I think it’s the most beautiful of the lot! The Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, South Africa dominates the city skyline making almost ever photograph shot before its completion last year, obsolete. The graceful steel centre arch, based on the South African flag, is 106m high and a cable car designed to take visitors up to the highest point where they can take in wonderful  views of the city operates daily. The arch is 350m long and weighs 2600 tons. During the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ it will seat 70 000 people reverting to 54 000 thereafter.

We stayed at a very convenient B&B in Durban North called Annies Place (http://www.anniesplace.co.za/) just a few kilometres from the stadium. We did quite a few panoramic shots of the Durban Country Club with the stadium in the background and stitched these together in Photoshop CS4 after doing the necessary tweaks in Lightroom. What an amazing combination. In many instances these days I don’t even worry about using a panoramic head. I simply lock the focus, exposure and white balance and go click, click, click, allowing about 25% overlap and voila. Have a look at some of the images we did over the few days we were in Durban before the cloudy weather moved in again.

[View with PicLens]

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While we are chatting things photography, we’ve a few more spots available on our Photographic Safari to Madikwe Game Reserve in May 2010. Have a look here for more details. These are amazing fun! http://www.africaimagery.com/workshops_madikwe.php

It’s strange how things happen sometimes… We’ve been needing to update our aerial photography of Durban for some time now as the construction of the The Moses Mabhida Stadium for the 2010 Soccer World Cup has made many images of Durban obsolete. The weather in Durban and surrounds over the past months has been dreadful for photography and it’s only now that autumn is approaching are we able to consider any major shoots in the area.

ABSA and The Moses Mabhida Stadiums. Durban. KwaZulu Natal. South Africa

I happened to get a call from friend and fellow photographer John Lamberti (It was he that did those delicious biscuits that were available in the supermarkets at one time) and after chatting for a while he said that he was doing some aerial photography of Durban the next morning and would I like to split the costs. Would I just…? He had chartered a Robbinson 44 from Starlight Aviation at Virginia Airport (what amazing people to deal with) and after a very early morning (we had to drive down from Howick) we found ourselves flying slowly over Durban. The city was looking beautiful in the early morning light and we spent just under an hour dodging airliners in their final approach to Durban Airport and other helicopters doing pretty much what we were doing. Anyway, 660 shots later we landed back at Virginia. Have a look at some of the images we did here: http://www.africaimagery.com/albums/durban_aerial_photographs/index.html

Aerial photography can be quite tricky especially when working from a helicopter as, contrary to what one might expect, they can shake rattle and roll a little which does not really make for sharp images. Here then are a few photo tips for those taking to the sky with a camera.

1. Set the ISO setting to as much as you can without  creating too much noise. I used ISO400 on my Nikon D3x and it handled this like a bomb!

2. Set your camera to aperture priority and dial in the largest aperture you can. For me (I had Nikon’s 24 – 70mm lens on the camera) it was f2.8 but go as fast as you can. This sets up the camera to give you the highest shutter speed possible under current lighting conditions.

3. Set the drive to continuous (High).

4. Set the focus mode to continous (servo) and the focus point selection to automatic.

5. Keep the camera inside the aircraft when you are shooting  – you do not want to create any additional vibration by having the lens in the air flow.

6. Do not brace the camera on the aircraft anywhere as this allows vibration to be transferred from the plane top the camera.

7. And finally, a polarising filter can help cut through the haze but remember you do loose 2 stops of light when you screw it on.

Good luck and happy landings.Aerial Photography

Wow! What a Photo Graphic Safari that was! We had 5 people join us at Jaci’s Camp in Madikwe Game Reserve in South Africa’s North West Province – Lousie Donald (Publisher of Pix Magazine), Tim and Yvonne Driman, Hilary Baak and Mike Rickard out from the UK. The idea was to try to photograph the African Wild Dogs that Madikwe Game Reserve is so well known for but, as so often happens with wildlife photography, the dogs were not quite as cooperative as they could have been. We did see them a couple of times though and we did get some pix. Everything else  seemed to be doing their best to be photographed – we had great times with elephants (and had a couple of charges to keep out attention going), lions and

Lilac Breasted Roller at Madikwe Game Reserve

general game and also managed to play with some scenic after sunset.

