I would never venture on telling anyone what camera to buy, but it’s odd how many times I get that question… So here is a personal opinion aimed at the first camera buyers or at those thinking they are ready to leap to the world of the SLR.

I must first tell you that I often wish I had a small, light and versatile Point-and-Shoot, after all I own 2 SLRs. They are heavy, I mean after 4 hours they are like a ball and chain!!! See “Does the camera really makes a difference in the real world? Part 1 – Intro” post for more.

OK now that we have established that SLRs are not always the right way to go… So get one with a f/1.4 (or 1.8) 50mm lens… Ok, maybe not, but it would be a good start. Why SLRs do not get bundled with that lens is mystery to me. So, all one has to do is weigh the pros and cons.

This is in short how I see it, if you are going to use your SLR at parties 3 times a year, get a point-and-shoot, if you go out photographing every weekend (or 2nd weekend) and are looking for a photographic challenge go for the SLR. But don’t come to me and complain latter about the weight and price.

By the way I purposefully omitted MPCs (Mobile Phone Cameras), that is  just plainly not in the same league. But as a famous photographer, I forget his name, says “the best camera is the one you have with you”.

I’ll leave it there… For now… And please don’t ask me that question anymore…

And please don’t go down the Canon vs. Nikon vs. Sony vs. Panasonic vs. Fujifilm vs. Pentax vs. any one else, get what feels good to you.

PS: Is there anything else than Canon? And so the war begins

Related posts:

1. Wildlife photography in a studio!
2. Wildlife shooting
3. The triangle of light, overview.

I just finished "The Hot Shoe Diaries" Big Light from Small Flashes by Joe McNally and I though I’d give my 2 cents worth. If you have not read this book yet and you own a flash, well … You should either be shot or you should be running off to buy it.

The book concept is not to explain to you step by step the technical aspect of using flashes for that your flash manual will do, the book is more about the essence of light using flashes. Joe McNally does a brilliant job of explaining how to use your flash without being overly technical. And that to me is worth far more than the detailed technical stuff. Don’t mistaken me, there is technical stuff but in a fun and humorous way.

If you are going to use your flash for anything, read this book and you will see small flashes in a very different way, I know I do.

Find out more about it here and head over to his blog.

Warning: This is a Nikon centric book, though the techniques can be applied to any manufacturer.

Related posts:

1. Living with the Canon EOS 7D

I know the title is an oxymoron, after all this is a post right?

So I went down to Cape Town last week and decided to stay with a good friend, good company always bring out your best. I planed to go and shoot some penguins, real ones this time, at Boulders beach (Google Map, Google Image Search) on Saturday morning. Only to end up rained out.

Let me say that it’s been 2 year’s I have tried to go back to Boulders Beach without much success. So, in light of my absolute failure to get any penguin photographs I opted not to have a post this week.

However, should you be interested in penguins you can adopt one (or many) from SANCCOB whom are, in my opinion, doing a wonderful job of saving these rather peculiar birds and others, my wife and I did.

No related posts.

For those that are as lazy as I am there are easier ways to upload photos to Facebook or any other social sites. If you happen to have Microsoft Windows XP or greater and do not have Windows Live Essential yet download it now!

The important part of Windows Live Essential in this case is the Photo Gallery once configured it will allow you to upload your photos to Facebook in a second without having to worry about resizing and installing Java on you machine and so on. And if you realy adventurous have a look at the beta, not covered here.

So now that you have the Windows live Photo Gallery installed, what now? Open it and let it index your Image folder, it may take a while so prepare a tea for yourself.

Now comes the harder part, close Windows live Photo Gallery. Head over to http://liveuploadfacebook.codeplex.com/ download it and install it.

Open Windows live Photo Gallery, go to Publish –> More Services –> LiveUpload to Facebook in the menu, follow the instructions and voila, you are ready.

Enjoy the uploading…

[Edit] Looks like the new Windows live Photo Gallery has Facebook (and other social sites) upload built in.

Related posts:

1. Uploading photographs to Facebook – Step by step using a browser.

As advertised, I am doing so major changes to onlyinsouthafrica.com so Please be patient. Should you have any suggestions please go to  the Contact Us page to drop me a mail.

Related posts:

1. Web Site trouble
2. Information – Feed changes

Today I am going to take time off photography and talk a bit about sharing your photos, this is really for beginners but are we not all beginners at something?

There are some issues you should consider before uploading any images to any online services, one of these is the licence and copyrights of the service. In the instance of Facebook, you are giving them a lot of rights by uploading any images to it. Please read the Facebook Statement of Rights and Responsibilities carefully before you upload any images to it. Particularly section 2, which states (last updated on April 22, 2010):

You grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (“IP License”).

Now that we have the legalities of of the way, here are a few tips before you upload any images to any social sites:

1. Resize your images to a maximum of 600 pixels on the long side.
2. Compress them to at least 70% and save them in JPG format
3. Make sure you save them in a separate folder that you can easily find again (I called mine Facebook) and do not overwrite your original photo.

Now, here is how to upload images to Facebook, for cross operating system compatibility’s sake I will be using Mozilla Firefox as my browser, though this should not matter.

First, to create an album go to your profile and click on Photos ad the following screen will appear:

Fill it in and click on Create album, this will bring you to this screen:

If you click “Select photos” the process can be lengthy and not very friendly, I advise using the Java Uploader. You will need the Java plugin to do this so allow it to download. Click “Install Missing plug-ins…” on the right top corner of your browser. Should you encounter a problem you may acquire the Java plug-in here: http://www.java.com/en/download/inc/windows_new_xpi.jsp

Once Java is installed you will get the obligatory “waiting for…” screen

But it is well worth the pain.

Now you can select and rotate your images at will before uploading them as shown bellow.

When you ready to upload, click Upload and you will get this screen

Followed by “Upload Successful!, click OK

Facebook will then redirect you to the Edit Album Screen, edit your caption here.

Then click “Publish Now” and you are done, you have successfully created an album.

There are many more function feel free to explore.

