Wish you were here…?
Horn of Africa
Yes, I know that most of you wildlife photographers out there would rather be in the Masai Mara than stuck at home in suburbia, but I thought I’d just make a list of a few things you could do while waiting for lockdown to come to an end…
Make some money
One of the joys of being a photographer is that you produce digital assets that can easily be processed, edited, distributed and published using a computer, tablet or smartphone.
That means lockdown offers you a great chance to investigate other avenues by which to make money:
Stock photography
Competitions
Exhibitions
Photo shoots
Lessons
Talks
Books
Photography trips (ie booking guests on safaris, say)
I saw an Expert Photography advert on Facebook and ended up writing two ebooks for them (Wonderful Wildlife and Social Success Strategies), so you never know what’s possible!
if you’d like more information on all the various options, please read my article on How to Make Money from Photography.
Publish on social media
Everyone seems to be on social media these days, but do you have professional rather than just personal accounts?
Lockdown gives you a great opportunity to come up with a proper social media strategy by answering all the major questions:
Which platforms should you use?
What is your target market?
What do you want to achieve?
How often should you publish?
What should you publish?
How much should you spend?
The basic idea is to optimise your social media output with a view to helping your overall sales and marketing effort.
Everything should be geared towards commercial success.
Yes, it’s a nice ego boost to get a few hundred ‘likes’ on Instagram, but what’s the impact on the bottom line?
You can find out more by reading my book on Social Success Strategies.
Plan a trip
Just because you can’t actually go to many places in lockdown doesn’t mean you can’t at least plan your next trip!
Where do you want to go? What do you want to see?
Whether it’s the Big Five on the plains of the Masai Mara or the jaguar in the forests of the Pantanal, this is the time to dream.
Why not take the chance to decide where you want to go, do a bit of research and maybe even book something?
The uncertainty about international travel regulations makes the timing a little tricky, but at least you’ll have something to look forward to…
Clean your kit
I suppose it’s possible that you clean your lenses with a microfibre cloth after every game drive and put them back after each photographic trip in pristine condition, but I can’t imagine that applies to many people!
Why not take advantage of lockdown to do a ‘spring clean’?
Here are a few of the things I find myself wishing I could be bothered to do:
Clean lenses and camera bodies. This is relatively easy to do with a lens cloth, a lens blower and/or a microfibre cloth. If you need a solution to remove persistent stains on the glass or plastic surfaces, please choose a specialised photographic product rather than Fairy Liquid!
Clean camera sensor. This is important and can save you hours cloning out sensor spots on your final images, but it’s not for everyone. There’s a slight risk of damaging the sensor if you don’t use the right swabs or the right liquid or the right technique, so feel free to outsource the work to a company like CameraCal. I’m actually an affiliate, so if you quote NDSAFARI01, you’ll get 5% off services including calibration, sensor cleaning, annual camera servicing, lens optimisation and camera support.
Fine tune your autofocus
I learned this lesson when I went to Svalbard and had a fantastic day shooting a mother bear and her two cubs - until I got back and realised that all my shots were too soft!
I wasn’t using a Nikon lens, and I immediately regretted it.
Someone also suggested fine-tuning the autofocus, and I’ve been careful to do that for every one of my lenses and camera bodies since then.
I used to use Reikan’s FoCal software, which involved pinning a paper target to the wall, putting my camera on a tripod and taking a series of test shots at different settings (see this DPS guide), but now I simply give everything to CameraCal!
Whichever method you choose, you’ll see exactly how much of a difference it makes when you look at the reports.
These generally consist of the series of images taken at different settings plus various charts showing the relationship between sharpness and AF fine-tune settings, and it’s great to be able to see such tangible proof of success!
Sometimes, it’s difficult to get a reliable result due to various reasons, but it’s definitely worth a go when you have time on your hands.
Review your equipment
I love technology in all facets of life, so it was inevitable that I bought just about every camera, lens, tripod and accessory I could possibly need when I first started out as a photographer!
I’ve calmed down now, but it’s still worth asking yourself what you have, what you need and how you can fill the gap.
At the moment, for instance, I have Nikon D850 and D810 camera bodies, but the D810’s frame rate, sensor size and a few other specifications lag way behind the D850’s, so I’m tempted to get the new Nikon D880 when it comes out.