We followed the usual format of early morning and late afternoon shoots with image analysis and other photographic discussions in betewwn and the VERY attantative and helpful staff at the lodge forced deliscous food and drink down our throuts a regular intervals. While the standard of photography at the start of the workshop was pretty good, I must say that after 4 days of intensive work on images, techniques and Photoshop, some very fine images we starting to appear. Have a look at some of the images we shot here:

This workshop was so successful we’ve scheduled some more with 2 people having already booked onto the March one. Book you place now. Have a look here for more details. Louise Donald of Pix Magazine very kindly put this video together.

It’s interesting how similar issues raised themselves in batches from time to time.  Recently I have had quite a few enquiries from people wanting to know which version of Photoshop to use.  What I am finding with my own work is that most of my image processing is being done in Adobe Lightroom with only some of the more advanced edits having to be done in Photoshop.

When Adobe launched Lightroom 2 (and it’s now up to version 2.6) the addition of adjustment brushes increased the processing power of Lightroom to the extent that Photoshop has

A raw image as its was shot before processing in Adobe Lightroom

almost but not quite become redundant to processing images.  I would guess that something around 90% of my raw images don’t need much editing at all other than levels correction, a bit of dust removal, perhaps a little local adjustment (which is where the brushes come in) and may be correcting a skew horizon or two.  I find that I’m only using Photoshop to stitch together panoramic images or work with layers when I need to.  And even here I do most of the edits in Lightroom, right click the image, then select edit in Photoshop.  Lightroom converts the image to a 16 bit TIFF file, opens it in Photoshop, where it or you do the necessary reprocessing and at the end of it, it opens the image in Lightroom again as a 16 bit TIFF.  It stacks this new file with the original so that you can easily find them.

What I am suggesting to people now in is that instead of buying one of the top Photoshop versions, they rather get Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop Elements which has the added advantage of being a little more affordable.  And yes I know that

Here the images has been processed in Lightroom only.

Photoshop does have a raw converter that is a perfectly competent editing program and actually is the same raw converter engine that is found in Lightroom but in my opinion, working with in Lightroom is very much more user-friendly and logical.

So just a short one this week and if you have any specific queries in this regard is feel free to contact us.

When I mentioned to a friend recently that we were heading out to 88m high Karkloof Falls in the Kwazulu Natal Midlands to do some pix of the falls, all he said was, “what? In this @%*$ weather – it’s overcast and raining!” Well, in many instances, this is the best time to be shooting waterfalls and water. If you photograph a waterfall in sunlight, very often the whites of the falling water blow out completely and if you try to hold exposure on them then the rest of the images is really very underexposed. Best of all though, in the low light of the overcast conditions you can shoot at very long shutter speeds resulting in those soft, fluffy waterfalls.

Here’s the first Image – shot from the viewpoint as you arrive. As you can see from the exposure data the long 2 second exposure has allowed

Karkloof Falls. Exposure Data: 2 Sec at f16. Iso 100 + Polarising Filter

the falling water to blur completely and a polarising filter  cuts the reflections on the rocks, foliage and water resulting in more saturated colours.

We then moved to the area above the falls to the much smaller waterfall called Woodhouse Falls (you see them above the main falls). Here I experimented with different shutter speeds to change the effect of the blurring. The choice of shutter speed depends on your personal preferences and on what you are trying to portray but have a look at the exposure data below each image and use what you think is best.