Related posts:

1. The quick way to publish to Facebook with Windows Live Essential

I don’t like blogging about technical stuff on this blog and even less about PHP and MySQL after all, if you have read my other blog www.theaspnetguy.com you would know that I am a Microsoft developer, enough said.

Even though, I run 90% on my personal sites on WordPress, why? Well because it’s dead easy, create a database then a folder point your DNS and voila. Most Linux host make it even easier with an install option but I like getting my hands dirty.

One thing I used to do was to have a virtual machine with Windows Server installed and configured PHP and MySQL so I could try stuff. And that bring me to my first issue, I search for a step by step installation for hours some years back and eventually found one that made sense…  Go to http://www.trainsignaltraining.com/installing-wordpress-on-iis7/2008-10-06/ it may not be resent but I have never failed an installation thanks to them.

Now onto my Godaddy problem, installing WordPress on Godaddy is easy enough but customising the permalinks was impossible since Godaddy’s Windows hosting did not support it, until now. So, why talk about TrainSignalTraining? Because they have an excellent post on “IIS7: URL Rewrite Extension on Windows Server 2008” which led me to a post called Enabling Pretty Permalinks in WordPress and voila…

So does it work?

I started writing this article before I tried, so imagine my surprise when this happened:

It says: Permalink structure updated. Remove write access on web.config file now!

And it works!

This brings me to my last statement of today, I am working on a new version of Only in South Africa .com. I will publish it’s location in the near future.

No related posts.

This weekend I decided to do some studio photographs for my business cards and ended up, wildlife hunting in the studio, the results where rather interesting…

But first, the requirements:

• 1x large garage to be transformed into 1x photography studio.
• 1x Chromakey green screen 3x6m
• 1x Partner (to setup the studio and push the trigger, not to mention give some odd ideas)
• A couple of 300W big flashes, remote triggers and soft boxes to boot.
• A tripod
• 2 DSLR and a couple of lenses
• 1x fluffy penguin
• Lots of patience, I do not particularly enjoy being on the wrong end of the lens.

As I said it all started for a shoot aimed at allowing me to complete my business card… And ended up with me shooting a penguin with a 100-400mm lens as shown above.

A couple of things I learned doing this, do not forget the flash sync speed on a Canon camera is between 60 and 200 m/s ! I though that there was something wrong with my camera, the right of the picture was always dark, like an idiot I had my camera set to 250th of a second. I knew better but still managed to loose an hour at attempting to figure this out. Secondly, it takes me about 2 hours to setup shop, and then an hour to pack it all up, so if you use your garage as a studio and to park your cars be ready for that. And thirdly, padded mats, those tiles used by sports people, rock. My knees, survived the whole shoot and it was not uncomfortable lying down either, so I recommend it.

This is my fist attempt at using a Chromakey background to do a special effect. Though the one here above has not effect save the fact that I removed the key. Now take the image above (can you still call it a photograph?) and replace the background and the fluffy penguin with a cheetah …

I agree I did not put a lot of effort in this case but imagine…

Related posts:

1. Wildlife shooting
2. About photographing marine wildlife from terra-firma…
3. To SLR or not to SLR that is the question.

I was recently in the Kapama Private Game Reserve for a 4 day wildlife shoot. I feel I need to share my experiences of that shoot.

1. What equipment to pack?
   Now that is a rather good question, to shoot wildlife I recommend the following 2 lenses:

   - A 100-400mm, you will need the reach
   

   A long lens is advisable for shoots like these.
   - A 24-70mm f/2.8, to shoot before and just after sunrise/sunset, when reach is not that important any more.
   - I would also take a 70-200mm f/2.8 if I could for the same reasons as above.

   I also recommend a professional flash for the night and spare batteries. To catch the boma’s (restaurant), a tripod may come in handy. Don’t forget plenty storage and camera batteries.

   

   A tripod is required to get shoot’s like this one.

2. Travelling
   If you are travelling by plane, chances are that an international carry-on bag will not fit in the cabin of a local flight to a small airport like Eastgate Airport in Hoedspruit, to my horror. It will fit under the seat but to your comfort cost. I have a Think Tank Airport Acceleration V2 and under the seat it just fits. I recommend that you check what kind of airplane you will be using and the maximum weight allowed on board.
3. Shooting
   Be ready for anything, choose your lens carefully before leaving, I typically leave with a 70-200mm early in the morning and switch to the 100-400mm when light permits. In the evening I apply the same reversed.
   Set your camera to the highest continuous shooting mode it has, I also set my ISO to auto but be careful to check that it does not go too high. I also shoot entirely in RAW and mostly in Shutter Speed Priority.
   I get asked why Shutter Speed Priority, it is really simple to avoid movement blur, unless I want it.
   Slow shutter speeds will result in movement blur.
4. The rangers
   Talk to your ranger and try to sit behind him, you’ll get a better angle every time.
   Framing can be achieved with your ranger’s help.
5. Flash?
   I hear a lot of criticism regarding flashes in wildlife photography, so I will let a couple of photos speak for themselves and let you decide…

But I think more important is to enjoy the experience and come back with some trophies.

On a personal note I would like to thank the rangers and staff of Kapama Main Lodge for their impeccable support and assistance.

Related posts:

1. About photographing marine wildlife from terra-firma…
2. Wildlife photography in a studio!
3. To SLR or not to SLR that is the question.

In the days of film, there was only tree things that a photographer had to worry about once the film was inserted. These were how many shots do I have left, getting the exposure and aperture right and getting a beautiful photograph goes without saying but this is a technical post and we will forgo the actual photograph framing, beauty and quality for a while.

In the digital age, not much has changed except that we are no longer limited by film but there is a new factor, ISO. In the analogue days this was a constant once the film was in the body. This brings me to the triangle of light exposure, aperture and sensitivity.

Each of these factors have now become vital from the time you pickup your camera. Each have their own pros and cons, our jobs as photographers is to mitigate these to achieve the best possible photograph.

Let’s talk about each factor individually before we address them in unison.

