HI Everyone,

We took so many pictures it will take days to get through them all. I've done a quick scan through and put up some of the better animal and scenery ones from Singita. I have not had time to go through and add captions to most of them, but I thought you'd appreciate seeing some of them.







To see what I've managed to get through so far, go here:

Animals and Scenery


Ray and I were e-mailing back and forth and we agreed that this was the best vacation ever. Looking at the photos brings back so many memories!

Mary Ellen

Those are GREAT! I'm still working on mine, too; it does take a long time.

Mary Ellen

Your photos are phenominal - great composition and light. Thank you for sharing them with us.
Did you use a point-n-shoot digital? Which kind?

Incredibly wonderful photos, Mary Ellen!

Wow, wow, WOW!!!

Those are just spectacular!

I love the mommy and me shots and the hippos!!

Gorgeous photos, Mary Ellen! As Kathy said, love the use of light! Thanks for posting those! My favorite photo is the 2nd picture you posted above with the gazelles (?).

Kathy - don't know if you noticed or not but in SnugMug, it mentions on the bottom of the photos that the photos are off a Canon Powershot S2 Is.

Masaki

Thanks everyone.

Kathy: I have a Canon S2 IS which can best be characterized as a "prosumer" camera and a little Canon Digita Elph (PowerShot SD100). The S2 IS has been replaced by the S3 IS recently. I haven't been able to justify moving to a digital SLR because I just don't take that many photos. The S2 IS is a sweet camera: 12X optical zoom, telephoto and wide angle conversion lenses are available, and you can manually set exposure, focus, shutter speed, etc. I play around with exposure a lot to get the light quality I like. The manual focus override came in very handy in the bush and also at Victoria Falls because the autofocus was having trouble due to the moving grass and the water mist in the air respectively. The animals were so close in Singita it was easy to get good photos - I had to remove the telephoto lens at times because the critters were only a few feet away. I also had the benefit of having Ron Litteken in our RangeRover - he was providing personal, real time photo coaching during the Singita experience.

Masaki: those are impala. They are everywhere in Singita. Our first game drive we were so excited to see them we kept making the ranger stop so we could take pictures. By the third game drive we were driving right past them because they are ubiquitous. Everyone will have lots of shots of them - they are beautiful, graceful animals.

I should be able to upload more pics late today - first off to Pilates for morning torture. Then we're taking Mom to lunch.

Mary Ellen

Mary Ellen:

Cool, really cool!

Of course the animal & bird shots caught my eye but the outline of the trees against the skyline is something that captivated me as well when in the bush.

Were you doing any shooting at the BOMA dinner?
I didn't do well that night.

Cheers! Ray
P.S.: Our guide called the impala's "McDonald's of the Bush" If you look at their rear end, all of them to have a black "M" striping.

OH WOW!!! Incredible photos!!!! :app: :app:

Mary Ellen,

Simply AWESOME photos! Thank you so much for sharing them.
I am so in awe, at how close you all were to the animals, and how unaffected they seem to be, to have you there. At times, it almost appears, they are posing for you. I love it!

Betty

Such beautiful photos!! Thanks Mary Ellen!

To all ROARers, as much as we LOVE all the animal photos, don't forget to share the "human animal" photos as well!

Your photos came out beautifully, Mary Ellen. "Hello" to Jim!

"Human animal" photos will be comin' up! - Michele

Thanks for the photo info. I am very geared into photo mode at the moment, so this is a great thread. I just bought a pro camera and I have my digital SLR (Canon 20D) for sale. Taking a photo class today as well.

Great photos!

Your pictures are incredible. I see you have a Canon Powershot S2. I would definitely have to invest in a camera with more megapixels if I went on this trip--I can see that the extra resolution would make a difference. I also see it has a 12x zoom which would be great in this situation.

Mary Ellen, can't wait to see more! Can we purchase any of them through smugmug? I would love to add some of yours to my album!

Hi Olivia,

The beauty of smugmug is that you don't have to purchase. Under the large picture displayed on the right of the screen there is a line labeled "current". Simply choose the size of the picture you wish to download (o is the original size - I uploaded my pics at the original resolution), wait for the display to refresh with that size image and then choose save. It's yours!

You can purchase prints through them - they are more expensive than the Kodak site but the quality is very high. I've never been disappointed with the prints I've ordered.

Have fun.

Mary Ellen

Mary Ellen, I have already started a shopping cart, as I want some of those prints! Just waiting for more if there are more to come.

I feel as if I'm looking through National Geographic, your pictures are so beautiful. Thanks for making me feel as though I'm right there with you.

Doris

Mary Ellen--I have a cart going too--great pictures!

Thank you Mary Ellen , they are beautiful!

Mary Ellen - thanks for the correction. I don't know my big game animals well enough to distinguish impallas and gazelles (though I was wondering if it was an impalla). :)

Masaki