Here are some HDR photographers from around the world worth following, each of these people has either influenced or inspired me in some ways. These photographers are unafraid and bold in the art that HDR is but none are fringe artists that use HDR to distort our world. Most are after the reality of what we see and make our perception of this world better and I thank them for it. If you know of more please add to the comments area.

In no special order here is my list, I follow each of these photographers and always look forward to their next post.

Author name:	Elia Locardi
Website	blamethemonkey.com
Some great travel photography that will make you wish you were there with the added bonus a few words of photographic wisdom well worth reading.

Author name:	Miroslav Petrasko
Website	HDR Shooter
Great photography from and around Europe with a really simple to follow tutorial.

Author name:	Jim Nix
Website	Nomadic Pursuits
Exquisite travel photography from around the globe that makes you dream and inspires.

Author name:	Trey Ratcliff
Website	Stuck in Customs
The travel photographer that turned me onto HDR. Photography, stories and tutorials all worth the time.

All photographs show here are done so with the express authorisation from the copyright holder or/and are holding a CC licences.

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The truth is with a little practice and good photo stitching software, you can get amazing results and save on weight in you bag as well as avoiding to lighten up your wallet. As most photography techniques it all starts at the moment you press the shutter, the post-process will not be able to fix everything that you did not bother to take care of when you pressed that shutter, particularly with panoramic and HDR photography. my philosophy in photography is get the maximum right in camera.

Here are some tips I learned along the panoramic way:

• Before you pick up the camera to do the panoramic, look around, pre-visualise the final panoramic photo.
• Be careful, look up and down too, there might be something in the way.
• Turn around, there might just be a better place to take it from.
• Do your panoramic photograph sections in portrait
• Do a sweep or two of the scene through the viewfinder, it will give you the beginning and the end points. Again though the viewfinder as you sweep look up and down too.
• Try to avoid glare, flare and the sun.
• Be careful of moving objects as they may appear more than once in your final product.
• I usually take a shot of my left index finger or hand a the beginning of the panoramic sequence and my right one at the end, it makes it easier to identify the sequence in my asset management tool, Lightroom in this case.
• Set your focus to about 1/3 of the scene.
• Set your aperture as low as possible for handheld speeds relative to your lens, f/9 to f/22 and lower. for the speed, I use the length of the lens x2.5 for the speed, for example I have a 35mm I will not drop my speed bellow 90\s on a non stabilised lens and I never allow to go below a 60th.
• Get the exposure average through the scene and lock it or go manual! Most cameras have an exposure lock function, on Canon cameras it’s a star on the top right of the camera back, make use of it.
• Most modern cameras have a “rule of thirds” grid in the viewfinder, use it to keep level.
• Include about 30% more to the left and right of the panoramic.
• Overlap each section by about 30%.
• Stand steady and move on your hips, for each 4 sections or when you start stretching your back reseat yourself by moving you feet in a shuffling motion (in a small circle) whilst keeping your eye in the viewfinder and keeping the camera in the last position. This is a tip given by Scott Kelby that helped me a lot particularly in loosing less of the top and bottom part of the image when stitching and I am no longer twisting my back.
• Consider using the widest distortion free lens in your arsenal but not fisheye lenses as fisheye type effect is an example of unwanted distortion. The panoramic post process creates it’s own distortion, you do not want to add more to it.

Breathe and take your time, don’t expect to get it right first time, practice.

The post-processing is an entire different beast but if you get most of it right in camera, Photoshop Elements or CS will do the stitching brilliantly, both these programs have free trials at www.adobe.com. You do not have Photoshop Elements or CS and you own a Canon? Try Canon Photostitch, it’s not as good as Photoshop but it’s free. You cannot argue with that price!

Want more details in a difficult one shot photograph? Have you considered doing a panoramic? The ones above and bellow are even if it does not look like one.

One last word, all the photo shown in this post are handheld panoramic but also HDR, simply because I do both. Understanding the relationship between the two means both need to be learned individually first, I will be talking more about HDR photography soon.

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Traveling with photography gear is painful, it’s heavy and most airlines limit you radically on luggage weight both checked-in and on board. My photo bag when fully loaded weighs about 17kg far exceeding the limits add a tripod to this and we are reaching the 20kg. I used to sacrifice clothing to be able to take more gear. I since learned that more gear does not make for better photos and is more cumbersome than it is worth.

So I plan my trips and the gear I’ll take. The first item to go has been my bulky heavy tripod for a lighter Carbon fibre model. The second was my big bag a Thinktank Airport Acceleration V2.0, I still have it but I bought a smaller one,  the Thinktank Rotation 360, it is comfortable, accessible and relatively light but most importantly convenient. What it brings to the party is it’s size, it forces me to think what I will be shooting and plan for it.
The only items that are always in my bag are:

• A camera body, for now a Canon EOS 7D
• A camera strap, a Blackrapid RS-4 Classic, I recommend it or something similar.
• A few lens cloth, micro-fibre works but there are new great clothes around (I steal from my optometrist, it’s cheaper)
• A pen and small note pad
• A couple of tripod camera plates for the strap.
• Spare camera batteries
• Spare CF cards
• Lensbaby Scout with the the Fisheye, Soft Focus and Sweet 35 Optics (Light an versatile)
• A circular polarising filter

I regularly go down to Cape Town, I noticed that though I took my 100-400mm (1380g) and my 70-200mm (1310g) lenses (that is close to 3kg), I never used them because when I am in Cape Town I mostly shoot landscapes, seascapes and cityscapes so I mostly use my 16-35 wide angle lens. So I pack it now, I also use a 24-70mm (950g) lens enough to warrant it coming along for the trip. The only additional item over and above is a flash. This reduces my weight dramatically.

I also go to nature and wildlife parks, the bag configuration changes radically. The 100-400mm (1,380g) comes along for the trip but not the 16-35mm (635g), I will also take a 100mm Macro lens (625g) with a ring flash along, to shed weight I do not take my big flash (475g).

And lately, when I go photo walking, I only take one lens and sometimes the some Lensbabies along. Which lens you will ask? It will depend on the photo walk, but chances are that is will either be, more often than not, a 16-35mm (635g) or sometimes a 24-70mm (950g) though I suspect this will now be the lighter 24-105mm (670g) as soon as I get my elusive EOS 5D. Also, I will be taking my tripod on future walks, simply because it will force me to compose and think more, particularly with my HDR work and that the EOS 5D’s burst speed and 7 photo HDR bracket will not compensate for my moving anymore but that is in the future.

One last lens I think I should have with me always is the fantastic canon EF 50mm f/1.4 prime (290g), it’s not heavy. I keep on leaving it behind because on the EOS 7D it more an 80mm and it does not really work with what I do, with the EOS 5D coming this might just change.

The bottom line is that it all adds up and the spine can take so much.

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First of all, most modern DSLR kits come with a relative wide lens, a 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 that often comes with stabilisation. 18mm is considered wide, beyond that it becomes super wide to fisheye (ultra wide). Have a look at this article to get a good understanding of the “length” of a lens. In relative term a 50mm will give the photographer about a normal human field of view on a full size sensor, anything wider will be more than a human field of view. For example, some fisheyes go to 180 degrees field of view, with these ultra wide lenses there is a serious problem outside of the bubble and banding effects, if you are not careful your feet will be in the shot, so look down when you use these or you will be shooting your foot!

So coming back to the original question, do you need wider than 18mm, probably not, particularly if you are on a budget. In fact if you are on a budget and you only own a 18-55mm, my opinion would be to get a zoom lens in the 55-300 range. Most manufacturers have relatively good priced, entry level, lenses in that range such as Canon’s 70-300mm, Nikon’s a 55-300mm and SONY’s a 75-300mm also let us not forget Tamron, Sigma and other third party manufacturers. These would allow you to photograph some sports and wildlife amongst other things.

Now if you only have an 18-55mm kit lens, how do you create a wide angle view of a scene? I will cover an “How to create simple panoramic photographs” from shooting it to composing it in my next post.

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Was I in for a surprise!!! It’s not tack sharp but… I’ll let the photo speak for itself!

I shot this less than 20cm away, I even got a nice low depth of field! The IS is impressive!

Here is a crop of the cover, it’s not 1 to 1 but you’ll get the idea.

Even my finger print is visible!

I was in for another surprise, here is the same image processed with Lightroom 4 (noise reduction at 100% only)

I’ll do some more testing but I have the feeling this is going to be my go to lens when I get my new camera.

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This photo was shot in the Kimberley in 2007.

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This photo was shot in the old Heidelburg prison in 2012.

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This photo was shot in the Serenity Forest Eco Reserve in 1995.

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This was taken in 2005 on Entabeni lake in the Entabeni Private Nature Reserve. I remember it well because a ranger told me a strange story that day.