• Exposure, the time taken to capture the image, measured in seconds or parts thereof.
  

  	Pro	Cons
  Higher Speeds (1/1000s)	Freezing motion	No low light capability
  Lower Speeds (2s)	Low light capability	Motion blur

• Aperture, the amount of light allowed to traverse to the sensor at any time, measured in f-stops or parts thereof.
  

  	Pro	Cons
  Higher Apertures (f/1.4)	Low light capability	Low depth of field
  Lower Apertures (f/22)	High Depth of Field	No low light capability

• Sensitivity, the light sensitivity of the sensor, measured in ISO
  

  	Pro	Cons
  Lower ISO (100)	Sharper image, no noise	No low light capability
  Lower ISO (1600)	Low light capability	More noise, less sharpness

I will go deeper on each subject in further posts.

So what does it all mean? Generally, it means that, as photographers, we often have to compromise on something. The aim is to get the middle of the triangle all the time, but it is seldom possible.

The good news is that there are very good tools for one of those factors, noise…

Related posts:

1. To SLR or not to SLR that is the question.
2. Wildlife shooting

As a photographer I get a whole lot of questions about a whole lot of photography related things. Some are easy to answer others need to be demonstrated. This one needs to be demonstrated…

I will not go into great technical details, however understand that a zoom lens usually allows for more than one “ZOOM” factor and it has moving glass in addition to focus. In fact it is usually safe to assume that the further away the glass elements are, the longer the lens is, the higher the zoom factor.

So what do we mean by zoom factor? It is the magnification that a lens can produce in relation to the human eye. In photography, it is generally accepted that a 1x zoom factor is equal to a 50mm lens on a 35mm film/digital format camera, I am not going into more details than this as it is not relevant to this post. So assuming that 50mm is 1x what would be 400mm ?

The equation is:

In a Canon EOS 5D the answer would be (400×1)/50 or 8x magnification. However with a crop sensor camera such as the Canon 7D, it would be (400×1.6)/50 and thus would result in a 12.8 magnification. But what about a 16mm wide angle lens? Well (16×1.6)/50 results in a 0.512 magnification which is a theorical negative magnification. So what are the actual result in a photo? Here are a few photos of commonly used zoom factors to illustrate, all taken at the same place with a Canon EOS 7D with a 1.6 crop factor.

16 mm (0.51x)	24 mm (0.77x)	35 mm (1.12x)	50 mm (1.60x)
70mm (2.24x)	85 mm (2.72x)	100 mm (3.20x)	135 mm (4.32x)
150mm (4.80x)	200 mm (6.40x)	300mm (9.60x)	400 mm (12.8x)
500 mm (16x)	600 mm (19.2x)	700 mm (22.4)	800 mm (25.6x)

Related posts:

1. Living with a Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens in the wild.
2. Photo and Film Expo, Johannesburg.
3. Canon 24-70mm f/2.4 L – First impressions.

Situated in the heart of the Waterburg and about 2.5 hours from Johannesburg,  Marakele National Park is probably one park I will carry on visiting. Not that it has a lot of wildlife, but rather that the wildlife comes to you when camping at Bontle Camp Site.

A word of warning though, as with Mapungubwe National Park, a high rise vehicle is advisable if you intend to visit the park’s northern side.

Bontle Camping Site is situated next to a small dam making it an ideal spot to setup camp and relax. There are no fences to talk about here, the pillars are there but the fence is long gone. A good thing really because you feel more connected. The ablution blocks are well maintained and clean, as with Mapungubwe National Park, the park’s shop has very little to offer, luckily it’s a short 15 minutes ride to Thabazimbi, a mining town where you can find anything you will need.

Left side of view from my tent at Bontle camping site in Marakele
Right side of view from my tent at Bontle camping site in Marakele

Once you have set up camp on the dam side, if you can find a spot, sit down relax and let the wildlife come to you, let it sink in, enjoy the sounds and smell and who knows the local rhinoceros and ostriches may just come and visit, not to mention the usual bucks and antelopes… It is also worthy to note that Marakele National Park has a vast bird life.

Click to enlarge photographs.

Related posts:

1. Mapungubwe National Park and World Heritage Site
2. Day 4: Witsand Nature Reserve – Augrabies Fall National Park (338km)
3. Day 5: Augrabies Falls National Park – Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park [Twee Riveren Restcamp] (381km)

Sometimes when taking wildlife well funny things happen…

Wasn’t me, I swear, wasn’t me…

Move over you bully… It’s my spot!

Hey dude I can do that photography stuff too you know. I shoot those pesky impalas, yes? Now where is da button dude?

Hey, I got developed in black and white, OK. Now stop staring at me!!!

Sharp corner, don’t fall, must not fall, stay up…

Don’t trip, don’t trip…

I coming Zorro. To the rescue I go!!!

The case of the Mapungubwe Red Baobab, yep a new sub-species

No related posts.

Finally, I was able to take my Canon EOS 7D into the field, I mean by that into the bush, how did it fair though?

Let me be honest up front, so there are no misunderstanding, after 6 months of using the camera I am still learning how to get it right. I may know how to, technically and theoretically, take a photograph but this machine is still partially a mystery to me. A mystery mostly because yours truly is off the “auto mode” and into some serious photography. Besides “auto mode” does not give me what I want, just what I expect and that is not good enough.

A tip for you, when you go into the bush choose you lens carefully, chances are you will not be able to change it as it will make you loose the moment. So, what lens are suitable in the bush for wildlife? You can look at this previous article I wrote, Choosing a lens to suit wildlife photography and Living with a Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens in the wild, but it gets more complicated than this. Consider light, are you going out in the day or twilight? In full day light a 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 will do fine, in twilight you would be better off with a 70-200mm f/2.8 as the reach would be limited anyways. Fine so the next question is what about flash or high ISO to compensate? Flash, forget about it, it’s unlikely to help because of the distance we are talking about. As for high ISO, in the case of the Canon EOS 7D up to 12800 which I never used, it does help and the noise control of the Canon EOS 7D makes it all worth it. At ISO 6400, you have noise but less then my Canon EOS 400D at ISO 1600, besides there are wonderful tools to reduce grain/noise, check out Adobe Lightroom 3 Beta 2 for example.

