How to Photograph a Cheetah

Imagine yourself on the great, open plains; there is a warm glow from the early morning sun over the horizon, and the sounds of animals waking up is filling the fresh morning air. As you are driving along, you are panning over the plains and your eye catches a sleek, tawny figure in the distance – your heart skips a beat when you realize it is a cheetah. So many photographers have been lured to the wilderness to capture this magnificent animal.

Whether your goal is to showcase their characteristic markings, powerful build, or hunting behaviours, mastering the art of cheetah photography requires a strategic approach and the right camera techniques. But have no fear, I will take you through a few techniques, step-by-step, on How to photograph a Cheetah

The first and easiest is a portrait shot. As photographers, we are always on the hunt for that one perfect portrait – one that doesn’t just document the subject, but one that captures the true essence of the subject.

• Your environment will determine how close you are able to get to your subject. Using a telephoto lens is useful when you are not able to get up close and personal with them, but a wide-angle lens can do wonders when you can get close to the cheetah, without invading their comfort zone.
• In general, for any portrait photography, your shutter speed should be two times the focal length of your lens. This helps to avoid any sort of shaking, especially with big and heavy telephoto lenses. If you have space around you, you can use a tripod to stabilize your camera more or make use of a bean bag for support.
• To separate the cheetah from a busy background, open your aperture, f/4 or f/5.6, creating a shallow depth of field.
• In full daylight, set your ISO anywhere from 100-400. As the day progresses, you will have to increase your ISO to counter the problem for insufficient light.
• Switch your focus mode to Continuous mode to ensure the cheetah’s eyes stay razor-sharp.

The next two techniques are a little bit more technical than taking a portrait shot. As the fastest land animal, they can go from 0 to 60 mph in just a few seconds when pursuing their prey. Photographing the hunt is all about the preparation, timing, and the correct settings. Here is what you need to know:

• The key to photographing a cheetah running at full speed is anticipating when it will start chasing its prey. Studying and understanding cheetah behaviour can help with this. Look for signs like a bobbing movement of the head, crouching down low, or an intense fixation on their potential prey. Having your camera ready in continuous autofocus mode will allow you to quickly get focus when the action happens.
• Keep your camera steady and if needed, use a monopod/tripod to stabilize your lens and keep your viewfinder steady. If you do not have a monopod, or prefer not to use one, you can make use of a bean bag and place it on the bars of the vehicle. Make sure you have enough space to move around you as they can change direction quite fast.
• Shoot in a burst mode. When the action starts happening, you don’t want to waste any time to get the shot. Make sure your camera is set to its highest possible burst mode. You don’t want to miss that shot!
• To be able to freeze the motion of a sprinting cheetah, take shots at a faster shutter speed of at least 1/2000^th of a second. Speed is everything.
• I make use of an auto ISO, especially in a fast-changing environment, it is one less thing to worry about when everything goes to fast!
• Depending on the distance of the cheetah an aperture of around f/5.6 to f/8, if they are close to you, should result in most of the cheetah being in focus.

Now let’s take a look at the complete opposite of freezing a shot. Another way to show their incredible speed is by using the Panning technique. By intentionally blurring the background, it conveys a real sense of movement in action, focusing the viewer's attention on the cheetah. This is achieved by using a slower shutter speed and moving, or panning, your camera following the cheetah as it is running across the plains. By doing this, the cheetah will be sharp in the photo while the background and any other static objects become a smooth, almost streaky, blur. This is not the easiest technique to achieve and requires a lot of trial and error, but as the saying goes “Practise makes perfect”.

Here is how we achieve a panning shot:

• Switch your camera to either Shutter Priority or Manual mode. If you want the easy way out, use Shutter priority mode. You can choose the shutter speed that you would like to use, while the camera automatically adjusts the aperture for you.
• If you are shooting in Manual mode, remember that you must set your aperture, anything from an f/8 and up is good for this type of photography.
• Selecting your shutter speed depends on a few factors like how fast the cheetah is running, how far away you are from it, and how much of a blur effect you want to achieve. A good shutter speed to start with is 1/60^th of a second. You can lower your shutter when you are comfortable with the technique and want more of a background blur, or if you want less of a blur, increase your shutter speed. For a cheetah running at full speed, I would recommend a shutter of 1/30^th of a second
• Use your camera’s autofocus mode. This prevents your camera from refocusing while you follow the cheetah and, ideally, having the cheetah sharp against a blurred background. Use your camera’s continuous focusing mode (AF-C on Nikon and Sony and AI-Servo on Canon) as this will help your camera to continuously focus on the cheetah as it moves across the frame.
• Shooting in a Continuous shooting mode, or a burst mode, increases your chance to get that perfect shot. Keep your finger steady on the shutter button and even before the cheetah reaches the intended spot, press down on the shutter, and keep shooting until the cheetah has passed through.

So, there you have it. Three, hopefully now, easy ways on How to photograph a Cheetah. Whether you take a portrait, explosive action shot, or a panning shot, photographing cheetahs takes a lot of practice and patience, knowing your camera and how settings work, and a little bit of animal behaviour knowledge. But with preparation and the understanding of your subject, you will get rewarded with amazing photographs.

Until next time

Danny

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