Tag: wildlife

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Ten Days!

I was very busy since I returned from the Drakensberg and had little time for posts.

This is a slide show of some of the images I took in the last ten days.

The last picture in the show was taken with a Seestar telescope. It is an image of the sun!

If you want to read more of my stories and see more of my pictures, you should visit my blog at https://sperka.info/blog/

#amazingwildlife #africansafari #safarigetaway #christiansperkaphotography #thandasafari #big5 #gamereserve #wildlifephotography #learnphotography

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Pure Luck and a Smart Phone

When I sent this picture (which I took this evening on my way home) to a friend, he responded with ‘this is Photoshop, isn’t it’.

Well, the answer is that it is not! Our dominant male lion raised his head from sleeping just as the sun had set. I was in the right place at the right time!

This picture was taken with my iPhone 14 Pro Max and was edited with the standard iPhone tools.

Here are the steps taken:

1 – The picture was first cropped to 9:16 (portrait).

Steps: Photos, Select Picture, Edit, Crop, Pre-Sets, 9:16, Portrait, Zoom In, Done.

2 – Then the shadows were brightened as much as possible.

Steps: Photos, Select Picture, Edit, Adjust, Shadows, +100, Done.

3 – A slight vignette (darken the ‘frame’) was then added.

Steps: Photos, Select Picture, Edit, Adjust, Vignette, +10(black), Fine.

I have also posted the original image so you can see the difference to the edited version.

Technical data: Apple 14 Pro Max | Main Camera 24mm | ISO 64 | 1/350sec | f1.8 | ev+0 | 48mm

#amazingwildlife #africansafari #safarigetaway #christiansperkaphotography #thandasafari #big5 #gamereserve #wildlifephotography #learnphotography

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Worship the Sun!

Terrapins are the ultimate sun worshippers. On a nice warm day, they will pile up on top of one another to catch the sun’s rays and at the same time exchange body heat (retain as much heat as possible to stay warm).

A few days ago, I took this picture of nine of these ‘freshwater turtles’ on a piece of wood in the middle of one of Thanda Safari’s waterholes.

Technical data: Canon R6 with RF lens f/11 800mm | ISO 4000 | 1/500 sec | EV -1 | WB 6500K | AV Mode | Cropped to 10% of the original image.

#amazingwildlife #africansafari #safarigetaway #christiansperkaphotography #thandasafari #big5 #gamereserve #wildlifephotography #learnphotography

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Iconic!

One of the most iconic birds representing Africa is the African Fish Eagle. This large and beautiful bird of prey has a very distinctive call to communicate with other members of its species.

They resemble the American Bald Eagle as they are part of the same bird family (Accipitridae).

The African Fish Eagle is typically larger in size compared to the Bald Eagle. The African Fish Eagle has a wingspan of up to 8 feet (2.4 meters) and a body length of around 3 feet (0.9 meters). In comparison, the Bald Eagle has a wingspan of around 6.5 to 7.5 feet (2 to 2.3 meters) and a body length of about 2.5 to 3 feet (0.76 to 0.91 meters).

I took this picture of an African Fish Eagle landing on a tree stump at the Falcon Ridge Bird of Prey Centre in the Drakensberg. A place well worth visiting!

Technical data: Canon R6 with RF lens f4-6.3/24-240mm | ISO 800 | 1/2000sec | f4.5 | ev+2 | 62mm | WB 6500K | AV Mode | Crop to 60% of original image

#amazingwildlife #africansafari #safarigetaway #christiansperkaphotography #thandasafari #big5 #gamereserve #wildlifephotography #learnphotography

Technical data: Canon R6 with RF lens f11/800mm | ISO 3200 | 1/2000sec | ev+1.5 | WB 6500K | AV Mode
Technical data: Canon R6 with RF lens f11/800mm | ISO 1000 | 1/2000sec | ev+/-0| WB 6500K | AV Mode
Technical data: Canon R6 with RF lens f11/800mm | ISO 640 | 1/500sec | ev+1.5 | WB 6500K | AV Mode
Technical data: Canon R6 with RF lens f11/800mm | ISO 1250 | 1/2000sec | ev-0.5 | WB 6500K | AV Mode
Technical data: Canon R6 with RF lens f11/800mm | ISO 4000 | 1/2000sec | ev+0.5 | WB 6500K | AV Mode

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The last day…

Today was my last full day of my Drakensberg trip. I am staying the last night at Cleopatra Mountain Farmhouse.