So what have I learned about taking photos of wildlife with the Canon EOS 7D ?

1. Set it to aperture priority, AV Mode. Then again I only shoot in this mode, it gives you control over the depth of field.
2. Set the ISO to Auto, surprise surprise, yes and leave it that way, it will avoid profane language when you set it to 6400 and forget that you did, I found that the camera it very good at choosing the right ISO setting.
3. Set the focus to AF Point Expansion, it will give you a little more control over the focus point then Single Point AF, just in case the subject moves.
4. Set it to spot or centre weighted average metering, I find it gives me a better result overall
5. Set to AI focus, again for flexibility (double tap the trigger and it acts as AI Servo) although AI Servo would work too but it may start hunting.
6. Set it to High or Low Speed Continuous, though for fast moving subjects High Speed Continuous shooting is advisable.
7. Have a high capacity CF card 8GB and above, trust me.

Oddly enough, I never shoot wildlife in RAW, simply because in RAW I can only shoot 6 frames (less then a second) in High Speed Continuous shooting  before the camera slows down, in JPG this rises to a cool 70 (10 seconds).

Please note that none of the photos below have been modified except for the resizing required for the web.

Here is a sequence of Impala chasing Impala shot with the Canon EOS 7D in relative low light (twilight) with the settings above, set at f/4.5 using the Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens, the camera chose ISO 1600.

This photo of Rhinoceroses was shot after sundown with a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L USM at f/2.8 at 1/4 sec and ISO 6400, it was on a tripod. You will notice noise but remember it was dark to the point where I could only see shadows.

In daylight the Canon EOS 7D paired with the Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens give this result.

in brief, The Camera is very good and well suited for wildlife photography, if paired with the right lens.

Related posts:

1. Living with the Canon EOS 7D
2. Living with the Canon EOS 7D – Part 2
3. Does the camera really makes a difference in the real world? Part 1 – Intro

Mapungubwe National Park is not exactly a place you decide to go too on a hunch, unless you are my wife and I, situated on the northern tip of South Africa, bordering both Botswana and Zimbabwe, it is a solid 6 hour trip from Johannesburg. So was it all worth it? The short of it is a resounding yes, with a few caveats along the way.

Things to know about Mapungubwe National Park:

1. Use a high rise vehicle,  an SUV, 4×4 or similar ideally.
2. Deflate your tyres to about 1.8 to 2 bars, will help on the badly maintained roads around the park. Inside are dust roads so deflated tyres are still a good idea.
3. There is no cellular signal, except at the gate if you are lucky.
4. There are no shops anywhere near Mapungubwe National Park, so stock up.
5. The closest petrol station is a cool 70km away, so refuel there first before entering the park.
6. The park is divided into 2 sections, west where the World Heritage Site is and east where the camping grounds are. The is a 45 minutes between the two.

Now let forget about the caveats and get back to the business of Mapungubwe National Park.

We went to Mapungubwe National Park without any preconceived ideas or expectations, what we faced was breath taking beauty rarely seen. Mapungubwe National Park has wildlife, we saw elephants and rhinoceros as well as foxes and the usual bucks and antelopes and it has a viarity of predators but no buffalos leaving it with only 4 of the Big Five. But we found out that one does not go to Mapungubwe National Park for the wildlife but rather for the incredible sceneries of contrasting colours and carved landscape, not forgetting a lesson in African history. The first day we got there, we booked a sunset drive with a ranger, Johannes in this case, we often do this to get the layout of the land, the local rangers know their parks better then we do. The drive was spectacular, yet we saw little wildlife, though I did add an animal to my collection of photographs, the bat-eared fox.

The next day was rather educational, we booked the visit to Mapungubwe Hill, the World Heritage Site inside the park, I am not going to tell you the history but needless to say it’s a little confusing to say the least, lots of theories and uncertainties. One thing is sure, it belongs with the Lost Cities of the world. I would highly recommend the visit. Cedric, our guide, was well informed and neutral enough in his narration, he gave us more then one theory and was not shy to add his own.

In short, if you have a high rise vehicle and a passion for Africa as well as not looking too much for wildlife, it scores a 4/5 across the board.

Related posts:

1. Marakele National Park
2. Day 4: Witsand Nature Reserve – Augrabies Fall National Park (338km)
3. Day 5: Augrabies Falls National Park – Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park [Twee Riveren Restcamp] (381km)

So what is? Well, thanks to a Canon EOS 7D, a Canon PowerShot SX20 IS and a Canon Legria FS306 I have a bunch of video to share from a recent trip. So here is the first one, it’s short and sweet. Taken in the magnificent Mapungubwe National Park on the border of Botswana and Zimbabwe, enjoy. Expect some more soon.

No related posts.

I was asked a simple question the other day: Why are photographers so expensive? A fair enough question from a potential client, I explained to her all that it entailed and oddly enough she agreed that the price I was asking for was reasonable.

The first thing that anyone that wants to hire a photographer must understand is that this professional often has a big responsibility, no matter what he shoots. The photographer has to deliver photographs that represents what they were hired to do, in many cases there are no second chances, think of your wedding for a second, if the photographer misses the first kiss or the exchange of the rings?

I will use a typical wedding photographer as my case study, mostly because it is the most common use of the profession that affects you and almost anyone can relate to it.

First up is experience, the more a wedding photographer has experience the more expansive he becomes, I have heard people calling wedding photographers rip-offs, I do not agree entirely. The more the experience, the larger the portfolio,the better the work becomes, the least likely there will be something going wrong and the more the demand… And there you are, the more the demand, trading 101, the more the demand, the more expensive things become, particularly when it comes to services.