An oriental, probably Chinese, tourist and I will be sharing tourist stories from all over the world, asked him if there was dolphins in the lake. The answer was rather surprising. He replied that the ”Lesser Limpopo Dolphin”, a fictious species, came to give birth to it’s young here every tow years, braving the Limpopo river and it’s many dangers such as crocodiles and some species of small sharks. I found it very amusing as this was obviously geographically impossible.

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here is my new home social photography address: http://500px.com/PascalParent/photos do not expect a flood of photographs (though there will be initially) this is for what I consider my best work only.

I am already impressed with the response by the way, even Facebook and Google + do not generate this much interest and traffic in relative terms. In 1 hour I had generated 17 views, 8 likes and 4 comments for 4 photos.

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• An informal photograph taken quickly, typically with a small hand-held camera. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/snapshot
• A snapshot is popularly defined as a photograph that is "shot" spontaneously and quickly, most often without artistic or journalistic intent. Snapshots are commonly considered to be technically "imperfect" or amateurish—out of focus or poorly framed or composed. Common snapshot subjects include the events of everyday life, such as birthday parties and other celebrations; sunsets; children playing; group photos; pets; tourist attractions and the like.
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snapshot_%28photography%29

The definition of Photograph:

• A picture produced by photography.
  http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/photograph?s=t
• A photograph (often shortened to photo) is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene’s visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of what the human eye would see. The process and practice of creating photographs is called photography. The word "photograph" was coined in 1839 by Sir John Herschel and is based on the Greek φῶς (phos), meaning "light", and γραφή (graphê), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light".
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photograph

Strange, I must be taking a lot of snapshots but wait snapshots are photographs right?
As a photographers we must think about what we say before we say it and remember that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A “snapshot” may be more sentimental then a so called professional photograph. In my opinion, we can not degrade a person’s work and “snapshot” seems to be, in this context, really degrading even arrogant. We should cultivate a spirit of sharing and teaching. What does a professional photograph (or photographer for that matter) mean anyways?

If you are wandering why I wrote this? Just an incident that happened not so long ago, I was present not involved but it got me thinking on how I criticise other’s photographs and photographers, I am hoping I never come across as anything else than helpful and encouraging.

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It’s been 10,000 Km, nearly 5 months and a few dents, the VW POLO 1,6 TDI still impresses every day. I still have 5,000km to go to the 1st service though and I will report on that too in due time.

The car’s 6,2 L/100km average consumption is a bonus that cannot be ignored, most of which is done in relatively heavy traffic. To give you an idea on the traffic I face every day, it is mostly highway and my 84km daily commute of which 60% is done at 80km/h average and the rest at 20km/h when I am lucky.

Considering my daily commute, I am doing it in relative comfort, the driving position, thanks to both the height and reach steering wheel as well as the height and distance adjustable seat, is very good. The semi-automatic air conditioner works well too, though I tend to forget it’s not automatic and end up freezing my feet. One of the best things of my daily commute is the radio, a Caska Multimedia system, I walk in, fire up the Bluetooth streaming and voila I am listening to my favorite podcast or an audio book. It helps to ease the near 1 hour drive.

The panoramic sunroof is great at speeds bellow 80Km/h, above that and in traffic I keep it tilted up, leaving it open is just too noisy.

The good:

• Nimble in traffic and in town
• Fuel consumption
• Comfort
• Cruise control
• Speed warning
• Hold hill assists
• The boot open remote
• Traction control
• Holds the road like if it was supper glued to it
• Torque, torque and torque

The bad:

• The dashboard windscreen reflections
• The chrome ventilation reflection on the side windows
• No automatic headlights
• No automatic wipers
• No automatic air conditioner
• Speedometer more than 10% out, then again it avoids speeding tickets.

The ugly:

• The remote central locking, I cannot get used to it
• Onboard computer gets the average consumption completely wrong

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The first answer lays in the light, as always with photography. Let me elaborate, on camera flash in closed quarters creates harsh light, even with a diffuser. This is something you definitively want to avoid at all costs, so the answer is to diffuse big lights. The room we were using was to large for small diffused flashes, at least mine would not cut it in these conditions. So I took two 300W strobes along, strategically positioned them in the room to have a “sunlight” effect, as in light coming down casting a shadow on the mat, pointing them at the ceiling, now I was lucky that the ceiling was white. They where about 30 cm away and the ceiling made for a rather pleasant diffuser. Originally I used my remote RF trigger, however the light was no good, it was time for plan B… Off came the RF trigger and on came my small flash set at –2EV, to give it a horizontal light. This resulted in good lighting conditions, there were still some shadows on the walls but not as disruptive, I was relatively happy with the results.

Small room, 1.6x cropped camera and being unobtrusive are not synonymous of each other, I am sure you would agree. With the light issue out of the way, the lens issue came. Most photographers will tell you, use a 24-70mm or a 50mm lens for this type of shoot. Let us do some math, room size is about 4mx5m I have bodies everywhere and I have an effective 38-112mm or 80mm, I can tell you that with these lenses you will not get a full body shot. The funny part is I have not used a “portrait” lens to do portraiture in years. I use my trusty 16-35mm (25.6-56mm effective), it’s a wide lens but you can manage it’s distortion if you know it well. Mind you, it does fall in the 24-70mm category.

Shooting such an event is a physical challenge, it all happens low on the mat and that is where you need to shoot, from low on the mat, any less would look wrong. You need to be fit and even if you are you will feel it the next morning. I know I did.

Last issue at hand… Being unobtrusive, well to tell the truth, I was not, I just did my best not to walk on anybody, nobody seem to mind. A tip: Introduce yourself and tell people to ignore you, it generally works great for me.

Photographs published under authorization from Alchemy Health and Fitness Centre, Northcliff.

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What if I told you all of this is possible today! What if I told you it’s not that expensive either? Let’s have a look at the Eye-Fi SD Cards in this case the Pro X2.

The installation is relatively easy as long as there is no firewall, Windows 7 will ask you to open the required ports. The software itself is no as intuitive as I would expect it to be but not overly complicated either. I was up and running in about 10 minutes using my laptop as my download station.

Using my laptop: The first thing you will notice is the “lag” between the time you take a photo and the download gets completed. I initially thought something was not working. It transfers both RAW and JPEG with out issues, you just need to be patient.
The Windows software, Eye-Fi Centre, feel a bit like an afterthought, it does the job of getting the photos and configuring the card. Don’t expect more. 

Using my iPad: This was a little more complicated, you’ll need to set the card to “Direct Mode” for that it needs to go back into the laptop’s SD card reader and you will need to install the “receiving” software on your iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch and “pair” you card. I had to fiddle a bit to get it to work. My iPad and iPhone did not pick up the Wi-Fi signal of the card. Once it did life was easier though I had to remind my phone about the card a couple of times.
Here is a tip: In the settings on your mobile iOS device, set it to upload on Wi-Fi only! i say that because by default it uses 3G too, I got caught out, here comes the bill.

The good news is the application, at least in the case of the iOS version, gives immediate access to the photos to the “Camera Roll” and “Photo Stream”, this makes it available to most Photo app like iPhoto for iOS, PSTouch for iOS and Android, Snapseed for iOS and Android and Photogene for iOS to mention a few.

I have not tested the automated uploads to and FTP or sharing site, nor have I tested it with video but my experience has not been bad. I will be stretching it a bit on my next photowalk, let see if it’s going to work. I intend to shoot, edit and share during the walk. We will see if this really works.

The good:

• The technology works
• Highly configurable
• SD cards are common in consumer cameras.
• The optional online backup for only 7 days after the date of upload, premium service cost $49.99 per year adds a few features such as full resolution and unlimited storage for an unlimited time.

The weird:

• I get an email each time an upload is completed.

The bad:

• The user interface in both the iOS App and Windows App are a little clumsy
• The card does not have a stay alive mode and disconnects easily to it’s tethered device causing the tethered device to get confused a times.
• Slow synchronisation

The ugly

• Once the initial configuration is made why can’t the configuration be made over Wi-Fi?
• My Canon EOS 7D does not have an SD slot, there is good excuse to get me a Canon EOS 5D MkIII.

The card has a few other features but I personally will never use most of them nor will most people that would use these cards, one that may come in handy though is the “Endless Memory” feature that allows you to use the card as a buffer.

I’ll tell more of my experiences in a follow up post.

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First and foremost, synchronize your camera time with your phone, this is relatively important for the geotagging process to happen correctly. Second, don’t (as it happened to me) forget to start Trails before you embark on your photography journey. I found that on long journeys, 6 hours plus, I needed to recharge my iPhone so I keep it charging whilst in my car.

There are 2 versions of Trails on iTunes, the free but limited Trails Lite GPS Tracker and the paid Trails GPS Tracker, I use the later.

Here are some screenshots from Trails:

You can see a few orange markers these are the newly geotagged photographs, you will need to save the photographs for the tagging to be written to the EXIF data. Also in blue (not shown here) will be the trail.

