The Frustrations of a Wildlife Photographer or, the Elephant in the Room

On many occasions I've been lucky to have experience a safari - looking for animals and birds - for the pleasure of seeing a varied range of wildlife, and of course, to try and take a great shot of the subject.
In Sri Lanka most people that head to one of the excellent wildlife parks want to see the biggest mammals - this includes leopard, sloth bear and elephant.

The latter isn't hard to spot, particularly in Udawalawe, Minneriya and Kaudulla National Parks but, because of its natural cunning, leopards are significantly harder to detect. 

This shot of elephants in Kaudulla national park was particularly hard to get - I really wanted to see more of the baby elephant but as the mother and aunties in this group were very protective this was the only real glimpse I got before she was ushered back into the middle of the herd and out of sight. If you are not quick enough it's another photo opportunity lost.

On this photo tour we did find one leopard and it was up a tree. This is one of the 'Holy Grails' of leopard photography - but luck was against us - the tree was about a hundred metres away, in a forest, with dense ground cover.

After 20 minutes gesticulating on the part of our naturalist we eventually saw what looked to be a leopard, or rather a bit of a leopard obscured by leaves and branches. We took a snap for a record and moved on. 

Although our guide made a tremendous effort to point us in the right direction up the tree, it was almost impossible to confirm what we were actually seeing a leopard.
Everyone else in the vehicle said they could see it.
I wasn't convinced but took a snap anyway, just in case...

On a safari this tends to happen again and again. You 'think' you see it, you take a snap hoping to capture at least a glimpse but find, once it's downloaded to the computer, it's just a bunch of leaves or twigs. That said, even though the professional guide can see it, and the use of a good telephoto lens, isn't a guarantee of getting the shot. 

And then there are the places where, despite the guide's excitement, you see absolutely nothing, and the record photo you take reveals even less, leaving you wondering whether the spotters are just making it up to look like they are doing their job, or perhaps you need a new prescription.

One instance was the sighting of a fishing cat and a cub - this was exciting as it's a very rare find, but ultimately disappointing, as I could see nothing in the dim recesses of the shrubbery. The photo revealed something else.

And as if animal camouflage and cunning wasn't making the photographer's life hard enough, there are those critters that have the uncanny knack of always keeping a bush or tree between it and the lens, no matter how careful, and quiet you think you are.

A good example of this would be the very exotic Asian Paradise Flycatcher - a small light grey-coloured bird with a long white tail stretching more than twice its length (this was the white morph version). Whenever we saw one of these beautiful creatures is was just for a fleeting moment before it shimmied into dense undergrowth to disappear in a flash.

Just trying to follow this elusive bird is an exercise in frustration. We moved back and forth for 15 minis as this tiny flycatcher flipped back and forth in the dense undergrowth each time we tried to get a clear shot.
Here's one of the many outtakes with a perfect capture of the tail while its body is already out of sight behind the branches. This male is the unusual white morph version with a grey back and dark head.

After some 15 minutes it was clear that this little bird was not going to play ball. It was like trying to photograph smoke, a will 'o the wisp in the forest. Almost impossible.
This was the best shot I got - you can clearly see how small the bird is in contrast to its fantastic tail feathers but, like most of my other shots, it wasn't sharp.
In this location there were just too many branches in the way which confused the camera's AF system. I also tried manually focussing the lens (an EF300mm f2.8 telephoto) but the bird never stayed put for longer then a few seconds and I was not not fast enough. Maybe next time.