Photography tips: Photographing mountain gorillas.

29/04/2007 00:00:00 Our photographic expert has visited the mountain gorillas several times, and has learned the hard way how to take good photos of them. He is also a passionate conservationst, and urges as many of you as possible to visit, as it is the money derived from tourism and gorilla permits that is their one chance of survival.

• Seeing them, these wonderful yet critically endangered beasts (we are their closest relatives) is more important than your camera; you pay a lot and sweat a great deal for this magic hour so do not waste the time thinking photography all the time. If you relax ad enjoy it you will get some good shots anyway.


• Take a back up camera, you don’t want to go all that way and find it has got damp/run out of batteries.


• Take a monopod; it doubles as a walking stick anyway.


• Weather in a rainforest is a problem, take on the lowest ISO you dare, but keep the speed at 125 and above especially if your lens is not stabilised.


• It is very difficult to get original shots of these primates, unless there are some very small babies around. However I saw an absolute belter recently that had been taken on a digital camera. It was taken in black and white while raining and the rain was running down the face of an adult female; this really works with animals like these, black bears and elephants.


• If it is sunny, exposure can be a problem on black fur; Zoom in as far as you can.

On a personal note, well done for doing this, the mountain gorillas will only survive on the back tourism and permit money.

Lastly take some Kleenex, it is a very emotional experience. Good luck Gorilla Conservation.

The mountain gorillas are highly endangered, with just 750 or so left in the wild. Unfortunately they live in a very unstable area of Central Africa, and have suffered recently from poaching and habitat loss due to population pressures caused by refugees.

The Congo Rangers are a dedicated band of rangers who have a phenominally hard job in trying to protect the wildlife of this war town region. Dozens of the rangers have been killed over the last 10 years and many of the rest have been injured, while often going for months without pay.

To read more about the Congo Rangers, or to help them with their efforts, click Congo Rangers.

The photo on the right shows the newly born gorilla, named Ndeze. Click here to read more about the baby gorilla.