Happy geotagging

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First and foremost, not all situations are good for HDR work! This is important, not all photos make for a good HDR, you will need high contrast, little movement and time to shoot an HDR. But try never the less, see what works for you and what does not.

• Shooting the HDR, it all starts here!
  • As with normal photography, get that EV 0 photo as you would if you where not doing an HDR, this is your reference photo it owe to be perfect every time. So expose it right and do as if HDR did not exist, I cannot stress this enough. I personally shoot everything a 1/3 of a stop lower, I like it better that way but that is up to taste and preferences. Know this though, all the rules of photography applies.
  • Shoot in RAW, you should anyways.
  • I, generally, do 3 handheld photographs, EV 0, +3, –3 at f/8, ISO 100, it’s no secret that I found that f/8 is magic for HDR photography, I tried others for example low depth of field which I generally love just does not work for me.
  • Frame it right, in fact because I do it handheld I frame it wider, yes I crop my HDRs a bit but to the slight movement of handheld photography.You can go manual but you will need a tripod or do like me use Aperture Priority.
  • Do not change you aperture or ISO, is an HDR only the speed should change!
  • Set your camera to shoot all 3 (or more if you can) in one go, see your camera manual under bracketing.
  • The tip to know how many photo’s you need? Expose for the highlight get your reading then expose to the shadow get the reading again, I use 3EV because of my camera’s limitations but calculate how many photographs you need according to your EV bracketing mode.

Now that you have the 3 (or more) photos and I assume you have imported them on to your computer using your favourite tool, let’s review my workflow step by step. See the results bellow, in this case I used 3 photograph.

EV0 – 1/640, f/9, ISO 200	EV0 – 1/5000, f/9, ISO 200	EV0 – 1/80, f/9, ISO 200

• Step 1 – Create the HDR
  • Do not modify the originals, you will do the fine touches at the end of the process.
  • I convert them to JPEG at 1 EV separation, yes that means that I can end up with up to 11 photos, I only select the best 5 to 7 though.
    How do I get so many out of 3 photographs? Adobe Photoshop Lightroom has a slider for this sole purpose.
    This is why I shoot raw, I can pull up to a 2 EV photo up or down with very little degradation.
    Technically, you are able to do an HDR with only 1 photograph shot in RAW.
  • Import all the photos into the HDR program, I use Photomatix Pro, though there are a few others. 
    • The trick here is to tick “Align images”, “Crop aligned result” and selecting “by matching features” in case of movement, the perspective correction is selected because I use wide angle lenses.
    • “Reducing ghosting artifacts” in auto helps with movement that may have occurred, I tried most the setting “High” is always selected nowadays.
    • “Reduce Noise” on “All source images” helps for later noise control.
    • “Reduce chromatic aberration” helps latter as well.
    • As you can see I set it to reimport into Adobe Photoshop Lightroomin TIFF, TIFF keeps more information thus making it easier to edit later.
  • In Photomatix Pro, I will modify the settings to come as close as possible to the look I want, I generally start of with the “Enhancer – Default” preset, I find it smoother and more realistic.
    Do not do this if it is for a panoramic, the blending needs to be the same! In fact I created a preset that I can use for each panoramic sections.
  • Save it.
  • If it is a panoramic, merge and crop it before you go to step 2 and watch that sky if there is any.
• Step 2
  • Because the HDR process flattens the colours, I import it into Topaz Adjust and use one of the colour enhancing filters, I do not always use the same one but I do use the “Spicify” filter more often then others, remember that each photograph is unique.
  • Here are the catches:
    • Grunge, I recently found a way around it, Topaz Adjust 5 (and maybe before) has a Transparency setting in the “3. Finishing Touches” section, I use that in addition to other settings.
    • Halo effect, that one is often hard to control.
• Step 3
  • Adjust the final HDR as you would any other photos.
  • Do look at reducing grain.

As you see it’s not a complicated science, you can also go back to my previous entries where you will find more details about how to shoot an HDR and more.

Finally, enjoy doing them, it’s what photography is all about, enjoyment.

Here are some HDR photographers I follow (i will update regularly):

• Miroslav Petrasko at http://blog.hdrshooter.net
• Trey Ratcliff at http://www.stuckincustoms.com/
• Klaus Herrmann at http://farbspiel-photo.com/

Last updated on the 6th of March 2012

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It’s rather simple, the more friends you have on social networks the more audience you have, the more the audience the more likely you are to pass your message and be successful.

Yes it would be dangerous if I minded people seeing what I write, I am always mindful of the fact that once I write something on the net, no matter if it’s my blogs, a social network site or anywhere else on the net, I am aware that it’s out there and could potentially damage my reputation or worst.

I think that the message here is, much like flying in a storm with a biplane, I’d rather not. If you want to discuss something private, use secure means of communications.

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I am impressed with the fact that Canon obviously listened to the market but mostly to it’s user requirements.

Let me list the good:

• Canon seem to have given up on the mega-pixel race for better low light sensitivity, in my opinion a vast step forward in the right direction.
• My pet peeve with Canon EOS Cameras, including the 7D, was that the maximum auto exposure bracketing at 3 shots with a maximum of 3 EV increments, now at 7 shots at 3 EV increments a dream come trough for HDR shooters like me.
• The new focusing technology, I wear glasses and truthfully I rely on it vastly.
• The multi-exposure setting also looks interesting.
• Dual card, 1 CF + 1SD

The things that make me indifferent, mostly because I do not use these function yet

• The better video quality and support.

The things this camera could do without

• The actual HDR processing, I find that entry level.

What’s missing

• Built in RF wireless for new series of flashes, like the Speedlite 600EX-RT
• Built in GPS receiver, though it’s available as an add-on.

In short, I am exited that it’s out and I can’t wait to gets my hands on one.

I also found some photos done with the Canon EOS 5D Mark III here.

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Let be be clear about this too, I am talking about replies not Facebook likes, Google +1’s or re-tweets though I find those problematic too, however this is a technology issue.

So now I face a problem, and I am certain I am not alone, I can aggregate Facebook discussions on my blog but I may end up violating privacy. But if I do aggregate it would need to be across all social networks and I have not found an easy solution to that as yet.

So what is the solution? Truthfully, user education, post replies where you read the article, it helps the writer’s credibility with the search engines. At this time there is little more that can be done.

Have you got a solution?

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1. Blog wish list

So what is the trick?

1. Take each section as wide as possible, all my panoramic images are done at 16mm, it will be more forgiving on your movement up and down.
2. Overlap each section by at least 30%, 50% will give you double the information to stich.
3. Keep the same focus, aperture, speed and ISO for each section, do not be afraid to go manual, in fact I encourage it.
4. Tripods help, the truth is I do not use them much because I find them restrictive, say what you will it’s cumbersome to carry around.
5. Before you do a panoramic, pan your camera, look where you begin and where you are going to end, find your panoramic line if you will, it’s like framing only wider. When doing the initial panning watch out for:
1. The sun and flares.
2. Water reflections.
3. Moving people, animals and objects as they may appear more than once in your panoramic image.
4. Camera tilting, try to stay on the same horizontal axis but keep that camera at 90 degrees.
5. As so many say, look up, look down look everywhere, pan it twice or more before you start.
6. When you do the panoramic sections do 30% more on either sides, it will let you crop better.
7. Understand the fisheye effect and how to use it or avoid it, a panoramic image has lens curvature and that is that.
8. 180 degrees panoramic images taken on a road or any visible straight live will result in a perceived 90 degrees panoramic.
9. Use a good stitching program and there I have not found any software that beats Photoshop CS though I believe Photoshop Elements does it well to, though I have never used it. Why Photoshop Lightroom does not have it is beyond me. You can download the trial for any of them and try.
10. Lastly, it takes processing time to do a panoramic image, be patient.

But most importantly, enjoy making and sharing them.

Related posts:

1. A word on High Dynamic Range
2. Basic HDR Photography
3. Uploading photographs to Facebook – Step by step using a browser.

But here is one photograph that does not have that effect, yet it is indeed a panoramic made of no less than 7 portrait photos, so why is there no bending? Simple there is nothing in the centre, so you cannot see it! But look at the horizon line, it is bent so ever slightly…

And there you have it, the simple explanation.

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Unfortunately, success comes at a price and that price is as we have more walks we have greater numbers and greater numbers mean requires greater care.

Etiquette on street photography and photo walks as I see it is paramount, I find that it makes for better photos. I thought I’d share what I consider proper and please note this is not researched by far this is my thoughts.

