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I’ll never forget the day I created this image of a Black Vulture. We were headed up river just as the light was starting to peak over the thick canopy of the wild and stunning Pantanal region of Brazil. A place that I have learned to love and admire, a place of great opportunities to photograph wildlife. I was feeling a bit full from the huge breakfast of fried eggs over easy, crispy bacon, and an assortment of fresh fruits and home baked breads. I had slept so well the evening before. After all the excitement of some incredible Jaguar sightings, a beautiful day on the river, and enjoying my friends, I was ready for a restful night of sleep and dreams of the new day ahead. The sounds of the river and surrounding jungle are such a melody to fall asleep with.

All Photographs by Kevin Dooley and Jeff Morrison

The fires were heavy in the Amazon and spreading, although the fires were several hundred miles away, the sky was filled with a thick smoke. Fortunately most days we were able to escape the over hanging cloud of smoke, however this was a morning where the winds had pushed the haze straight towards us.

We were headed to a Jaguar sighting that we had located the evening before, a large female Jaguar had taken down a Caiman and was feeding on it. The spray of the cool river water was refreshing and invigorating. My body and mind were filled with the normal excitement I get when we head out on a new and exciting morning of adventure, I get this massive amount of excitement no matter where I am in the world. Something about being out in the wild with my favorite camera gear, great friends, and a sense of discovery that just gets my blood flowing. I simply love it.

The Jaguar was hidden deep in the bushes and we could only make out a few of its spots, however the black vultures were waiting for a chance to feed on the remains of the caiman. As the Sun rose the smoky sky filled the morning with incredible color. I moved our boat and lined it up with the vulture. As the vulture opened its wings, the feeling was overwhelming. A burning Amazon, a jaguar on a caiman kill, a vulture in his paradise.

The Black Vulture is a stunning bird to photograph. These scavengers reside in the southern parts of the United States as well as Central America and South America. They are a bit smaller than their red headed relatives, the Turkey Vulture. The Black Vultures are not as adept in the art of smell, however, they do have an incredible sense of vision. They use their vision to spot other birds of prey and then zero in on the kill. They can live for approximately 20 years, and are very strong flyers. Like other vultures they will wait for the air to warm up before taking to flight.

I like to say that the bird photography in the Pantanal is second to none, but I am still there for the Jaguars. The birds, caiman, and other species are amazing to photograph, but I am a huge lover of photographing the wild cats, and this is the place to find the Jaguar. The Jaguar in my opinion is one of the most elusive and cunning of all the big cats. Only the tiger in India pulls the kind of overwhelming feelings of intensity that the Jaguar gives me. In fact, I still have moments where I get so caught up in the moment that I forget to raise my camera.

One of the best things about being a wildlife photographer and guide is getting to experience the joy of the photographers that accompany me on my safaris. To witness the expressions, the holy moly moments, the excitement in their voices, when an image and or a sighting is beyond expectations. This brings a kind of joy to me that is hard to explain, a sense of being part of fulfilling a persons dream. To know that one of my guests just got an image of a lifetime, is to know true happiness and satisfaction. I often travel with my buddy Jeff and he always comes home with some truly prize winning images. What an honor it is to say I was there when he got that image, I saw his smile when it happend, I simply love it when a guest or travel companion gets an image of a lifetime.

A few of my buddy Jeff Morrison’s Images from the Pantanal.

Our last safari to the Pantanal was very successful, averaging six to eight Jaguar sightings a day. We would head out just at day break and return to our floatel for a wonderful lunch and maybe a short nap or some photography workshop time. Mid afternoon we would head back out and stay on the river till dark. Often getting to enjoy a beautiful sunset as we headed back to the floating lodge for an incredible dinner and a restful nights sleep.

The techniques of photographing Jaguars are quite different than just about any other species I have photographed. Because of their very reclusive nature they are often located in the shade and require higher ISO’s and some compensation in shutter speeds and f-stops. However, the biggest challenge can be photographing these cats from a moving boat. When you combine a telephoto lens and almost constant movement from a rocking vessel , it can create some very unique challenges. It is mandatory to work with fast shutter speeds, at least faster than the focal length you are shooting at. In addition you will need to pre determine your shutter release time. On a moving boat, by the time your brain and your finger on the shutter release button connect the position of the image may change. This takes a little practice, another way to deal with this is to shoot a little loose, giving yourself some cropping space.

