Namibia - Photography Tips
The best time to photograph the dramatic desert scenery of Namibia is at sunrise and sunset, when the light changes constantly, with the dunes casting deep shadows.
The choice of the correct camera equipment and film will determine the quality of your photographs on the trip. For good photography of birds and animals, a good SLR camera and telephoto lens is necessary. A zoom lens can be extremely useful on safari and the minimum recommended size is 200mm. Consideration should be given before travelling with any lens bigger than 400 mm as most interesting shots are taken using hand held equipment. The new high-resolution digital cameras are outstanding and give great quality images, especially if you are using a digital camera body which takes normal camera lenses.
Camera bodies like the Canon D60 and 1D are superb. The advantage of digital photography is that one can get instant feedback and adjustments can be made in the field to your techniques to ensure that your photographs are the quality that you would like. Colour reversal film (slides) will give far better quality than prints.
The guides have found that they are getting the best results using Fuji film. Fuji has brought out a good high-speed film that gives good colour with very little grain (less so than any of their competitors). This is especially useful when using a big lens in low light situations. The guides' personal preference is the slower film (either 50 or 100 ASA) as this gives almost perfect quality for normal light. However, you may consider going to 200 ASA for a larger lens in low lighting conditions. The new Fuji 400, we believe is giving great results too. The only disadvantage with the low ASA film is that you need a tripod for the early morning and evening shots. A UV filter will help prevent any haze when you are taking landscape pictures.
Remember to take plenty of film/memory cards and batteries (we usually recommend you consider how many films/memory you think you need and then double it!) because they will not always be availaible at remote lodges and camps, and it is very frustrating to run out of film just as a herd of elephants comes into view!