WoodHouse Falls. Exposure Data: 1/4 Sec at f16. ISO 100 +Polarising Filter

WoodHouse Falls. Exposure Data: 1/30 Sec at f5.6. ISO 100 +Polarising Filter

WoodHouse Falls. Exposure Data: 1/60 Sec at f4. ISO 100 +Polarising Filter

WoodHouse Falls. Exposure Data: 1/250 Sec at f2.8. ISO 400 +Polarising Filt

I wasn’t quite happy with my pic of the main falls and we scouted around for another view point. Eventually we discovered and tiny, indistinct little path through the thick bush that led to a rock overhang with a stunning view of the falls. The problem was the sky. The contrast between the rather dark gorge and trees and the sky was just too much for the camera to handle. I decided to use a fairly new (well it’s actually been out for a few years now) technique called High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging. What you do is shoot a number of different images at different exposures. I used what the camera metered and then +1, -1. -2 and -3 stops. I then run these images through some software called Photomatix which, to cut a very long story short and to oversimplify it, blends all the images together and compresses that range of tones. The last image is what you get.

We are running a Photo Workshop in Howick in early January and then again in March and will be working these falls as part of the experience. Have a look here for more details: http://www.africaimagery.com/workshops_midlands.php.

Karkloof Falls. HDR image from 0, +1, -1, -2, -3 exposures.

A famous photographer (and I cannot for the life of me remember his name at the moment :-S) once said after being asked how he got such great pix answered, “f8 and be there”. I’ve been thinking about that recently… There are 2 absolute essentials to photography: The first is that you need a camera and the other is that you actually need to be on location. I remember a boss of mine saying once (and remember I was employed as a wildlife photographer at one stage), “Roger, you need to spend some time in the office — we never see you around the place!?”. Now, you’re not going to do much wildlife photography in the office and all I was trying to do was my job.

Lately I’ve taken to carrying a small compact camera around with me. Depending what I’m doing, it’s either the Nikon P6000 or the Olympus E-P1.

The Sun Coast Casino. Durban. KwaZulu Natal. South Africa.

Both are capable of producing the MOST spectacular results and both are capable of shooting raw images, and essential part or creating beautiful images.

Pat shot this first Image on the right using the Nikon P6000 while be were working on a small book on Durban and Surrounds. It was made in the early evening and hand held (Vibration Reduction is an awesome invention). Pat has very steady hands (I HAVE to use a tripod) but even so hand holding a camera at 1/11 sec at f3.7 at ISO 200 is no mean feat! One doesn’t want to upload huge files but if you were to have a look at the image at 100% on the screen, the detail and low noise levels are way beyond anything one could realistically expect from such a tiny camera.

Then there is the Olympus E-P1. I’ve taken to carrying this around with me on our motorbike rides (we have a BMW 1150 GSA Anventure Bike) in a tiny camera bag over my sholder. The great thing is that you do all your viewing on the LCD screen on the back  – no need to hold it up to you eye so you can shoot with your helmet on. It is a DSLR but looks like one

Michaelhouse. KwaZulu Natal. South Africa

of the old rangefinder cameras of yesteryear and takes interchangeable lenses. I use it with the standard 14 to 24 mm. I got this image of Michaelhouse one Sunday afternoon on one of our rides around the KwaZulu Natal Midlands. Hand held, I took 2 adjoining exposures and after adjusting settings in Adobe Lightroom I stitched it together in Photoshop CS4. What could be simpler?! And the image quality is astounding!

We’ve had the most appauling weather here in Howick over the past weeks. Rain, mist and temperatures in the low teens, and this in the middle of summer. We did get a small patch on Sunday when it looked as though we may escape the rain (we were mistaken by the way)

Karkloof Falls, My 1150 GSA and Tony Keytel's 1200 GSA. KwaZulu Natal. South Africa

and headed off to the Karkloof Falls. These are pumping at the moment and grabbed this image of the falls, the bikes and friend Tony Keytel.  I used a longish focal length to bring the falls closer to the “action”.

The wonderful thing though is that in all these cases, I had a camera with me and so was able to get some very useful (and saleable) images. To lug a full size DSLR around in these situations is not practical and in reality I probably wouldn’t!