Jaguars are similar to tigers in the sense that they have a very vivid and busy pattern that provides very good camouflage for them. This type of marking is designed to confuse the viewer and to make it more difficult to be seen. This is a great asset for the animal, however, it makes our job as photographers a lot more difficult. Being presented with photographing an animal that is designed to blend into its environment through a series of busy patterns adds a touch of difficulty in creating great images. The lighting on both the subject and on the background play a huge role in the success of this challenge. The more light on the subject and the less light on the background will increase your odds of success. Both drawing your eyes straight to the subject, and blocking off unpleasant distractions within the environment of the photograph. The Pantanal is basically a jungle, finding and photographing Jaguars in clear areas is not an everyday encounter, when it happens it is certainly a blessing. Its important to use your skills as a photographer to give yourself the best advantage of a great image no matter where you may encounter the Jaguar. This is where your choice of depth of field will come in handy. Taking into consideration that Jaguars have very large heads, much larger than leopards as an example. The distance between the tip of the nose and the eyes can be upwards of eight inches. If a Jaguar is looking straight at you, depending on the focal length and angle, an f-stop of 7.1 or maybe 8 might be needed to hold the focus on both the eyes and the nose. However, you want your background to fall out of focus as much as possible. Therefore shooting in anything past f8 could lead to a confusing image with too much going on in the background. When the subject is in a profile position I often drop my f-stop down to 5.6 or 6.3. The other advantage to these lower f-stops is that it will allow you to maintain a fast shutter speed. This is very important considering the movement of the boat and the long focal lengths that are normally used with wildlife.

https://idubephotosafaris.com/the-jaguars-of-pantanal/

Our next photography tour/workshop to the Pantanal will be August of 2020. Fallowed up with another tour in August of 2021. Join us on this stunning wildlife experience where the adventure of photographing the wild Jaguar of South America becomes a reality.

The Jaguars of Pantanal

Enjoy our youtube video from our 2019 Pantanal safari.

My gear.

The light is beautiful, yet difficult for image creating. It’s soft and golden, it’s moody and full of emotion. It’s technically challenging and my camera and my abilities are challenged. I had decided to use my Canon 5ds this morning, a camera loaded with image quality, yet a camera that hates high ISO settings. So I would proceed in making sacrifices in shutter speeds and apertures to keep my ISO settings as low as possible. Fortunately my sigma 14-24 lens has the ability to let a lot of light in.

I have decided to travel with two camera bodies and three lenses.

aI was able to secure the new Canon 1dxmk3 just one day before my departure for Ethiopia. When I heard that the release date for this beauty had been published, to be released two days prior to my departure for Africa, I was on the phone and ordering it in a flash. However I would be challenged by a freak accident with the delivery truck while on its way to the camera store I had purchased the camera from. The cameras were not actually harmed, however the truck was deemed undrivable. This would delay the shipment just enough to prevent an overnight shipment to me. I immediately got on the phone and started calling camera stores, however I was presented with the same old story time and time again. The same old story was growing both old and discouraging, ”Sorry sir but we did not receive enough cameras to even fulfill the orders we already have.” After a small prayer and a deep breath, I decided at that point to take a different approach, my thought was the small camera stores might give me a better chance at success. I recalled that just the week before well speaking at the West Texas photographers Convention, I had met the owner of Arlington Camera. He was a very nice gentleman and I had nothing to loose by calling him. An associate answered the phone and I asked the magic question and his answer was more then music to my ears. His reply of, ”Yes sir, we received one this morning, would you like it?” Yes indeed I responded. I received my new dream camera the next morning by ten am, just 19 hours before my flight to Africa.

In addition to the new version of Canons flagship digital camera, I would take my Canon 5ds. A powerhouse of image quality strutting over 50 megapixels of image perfection. I needed both cameras for this journey, the 1 dxmk3 would be my camera of choice for most of my candid images, some portraits, and for the wildlife images in both Ethiopia and Southern Africa. The canon 5ds would be my choice on many of the portraits and some of the candids. The huge file size comes in handy when an image might need to be cropped, or when I am wanting that detail that only the larger sensor would provide.

My lens choices we’re actually quite easy to make, I would need a telephoto, a wide angle, and a portrait lens. Through the years I have owned many telephoto lenses, both prime and zoom. As the technology has improved, I have replaced most of my prime lenses with zoom lenses. Because most of my photography requires travel, in some cases with small planes, I have had to find ways to keep my gear to the minimum. Weight and space restrictions are often in place, and good zoom lenses have often been my answer to this situation.

When Sigma announced the 60-600 zoom lens, I was beyond excited. A lens with that kind of focal latitude was a dream come true. I had used the sigma 150-600 sport for several years, and have been very impressed with both the image quality and the build quality. In fact a large percentage of my award winning images had come from the 150-600 sport. I could not imagine a 60-600 with matching or better image quality as the 150-600, however I certainly was hopeful. The 60-600 was released to the United States during a time when I was in South Africa leading photo safaris. Fortunately I had a friend who was to join me in Ethiopia on a safari to photograph the Bleeding Heart Monkeys. Sigma sent a 60-600 with him and I was able to start using it within days of its release.