That would mean a big improvement, according to the rumour mill, moving from a 36.3 MP sensor to a 61 MP sensor and from 5 fps to 14 fps!
However, I’m also unhappy with the sharpness of my Nikon 80-400mm lens.
I also have a Nikon 800mm monster that has exceptional optical quality, so maybe I’m being a bit unfair, but I’d still like to replace the zoom if I can.
Alternatively, it might just be a problem with the AF fine-tuning: bouncing around in Africa for four months in 2019 didn’t do my equipment any good, so maybe the problem will disappear if and when I get a new camera body.
Anyway, those are just the main equipment purchases I’m considering at the moment.
In your own case, now’s the time to consider what you need (as opposed to what you want!) and whether you can afford it.
If you’re a professional, you’ll have to make a hard-headed financial decision based on whether the extra lens or whatever will ‘wash its face’.
If you’re a hobbyist or ‘prosumer’, then it all depends on your budget: who says no to a brand new, top-of-the-range bit of kit?!
Just bear in mind that prices will almost certainly be lower online, and you can also save money by buying second-hand from outlets such as the London Camera Exchange on The Strand (or online).
I bought my first DSLR there, and the staff have always been very knowledgeable and helpful.
Learn as much as you can
There is a ton of information out there on the web these days, so there’s no excuse for not making the most of lockdown to learn a bit more about photography.
Andy Rouse, Mark Carwardine, Anthony Morganti and Steve Perry have all done series of educational videos, and there are plenty of digital magazines, galleries and forums to choose from:
There are also thousands of books to choose from.
Personally, I tend to prefer listening to audio books, which doesn’t quite work with photography (!), but there are plenty of ‘coffee table books’ you could buy, either to learn more about photography or just to look at the pictures.
Join a camera club
I’ve never been a ‘joiner’, but the one club I did join (apart from my golf and tennis clubs) was a camera club.
If you find the right one with a good programme of events and a number of like-minded individuals, then you can learn a lot about photography and have a good time.
I met a couple of good friends at Putney Photography Club, and it’s something we obviously have a lot more time to get involved in during lockdown - even if it’s via Zoom rather than in person…!
Book a lesson or workshop
If you’re thinking of going on a photographic trip or have just bought a new camera or lens, why not book a lesson or a photographic workshop?
I’ve come across many photographers in Africa who were using their new cameras for the first time, and it was a shame that what should have been the trip of a lifetime ended up as a very frustrating class in ‘Photography 101’…!
New cameras come with new features, new menus and new performance benchmarks, so it’s vitally important that you know them inside out before you try to use them ‘in the wild’.
Equally, photographic trips are often expensive, involving long-haul flights and accommodation that might easily be $1,000 a night.
If you’re going to get the most out of it and bring home memories to last a lifetime, it’s surely worth spending half a day with a professional to learn exactly what to do.
I give lessons myself (see Lessons page), but I’m not touting for business here - well, not much! I just want you to be able to make the most of your passion for wildlife photography.
Think global, act local
It may not be possible for you to go on your dream photographic adventure at the moment, but that doesn’t stop you from driving to your local park to shoot the deer or just taking pictures of the birds in your back garden.
I’m lucky in that I’m only a few minutes’ cycle ride away from Richmond Park and the London Wetland Centre, so I always have the option of taking pictures of the deer or the local waterfowl.
I’m reluctant to do it too often because it’s not quite the same as capturing an image of a cheetah chasing a tommie at 70mph, but it’s always an option…
Try something different
You may be a wildlife photographer like me, but that doesn’t stop you branching out.
Why not try food photography or product photography or anything else that doesn’t require you to take a long-haul flight?
If you sign up to a few photography newsletters such as the one from ePHOTOzine, you can get a different idea sent to you every week.
It may not always be your thing, but it’ll give you the chance to keep on learning and getting more familiar with your equipment.
I’ve done a few shoots for friends, including parties, a wedding and corporate work, but it doesn’t mean I’ve sold my soul to the Devil…!
If you’d like to order a framed print of one of my wildlife photographs, please visit the Prints page.
If you’d like to book a lesson or order an online photography course, please visit my Lessons and Courses pages.