1. Be mindful of your surroundings and fellow photographers, do not put yourself in front of another’s lens.
2. Be courteous, it cost nothing and brings out the best in people.
3. Before you even pickup your camera to shot someone, ask, you will rarely be told no, I never have.
4. Children are fascinating but this in my opinion is a sensitive subject, more so every day. Ask the parents for permission first, if you can.
5. Do not invade private space, this only creates an uneasiness that will be felt in your photos and gives a bad reputation to all photographers.
6. You can take anything and anyone in public space, it does not mean you should, think and look before you pull the trigger, you may just be embarrassing someone or invading their privacy.
7. Do not hog a space, you are not the only photographer there.

Though I intend to expand on the subject in the future, those are my 7 rules, what are yours?

1. By anonymous:  “10 000 images does not make for a good photo walk – think before you press the button- it’s a question of quality not quantity.”

Related posts:

1. Photo walking

A good, not an over the top, over done HDR, a good HDR requires planning and thought. The framing has to be right, the light has to be right and the contrast has to exist and textures helps a lot. You mess one of these up and that is it, the HDR is no good. Much like traditional photography, it’s in the eye and experience, the more you do HDRs the more you pickup what will and will not work before you shoot it.

I have, in the past months, created many HDR and even often tackled Panoramic HDRs, not the easiest of feats. Most of which was handheld because most have been done during photo walks and to be honest I hate carrying around a tripod for 3 hours to use it a couple of times, a monopod does little to help in the HDR world, so I don’t carry either. Instead I learned to use my body as a tripod and sweep panoramic like a robot.

The equipment helps, obviously, in fact I would probably not be able to do what I do without a tripod if it was not for my ever faithful Canon EOS 7D. It’s shooting speed and bracketing, even though it can only do 3 (this is where I am jealous of the NIKON owners, whom in some cases can go up to 7) and presets make my life easier. When I see an HDR opportunity, I switch to preset 3 and voila I am in HDR mode.

What is my HDR mode? Well f/8, bracket 0 , –2, +2 stop at – 0.5 of a stop, ISO 100, RAW. The only things I will change is the ISO and rarely the aperture, I found f/8 to be a sweet spot for HDRs and the lens I use, the 16-35mm f/2.8 L from Canon.

What is the aim of an HDR? Triple the colour, triple highlight and triple  shadow information allows for triple the details. Triple the details allows for a better visual experience, closer to what the eye sees. In my case, I bring back colour and details, I try not to over do it and from the reactions to my HDRs, it seems I go a good recipe.

The bottom line, try it, I have a short primer here and there are wonderful books by the like of Trey Ratcliff of www.stuckincustoms.com and many others.

I will post about the issues I encountered with HDRs in a latter post, it’s not all fun but the results are what they are stunning images.

Related posts:

1. High Dynamic Range revisited
2. Mini book Review: Rick Sammon’s HDR Secrets for Digital Photographers

I get a lot of question about Joburg photowalkers, here are a few typical ones and answers:

• How do you join?
  Like “Joburg photowalkers” on Facebook, the Flickr group at http://www.flickr.com/groups/1210029@N21 or  go to http://www.meetup.com/joburg-photowalkers/.
• How much does it cost?
  Nothing and nada, though you may have to pay for access, tour guides or transport for time to time.
• What do I need?
  You need a good pair of walking shoes, I advice a backpack or bag with something to drink, take a lot of patience with you too and be open minded and inspired. Oh, you mean to ask what camera and lenses? Sorry. All you need is a device digital or analogue that can take a photograph, from your mobile phone to the mighty DSLRs no one will care, anything is good enough.
• Is that it?
  No there is another important element, enjoy yourself, your photos will show it.

On last Saturday, the 16 of January 2012, we took a 3 hour walk in Alexandra, a 100 year old township, which was cut short by bad weather. here is the route we took.

View Alexandra Heritage Photowalk – January 2012 in a larger map

As usual, the result of a photo walk is photographs and here they are:

I would like to thank Mark Straw and the tour guides for making this possible.

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I recently bought a new car, after some tribulations and great service from VW Alberton and Malcolm, my radio was exchanged and a Caska Multimedia System was fitted with a rear camera. I thought I would share my experiences. Firstly, I must say that the service levels from Planet Electronics was exceptional.

Much as expected from the documentation and advertising the unit looks like it was factory fitted. It looks the part. Before I carry on, let me be clear I would get this unit again on a car that has no multimedia system fitted.

It works as advertised and and it does most of it’s individual functions well enough but it is not without failures. A simple example is when I engage the reverse gear and the rear view camera switches on the sound is cut off or muted on most my speakers. Another scenario is even more baffling, music streaming via the Bluetooth, a call comes through, no problem, then the call ends and for some unknown reason the device switches itself to the radio, not back to streaming.

Another irritating fact is the SD card slots, they are upside-down. And the last of the lot, most probably the worst, the user interface, it’s all over the show and inconsistent. For example, the SD interface is totally different to the iPod interface and so it goes on.

The Bluetooth, radio and iPod sections of the system work very well are are a joy to use. The GPS works as expected though the interface and configuration are nothing to rave about, the maps are accurate. I just wish that it used the Garmin or Tomtom software both of which are available on the Windows CE/Mobile platform as I understand it.

I tried to use the DVD and it worked as expected, it’s a shame about the interface, which is shared with the SD card reader interface as a matter or interest. i have not attempted to use the the built in music drive as yet but I expect that it will work just as well as the rest.

To summarise, I think with a little tweaking on the switching of purposes and a new user interface this could be a great multimedia system. I think it needs a little work. For now it remains a good unit but not a great one. It is a petty because it has everything to be more than it is. Currently, it appears as disjointed software on a Windows CE shell.

Maurice van Heerden, Director of Planet Electronics replies:

Hi Pascal,

Thanks for your valuable feedback!

A product of this nature, is highly feature loaded and complex to design, both physically and in terms of software. Although Caska makes every effort to streamline software design as much as possible, they are limited by the code used across the range of vehicle specific models which they manufacture. Different code for different units is not done in order to keep costs down and manufacturing numbers up. We have made various changes and improvements for the South African consumer  however, SA is a minuscule part of CASKA’s business (they manufacture and sell around 200k units p/month globally) and therefore our requests are a fairly low priority to them.

No piece of software is perfect, my phone sometimes freezes, I often have to re-set my computer and I find some of the software design for online applications frustrating however, the products which sometimes irritate me also make my life much easier and afford me far more joy than frustration. I feel our Caska range of products, although not always perfect, add a huge amount to the driving experience. It make my driving experience a better, easier and more enjoyable one which is at the end of the day, the goal.

That said, we continue to strive for the perfect product and hope to one day achieve this.

I trust that you will enjoy your system in its current format.

Added: 2012/01/11 Maurice van Heerden’s reply

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I experienced what I like to call “compact hi-fi audio” a few years ago with a BOSE Radio, the sound was amazing. Since then I have dreamed about owning one of these, until 2 years ago that is.

2 years ago I make the move to the iPhone and a year ago I got myself an iPad, both these devices are capable of acting the media player role, in fact they both are built for it. in the case of the iPad, you either need to have earphones or jerry rig a speaker system to use the 3.5 inch audio jack, unlike the iPhone, the iPad did not have speaker docking stations. This has changed recently, there are a few available on the market now, BOSE still does not manufacture one though. My dream crushed, I turned to another “compact hi-fi audio” specialist JBL.

The JBL OnBeat Xtreme is just what I was looking for, an iPhone/iPad portrait or landscape sound docking station that “sounds” the part. I like good sound and I recently have taken to listening to radio and music on the iPad. The station will also recharge the iPad/iPhone/iPod whilst docked but this is only the beginning. It sounds amazing, generally these devices, and JBL suffers from this too with the JBL Onbeat (the little brother to the Xtreme), lack full bodied sound, particularly the lower frequencies. The JBL OnBeat Xtreme does not suffer that fate, in fact I have to be careful on how loud I have it. One could easily through a party at home with it and not worry about having big sound, that is how good it is.

As a sound docking station it has another few surprises up it sleeves, it will also accept a Bluetooth audio (A2DP) connection from any Bluetooth audio (A2DP) capable devices. In fact, if you pair your iPhone/iPad/iPod touch and remove it from the dock when it is playing, it will automatically switch it to Bluetooth.

Additionally, it has a video out as well as an (auxiliary) mini stereo jack in. You can also plug in a USB to sync your iPad/iPhone/iPod wilts using it’s multimedia functions. A nice touch is the built in microphone so you can answer you iPhone or make Skype or other video/audio calls with your device docked. It also comes with a remote and an App to play music and control, albeit in a limited way, the station.

As for the design, it would fit about anywhere in any situations. As for the sturdiness of the dock, it holds my iPad firmly in place. Even if I find it difficult to dock my iPad 2 at times, the iPad 1 literally easily slides into place in comparison, I think the iPad 2’s curved design is partly at fault.

There are a couple of drawbacks to JBL OnBeat Xtreme, it needs power, it is bulky and not very portable,also for some reason my iPad cannot control the volume. The last drawback and this maybe the biggest is it’s price, it comes at a premium.