Second is the equipment, the better the equipment, the better the photographs. Equipment compliment skill for a professional photographer, he needs to have the tools to cater for most situations and that costs. Let us start with the camera, a semi-pro camera will set you back in the region of R13000 for the body alone! A entry professional grade camera about R20,000 for the body. These are often changed every 3 years and need to be maintained, that is a serious cost. The table bellow shows the initial outlay a serious wedding photographer has to do, often in the form of a loan. The following is the strict minimum that a serious professional photographer will need based on professional grade equipment using Canon’s prices:

That is about a repayment R3,500 a month add to that the monthly cost of telephone, internet connectivity, web hosting, space rental, transport, etc… Well you get the picture.

There are also cost involved per event, a serious professional photographer will not stop at an interview or two, once they have secured the job they will go to scout the venue for good places to shoot and introduce themselves to the venue co-coordinator. They will also get in contact with the official that will carry out the ceremony, the caterers, the wedding coordinator, the videographer and anyone else the will be involved in the event. They will also have their camera cleaned and serviced for every event. Now as you can see there is a lot of preparation prior to the event itself and cost associated with it.

On the day itself, the cost are limited to the transport to the venue and more often than not the refreshments, assuming it is not a “location” wedding, but that is another affair all together which is not applicable here.

The post production, for ever 1000 photos taken during the event, you can estimate that a day is used to sort out and edit the photographs, that is a day’s work that must be paid. After that there are other cost such as the DVD(s), prints, albums, etc…

As you see you actually not paying a photographer for the event time but rather a series of specialised services and skills to which the outcome is a capture of your memories and more then often the things you have missed.

So are photographers a rip-off? I am sure some are, as in all professions there are bad apples, but generally your are paying for more than you think, most of the work happens before and after the event. The skill, for a professional photographer, is to minimize the post production time by getting it right at the event.

In short a typical 4 hour wedding shoot will take 24 hours of actual work, let’s assume that the cost was R5000 that is an actual R208.33 per hour, call your plumber or electrician, see how much that costs.

I can only hope that I have enlightened you a little about what it means to be a professional photographer today, until next time, enjoy.

Cross-posted from http://www.pascalphotography.co.za/?p=105

No related posts.

As you all may have noticed I have been blogging less, there are various reasons why but the most important have been my endeavour to start a new Web and Business development company and I have also been busy with another dream of mine, a photography studio. And so was born Pascal Photography Studio as the title suggests, it was inevitable, it had to happen one day and it has. I have been busy with the site and it’s far from finished but I have begun as usual using WordPress and this time my base theme is Picture Perfect theme by Wayne. I still have a lot of work. As of today, all photographic equipment and tips or even techniques will be cross-posted from there so to find out more on what my offerings are head over to Pascal Photography Studio and watch it develop, pun intended.

So what will happen to Only in South Africa? Pretty much nothing I will be restarting the “Photo of the Day” soon and maybe even more, as for the rest well since it will be cross-posted you will still be able to enjoy to goodness (or awfulness) of my thoughts on equipment, techniques, software, suppliers and more.

No related posts.

As you know I don’t often deviate from photography on this blog, but from time to time there is something to, well, shout about and this is the case. Head over to Shout for a safer South Africa, an initiative to create awareness around the raising criminality and raise funds to combat it. They currently only accept SMS donation for the song in return but you will also be able to download it for a R20 from their website as of next week. Now when you consider that a downloadable song will cost you R10 the donation is really cheap. There are comments on YouTube that you can downloaded it for free from YouTube but then is that not defeating the purpose and joining the criminal element?

I want to thank to Danny K, Kabelo Mabalane and the  other 37 great South African artists that made this possible, a good idea for a good cause. And if you worried about where your money is going go to Shout for a safer South Africa and click on the question mark icon on the left and check out the sponsors.

For a united, crime free South Africa, let’s Shout!!!

Related posts:

1. Bandwidth in South Africa – Part 1 – Cost
2. Bandwidth in South Africa – Part 2 – Usage

It’s been a while since I have received the Canon EOS 7D, ad to tell you the truth I am rather happy and even sometimes very impressed with it, the ISO noise reduction is amazing but I’ll leave that for another day.

But as all things good and 95% of this camera is pure goodness itself but I encountered certain limitations that are from the unexpected to the absurd, all related to the use of flashes. I have to be honest too, the following is advanced stuff and I mean advanced, but not all of it.

First up, to me not advanced but rather required, is “rear curtain sync” using the built-in infrared remote remote on the camera, mind you we tried the same with a Canon Speedlite 580EX set as a commander too with the same results, well he is the news flash (sorry for the pun), it is not possible! Read the manual it will tell you so, absurd you say? I agree completely. Obviously, whether you use a  Canon Speedlite 430EX or 580EX on the camera’s shoe, it will work 100%. I could not find a Canon Commander to test this with, so I cannot tell about that but I suspect the same issue will arise.

The second one is what is known as Multi or Strobe, this function allows the photographer to have multiple flash exposure on one exposure, the Canon EOS 7D does this with ease using it’s pop-up flash, unfortunately it is far from powerful enough. So I put it in remote to trigger the 3 Canon Speedlite 430EX and… The option in no longer available. Ok so maybe I ask a little too much, it is advanced stuff. I fit a Canon Speedlite 430EX to the camera shoe and the option is still not available. So the pop-up flash can do it but not the semi-professional flash… Confusion sets in… So, thanks to the guys at Cameratek, we put a Canon Speedlite 580EX on the camera shoe… Multi is now available! And it works, but here is the kicker, you are going to love this! Put the Canon Speedlite 580EX in Multi mode and make it a master, guess what! The Canon Speedlite 430EX receive the Multi order and execute it. So the Canon Speedlite 430EX is capable of it but it looks like the Canon EOS 7D’s infrared commander is not a “full” commander.

But do not mistake this for a rant, these are true limitations of the flashes, I still love my Canon Speedlite 430EX as well as my Canon EOS 7D and find very little wrong with it.

Now here is a word to Canon, DO NOT DO HALF A JOB!!! Nikon’s have no issues with this to my knowledge, so next firmware update include it in! Both please!

