About the Author

David Dampier

Financial Manager

David left the bright lights of Johannesburg and a promising career as a chartered accountant to join the Londolozi Ranging team in 2009. After three years spent as a guide, during which he built up a formidable reputation as one of Londolozi's top ...

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12 Comments

on The Leopards of Londolozi # 7

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Would be nice to see the variety of animals in the area, rather than just as ‘whats for lunch’!

Hi Claire, you might enjoy our Week in Pictures segment to the blog. You will see a broader variety of animals in the area as opposed to strictly leopards which we put via this post. – http://blog.londolozi.com/category/friday-photography/

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Should have added, I love the daily blog, and also the standard of photos, the techie bit, is also very helpful!

Member
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Great shots Doyle!
The good news is that the Tutlwa female with both her cubs was found by ranger Melvin Sambo last night to the South of the Sand River, in Londolozi’s western sector. Both cubs apparently looked fit and healthy, although one of the cubs was slightly more nervous of the vehicle than the other, which was probably the reason only one was sighted at her kill in the above series of photos…

what software do you use to post-process/remove noise? what camera do you use (mostly)

debby

Hi Debby,

An easy trick for reducing noise in photoshop is to do the following once you have opened up your image:

Filter
Noise / Reduce Noise
Set strength to around 6 or 7, preserve details to around 50% (depending on your image), reduce color noise around 60% (once again depending on image) and sharpen details to around 30%.

This should give you a basic filter which limits noise on your pictures and gives them a cleaner look and feel. The ratios are all relative and so if you find the above settings really aren’t working, just adjust them accordingly until you find something that works for you.

Let me know how it goes!

Rich

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Hi Debbie
I use a Nikon D80 camera and a 80-200mm lens, also Nikon. For procesing, I use Adobe Photoshop CS3. Hope that helps!

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We’ll be arriving at Londolozi in 4 weeks. If the photographs posted the past few weeks are indicative of what we might view, it will be amazing. We’re excited to have the opportunity to view these magnificent creatures. We hope to view many others.

Fantastic to hear Ron! As with all safaris, each day is a new mystery and you never know what sightings you will experience. I can assure you, however, that you are visiting at a fantastic time of the year and the game viewing has been brilliant over the last few weeks. Looking forward to sharing your excitement with you and having you in this special place. Thanks for your comments. Rich

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Hi Richard

really enjoy my daily visit to the bush although makes me very envious. Reading your camera settings am i correct in assuming you are largely shooting aperture priority and allowing your camera to set shutter speed. Also i find it very interesting you are maximum zoom 200mm. i always figured to get the quality of shots you produce a much longer focal length would be required maybe up to 400mm

Member
Guest

Hi Warren

You are 100% correct in that I am shooting on aperture priority. In the end it’s down to personal preference, but it is the one I was first taught and find most useful. It allows you to set aperture, ISO and exposure compensation-taking this into account the camera then automatically sets shutter speed.

On the zoom, we are fortunate enough to be able to view the animals at Londolozi from a relatively close distance, thanks to many years of moving around the animals in a sensitive way, which has allowed them to become relaxed in the presence of vehicles. I chose the 200mm lens mainly due to the ability to have a 2.8 aperture. Many of the animals are active mostly during the cooler hours of the day, which often results in low light conditions. This is where the 2.8 aperture really helps. Anything with a larger focal length and 2.8 aperture is usually very large and heavy, very very expensive and will be a prime lens (i.e it is at a fixed focal length with no ability to zoom in or out.) If you are interested in photographing birds at all though, then in most situations a 200mm will not be sufficient.

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I read something exactly similar written by nikhil nagle. Ex citigroup MD… Would it have been the same sighting Sanjana ? His photos were really great too.. Guess u must have learnt from him on this trip.. He sent his travelogue separately to a lot of us on email.. Maybe that should be put up here as well

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