So what do I use the JBL OnBeat Xtreme for?

• Listening to overseas radio stations with Tunein radio (free and paid $0.99)
• Listening to music with the iPod app
• Use it as an alarm clock with Alarm Clock ($0.99)
• Use it with Skype
• Watch videos with PlayerX (free) and YouTube

Related posts:

1. iOS 5 first impressions
2. iPad with OS 5: The good and the really ugly

I have never written a review for a car, simply because I fondly believe that one needs to use any item for more then 10 minutes to review it objectively. It’s been over a 1500 kilometres and a few hours. It’s been driven on open roads and bumper to bumper traffic alike. And, more importantly, I use it everyday.

The things that makes the car nice:

• The 6.9 L/100km in heavy traffic was a surprise, particularly with the fact hat is is very new.
• It is relatively confortable, the cabin is spacious and there is perceived quality that is expected of a more luxury manufacturer.
• The panoramic sunroof is really nicely done.
• The steering wheel radio/Bluetooth telephone controls, though I believe it should be standard on all cars.
• A nice touch is the Hill Hold Assist which will hold your car for a time sufficient to release the clutch and pull off and not roll back.
• I also found the Cruise Control very accurate and efficient, I think long trips must be a joy because of it.
• Forgot to close your windows or sunroof and left the car, press and hold the lock button on the key and voila. It closes and locks up the car tight.

There are also missing items from the menu at the price the car goes at I would expect, these are not even optional, maybe I just miss them from my Peugeot:

• Auto headlights
• Climate control
• Auto windscreen wipers

Now there are issues that bug me with the car but generally it’s been a good experience, so what bugs me? Or am I just nit-picking?

• The key remote control, that press twice to open all doors gets the better of me.
• The clutch action, in traffic you tend to use the clutch a lot, I know I do not always take my foot off and I should, however there are times in bumper traffic where the stop and go is such that you don’t. I drove another 2 POLOs to check this and they all do the same, there is a irritating vibration coming through the clutch pedal when you foot just lies on it, with or without the gear engaged.
• The mud flaps keep touching the floor in many situation, the car is generally too low.

I think that I’ll wrap it off now and give another report later in it’s life.

PS: For my photography friends, I will try to shoot it better, I am looking for a location and weather to do so.

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My requirements:

• The data table had to be treated separately, there are other tables in the page.
• The table had to be zebra striped for row visibility.
• On hover, the row had to be highly visible for knowing where the user is on the page.
• On click, the row should appear selected so the user can keep track when scrolling.

Some years ago this would of been highly complex, today thanks to jQuery it is extremely simple.

Firstly we need a table with a CSS class, in this case I used “stripe” as my class.

   1: <table style="width: 100%; background-color: #ffffff;" class="stripe">

   2:         <tr style="background-color: #bae5fe">

   3:             <th>Rank</th>

   4:             <th>Name</th>

   5:             <th>Country of origin</th>

   6:         </tr>

   7:         <tr>

   8:             <td>1</td>

   9:             <td>Ahmad Suradji</td>

  10:             <td>Indonesia</td>

  11:         </tr>

  12:         <tr>

  13:             <td>2</td>

  14:             <td>Aileen Wuornos</td>

  15:             <td>United States</td>

  16:         </tr>

  17:         <tr>

  18:             <td>3</td>

  19:             <td>Alexander Pichushkin</td>

  20:             <td>Russia</td>

  21:         </tr>

  22:         <tr>

  23:             <td>4</td>

  24:             <td>Andrei Chikatilo</td>

  25:             <td>Russia</td>

  26:         </tr>

  27:         <tr>

  28:             <td>5</td>

  29:             <td>Carl Eugene WattsJack</td>

  30:             <td>United States</td>

  31:         </tr>

  32:         <tr>

  33:             <td>6</td>

  34:             <td>Carlton Gary</td>

  35:             <td>United States</td>

  36:         </tr> 

  37:     </table>

Next, we need some styles to apply to the table.

   1: <style type="text/css">

   2:    .alt { background-color: #d0dcd9; }

   3:    .over  {  background-color: #ffff80;  cursor: pointer; }

   4:    .selected  {  background-color: #E98D6F;  }

   5: </style>

Finally, we need the jQuery library (<script src="Scripts/jquery-1.7.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>) and code.

   1: <script type="text/javascript">
   2:     $(document).ready(function () {

   3:  

   4:        // Mouse over action

   5:        $(".stripe tr").mouseover(function () {

   6:            $(this).addClass("over");

   7:        });

   8:  

   9:        // Mouse out action

  10:        $(".stripe tr").mouseout(function () {

  11:            $(this).removeClass("over");

  12:        });

  13:  

  14:        // Mouse click action

  15:        $(".stripe tr").mousedown(function () {

  16:            $(".stripe tr").removeClass("selected")

  17:            $(this).addClass("selected");

  18:        });

  19:  

  20:        // Zebra stripe the table

  21:        $(".stripe tr:even").addClass("alt");

  22:  

  23:    });
</script>

And that is it, note that $(".stripe tr").removeClass("selected") on line 16 is required to reset the entire table before a new select is done, otherwise all the selects would remain.

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After a long absence as a developer, I have decided to come back to my roots. Though I never left the development world, I have been engaged in other facets of it. I am now developing again, full time.

Having closed all my other blogs over the past few years, I decided to add a Development category here, call me lazy if you will. I hope that my photography followers will not mind. If you do, leave a note on this entry.

The technologies and methodologies will vary but most of it will be Microsoft based from ASP.NET Webforms and MVC to Microsoft SQL and everything else I might touch.

The site is now split better so you can follow what you want according to the categories.

Let the devolution of an insane developer begin, again.

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Disaster strikes, though. My old Nissan Almera, with 350,000 km on the clock, broke down on various occasions as I started my new job. It could not have be at a worst time. So, my wife and I decided that it was time for a new car. It had to be fuel efficient, compact, reliable, affordable and comfortable. That left us with a very few choices, Renault and Peugeot (and Citroen by association) were out of the running and we wanted a diesel, this was not negotiable. Eventually, we opted for the VW Polo 1.6 TDI. I must say that the first 100kms were a revelation, the car is very comfortable, I would even say it borders luxury without the price tag. Many of it’s features are expected of far more “premium” manufactures, the cruise control just works, the air conditioner is the same, though the latter is not controlled, and it has traction control. Traction control! WOW. But I’ll report on it more deeply once it has done far more than the mere 100 kms.

So what are the new ideas? Well, soon. December is around the corner and so is “The rude frenchman”, another one of my wacky ideas that had to happen, and more photographs, reviews,…

Related posts:

1. New Year’s resolutions
2. Aggghhhh…

That is where my ranting stops dead, the new operating system has great new features for both the iPad and iPhone, here is my list:

• Notification Centre, it just works, though  it can get irritating if not set up correctly.
• The new split keyboard is great for thumb typing whilst holding the iPad.
• There is a noticeable speed improvement across the board, try to open a PDF or an eBook.
• I love the new Safari Internet browser tabs, it brings the desktop to the iPad and it seems faster too.
• The “task switching” by swiping is so easy I am already used to it.
• Same goes for the button double tapping that gives you access to Music without unlocking and on the iPhone the camera too.

There are things I find utterly useless such as the

• Message Centre (aka Messages) it’s not SMS friendly so what is the use?
• iTunes & Videos, until the music store goes global or there is a South African music store, all you can get is podcasts.
• iBooks, similarly to iTunes there is not South African store, however there is access to various classics from the Guttenberg Library.

Not quiet related to iOS 5 but worth the mention is a few apps that appeared at the same time as iOS 5 (or I just noticed them):

• Facebook, to my surprise Facebook is now optimised for the iPad.
• Adobe PDF Reader though it does not read protected content.
• Kalahari.com eReader, synchronises your eBooks bought on www.kalahari.com and let’s you read them. It’s a rudimentary reader and it does crash but generally it works. For South Africans this is good news.
• Tomtom, the GPS app that never let me down so far, and thanks for the traffic updates and now also opyimised for the iPad!

Apps that work on the iPhone and wish would work on the iPad but do not or are simply not optimised:

• Whatsapp, the cross platform instant messenger, I call it BBM for all. (Does not work)
• Google +, Facebook did it why not Google? (Not optimised)
• Windows Live Messenger, come on Microsoft you did it for the iPhone now optimised it for the iPad.

I also now added a use to my iPad I never thought I would, thanks to the TuneIn Radio app, I listen to radio, mostly European.

All in all it is a better operating system, you will notice that I make no mention of iCloud, this is because I feel our bandwidth is not suitable as yet so I did not enable the backup part of it nor have I tried to use it to it’s full potential, in a future post maybe?