I will return to Umhlanga tomorrow afternoon, and back to Thanda on Sunday morning.

A full picture report about my five day visit to this very special KwaZulu Natal region will follow soon!

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Up high!

I am currently exploring the Drakensberg Mountains area. Today, I walked from the Giants Castle Resort to some caves with prehistoric San rock paintings. I enjoyed the one-hour hike to get there, even if some of the track was a bit challenging.

On the way, I took a few pictures of some Common Elands. This largest living antelope species in Southern Africa likes higher altitudes.

Adult females (as in this picture) usually weigh around 400kg (~990lbs), whereas males can get up to 900kg (~1980lbs).

I saw four cows today, but only this one stood still long enough for me to get a good picture.

Technical data: Canon R6 with RF lens f4-6.3/24-240mm | ISO 100 | 1/750 sec | f6.3 | EV -0.5 | 240mm | WB 6500K | AV Mode | Crop to 25% of the original image

#amazingwildlife #africansafari #safarigetaway #christiansperkaphotography #big5 #gamereserve #wildlifephotography #learnphotography

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Bathtub!

I rescued this Eastern Tiger Snake from a bathtub and released it back into the wild in our garden.

This specimen was in the process of shedding its skin (ecdysis). This process allows the snake to grow and remove any parasites which may have attached themselves to the skin.

Eastern Tiger Snakes are only mildly venomous and are no danger to Humans.

Before letting it go I placed it in a Coral tree and used it as a photo model. These are some of the images from the photo shoot.

If you want to read more of my stories and see more of my pictures, you should visit my blog at https://sperka.info/blog/

#amazingwildlife #africansafari #safarigetaway #christiansperkaphotography #thandasafari #big5 #gamereserve #wildlifephotography #learnphotography

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Off into the berg…

Today, I am departing for a brief excursion into the Drakensberg Mountains. I plan to explore some new locations and attend two concerts featuring the renowned Drakensberg Boys Choir.

Before my departure, I thought I share a short slide show with some of my favorite photographs captured at Thanda and Pakamisa over the past three weeks.

I hope you will like the combination of wildlife, scenery, and night skies.

If you want to read more of my stories and see more of my pictures, you should visit my blog at https://sperka.info/blog/

#amazingwildlife #africansafari #safarigetaway #christiansperkaphotography #thandasafari #big5 #gamereserve #wildlifephotography #learnphotography

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Sun, Moon, and Stars

Thanda Safari recently purchased a Seestar S50, an intelligent astronomical telescope. I like working with it, as requires very little setup and lets me display/save the magnified stellar objects’ images on my iPad.

Besides looking at nebulas and other deep space objects it works very well for moon observation and sun observation (using a special filter).

This evening I took this moon picture from the Thanda House garden.

I also enjoy night sky photography. This – rather blue – milky way picture I took this morning at 5:30 before sunrise, during the nautical twilight, and just before the start of the ‘blue hour’. In this lucky shot I captured a shooting star.

Crisp winter nights are ideal for star gazing and photography. I am looking forward to some more night sessions in the upcoming winter months.

Technical data: Canon R6 with EF lens L 17-40mm | ISO 6400 | 8sec | f4 | ev+0 | 19mm | Manual focus | WB Auto | M Mode | Crop to 40% of original image

#amazingwildlife #africansafari #safarigetaway #christiansperkaphotography #thandasafari #big5 #gamereserve #wildlifephotography #learnphotography

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The Answer!

As some of you have reminded me that I never provided the answer to my Lion quiz from 9 April, I would like to apologize for the delay. https://sperka.info/2024/04/09/noses/

Zanele, the oldest Lioness at Thanda Safari at 15 years old, was located in the top-right corner of the picture.

This is the portrait I captured of her on that day.

Technical data: Canon R6 with RF lens f/11 800mm | ISO 3200 | 1/750sec | EV +0 | WB 6500K | AV Mode | Image cropped to 40% of the original size.

#amazingwildlife #africansafari #safarigetaway #christiansperkaphotography #thandasafari #big5 #gamereserve #wildlifephotography #learnphotography

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