During our recent Kenya workshop we had a chance to do a Milky Way shoot of a lone tree with one of our guides posed as a Masai warrior. Not a far stretch since he Masai. One of the things I didn’t like in the original capture was how close the warrior was to the tree so I moved my warrior over a bit to the left.
To move the warrior in Photoshop, I made a selection with the rectangular marquee tool and moved the warrior over a bit to the left. In post I darkened the warrior a bit —he was bit bright. To pop the sky a little I used a slight curve adjustment. I also cloned some of the small bright spots. It is a matter of taste as to what color temp. you want your sky. I tend to like a slight purplish tone to mine.
This image was captured without a warrior in it. I added the warrior from the shot below.
I used my Sony Alpha a7R III Mirrorless Digital Camera and my Sony FE 16-35mm f/2.8 GM Lens. I mounted it to my MeFOTO GlobeTrotter Carbon Fiber Travel Tripod/ black -it is the perfect travel tripod. My settings were 20sec at f/2.8, ISO 3200, I also shot at 15sec. f/2.8, ISO 4000. I set my kelvin to 3200.
I used “Bright Monitoring”, which allows you to adjust the composition when shooting in dark environments. By extending the exposure time, you can check the composition on the viewfinder/monitor even in dark locations such as under the night sky. Thanks to Carol Parker for pointing it out to me. I first had to assign it— MENU → (Custom Settings) → [Custom Key(Shoot.)] → assign the [Bright Monitoring] function to the desired key. It worked perfectly! I was able to compose my image virtually in the dark.
For more on how I shoot my Milky Way images, check out my previous post HERE.
TANZANIA SAFARI 2021-ANNOUNCED!!!
Tanzania – March 16-26th, 2021/ $9495.00 based on per person sharing basis (10 nights). Maximum 7. We will use three stretch Toyoto land cruisers with three rows per vehicle so that everyone gets their own row.
Join Denise Ippolito and Paul McKenzie in Tanzania for an African Safari. Our dates have been chosen to coincide with the wildebeest, zebra and gazelle calving season. The large numbers of young and inexperienced animals are a magnet for Africa’s predators. The big cats – lions, leopards and cheetahs along with hyenas and jackals are extremely active during this period and your chance of seeing and photographing predator-prey interaction and kills are very high during this period. But the calving season also means young adorable calves and tender moments with their mothers.
Day 1 (March 16) – Arrival in at Kilimanjaro International airport. Transfer to and overnight in Arusha town, Tanzania.
Day 2 (March 17)– Drive to Lake Manyara – about a 3 hour drive. Afternoon game drive in Lake Manyara. Overnight Lake Manyara.
Day 3 (March 18)– Early morning game drive in Lake Manyara. Drive to Ngorongoro crater (about 3 hours) – late morning/afternoon game drive in Ngorongoro crater. Proceed to Lake Ndutu (2 hour drive). Overnight Lake Ndutu and stay for five nights.
Days 4, 5, 6, 7 (March 19, 20, 21, 22)– The Lake Ndutu area is the main wildebeest and zebra calving area and has large concentrations of Cheetah, Lion and Leopard.
Day 8 (March 23) – Drive to the central Serengeti. Our camp is in the vicinity of the Moru Kopjes. The central Serengeti is similar to the Mara but on a much bigger scale, ie endless rolling plains. The landscape is punctuated by rock outcroppings known as kopjes which are a magnet for Lion prides. Everyone’s dream shot are lions on these kopjes. There is lots of game and plenty of all the big cats (lions, leopards and cheetahs)
Day 9 (March 24) and day 10 (March 25) – Central Serengeti.
Day 11 (March 26) – After an early morning game drive, drive to airstrip (1 hour drive) for morning flight back to Arusha.
Guests can then fly out that evening from Kilimanjaro airport for their international flight or stay overnight in Arusha to take a flight on March 27th.
The price includes all meals, including the first night’s dinner in Arusha; all accommodations are on a per person sharing basis as well as the flight back from the Serengeti to Arusha. It does not include international flights, drinks at our camps and lodges, laundry and other miscellaneous items as well as tips for the camp staff and our drivers- approx. $400.00 per person.
An additional information sheet will be sent once the group has been gathered.
Deposit
I will need a $2,000 non-refundable deposit made by pushing the “Deposit button” on the workshop page HERE in order to hold your spot. The second payment of $3,000 is due on April 15, 2020 and the final payment of $4,495 is due on Sept. 1, 2020. All payments except for the deposit must be paid via check only, made out to “Denise Ippolito LLC”. Overseas folks can pay their balances via wire transfer; the registrant is responsible for the fees on both ends. Sorry, there are no discounts given to non-photographer spouses for this trip.
Travel Insurance- I urge everyone to purchase travel insurance for a major trip like this.
This trip needs a minimum of 7 to go, please don't purchase your flights until I have confirmed. All deposits will be refunded in full if the trip does not run.
*Single supplements are available for the trip at $1400.00pp. Please inquire as to availability. If you or I are unable to line up a same sex roommate for you, you will be charged the single supplement on a pro-rated basis.