[Edited on 2011/10/22 - Tomtom]

Related posts:

1. Using the iPad, the good and the irritating
2. iOS 5 first impressions
3. Review: JBL OnBeat Xtreme

First impressions are positive, though I already had some disappointments, no “Personal Hotspot” on the iPad Wi-Fi/3G, I am still baffled as it is available on the iPhone.  Also, I was under the impression that I would be able to send SMS’s on my iPad frm “Messages”. it does not appear to be the case either.

It’s only been a few hours, I will report on iOS 5 and iCloud in more details once I have used it for a few days on both the iPhone and iPad.

[Added latter in the day]

The upgrade to my iPhone 4 was very slow but very smooth, after the download it does a backup, the upgrade, a restore, a app restore finally followed by a music and video restore. After the restore the phone asks for activation. I feel far better.

Related posts:

1. Review: JBL OnBeat Xtreme
2. iPad with OS 5: The good and the really ugly

It became an inseparable companion on which I rely for business, learning, writing, reading and sharing blogs and some times entertainment and it’s all good. All things being equal, it also has some irritations, missing functionality I would like to see. Here is a breakdown of both.

Things I really like:

• The spell checker works everywhere, it actually becomes an irritation at times but mostly it is a good thing, I am a terrible speller, I just wish it did some grammar too.
• Makes a great video camera with 720 HD video too.
• Fair quality meeting scenario recordings.
• Fantastic notepad, Evernote makes it even easier.
• Light and portable
• Fantastic screen
• Long battery life
• Full Skype support including Video, though only recently.
• Awesome mail application, just needs more text editing functions such as coloured text for commenting.
• Always connected feel.
• Camera connection kit

Things that irritate me:

• I cannot share my internet connection with my laptop, my iPhone does it with the same hardware and software.
• Unstable 3G and WiFi at times.
• Developers of new apps a little slow, no Google + integration and lack of apps dedicated to the iPad, most iPhone apps work but look silly.
• iPhone apps works but not all of them, Whatsapp being one, what’s up with that? I have a 3G card, I should be able to SMS too.
• Without a screen guard the screen really gets dirty quick.
• I cannot just network it and grab files from my PC or Mac and vice versa, it has to be wired and all file transfer are done with the dreaded iTunes.
• Limited Bluetooth functionality.
• I would love to see full Tomtom or Garmin support on the iPad, not the iPhone app but a fully fledged iPad app.
• No dedicated microphone jack.
• No memory card support, SD card would be nice to increase capacity.
• And what about the country localized app store? Is this not an open world, enough already.

And there you have it, a brilliant devise with some quirks, if you can live with them all the better.

I am hoping that iOS 5 and the new apps built on top of it will step up to my expectations.

Disclaimer: This applies to the iPad 2 with iOS up to version 4.3.5

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
[2011/09/23 – Added iPad photo, cleaned up text]

Related posts:

1. iPad with OS 5: The good and the really ugly

I found the the close focusing distance and shortness of the lens was handy, additionally small flowers are well defined. It’s not a macro by far but it works. I had a 100mm macro along and used it far less then I expected, just the length of the lens was a problem, seriously try to get under a 200mm bush with a camera that is 200mm, does not work well, take it from me. My wife however found it hilarious…

So how does one capture this splendour? I opted to try something very different, I call it the “ant view”, how would an ant see the flower? From under obviously, not all my shots are like that but very few are from the “human” view as well, in fact I tried my hardest not to do the “human” thing, it’s so snapshot  don’t you think? I also found a low aperture (f/2.8-4) advantageous, since flowers are in scattered bushes it give an illusion of depth, who said that photographers can’t be magicians? For some reason, I also found that shooting at 1/3 to a stop lower gave a far better contrast and definition to the final product, it may have to do with the blue sky.

I also shot a few panoramic composites, all prepared for HDR, only one worked as an HDR, the drama in the sky tell it all.

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Firstly, the Namaqualand is a quasi desert, and even in this time of blooming and flowers, it is a barren forbidding place, dry and sandy. Here you will not find carpets of flowers, they do exist but few and far apart and mostly it’s an illusion. You will need to get out on foot and to your knees and elbows, lie down in the dirt to see them and appreciate them, you will need to see it as an ant sees the world. Therein lies the beauty, therein lies the miracle of nature. And suddenly the barren forbidding place becomes a place of infinite possibilities, a visual marvel, I’ll write more about that in my next post.

Some recommendations, if you want to do the Flowers of the Namaqualand, get yourself a 4×4. The roads, even the regional ones are in a really bad state, some are heavily corrugated, potholed sand roads, were as the so called tarred roads are damaged by time and lack of maintenance. The only good quality road we found was the N7, the national road. In the Namakwa District of the Northern Cape Province the rest of the roads leaves a lot to be desired.

As for camping, we used the Springbok Caravan Park and the Vrebe Caravan Park in Kamieskroon both supplied electricity and a clean environment. In my opinion the Vrebe Caravan Park is the better of the two and at just 70 km from Springbok and on the border of the Namakwa National Park it is the better choice. There is also a park adjoining Springbok, the Goegap Nature Reserve, you can go there with a car but as with the Namakwa National Park, there are many 4×4 trails and few are sand roads for sedans or the likes.

To find the flowers you will need to be a little adventurous and go deeper into the country side then you may expect. The tourist information centres at Clanwilliam (the best in my opinion) and Springbok will help you to find your way to them.

You can find good information here but I advice you to go to Clanwilliam’s Tourist Information Centre on your way to Springbok from Cape Town.

Finally, the preferred time to go to the Namaqualand is at the end of August beginning of September but all in all it depends on when the rain comes.

To see some of my photos of the Namaqualand go here.

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It’s a quiet start to what will turn out to be an adventure. 2 cameras, 2 photographers, 1 camper, 14 days and nowhere to go, everywhere to go. Just the way it should be.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

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Disclaimer: Firstly and again I have no

I recently acquired two new Lensbaby Optics, the Soft Focus and Sweet 35, both of which I will be reviewing, the first in this post. For full disclosure, this was tested on a Canon EOS 7D with a Lensbaby Composer attached.

First shock, is how soft the Soft Focus is. The aperture is controllable as with most Lensbaby Optics using normal Lensbaby disks or 3 of these multi-hole disks that are specific to the Soft Focus. I found that focusing with it is a bit a of a challenge, you never quiet sure if it’s correct or if you missing the point but I think that also brings some charm to the process. However, the Soft Focus, unlike most of it’s siblings is focused across the view finder, and photograph, in pretty much the same way, there does not seem to be a sweet spot as such.

The dreamy soft look may appear to be Photoshoped  but I can assure you that the sample photograph was not altered beyond some exposure correction. I assume you could get the same results in Photoshop in post-processing but would it be as much fun? I do not think so.

Related posts:

1. Lensbaby Composer with Double Glass & +10 Macro review
2. Lensbaby Composer with Double Glass, +10 Macro, +4 Macro
3. Lensbaby

Enters Richard Ashburner, my guest blogger of last, that day I had a migraine and had taken something for it. The unfortunate side effects are that I loose the ability to show emotions, not advisable on the first time you meet a client. The first half hour was filled with explanations of the plan for his future and his vision, exiting stuff (and Me as unemotional as a brick in a pond). Then we stepped into my lair and we shot a couple of test wilts chatting. Setup the strobes, setup angles and power, setup the camera and behold magic…

Richard Ashburner (30) is first and foremost a magician, followed by the other roles life requires. This is what makes him so interesting to talk with and photograph. He started playing with magic at about eight years old and hasn’t stopped, becoming an adept magician with a vision. Ashburner’s enthusiasm for pure illusion is fascinating.

Ashburner first read about David Blaine’s work about ten years ago and from that moment starting exploring the boundaries of how far he could stretch himself and the boundaries of magic. Richard’s favourite form of magic takes place in public places and on the streets, he says “People are amazed by magic on the street, they wonder about the reality of the magic they experience in a public space versus that of a theatre where the perception is that the illusions are rigged. I love seeing the surprise on their faces as the realisation of what they are seeing registers in their minds.”

This young man is going places… magically. Watch this space, he has something big happening early next year.
To speak to Richard about amazing you, contact him on 071 303 4936

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

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I love Magic. I always have. I’m not talking about spells but illusions and sleight of hand.

I find that these days when a Magician performs it becomes about how he did it and not about the performance art itself. In today’s modern society very few people believe in ‘real’ Magic; so therefore when seeing a Magician most people see it as a challenge to try to expose the art of the trick and he becomes a walking puzzle.

I have had many discussions with Magicians about this and all of them say it is unethical to claim that your powers are ‘real’. Instead you should tell your audience that we are all capable of doing magic with some training and knowledge of where to find the secrets.

This, I’m afraid, weakens the allure and art of magic to a point where people think to themselves “I could do that if I knew the secret; it must be easy; let me try and expose how he does it”. Sadly Magicians become a novelty act and nothing more.

