Magazine articles - Kaleel Zibe

How to use Auto ISO

Kaleel — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 08:07:54 +0000

Auto ISO is something that, until I wrote this article, I simply didn’t use. Now I find it indispensable: the ability to use ISO as a third control (in addition to aperture and shutter speed) that automatically adjusts based on the available light – particularly in manual exposure mode – has change the way I shoot.

This article was written for my regular column at Landscape Photography Magazine when it still had a wildlife photography section. You can download the full PDF here: LPM Auto ISO article

Recently, whilst photographing gannets with friends at Bempton Cliffs in North Yorkshire in England, the issue of Auto ISO cropped up again. I felt I should probably give it another go, and the aspect that finally won me around was the discovery that Auto ISO works extremely well in manual exposure mode.

As a post-script to this article, I’ve taught a number of people with Canon cameras, some of which don’t have the ability to set the exposure compensation independently whilst in Auto ISO mode. This is a real pain and I don’t know of a solution to it. If you do, please let me know. The newer Canons don’t seem to have this problem.

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Is Professional Photography Gear Worth The Money?

Kaleel — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 14:07:51 +0000

In this short article for Landscape Photography Magazine (when it had a wildlife photography section), I contemplate whether pro gear really is worth the money. You can download the PDF for free here: LPM Is Pro Gear Really Worth The Money?

The latest pro-specification DSLRs are bristling with features that sometimes make even a technophile like me scratch his head in puzzlement and wonder. However, top of my ‘important list’ as a nature photographer is the incredible ability of sensors to control noise at high ISO values in extremely low light, compared with cameras further down the food chain. This can mean the difference between getting the image and ruining it with camera shake or noise. I photographed a series of images recently of a wild lioness having her teeth checked in near darkness at ISO 20,000 and the results were gratifyingly clean.

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Bird Photography

Kaleel — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 13:57:02 +0000

In this article for Landscape Photography Magazine (when it had a wildlife photography section) I looked at how to get the best out of bird photography. You can download a PDF of the full article for free here: LPM Bird Photography

I was a reluctant birder. It took my first safari trip to Africa in 2008 to truly appreciate what birds really look like. I know that sounds absurd, but I had never really considered how subtly beautiful they are until I started taking pictures of brightly coloured rollers and bee-eaters in between the usual big game and actually looking properly at the shots I had of these amazing creatures. I brought that enthusiasm back home with me and gradually started to understand the fascination of birds and how to photograph them, even if our native avifauna is – at a distance at least – rather more dour.

The post Bird Photography first appeared on Kaleel Zibe.

Wild Angle – Shooting Wildlife Wide

Kaleel — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 13:40:27 +0000

Landscape photography is all about short focal lengths for wide vistas and wildlife photography requires gargantuan lenses that can pick out a grain of sand on Mars. There you go, photography neatly segregated.

In this article for Landscape Photography Magazine (when it had a wildlife photography section), I explored the use of wide lenses for creative wildlife images.

In the same way that landscape photography does not use short lenses exclusively, wildlife photography should not always be about more lens glass than the photographer’s bodyweight. While it is true that most wildlife is not especially happy about a photographer poking a lens up its nose, wide angle photography is well worth exploring in certain circumstances…

You can download the full article for free as a PDF here: LPM Wide Angle Wildlife

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The Psychology of Sunrise

Kaleel — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 13:12:35 +0000

A while ago I wrote a piece for Landscape Photography Magazine exploring the reasons that sunrise and sunset mean so much to us as photographers and how to get the best out of photographing in the fantastic light available at these times.

“I think I have turned into one of my children. Probably my wife would say I’ve always been a big kid anyway, but let me put that aside for a moment and address the issue: I have started, to my own exasperation, asking repeatedly, “Yes, but why?” If you have children, or nephews and nieces, you will recognise this inquisition and may have answered it thus: “Just, because, ok”? I know I have been guilty. The thing that has made me ask questions is our emotional reaction to sunrise and sunset. But I cannot say, “Just because” to myself; so I will have to write the rest of the article instead. As photographers you have crossed paths with the phrase “golden hour”, or one of its variants, which refers to the glorious light we experience at sunrise and sunset; given a clear enough sky to actually see it of course. I have been as seduced as anyone by the warm light of the sun’s tendrils caressing the dawn landscape or the orange-red sunset setting fire to the sky around brooding, silhouetted hills. The light at these precious times of day makes us feel good. The question is, why?”…

You can now download the full article for free here: LPM Psycho Sunrise.

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Costa Rica – Corcovado NP

Kaleel — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 11:35:30 +0000

I followed this white-headed capuchin monkey for a while in forest near my accommodation at Drake Bay, Corcovado National Park

Exactly a year ago, I arrived in Costa Rica’s steamy, tropical bird and animal paradise. UK weather was pants, as it usually is at this time of year and looking out of the window today, yep, I confirm it’s pants again today. Stopping off via New York was a very chilly experience and the contrast when arriving in sunny, warm Central America was stark and welcome from the drabness I’d left behind.

