is nice and sharp. ; You can get by on less, but it takes an awful good internal gyro to keep your body steady against all the truck movement, and a stabilized body or lens certainly helps a bit. ; But if the animal moves too - anything under 1/250 requires some luck. Thanks on the Bongo - that's always been a tough one...I have lots of flubbed shots in the past there where I jumped up to ISO800 and STILL didn't have enough light to shoot it. ; ISO800 plus an F2.8 zoom at the minimum is really what you need most of the time through that section, or a bit of luck (I had the luck...not the F2.8).
i think with all his trips to the world he's made friends with the operator of the animatronic lion, either that or bribery, because they do not make them stand up for me in fact i demand justin ride with me during pixelmania, just to see if it's a real lion or not
Friends in high places can definitely help! ; A little discreet call to note when I'm getting in the queue to give him time to get to the control room and turn on the electronics...so by the time my truck gets out there, he can have the lion animatronic up and moving. It's taken years of many trips to AK to befriend that lion guy. ; I'm currently working on wooing the girl who controls the cheetah animatronics. ; She's being a bit coy; I've only gotten her to raise the heads. ; I can't seem to get her to make them get up off the ground!
In late 1998 those models broke down after leaping into the woods too many times...so they put the more stationary ones on the air conditioned rock.