Related posts:

1. Living with the Canon EOS 7D
2. Living with a Canon EOS 7D – Part 3 – In the field, Wildlife Photography.
3. Does the camera really makes a difference in the real world? Part 1 – Intro

So what is the hype with this iPhone thing anyways?
I mean it just another mobile phone, right?
Yes it is and the iPhone 3GS does a wonderful job at being just that a phone but, unlike most of my previous smartphones, it has an edge…
You see it’s a computer in your hand with an operating system that works, unlike my previous Microsoft Mobile phones it does not freeze and 99% of the application that I want work, no fidgiting, no wasted time, it just works.
And yes not all the application are free but the care and quality is generaly better than it’s Windows Mobile platform conterpart, so far.

And to proove my point, this was all writen on an iPhone 3GS in under 15 minutes!

More on the iPhone’s use in photography soon.

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I am going to talk about a scary subject in a few forthcoming posts, one that frightens me terribly…

Imagine for a moment, maybe in horror because that’s what is happening to me right now, that you taking this prise winning photograph and your beloved Canon EOS 5D, yes Charl I was thinking of you, or Canon EOS 7D’s shutter locks up or something happens that renders your professional camera completely useless. It gives me the shivers, just thinking about it. There is nothing in the world that you can do about it. What now?

But wait, there is a Canon EOS 1000D in your bag! Your partner uses it from time to time to help out at a wedding or other event where you need to be at 2 places at the same time. You are saved!!! But are you, really?

I am not really exactly talking from experience here, but I have had my share of catastrophes that came uncomfortably close to this scenario. The worst was our trip to the Kalahari where my prized Canon EOS 300D and Sigma 170-500 were destroyed just before entering the park for 5 days. I had no backup cameras, I could not afford one at the time. To tell the truth going to any game reserve without a camera would be the equivalent of being blind for me. I was lucky enough to have found a Canon EOS 400D in Upington and I still had a kit 55-200 lens with me which I promptly used for the rest of the trip.

Today, I feel a bit like the Mythbusters, I am going to simulate that very improbable catastrophe using 2 very different cameras both 1.6 cropped. One is considered as the ultimate Canon entry level, Canon EOS 1000D, the other camera is the one that may have change the way Nikon fans, whether they admit it or not, look at Canon cameras, the Canon EOS 7D. Do not mistaken this for a comparative review, it’s not. It’s about living with an uncontrollable event and how to handle it and make the best of it.

Firstly, these are 2 completely different cameras with 2 completely different characters, never mind specifications, check Digital Photography Review for the reviews of each. The Canon EOS 7D is a pro level SLR, the rig is with a battery grip and 2 batteries in it and a Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 USM L weighs a massive 2.5KG, than again you can feel the the magnesium alloy body quality as you grip the camera, it feels and holds right… On the other hand the Canon EOS 1000D is an entry level that with one battery and the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 USM L weighs a respectable 1.6KG but because it it smaller physical size it is going to be harder to handle.

Next, the real life test, for that I will use the same lenses and flashes with both cameras, either the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 USM L or the Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8 USM L and do the same photos with the same settings with both and see how hard it can get without having to spend more money.

Till next time when I take the challenges of a studio photography environment.

By the way, should you have a couple of challenges for me please feel free to add them to the comments and I’ll try to do some, given time.

Editor’s note (2010-03-10): The Canon EOS 1000D was returned to the workshop due to an error 99, so this may be longer to test then expected.
Further note (2010-08-28): The Canon EOS 1000D keeps jaming at the worst moment, the 7D no so much (it had a lens communication error today, it was the 1st glitch, fixed it in 10 seconds)

Related posts:

1. Living with the Canon EOS 7D
2. Living with the Canon EOS 7D – Part 2
3. Living with a Canon EOS 7D – Part 3 – In the field, Wildlife Photography.

Yesterday, I tried something new, something I had never done in photography. True macro photography. And though my shoulder, back, neck, hand and right arm are complaining today I am thrilled with what I have learned and achieve.

So what have I learned? Well how about a short list of things you have to consider when making macro photographs:

1. The gear.
   • I do not have millions to spend on another lens, particularly when it would be a specialised one that would not be used often. So opted to go the extension tube route, a set of Kenko to be exact, why these? because they have the necessary connections to the lens, so you can still control your Depth of Field and, though completely futile, the auto-focus still works. But when you are 1 cm away from your subject auto-focus just hunts, even with a Canon EOS 7D.
   • Use a 70- 200mm with a f/2.8, it will make your life easier, I started with a 24-70 that I could only use between 50 and 70mm.
   • Use a tripod!
   • And have something (or someone) to give shade when required, which I found was most of the time.
2. The technique:
   • Pick one or more extension tube, I would recommend the shortest to start with, put your choice of lens on and find a really small flower or use a book and focus on the text, it makes for interesting photographs too.
   • Set the whole gear up on your tripod.
   • Set your focus ring to the closest possible point in manual, no kidding.
   • Use your zoom ring to focus, it took me a while to get that, forget about the focusing ring. If you cannot get focus you are either too close or to far, you will also find that you need to change distance if you add or remove tubes. As my instructor said a zoom between 80 and 130mm works best, find your lens sweet spot if you are not using a pro grade lens (I find Canon’s EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L lens perfectly suited).
3. The catches:
   • DOF, I tried to change it from f/2.8 right down to f/22 I could not see a difference.
   • Because of the above, if you are using all 3 extension tubes, I did not check with different combinations, you end up with a depth of field focus area of about 5mm, believe it or not a bee’s back side and it’s wings can be in perfect focus but not it’s head, so be careful with that.

And that is it, go and try, it’s loads of fun and your garden is the first please to visit, I know it’s a long trip. By the way, none of the photos below have been tempered with outside of being resized, what you see is exactly what the camera gave me, no colour calibration either than white balance set to day light, the camera used was a Canon EOS 7D.