And then there is one last thing about these tiny cameras: There are times when the last thing that you want is to look like a pro photographer and when you haul out a Nikon D3x that’s exactly what you look like! The answer is one of these little “pro” compacts.

Remember: f8 and be there!

Where to begin; the field is vast and full of land mines and what better place to start than right at the very beginning.

The advent of digital photography changed everything but the art itself. Those of us who were happy and comfortable in the knowledge that we had the finest lenses (and more of this in subsequent months) and camera bodies and that all we needed to do when we wanted to upgrade the image quality was to get hold of Fuji or Kodak’s latest film and voila new, bright, colourful, high resolution images! For most of us, we shot a pile of trannie film and then mounted the individual frames in little plastic mounts and captioned these using sticky labels that seemed to prefer sticking to the emulsion rather than to the slide mount. If someone needed to use a pic in a book or magazine or whatever you sent them a trannie, they did what was necessary with scanners and such like and it appeared in the publication, most of the time looking pretty good. Some times the results looked awful and then we would grumble amongst ourselves, moaning about #@#$*&^ repro houses, printers and paper…

Digital cameras changed that in no small way. And for the better I feel, although there will be a bunch of people out there who would disagree. Yes I know that when you need to upgrade image quality it involves a pleading and grovelling session with the bank manager, but you don’t have to buy film again. Ever! And when you head off on a 2 month trip through Africa you don’t attract attention to yourself by carrying around enough film to supply a small country. And no more messing about with tiny sticky labels, each one with a mind of its own. And, most importantly, I feel that we’ve reached a stage where the image quality is spectacular. (Again, I’m sure there are many that would disagree but …) Digital photography too, has made the photographic pastime much more accessible to the man in the street than it’s ever been. In the past one would need to spend hours in the dark fiddling with noxious chemicals and now you can do very similar things on your laptop during lunch time (or whenever). So, what camera? This decision is really critical now because of the prices of cameras and so you really need to get the purchase right the first time.

Here’s the question: “What do I want to do with it?”

Nikon Coolpix S560 camera.

Answer 1: “Do some pix of the family on holiday, the new baby, and gran when she pops in for a visit.” You need one of the small point and shoot cameras like the little Nikon S220, S18, or if you’d like to splash out a little, the S550. Canon does the Powershot A480, the A210 and the compact Ixus range. In terms of pricing, you should be able to get something very nice for under about R3 000 or under R2 000 if you are willing to settle for a camera a little less flashy. Forget about pixels here. All digital cameras that you buy today have more than enough in the way of pixels to cater for all your needs. I still sell images that I shot on my old 3mp digital SLR – some of them used full page in magazines. The cameras above (and there are many others available – not just the Nikons and Canons) will be more than adequate for general family photography, the images easily enlarging to A4 and larger.

Nikon Coolpix P90 camera

Answer 2: “Similar to the above but we visit the game reserves and I do like to play with the images on my computer, doing a bit of “darkroom” work like changing the colour balance, cropping, masking and so on.”

The visit to the game reserve changes things a little. The 3 or 4 X zooms on the above entry level cameras simply won’t cut it and so you need to look at Nikon’s P80 and Canon’s SX10. These will do the job beautifully as that 18 or 20 power zoom will be the equivalent of about a 480 or 500mm lens on a 35mm camera – very useful in the game reserve and the 10 mp images will have more than enough “meat” to play around with the images in Photoshop. Pricing is around the R5 000 mark.

Answer 3: “I love photography and I am looking for the best in terms of quality but I really couldn’t be bothered with a DSLR. Henri Cartier Bresson is my

Nikon Coolpix P6000 camera

hero.”

Both Nikon and Canon do little “pro” cameras that would fill this niche perfectly – the P6000 and the G10 respectively. You should be able to pick up either for under R7 000 and both shoot RAW images as well as the normal jpegs. We will delve into the “To RAW or not to RAW” debate at another stage but very briefly if you shoot RAW images it maximises the amount of control you have when manipulating them and results in the highest quality pix. The above cameras are light, small and best of all you do not look like a pro photographer when using them so no one notices you. We’ve had double page spreads in some of the country’s top magazines using this type of camera so image quality is superb. I cart one around with me wherever I go just in case…

Nikon D5000 DSLR camera.