To say I was impressed would be such an understatement, I fell in love with this lens immediately and managed to secure two winning images in Nature’s Best Photography contest in my first week of using this lens. It has become my very favorite lens to date, and I use it for both wildlife and portrait photography.

My second lens of choice for this tribal adventure would be a wide angle lens. I knew I would have opportunities to create candid images of the villagers carrying out their daily activities. I wanted a lens that would give me some wide angle focal options as well as the ability to shoot at wide open apertures. Sigma recently released the 14-24 f2.8 Art lens. However it was on back order for quite some time and was not available. Once again Sigma and timing would come to my rescue, I managed to secure the lens just a few days before departing for Ethiopia. This lens has proven to be an incredible addition to my kit and I find myself asking how I ever got along without it.

My final lens choice was the Sigma 105mm 1.4 portrait lens. I have used an 85mm 1.2 lens previously on many wedding and portrait jobs, I absolutely love the effect of the focal length and the wide open aperture. The Bokah and the shallow depth of field produce an image style and quality that stands on it own. I decided to trade my 85 for a 105 as it gives me just a touch more space between my subject and myself, this is particularly important when trying to creat real and candid expression within your subject. In addition to the distance between the lens and the subject, you gain a touch more distance from the background. This increases the over all effect of the telephoto and wide open aperture combination. In my opinion this is a very specialized type of image that can have a huge impact to the viewer.

Matching up my lenses with my cameras was also quite an easy choice, between having over 39 years as a professional portrait photographer and the high quality of today’s lenses, I had a good idea of the types of images I wanted. My goal was to change lenses as infrequently as possible. Every lens change is another opportunity to collect dust on the camera sensor. I also prefer to not interrupt my flow of photography with having to make lens changes. Changing lenses can both interfere with ones own flow of interaction with the subject as well as distract and interfere with your subjects connection to you. When I find a feeling and a connection with my subject, I don’t want to loose the energy by breaking the flow of communication with some sort of technical activity such as changing lenses.

With my Canon 5ds performing better at lower ISO’s and the image quality being of such high quality, I decided to make the Sigma 105mm 1.4 lens and the Sigma 14-24 2.8 lens the main lenses for this camera. The 60-600 mm 6.3 lens would mostly find its home on my Canon 1dxmk3. The 1dxmk3 is a high performing camera with much better higher ISO range and high ISO image quality. It is also one of the most color accurate cameras I have ever owned. The high rate of shutter releases per second is also a huge advantage for me.

Most people would never consider using a high frame rate on portraits, however I am looking for just the right expression, eye set, character lines, held tilt, and feeling with in the image, just one shutter release can make the difference in getting all of these facial characteristics to come together at the same time. I am searching for a certain feeling within my image and I have no issues with taking several images in succession when it leads me to just the right image I am searching for. Fortunately the new 1dxmk3 is much quieter then it’s predecessor so the camera sound is not overly intrusive.

I would also pack two reflectors and a small LED light. My reflectors are a combination of gold and silver which gives me a beautiful and natural light source. A gold and silver reflector is basically a reflective fabric with both gold and silver combined together. The silver within the reflector provides the punch and levels out a little bit of the warmth of the golden hue that is crisscrossed with the silver in the fabric of the reflector. The gold helps me to maintain the beautiful skin tones of the people I am photographing. In this photographic situation I find that the solid gold is simply overkill and can creat images that are much too warm and look very unrealistic. On the other hand the solid silver is too cool and takes away the beautiful skin tones. A combination of silver and gold works best for me. The larger reflector provides a softer and wider light source, with a fast fall off of light. In most cases I prefer my backgrounds to be at least a stop darker then the subject. The smaller reflector provides a more intense light and I normally use it as a secondary light source. The secondary light source is good for a hair light, a separation light from a back angle to give separation on the shoulders. Another good use for the smaller reflector is to light specific objects in the background. With a narrower beam of light, it’s possible to light a second subject such as another person, or maybe a village hut or some cattle. The secondary light must be done sparingly, it can become very distracting and will often pull my attention away from my interaction with the subject. I will use it on the rare occasion, however I often avoid it all together. There is a big difference between using reflectors on your standard photo sessions, weddings, and family portraits, and using them on indigenous people. It’s vital that you have an interpreter explain what the reflector does. I once had a tribe convinced the reflector was going to harm them and therefore did I not use it. When it is in use, I suggest using a trained Assistent that knows how to feather the light and how to remain very unobtrusive. It’s important they maintain their distance and do not become a distraction for you or the subject. I try to maintain the basic rules of light, however by pushing these rules to the edge or even breaking them, you can create both unique and unusual lighting on your subject.

My led light is just a small hand held light that is easy to travel with and can mount on the hot shoe of my camera. It comes in handy when the sun is just rising or setting. Also great for shooting indoors. Again not a piece of gear that I use a lot but certainly worth having.