Click on photos to enlarge

Click on photos to enlarge

Related posts:

1. Living with the Canon EOS 7D
2. Geotagging photos
3. Mapungubwe National Park and World Heritage Site

Firstly, this is NOT a review, if you are looking for a review please go to dpreview.com they dissect the camera to the nth level and then put it back together or Digital Photography School. By the way, DPReview’s rating is “Highly Recommended” with an average of 9.16/10 as compared to Nikon’s D300s (which I have a lot of respect for) with an average of 9.16/10, how odd is that? Anyways, this is about living with it and I have the camera for nearly a month.

First thing you have to understand about the Canon EOS 7D, it is a professional graded “still” camera!!! I will come to the video in a latter post, 1 thing at a time. So what do I mean by that? Well, coming from the very good and light Canon EOS 400D, its like coming off a bicycle with training wheels and driving a racing bike, I know I said this before and I will probably say it again.

First thing you will notice when you pick up the Canon EOS 7D is it’s weight at 918g with the battery in is not light add a battery grip with 2 batteries, a CF card grip and  a 24-70mm f/2.8 L lens and here comes 2,378 kg, not light at all I can tell you.

Second thing you will notice is it’s size, it is massively larger than the Canon EOS 400D, but what a grip, with 2,5kg in your hand you better have a good grip and you do.

Thirdly you will feel the magnesium alloy quality of this professional camera, it fells so good.

And then you switch it on and at first glance life just became more complicated, the buttons and the menu (until you figure out the Quick and Custom menus) looks devastatingly confusing. I read the manual cover to cover 3 times so far, about to do it again but not cover to cover this time. I can now drive the racing bike around a track but I am still far for being able to race…

There are little things I have noticed using the camera, if RAW is used at high ISO you might be disappointed with the amount of noise, oddly enough I did not find this problem with the use of JPGs, most probably due to the high amount of post processing. Taking movement of anything whilst is high burst mode (up to 8 frames a second)  is wonderful but watch how quick you fill your memory card. Lastly, it is deadly silent in comparison to other DLR’s I have used or tested.

So would I recommend it as an upgrade from a 400D/450D/500D? Not unless you are going into photography seriously, the price does not warrant it. If you are doing casual photography and want the ability to do the odd video clip, I would advise either the Canon 500D or the cheaper but versatile Canon PowerShot SX20 IS (I will do a “living with the Canon PowerShot SX20 IS a little later). If you, like me, are either in action, sport or wildlife photography the Canon EOS 50D will do fine if you do no care about video. But if you are serious and have the finance for it the Canon EOS 7D paired with a versatile L lens, I recommend the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM to start with bringing you to an equivalent of 39-112mm of this 1,6 cropped sensor,  is the way to go.

I will write more about this in the weeks to come as I will soon have the opportunity to try a Canon EOS 5D Mk1 and maybe others in the field. I am also taking some courses in the next few months of subject maters I had not really thought off previously. But first impressions are that It was a very good investment.

Related posts:

1. Living with a Canon EOS 7D – Part 3 – In the field, Wildlife Photography.
2. Living with the Canon EOS 7D – Part 2
3. Does the camera really makes a difference in the real world? Part 1 – Intro

Firstly, Season’s Greeting to all.

I know I have been absent since the 1st of December of last year, I apologise but let me explain…

Firstly, I was retrenched by mutual consent with my company, I had not done much in a while and did not feel I was adding any value, so it was decided that since I did not fit anywhere else I would take a volunteery retrenchment and go on my marry way, all this before Christmas. For a while there, I got a little depressed but I have been trough worst and picked myself up and continued actively looking for a new job. That did not go well either, it felt more like I was being tested like a kid out of school then anything else and to be honest most of my prospective employers were looking for code monkeys, I am a Senior Developer / Architect, note the “developer” part. A developer is a solution provider not what I call a code monkey or a programmer whom just types away and hopes that the BRS is correct. So my job hunting efforts came to an abrupt end. I’d still like to thank Kirstin Garland and Jason Pretorius for all their effort, guys I know you did your best. I got depressed again…

So where from here?

Well, that was the hard choice, become a code monkey and be on antidepressants all my life or take a leap of faith?

I took a leap of faith, I have a fair severance package so why not open my own Web Development House? One that focuses on SOHO to small businesses I could bring a lot to the table, more than web sites I have learned so much about how to make use of the web to enhance businesses why not merge both skills into one and create a company that offers not websites but rather a way to improve businesses using the web as a medium, after all I have been doing it for more that 10 years for small businesses to large corporate. So, an old dream of mine was born, Panache Web and Business Development. We will start operating mid January and oddly enough my first client is my old company, which in many ways is great.

Unfortunately, my woes did not stop at being retrenched…

My camera, a Canon EOS 400D, attempted a dare devil swim in the dog bath along with my flying laptop. My dog, an Alaskan Malamute, decided that whilst I was outside with him it would be a great time to give me a big hug, the results were less 1 SLR and less 1 laptop. Thanks to Outsurance that was sorted rather fast and efficiently.

I replaced my Canon EOS 400D with, dare I say it, the mighty Canon EOS 7D, if you have been following me on Twitter you would know what I initially thought of the 7D, it’s like going from a bicycle with training wheels (the 400D) to a superbike (the 7D). My head is still trying to adjust, I’ll talk more about the mighty 7D in another post, hopefully with some image samples. to tell the truth, I have read the manual cover to cover twice and I am about to do it again but enough about the incredible 7D… I have also decided to take some photography courses starting at the end of the month trough to March, I would like to open a small studio and my skill set though not bad for a junior amateur is nothing compared to what I will need to have a studio, but there will be more about that in the coming month too.

Lastly, I have replaced my laptop, an HP Pavilion dv6000 series with, no not an Apple Notebook as I originally thought since the Apple did not have my requirement for my development work (in .NET) so I did some research and voila I am the proud owner of a Dell Studio XPS 16 and all I’ll say is, wow. It sorted out both my development and photographic requirements in one go (not to mention it’s gaming abilities). The only two issues with it are it’s weight, it’s really heavy, and the HD screen, yep you read right it has a 1920 by 1080 native resolution on a 16.1 inch screen, you need a magnifying glass to read the screen. OK it’s also an advantage most of the time, pair it with a 24 inch HD screen and problem solved, yes it can handle it and so much more…

So there is the story so far… More to come soon…

Related posts:

1. Site News
2. I know, I have been neglecting my blogosphere duties…
3. I am still alive

Authors note: I do not print my photographs often, in this case I made an exception. It is hung in my house with by best photographs. I find it the most descriptive photograph of the Kalahari that I have ever done.

