How to photograph the savannah

Golden hour on the savannah is short. Close to the equator, in Kenya and northern Tanzania, you have roughly forty usable minutes after sunrise and before sunset. Everything you have read about composition matters less than being in the right place when that light arrives, which is a planning question more than a photographic one.

Shoot low. A safari vehicle window sits around two metres above the ground and flattens everything. Ask your guide to approach at an angle rather than head on, cut the engine, and wait. Wildlife relaxes within a few minutes of a stationary vehicle, and relaxed animals behave, which is what you actually want to photograph.

Expose for the highlights. At sunrise the sky holds far more light than the animal in front of you, so underexpose by roughly two thirds of a stop and lift the shadows later. Dust and backlight will do the rest.

Bring one long lens and one wide. A 100 to 400 zoom covers almost every game drive, and a wide angle earns its place at camp, at the airstrip and on the days when the landscape is the subject. A beanbag on the window frame is more useful than a tripod.

Ask before photographing people. In Maasai and Samburu communities a portrait is a relationship, not a transaction, and your guide will know how to introduce it. When a fee is customary, agree it beforehand and pay it directly.

Best period: the dry months from June to October give the strongest wildlife concentrations around water, and the long grass of the green season, roughly March to May, gives the better skies. If the migration river crossings are the goal, plan around late July to September and accept that nature keeps its own calendar.

Finally, put the camera down at least once each drive. The photograph you do not take is often the one you remember most clearly.