Last year I wrote three blogs about my trip to Costa Rica (part 1, part 2, part 3) detailing the first two parts of the trip in Northern Costa Rica near the Nicaraguan border and subsequently the quest for the resplendent quetzal in Monte verde. I never did get around to the final part of the journey, which was spent in an idyllic location in the south west of the country: Corcovado National Park.

Wild Planet Photo Magazine asked me to write an article for them on the Corcovado National Park, so that seemed a natural way of rounding off the story of my thoroughly enjoyable sojourn in Latin America’s biological jewel, which is reputed to have the highest density of species anywhere on the planet.

My coastal location included beautiful marine habitat with whales and dolphins playing in the azure water in front of our boat. Deserted sandy beaches with hermit crabs backed onto lush palm forests, which in turn developed into various types of thick forest and river systems that harbour all manner of varied creatures. I should say that those deserted sandy beaches were a little more hair raising whenI considered that there were bull sharks close in to shore. This type of shark is very aggressive and comes close to the shore, waiting until the tide lets them into the rivers to hunt for fresh-water fish. A dip to cool off wasn’t an option for me. I got maybe knee deep before chickening out. I spent some time with my guide at a river mouth watching the various animals and birds, including the black fins of bull sharks as they entered the river. Chilling but thrilling. American crocodiles also peppered the river-banks, so perhaps not a place to skinny dip either.

Encountering monkeys was quite common and I had a chance to get some nice facial expressions on the capuchins. As long as I kept a certain distance, they were fine with me following them around.

I even got a chance encounter with a rare Baird’s tapir, the largest tapir in the world. This creature the size of a cow and with the smell of a horse munched its way through the vegetation as I excitedly shot a sequence of pictures.

You may already be aware about the abundance of bird life in Costa Rica. The place is famous with birders. There is such a variety of birds that it seems everywhere you turn, there’s a new species vying for your attention. I particularly loved the rufous-tailed jacamar, which seem to be the archetypical angry bird as it stared at me. I’ve left the humming birds to a previous Wild Planet article and have blogged about plenty of toucans already, so here are the creatures of Corcovado National Park.

Dive in to the 18 page article and enjoy

Pura vida mi amigos!

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Flight of the Hummingbird

Kaleel — Tue, 17 Jun 2014 18:00:28 +0000

July 2014 cover – my green-breasted mango hummer!

Did you know that hummingbirds can fly sideways, backwards and even upside down? And that they effectively go into hibernation every night to save energy?

Hummingbirds are among the most colourful species in the wild kingdom, yet far from easy to photograph. Kaleel Zibe travelled to Costa Rica to capture a bird that flies faster than autofocus…

I wouldn’t be surprised if J.K. Rowling had hummingbirds in mind when she invented Harry Potter’s quidditch snitch, such is their dizzyingly fast speed and ability to change direction at break-neck speed. These incredible creatures are a dream to watch, but a nightmare to photograph. In this article I explore some of the techniques that helped me capture images of these tiny birds in Costa Rica.

Well now, I got quite a surprise when I went to download my copy of Wild Planet Photo magazine on Sunday. I was looking forward to seeing how the article was laid out when I discovered that my photo was on the front cover! That’s my first front cover ever! Very chuffed indeed.

For the full 10 page article, please see the July 2014 edition of Wild Planet Photo magazine. Screen-shots are below.

I have various other blog posts about Costa Rica on the blog page.

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Two wildlife opinions: badger cull and critically endangered tigers

Kaleel — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 16:33:33 +0000

In December’s Wild Planet Photo Magazine I have two pieces; one on why the badger cull defies science and common sense, and the other on just how critically endangered tigers are.

The Nov, Dec and Jan issues are all free.

I’m delighted to see that the culls have failed, but will there be more? You can probably count on it.

I was asked “Which critically endangered species would you least like to see become extinct in the next 10 years?”

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Stealth Gear one man chair hide M2 field test & review

Kaleel — Fri, 08 Nov 2013 11:15:02 +0000

Hot on the heels of the Nikon D4 camera review (see previous post), I’ve also done a one person chair hide review in the same issue of the magazine. As always, completely unbiased, I own the product myself and have tested it over a long period of time. You can download the November 2013’s issue of Wild Planet Photo Magazine completely free. It has the full 3 page review.

The first three issues of this new magazine, dedicated to wildlife photography, are free to download. I’ll be writing regularly for the magazine. Get a copy now.

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Nikon D4 camera long term field test review

Kaleel — Wed, 06 Nov 2013 14:42:16 +0000

If you’re looking for an unbiased, long-term field test of a Nikon D4, look no further! I’ve owned this exceptional camera for a year and a half now and November 2013’s Wild Planet Photo Magazine has the full 14 page Nikon D4 review.

The first three issues of this new magazine, dedicated to wildlife photography, are free to download. I’ll be writing regularly for the magazine. Get a copy now.

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