Species: Gemsbok

Location: Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park, Northern Cape, South Africa

View Only in South Africa Travels in a larger map

Related posts:

1. Photo of the Day – The mighty Gemsbok
2. Photo of the Day – Ostriches of the Kalahari
3. Photo of the Day – Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park river bed

Species: Suricate a.k.a. Meerkat

Location: Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park, Northern Cape, South Africa

View Only in South Africa Travels in a larger map

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1. Photo of the Day – Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park river bed
2. Photo of the Day – The Pouched Mouse
3. Photo of the Day – Red Hartebeest on the gallop

Species: Secretary bird

Location: Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park, Northern Cape, South Africa

View Only in South Africa Travels in a larger map

Related posts:

1. Photo of the Day – Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park river bed
2. Photo of the Day – Ostriches of the Kalahari
3. Photo of the Day – The Pouched Mouse

Species: Ostrich

Location: Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park, Northern Cape, South Africa

View Only in South Africa Travels in a larger map

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1. Photo of the Day – Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park river bed
2. Photo of the Day – Sands of the Kalahari
3. Photo of the Day – The Pouched Mouse

Location: Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park, Northern Cape, South Africa

View Only in South Africa Travels in a larger map

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1. Photo of the Day – Black Backed Jackal
2. Photo of the Day – Ground Squirrel on the look out
3. Photo of the Day – Ostriches of the Kalahari

Species: Pouched Mouse

Location: Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park, Northern Cape, South Africa

View Only in South Africa Travels in a larger map

Related posts:

1. Photo of the Day – Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park river bed
2. Photo of the Day – Red Hartebeest on the gallop
3. Photo of the Day – The mighty Gemsbok

Species: Gemsbok

Location: Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park, Northern Cape, South Africa

View Only in South Africa Travels in a larger map

Related posts:

1. Photo of the Day – Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park river bed
2. Photo of the Day – Sands of the Kalahari
3. Photo of the Day – Red Hartebeest on the gallop

Species: Red Hartebeest

Location: Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park, Northern Cape, South Africa

View Only in South Africa Travels in a larger map

Related posts:

1. Photo of the Day – Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park river bed
2. Photo of the Day – The mighty Gemsbok
3. Photo of the Day – Blue Wildebeest

Species: Blue Wildebeest

Location: Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park, Northern Cape, South Africa

View Only in South Africa Travels in a larger map

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1. Photo of the Day – Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park river bed
2. Photo of the Day – Red Hartebeest on the gallop
3. Photo of the Day – The mighty Gemsbok

Species: African Wild Cat

Location: Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park, Northern Cape, South Africa

View Only in South Africa Travels in a larger map

Related posts:

1. Photo of the Day – Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park river bed
2. Photo of the Day – The Pouched Mouse
3. Photo of the Day – Red Hartebeest on the gallop

Spot the Ratel also known as a Honey Badger.

Location: Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park, Northern Cape, South Africa

View Only in South Africa Travels in a larger map

Related posts:

1. Photo of the Day – Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park river bed
2. Photo of the Day – Black Backed Jackal
3. Photo of the Day – Ground Squirrel on the look out

Location: Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park, Northern Cape, South Africa

View Only in South Africa Travels in a larger map

Related posts:

1. Photo of the Day – Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park river bed
2. Photo of the Day – Ground Squirrel on the look out
3. Photo of the Day – The Pouched Mouse

Location: Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park, Northern Cape, South Africa

View Only in South Africa Travels in a larger map

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1. Photo of the Day – Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park river bed
2. Photo of the Day – Kangaroo or Ground Squirrel?
3. Photo of the Day – Black Backed Jackal

Location: My Garden, Gauteng, South Africa

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1. Photo of the Day – Red Bottle Brush
2. Photo of the Day – Voortrekker Monument
3. Photo of the Day – Johannesburg Summer Sky

Location: My Garden, Gauteng, South Africa

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1. Photo of the Day – Pink Bottle Brush
2. Photo of the Day – Voortrekker Monument
3. Photo of the Day – Johannesburg Summer Sky

Location: Kalahari National Park, Northern Cape, South Africa

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1. Photo of the Day – Kangaroo or Ground Squirrel?
2. Photo of the Day – Kalahari Sunset
3. Photo of the Day – Sands of the Kalahari

Location: Kalahari National Park, Northern Cape, South Africa

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1. Photo of the Day – Ground Squirrel on the look out
2. Photo of the Day – Ground Squirrel
3. Photo of the Day – Brown Hyena lurking about

Location: Kalahari National Park, Northern Cape, South Africa

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1. Photo of the Day – Sands of the Kalahari
2. Photo of the Day – Ostriches of the Kalahari
3. Photo of the Day – Kangaroo or Ground Squirrel?

Location: Augrabies Falls, Northern Cape, South Africa

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1. Photo of the Day – Kalahari Sunset
2. Photo of the Day – Sunset over the Atlantic
3. Photo of the Day – Suburban Sunset

Location: Strand, Western Cape, South Africa

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1. Photo of the Day – Cape of wind…
2. Photo of the Day – Table Mountain – Cape Town
3. Photo of the Day – Another tale …

Location: Eastern Cape, South Africa

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1. Photo of the Day – Mussels and wave
2. Photo of the Day – Mussels and wave two
3. Photo of the Day -2 birds and a wave

Location: Eastern Cape, South Africa

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1. Photo of the Day – Mussels and wave
2. Photo of the Day – Wave break
3. Photo of the Day -2 birds and a wave

Location: Featherbed, Knysna, Eastern Cape, South Africa

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1. Photo of the Day – Scenes of Featherbed.
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3. Photo of the Day – Wave break