Uri Geller in my opinion is the only ‘true’ Magician of our time. He openly claims his powers are real and even had the guts to let a group of scientists do experiments on him with truly remarkable results.

These scientists from the Stanford Research Institute were immediately criticized by Magicians all over the globe; but mostly by a Magician who goes by the name of James Randii. He has been out for Geller’s blood since Geller gained popularity and has repeatedly tried to debunk Geller as a fraud and claims his methods are fraudulent, saying it’s ethically wrong to claim supernatural powers.

He has said many times that there were no Magicians amongst the scientists at the institute and only a Magician can spot fakery. In his words “the least educated Magician can fool the most educated scientist”

He then went on to host lectures where he supposedly ‘exposed’ Geller’s methods. I say ‘supposedly’ because although he can duplicate all of Geller’s feats; he cannot claim that his methods are the same because quite simply – he can’t prove it.

Now here is my question: can Randii call himself a true Magician if he is giving away secrets that puts food on Magicians tables – he claims it is in the name of ethics. I think not. He is breaking the cardinal rule of Magic; don’t tell the secrets of magic. That makes him the worst kind of Magician there is because he sucks all the mystery out of a good family entertainment.

Whether or not Geller is using trickery is beside the point. He remains in character and true to Magic itself. That’s the point isn’t it? Making people believe in Magic?

Magic gives people hope that there’s more to life than what they can see and even if they don’t believe that at least it transports them away from reality and into possibility, even if just for a short time. Where’s the harm in that?

I do agree with Randii that it’s dangerous to tell people you can cure illness using Magic – faith healers being an example – but Geller isn’t harming anyone by bending a spoon; and if mining companies want to pay him to find minerals it remains their choice.

Randii claims that it’s dangerous because people who believe Geller will go to him with their problems and their money. Would Randii say the same of a medical doctor who happened to bend spoons as a way of relaxing her client at first meeting? What is the harm in giving people decent advice? I am pretty sure that Geller if told about a medical problem would advise that the person go to a doctor. Not once in all the material I have researched about Geller, did he claimed that he could heal the sick. He did say that the mind is a very powerful tool that can be used as an aid to getting better. Is that any different from what new agers or even medical doctors are saying? If there was a personal problem bothering someone he would offer encouragement and tell people to believe in themselves. I think more people should be as encouraging as Geller.

John Edward is another example. Randii claims that telling people he can talk to their dead loved ones is very unethical. Once again I have to ask; who is getting hurt? Edward is a very good cold reader and if that helps people to get closure on a death then he’s doing more good than harm. Some people believe Edward’s ability is real and it makes them happy to believe it. Why defeat hope. What will we replace it with?

Randii has done a lot of good when it comes to exposing fake healers who hurt people and that is a truly noble cause. I just think he should use care using the sword of ethics and pause once in a while instead of placing everything and anyone who thinks differently to him in a guillotine. Slow down, pause, allow people to enjoy again if it doesn’t hurt anyone before everybody becomes too jaded to enjoy anything.

In my opinion Magic is supposed to challenge what people believe. It spoils it when it becomes a puzzle. Today people think a good Magician is one whose puzzles remain un-solved; how sad.

A few hundred years ago a man called Reginald Scott printed a book called ‘the discovery of witchcraft’ in this book he explains sleight of hand and trickery. According to some Magicians this was the first ever book of its kind.

An important thing to remember is that it was not written to teach people how to become Magicians; instead it was written to stop people from burning witches at the stake. It was a craze back then to condemn people who did things that seemed impossible to death. Generally humans are very afraid of the unknown. Magic; even if it was making a coin disappear; was ‘real’ back then and secrets were very closely guarded.

David Blaine walks on to the scene and he’s an immediate success; why? Simply, it’s because he works on the street. People think it’s impossible to set anything up outside in such close proximity to other people. Therefore they start to question if it’s really trickery or not. That is the whole point and that is why he is a success. He has provoked debate.

I’ll never forget hearing people talk the day after his first TV special. They would say something along the lines of “ he levitated right on a side-walk surrounded by people! Is he the real deal?” That was the start of his very lucrative career shrouded in debate and awe – the whole point of the art of magic! He made people question if it was real or not and I think that is the point most Magicians miss.

People want to believe in magic. Perhaps we should let them.

For a while I was also completely against psychics; mediums and people who claimed supernatural power. I thought that they were using my art and passion to deceive and take advantage of people. It took me many years to realize that Magic cannot be called an art if it’s nothing more than a puzzle. The art of anything is changing people’s perceptions and viewpoints; not hiding a solution by stacking it under the “wrong” label. Perhaps it would be kinder not to treat people as idiots and allow them to decide for themselves.

Much respect to Geller; he has guts and vision.

Much respect to Blaine; he understands Magic.

They both know what the public and Magic needs.

To the critics out there – sour grapes.

Originally posted here.

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This is my list  of software for “The inevitable 20 uses of the iPad…”

1. Show my photography portfolio to potential client and works to clients.
   Photos is the native application on the iPad and is far sufficient for my purpose.
2. Email
   Again, Mail is the native application on the iPad and is far sufficient for my purpose.
3. Alarm clock
   That’s a little tougher, I use Living Earth for this purpose.
4. Recording and taking notes in meeting.
   I use Audiotorium for long meetings and Evernotes for quick ones both sync to the cloud (Audiotorium uses Dropbox).
5. Reading ebooks.
   Bluefire Reader because it reads epub and PDF including those with DRM and it has a night mode.
6. Browsing the Internet for information.
   Well Firefox is not available for the I pad so we are stuck with Safari.
7. Watching ASP.NET MVC video tutorials.
   Wait ain’t the tutorial using the Microsoft codec? They are but VLC does the trick, it will decode just about anything you through at it. Unfortunately, it has been removed from the app store.
8. Watching photography video tutorials.
   App store, these tutorials are all found in the app store from various photographers.
9. Reading my RSS feeds.
   Reeder does a good job of syncing my Google Reader account and caching it locally.
10. Listening to music.
    The iPod application, obviously.
11. Getting the weather forecast.
    Both Living Earth and AccuWeather do a good job of keeping me informed, I just hope that these will be enhanced with iOS 5 so I do not need to open them to get the weather.
12. Keeping a to do list.
    I use Evernotes, I have tried others but iOS 5 is coming with Reminders, let us see… 
13. Keeping notes.
    Quick notes are best done with Evernotes and it syncs with my laptop and iPhone.
     
14. SKYPING friends and colleges into audio conferences.
    SKYPE, the only issue is that SKYPE is built for the iPhone, but it works fine on the iPad.
15. Facebook.
    I tried a few apps and eventually settled on a paid app called MyPad+ after testing MyPad
16. Mind mapping.
    MindNode because it’s compatible and it works.
17. Keeping track of my car’s fuel consumption.
    Numbers, the Apple’s spread sheet and it works with Microsoft Office too.
18. Billing clients.
    MiniBooks is an iPhone interface for Freshbooks, I have not found an iPad one yet. 
19. Navigation via GPS
    TomTom South Africa, so far the better of the lot even if it’s still is an iPhone app and has not grown to iPad.
20. Writing blog entries.
    BlogPress or http://blogpressapp.com/ is really nice and interfaces well with WordPress, now bring a full HTML editor and I will be really over the moon.

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I am not going to bore you with how incredible the iPad 1 is, even if it is, or how I wander how I lived without it, even if there is some truth to it. I am though going to list the uses I found for it in the last week in no specific order and let you decide for yourself.

1. Show my photography portfolio to potential client and works to clients.
2. Email, a place for my all email accounts in 1 portable place.
3. Alarm clock, yep it wakes me up too, too bad it does not make coffee.
4. Recording and taking notes in meeting.
5. Reading ebooks.
6. Browsing the Internet for information.
7. Watching ASP.NET MVC video tutorials.
8. Watching photography video tutorials.
9. Reading my RSS feeds.
10. Listening to music.
11. Getting the weather forecast.
12. Keeping a to do list.
13. Keeping notes.
14. SKYPING friends and colleges into audio conferences.
15. Facebook.
16. Mind mapping.
17. Keeping track of my car’s fuel consumption.
18. Billing clients.
19. Navigation via GPS
20. Write this blog entry.

And that was this week, imagine next week…

In case you wandered it also has some irritations but let me live that for a future post.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad.

Location:Swartgoud St,Johannesburg South,South Africa

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Firstly, the good new is that you can enjoy this event without the worries of damaging your eyes or equipment’s sensor.

Shooting the moon is actually pretty easy, manually set your camera at f/8 and about 250/s at ISO 100 and you are set, these are approximates and may change according to environmental conditions.

Now for the harder parts, you will need the following:

1. A sturdy tripod
2. A zoom lens, 400mm and above, I use a 2x tele-convertor too.
3. Either a remote trigger or you can use the camera timer to reduce shake
4. A lot of patience.

