As a well known nature photographer and an Elite Canon Photographer and Trainer, Manus van Dyk has a large number of top notch images to his name. His favourites? He selected two, and the reasons behind his choices are quite surprising.

Manus van Dyk: This is always a very difficult choice to make, since every time you photograph a good image it becomes your new favourite. If I had to choose, however, I would have to select two images. The first image is this one:

Canon 1Ds with EF 600 f4L IS USM plus 1.4x Extender at 1/320 sec, f5.6, ISO 200

The reason this is one of my all-time favourite images is not because of the action or the angle at which the image was photographed (it was shot in the Kruger National Park from a vehicle), but because it was shot with my first digital camera.  This image was photographed in 2004 with a Canon 1Ds - yes, 11 years ago!  I just moved away from shooting with slide film with a Canon 1V body, digital was very new at that stage and everyone you spoke to said that digital would never beat film. This image convinced me that digital was better than film and digital is here to stay!

The second image is this one:

Canon 1DX with 400 f2.8L ISII USM lens at 1/2000 sec, f2.8 and ISO 1600

Again my choice has nothing to do with the angle the wild dog was photographed at or the action in the image, but all to do with how well the camera gear coped under these very difficult conditions.  This image was photographed before the sun was up, making the AF tracking extremely difficult (low light and low contrast on the subject). Luckily the Canon 1DX with the 400 f2.8 lens made this image possible!

For all the technical orientated readers the AF system set-up was, Tracking sensitivity “0”. Accel/Deccel tracking “+1” and AF point Switching “0” with the center AF point and “Expand AF area” activated using the “AF-ON” button to focus with.

For more of Van Dyk's work or for further DSLR training, visit his website.
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