Answer 4: “I’ve had a little point and shoot camera for a number of years now and I’d like to pursue the hobby, taking it up seriously. Budget is a little limited though.”

Now is the time to start having a look at the digital single lens reflex cameras and the range is huge, starting at Nikons D5000 and D60 and Canon’s 1000D and 500D. (Remember, other manufacturers do make some very nice equivalents but I cannot list them all here.) Pricing starts at about R7 000 and goes to about R12 000 or so for body only. Most of the cameras do come in kit form with a (usually adequate) standard zoom lens and you can easily add lenses (buy the very best you can – don’t skimp on lens quality) as you go along. The beauty of DSLR’s is that you can buy very good quality lenses and then upgrade the bodies as they and your budget improve. The quality produced by these cameras is astoundingly good, lacking a little of the dynamic range of the higher end cameras but very usable anyway. They have bigger sensors than all of the point and shoot cameras so noise levels (a little like film grain for those that don’t know) are generally very low even at higher ISO levels (still very usable at ISO 800 or so).

Answer 5: I’m serious!

Nikon D90 DSLR camera

You have to be looking at the Nikon D90, D300 or D700 or Canon 50D and 5D Mk II. All these cameras are capable of spectacular results. I use the D300 as my backup camera and for when I don’t want to lug the monster (D3x) along and with its 18-105 VR lens makes a wonderful “travel” camera. The D90, D300 and 50D are all “APS” sized sensors (as are the DSLR’s above) and as such are smaller than the D700 and the 5D which are what are called full frame cameras and have a sensor the same size as the 35mm format. In terms of out and out image quality the D700 and the much higher pixel count 5D Mk II are better but, because of that smaller sensor, there is an effective increase in focal length (by 1,5 times for the Nikons and 1,6 times for the Canon) when 35mm lenses are used on them. The way this works is that the smaller sensors use only the centre portion of the image circle projected by the lens and as a result the lens appears to be longer than it is. Obviously, a 300mm lens is just that and nothing can change it but if you are using one on a Nikon D300 it would be the same as using a 450mm lens on the full frame D700. This is really great if you are using long lenses often and can be a huge influence if you are trying to decide between the two cameras – just imagine, that 300mm f4 lens you have now effectively becomes as 450mm f4. What a bargain!

Answer 6. Even more serious!

Well, if you are that serious you probably know more than me so I won’t even go into it!

I haven’t been able to go into as much detail as I would have liked because of space but be careful of being influenced by the pixel race and by people analysing images to the nth degree. You will invariably find that you need fewer pixels than you think and that all those horror stories about excessive noise in images don’t translate into a visible difference when the image is printed. A little while back a camera was released amidst huge criticism that the noise levels in the images were unacceptably high. Just to get things into perspective in my own mind, I did some pix of flowers at ISO 100 and 1600 and then had them printed at about A4 size. I knew what to look for and yes I could see a bit of grain creeping in at ISO 1600 but a friend who is a reasonably experienced photographer couldn’t until I pointed it out to him and neither could the participants of the photographic workshop I held a few weeks later!

If you have any queries or comments or would like to see something discussed here please Contact Us. Alas, I cannot promise to answer all e-mails (things do get really hectic here) but I will read them and take note.

Learn about photography on a workshop with Roger and Pat de la Harpe, a couple who have produce 19 coffee table books, written and photographed hundreds of photo-features for many top South African travel and wildlife magazines and who have contributed images to countless publications around the world.

Roger and Pat have carefully selected a number of destinations in Southern Africa that they feel offer the best in terms of wildlife and travel photography, either for small groups of photographers or for individuals wanting a custom designed photographic experience.