Important Tips For Taking Great Mountain Gorilla Photos

One of the most breathtaking and life-changing sights on Earth is seeing the magical wildlife species within their natural habitat. Nowhere is this experience more rewarding than seeing the huge silverback and his family in the jungles of East-Central Africa. The endangered Mountain gorillas’ youngsters can become frisky and energetic as they jump on tree branches or the silverbacks effortlessly enjoy life in the dense vegetation. The Mountain gorillas make up the few species of Great Apes.

Gorilla Trekking

With gorilla tourism on the rise, there are now four great places in the jungles of East-Central Africa where you can venture into the dense jungles to see the gentle beasts living their normal lives. These creatures are found in four National Parks-Mgahinga and Bwindi National Parks in Uganda, Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Volcanoes National Parks in Rwanda. Of these four Parks, Bwindi has the highest number of these Great Apes, totaling to about 459 out of the 1063 recorded in 2018. The remaining population is shared among the remaining three Parks which form part of the Virunga Conservation Area.

There is a season when the mountain gorillas live in the lower slopes of their natural habitats, especially in the rainy season when temperatures become colder and food is in abundance. If you are travelling to Africa for gorilla trekking, you are lucky and definitely one of the few lucky travellers to take jaw-dropping photographs and films of these wonderful creatures. To take great photos of the Great Apes that are even worth sharing on social media, making good money or even printing to hang on your walls, you will need a good camera (non-flash). Whether you are using a digital camera or smartphone camera, make sure that it is fast enough. Remember that you have only one hour for taking photos and watching the Giant Apes going about their activities.

The Lens

The Lens choice is one of the most important tips for taking great mountain gorilla photos, especially when it comes to filling the frame with your subject. You might consider using the zoom lens because you can never tell when the mountain gorillas decide to hide in dense vegetation or come closer to you. For this reason focal length of 70-300mm to 200-500mm lens is recommended.

Camera settings

Before anything else, non-flash cameras are recommended to avoid startling the Giant Apes and even making them angry. For cameras with Vibration Reduction image stabilization built-in lenses, it is recommended to turn it on. Additionally, you can change from active or normal when taking pictures, especially if your camera lens gives you that option.

Focus point

Begin with the dynamic area AF if you don’t wish to experience shooting action in selecting the focus point. This is important because you can never be sure of when the young gorillas will begin moving swiftly and therefore, choose a single focus point and select metering to make sure that the exposure and composition of the subject is on.

For the shooting mode, choose continuous mode to follow fast moving youngsters and if your camera allows you to make a choice between continuous low or continuous high, you should select the latter if taking photos that involve outstanding gorilla activities or better still if you are worried about missing the great shots or wish to take as many frames as your camera can ever record. However, your finger has to be on the shutter button until filling the buffer regardless of the camera being on continuous shooting mode.

Videos

Majority of the Nikon Cameras in the market are capable of capturing videos while at the same time take photos, for this reason, it would be more interesting and worthwhile to record video of mountain gorilla actions like charging, breaking and munching on vegetation, copulating and breastfeeding their babies. Despite your camera type, photographing the mountain gorillas can really become addicting and you will find yourself wishing to take more and more photos of these spectacular Gentle giants in their natural habitats.

Camera battery and memory space

It is important to make sure that your camera battery is fully charged and also, don’t forget to carry extra batteries to avoid disappointment when taking picture of your encounter in the jungles. When it comes to memory space, you wouldn’t want a filled-up memory in the middle of your photography session.

The ISO and Shutter speed

The endangered mountain gorillas sometimes hide in the densely forested areas or in the shade of forest canopies hence ISO is recommended for generating adequately high shutter speed. It is recommended to hand-hold the long lens while maintaining higher shutter speed than the focal length.

Don’t get taken up with photography

While you might want to take as many photos as possible during the one hour encounter with mountain gorillas, don’t get taken up and ignore their unique day-to-day routines like resting, playing, foraging, resting and even mating.