How’d You Get That Shot? Wildlife Photography with Mark Manne
Elephant in Ngorongoro Crater
Photo: Mark Manne Photography
Capturing nature’s most awe-inspiring moments takes much more than good luck and a quick trigger finger. Careful planning, serious skill, and a little bit of luck are needed to create the kinds of unforgettable images that make an African safari so enticing, even from thousands of miles away. The photographs these guests snapped are so impressive, we wanted to learn more about what went into them. In this ongoing series, our most avid photographers share some of the secrets behind the stunning images that make us all wonder “How’d you get that shot?”
Photographer Mark Manne joins us today.
Mark is a food and product photographer living in Boston with his wife Jo. They took the Ultimate Tanzania Safari in January of 2024 to celebrate their ten-year wedding anniversary (delayed three years by Covid).
ABOUT THE PHOTO
What do you like about this shot?
Out of all my images from safari, this is the most majestic one. It captures this beautiful, massive creature in its natural environment, and then that animal is dwarfed in size and scope by the environment. The elephant is stunning, and the Ngorongoro Crater is amazing as well.
What type of planning was involved in order to capture this image?
I brought two lenses with me on this trip, a telephoto of 600-800MM and a 50MM. I had the telephoto on my camera for the majority of the trip to capture the animals that were further away. When we arrived in the crater, I knew I wanted to incorporate the crater in the photos so I switched to the 50 MM. We had the time to sit and watch this elephant move across the land, so I used it wisely.
Which camera did you use, and why?
I use my pro camera, a Canon R5. It is a mirrorless camera and lighter in weight. I had my standard 50mm as it is also very lightweight and has a lower aperture for photos in lower light. I don’t have a regular need for a long telephoto lens, so I rented a lens (600-800mm) just for this trip. You can do this online or investigate your local camera store.
Which settings did you use? Are there any technical tips you have for photographers who are more advanced?
A high shutter speed to capture any movement, and I recommend you play with your camera’s manual focus. While autofocus is great on modern cameras, sometimes you will have multiple animals/subjects in front of you and the camera can’t read your mind (yet 🙂).
Which tools, during either the shooting or editing process, did you use to enhance the photo?
I use a program called Lightroom Classic by Adobe. It is a post-processing program, so it allows you to do anything you could have done in an old-school dark room, and much more. For this photo I did a little bit of “dodging and burning”, I made the background and foreground a little darker, and the elephant a little brighter.
What advice do you have for safari goers who want to capture the perfect shot?
Patience, patience patience. Safari photography is very much like sports photography, you have to watch and learn to anticipate where they are going to go. Less is more when shooting. Try to be deliberate in what you are photographing, sometimes this means not looking through the camera but with your eyes first. The Thomson guides are amazing and want to help you get that shot. So if they pull over to see an animal, but you realize that having a tree in the shot may help frame it, or the sun needs to be on the other side. Ask, them to move to that spot. If they can accommodate you, they will.
What’s your favorite tip to give fellow photographers?
If you are like me, you have never photographed on safari before. Give yourself the time and grace to learn this area of expertise. Use your first few days to learn which settings work best for you and how to read the animals. Your photos from the last days will be much better than your first, when you are super excited and trying to capture everything. You will see most animals multiple times. I love this photo of this elephant but my first photo of an elephant on this safari was of one on a ridge far away. When I looked at the image post-safari, the elephant was just a grey blob in the distance.
ABOUT MARK
How many years of professional photography experience do you have?
Fourteen years of portraits and events, and four years of food and brands.
What’s your favorite thing to photograph?
Food. I love how it brings people together… and I get to taste a lot of things and go to restaurants in the Boston area.
What do you think of Tanzania or a safari as an overall photographic opportunity? What made it special to photograph?
Tanzania is magic. Everywhere you look there is something worth capturing. The animals, the landscapes, the baobab trees, the campsites, everything. The whole safari felt like an actual adventure… in a world that always seems to be getting smaller, that is rare these days.
Where can we find your work?
www.markmannephotography.com
