Each day this week I will take you on a daily virtual photo safari to Kenya's Masai Mara. Each post will feature a travel tip and a photo tip - or two.

I took the images for the posts on a recent trek to the Masai Mara. The entire trip was organized by &Beyond, a leader in African adventure tours.

I used my Canon EOS 7D and Canon 100-400mm IS lens for most of the images in the posts. The wider-angle shots were taken with my Canon 24-105mm IS lens. All hand-held.

Safari Tip: You'll need three ingredients to get good photos: patience, luck and time. A great guide is also important. I was very lucky to get most of my keepers (80 percent) on the first four days of the photo safari. I also had a great guide!

Photo Tips: Go for behavior shots in addition to taking portraits.

Use plug-ins to change the mood and feel of a picture. Above: I used the Full Dynamic Range Soft filter in Nik's Silver Efex Pro. Below I used the Yellow 1 filter in the same plug-in. I also added the image borders in Silver Efex Pro.

Remember, when you remove the color from an image, you remove some of the reality. When you remove some of the reality, your picture can become more artistic and creative.

Check out my plug-ins page to save a few bucks on Nik Software and other plug-ins.

Below is my original photograph.

If you'd like to join one of my travel tours/workshops, see the Workshops page of my site. Also, if you are interested in an exclusive, 4-person workshop to Tanzania in 2012, shoot me an email.

I will be giving a presentation on photo safaris at the Explorers Club (where I am a member) in NYC in the spring of 2012. Stay tuned for the date.

To see more pictures from Kenya, check out my friend Andy Williams' SmugMug site. Nice work, Andy!

Explore the light,
Rick

P.S. If you plan on going to Kenya, have been to Kenya, have dreams of going to Kenya, or simply want to read about a wonderful adventure, check out West with the Night.