The biggest problem faced when shooting any celestial bodies is the fact that they are moving, we are moving and for some odd reason I cannot understand we cannot ask any one to stand still for a second. So you will have to re-adjust your tripod position every 90 seconds without fail. Irritating I know but, as I mentioned earlier, patience is required.

Lastly, if required, as it was in my shoot of the eclipse, do not go under a second of exposure, the moon moves too fast, rather increase your ISO.

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1. Google Apps, a cloud based business solution, premium paid service is available.
   As a start-up it allows you to have 10 Gmail boxes (7GB+), Google Calendars, Google Site, Google Docs, Google Contacts for free on your own domain.
   It has some limitations in it’s free form but it will do fine for a few years.
   Works with any device with a browser, has apps or functionality for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry
2. DropBox, a free hard drive in the cloud, premium paid service is available.
   The basic version is 2GB of space and by inviting friends that do not have Dropbox yet, you get and extra 250mb per accepted request.
   It’s a great way to save those critical documents and Dropbox is compatible this a multitude of devices and software packages, the big thing is it synchronize the files on it’s own, I don’t have to think about it.  
   Works with any device with a browser, has apps or functionality for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry
3. Evernote, free notes in the cloud, premium paid service is available.
   Not as heavy as DropBox and with a totally different purpose, the basic (free) version gives you 60MB.
   I found it a great replacement to Microsoft’s OneNote, the later being limited to Windows (in most forms). I found the Notebook approach of OneNote very friendly and wished it was available across all my devices with synchronisation. It took me a while to find a worthy replacement but EverNote is it. No more looking for where I put that note. (I sound like a sales rep now)
   Works with any device with a browser, has apps or functionality for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry.
4. Flickr, free photograph repository and sharing in the cloud, premium paid service is available.
   Still the best photo sharing site around, and it’s free unless you want to go pro and have unlimited space.
   Most of my publishable work is on Flickr not all is my best but I use it as my repository. I can mark photos private or limited access and it has full copyrights support.
   Works with any device with a browser, has apps or functionality for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry.
5. Skype, free phone and messaging.
   I know that they have had a few serious issues lately but let us stay honest, they are still the best.
   Works with most devices (well at least all devices I own), Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, iPhone, iPad,…

There is another cloud based service I’d like to add, FreshBooks as with the others premium paid service is available.
It’s an online invoicing, Time Tracking and Billing system.
FreshBooks also integrates directly with Google Apps which make life easier.
I am new to it but so far it’s been great. 3 clients for free. And it has mobile apps too, I run it off my iPhone.

This last one is not so much for business then for information, Google Reader is an RSS aggregator in the cloud with many sync apps for a variety of platforms. 
Create your own newspaper, I did and did I mention it was free and accessible via any browsers?

All in all, these a are bunch of useful cloud based applications to make life a little simpler, no more worry about loosing that all important data.

Now I am looking for a viable online backup solution that will work with South African bandwidth.

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There are pros and cons to going photo-walking. The pros outweigh the cons every time. So why do it?

Mark Straw, one of the men behind the ever-growing Joburg Photowalkers, asked this very question on Facebook the other day and the answers were varied.

In my opinion, being with other photographers and the immediate synergy is a serious attraction. But there is so much more to it, meeting interesting people and making friends. Discovering your inner photographer, discovering new interesting places in your own backyard and you get to have some exercise to boot. Photo walks are for everyone from beginners to professionals and what is more is that no one will turn you down or laugh at you if you have a problem on site. It’s all about the socializing and enjoyment of sharing one passion, photography.

One more advantage is that Photowalkers end up criticizing each other’s work and I found that the criticism is rather positive.

So how about getting involved in photo walks in your city?

In Johannesburg, follow Joburg Photowalkers and PhotoComment for the next walk.

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The original idea was to separate my work from my photography, after all Macs have the reputation of handling media better then PC. Is it true, though? In my experience, the answer is no. Surprised? I was.

The Mac difference is not only in the hardware, it’s in the software and more precisely in the operating system. My previous statement holds true when running Windows on a Mac. Switch to Mac OS X (Snow Leopard) and life changes for the different for the better or worst. All of a sudden it is faster with, well, about anything but mostly media. I must not forget to tell you that with Windows 7 x64 the longevity of the MacBook Pro is about 3.5 to 4 hours whereas with Mac OS X you are looking at the better of 8 hours, standing record being at 11 hours, though I was not working on it permanently.

I have the 13-inch version and though admittedly the screen is small it is sharp and very usable at 1280 by 800. It’s enough to make small adjustments on photos but that is where it stops. I then hookup the 24-inch monitor and life is better and I can carry on editing. Plug in in an external monitor does take an adaptor, what is that all about? There is only 1 port out for the display and it’s an Apple display port, my pet peeve.

So what is so amazing about this machine? Try this, get on a plane at 5:30 in the morning and use your laptop for an hour only to realize that you left the power supply (charger) back at the office. Catastrophe, you have a full day’s work ahead of you at a client. So you arrive at your client and hook up your 3G modem, the fear is increasing that the battery will not make the day with the USB modem attached, so you dim the screen to minimum viewable and switch off the illuminated keyboard. You do further confortable hours of work. Would like to add that the machine was never shutdown, it had gone into sleep mode a few times though.

Talking of illuminated keyboards this is always a nice touch on a laptop. It comes in handy in various situations particularly when traveling in a plane or working in a relatively dark place. Both my MacBook and my Dell have one and I could no longer live without it. Since I am on the subject of keyboards, the Apple keyboard layout and shortcut keys have been the hardest part of my transition, not OS X as one may have thought.

OS X is intuitive enough to get used to, though I miss some of Windows functionality, Window snapping is one of these. However, one gets used to OS X’s ways.

Mouse pads, track pads, I have always hated them. The Mac multi touch track pad is efficient though rather different it’s PC counterpart. Firstly, it is truly multi touch, it also takes a little time to remember that double tap is not a click, with the Mac a click is a press of the pad.

Using both Mac and PC, OS X and Windows, I often get asked which one I prefer; my answer is always the same, for what purpose? Each have their own strength and weaknesses, I choose the one I need for the purpose I require it for. My MacBook Pro I use it for photography and other multimedia as well as when I need to be independent of electricity for long periods, however I would not use it for Microsoft development. For the later I will use my Dell after all it makes since to use a Microsoft based machine for Microsoft based development.

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His first entry is entitled “Going Mobile Quickly” 

We wish him the best in his blogging efforts.

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Firstly, if you are really serious about HDR there is a wonderful tutorial on Stuck in Customs by Trey Ratcliff, or his amazing book A World in HDR which acts as a inspirational, tutorial and coffee table book. This post covers my basic understanding in a short summary.

1. Shooting an HDR photograph:

• HDR photography is not that different from standard photography, however you will need a tripod or something to rest your camera on as you will be taking multiple shoots of the same thing.
• Set your camera
  • Newby way: Set your camera to Aperture Priority, Continuous Mode and bracketed by 2 stops. Nikon cameras will do up to 7 photos in some models where as Canon cameras will only take 3.
  • Advanced way: Once you have your scene meter the highest light and the darkest shadow, from here you will take a photograph every 1 stop from the one to the other. This would be done in manual mode whilst locking the aperture and ISO and only using the shutter speed. So if the scene as a range between 1/125 and 1/2 of a second the resultant would be 7 photographs each taken at 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, 1/15, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2  of a second.
    F-Stop equivalence in shutter speed. Values shown in seconds.
    

    8

    4

    2

    1

    1/2

    1/4

    1/8

    1/15

    1/30

    1/60

    1/125

    1/250

    1/500

    1/1000

    You can use this scale as a reference, I do.

• Shoot RAW
• Make sure that your auto focus is OFF.
• Make sure that the tripod does not move or vibrate.
• Take your time!!!

That concludes the easy part.

2. Compiling the HDR

• You will need either Photomatix Pro or HDR EFEX Pro both have a trial. There are more HDR software out there, these two are the highest rated. HDR EFEX Pro will also require Adobe Photoshop CS4 or above,  Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 or above or Apple Apperture 2 or above all of which are also available for trial.
• Do not colour correct unless you do it on the whole set.
• Do not crop or alter the photos at this time. 
• Do convert them to JPG at maximum resolution.
• Import the set into your favourite HDR program and adjust as required.
• DO experiment, I personally like it when the final output is natural.
• At this point you can crop and adjust the photograph.
• Once the HDR process is complete you may want to get back the colours, I use a plugin called Topaz Lab Adjust mostly using the Spicify or Photo Pop presets.

That’s how I do it and here is some examples:

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Thanks to my good friend and photography enthusiast  Kevin Naicker, I have a photo to show you. This was taken at 19H45, yes that is late, from Otto Du Plessis Drive (Beach Blvd) in Blouberg.

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