If you have the tools, but do not have the visual concept, the tools do not work - Betty Poluk

It is important to know what you’re looking for in an image before you take the shot. This being said, when you’re starting out in photography you don’t approach photography in this way. It’s very much something that develops over time, but the sooner you can grasp this concept, the more streamlined your workflow will be and the better your images will turn out as well. You can have the best gear in the world, but if you have no purpose or vision for what you wish to create then there really isn’t much point to having it. Try approaching your photography with purpose and you’ll be pleasantly surprised with the results.

Spotlight work can produce some really interesting results when applied in different ways. Here we used an intentional backlight to only suggest our subject, a Charleston male lion.

There isn’t too much interesting about a lion sleeping, but he was positioned atop a termite mound with a clean background and some natural framing from the vegetation growing out of it.

Animal behaviour is a large part of what I’m talking about and without it, I could’ve missed this opportunity to get the spray from the giraffe when lifting its head from drinking.

Just an amazing subject in soft light and a beautifully bokeh’d background.

Animal behaviour again at play here with these two hornbills displaying to each other. Having the patience to wait for this to happen as key as well as ensuring an increased depth of field.

Using the environment to your advantage helps a great deal with getting low angled images. One would assume that I was on the ground for this, but with using the environment I was able to remain in the vehicle and still be at eye level with this little cub.

Oxpeckers can be very active when in decent size groups and it’s a matter of time before there’s a flurry of feathers taking to flight, if only in short bursts, but if you know what you’re looking for then all you have to do is wait.

This was just a clean image in very good light with some cloud background and the colour version looks stunning, but rendering the image in a sepia tone just added a whole new dimension to the photograph.

Patience is key with cats, especially after a long hot day, so make sure your positioning is good and be ready to take advantage of any activity that may present itself. Here, the cubs were a much surer bet to watch in terms of activity and so my focus was mainly on them.

There was some strong side lighting on this Pale Morph Tawny Eagle, but the sky was full of soft clouds so I could make it work. In a lot of instances with birds, I’ll take an ‘insurance shot’ so I can make sure I have the image to document the sighting and after that if there’s time, I can reposition and take my time.