Photography Considerations

Gorillas are actually as cooperative a wildlife subject as you can get. They are easy to find, easy to see, get very close, are not shy, don't move very fast, are always in a nice setting, do entertaining things, and make interesting poses, and are typically on the ground eliminating problems of backlighting that is so difficult with other primates. And you know you are going to see them for one hour. What more could you ask for right?

Well, the challenges are plenty as well. The jungle is dense so the lighting is very tough. If the sun is shing through it is sometimes worse because of the glare off of the wet leaves. Gorillas are black and therefore you'll often overexpose. It's muddy and difficult to stand. Though they don't move too fast, they do move a lot, so you can't stay in one place and setup. Leaves are everywhere and often make it difficult to focus, which is not helped by an all black low contrast subject. You have to compete with others for a good spot. But what I found the most difficult was the balance between spending your time just watching and reveling in the experience and looking at it all through a lens to get good photographs. You only have an hour, and you don't want to feel at the end of it that you didn't really experience the experience, even if you got some killer shots. Truthfully, video lends itself very well to the gorillas, as you can get it on film without watching it all through a lens.

The following is what I feel will help you bring home some great photographs. I'm assuming a digital SLR kit.

You don't need more than a 200 mm lens - I was bummed out originally that I had left my 1.7tc at home, and quickly realized that if I had used it, I would have unnecessarily have been losing 1 1/2 stops of light for little gain. The gorillas are very close and get even closer to the point that at 70mm I couldn't get them in the frame. I think a 70-200mm 2.8 lens or equivalent was just made for gorillas. It is the right focal length and fast, which you need in the low light moving subject conditions. It would also be nice to have a second body or at least a second lens that will allow you to take wider angle shots of more than one or two gorillas, as well as landscape shots should the weather cooperate.

Bring a monopod - I think a tripod would be tough in these conditions. The ground is nowhere near level, you often don't get much space, you can't easily predict where the gorillas will move, and you will spend too much time getting it set just right, so not only will you miss good photos in the process, you'll miss the experience as well. A monopod on the other hand, is warranted. You need the extra support to shoot at lower shutters, especially with a large lens. While it can also be clumsy, you can make adjustments very quickly and its not as cumbersome. A ball head is the appropriate way to go.

Understand your autofocus - Focusing is really hard. Leaves and branches get in the way, an din low light, your autofocus will have trouble with the black gorillas. I was on manual focus a lot, but thats also because I don't entirely understand my differnt focus modes and therefore didn't entirely trust that I would get in focus shots. I've had too many experiences where the monkey or tiger or you name it is slightly soft, but the branch in front of them is tack sharp.

Get some video - With point and shoots taking decent video these days, its entirely worthwhile bringing one along to get a few minutes recorded. This will capture some of the sounds and peacefullness of the situation, as well as let you pan across a large number of gorillas should they be close together.

Take the help of a porter There are porters you can hire for around $10. They will carry anything you want up and down the mountain. When you find the gorillas, you can take everything you need from them. You cannot have a bag with you while watching the gorillas (although they did let me keep my hip pack on provided that I kept it on my hips). Keeping free of a heavy burden while doing the hike is worth it. Also, when you get in to finally see them, take the help of a tracker or guide to temporarily hold things for you while you make adjustments. Don't put anything on the ground, as its muddy and you or someone else might step on it.

Be prepared for rain It could rain, so ensure that you can protect your camera equipment if it does.

Everything above applies to the chimpanzees as well, except for anything I said about a cooperative subject. I got no good shots of them, so it was just better to enjoy through binoculars.