Ian Weatherburn Photography - Blog

lie•ben•pix - For the love of pictures...

2011-09-05T21:34:00.004+02:00

Today, I feel really honoured to have been featured on the Liebenpix web site! They have included a portfolio of my Wildlife photography on their website today and I must say, I am really thrilled with how it has turned out. Head on over to http://www.liebenpix.com/ianweatherburn to take a look.

Liebenpix was formed in July 2011 with one clear cut mission, "To promote South African photographers, and supply them with a new, exciting and fresh platform off of which they can now display their work." Liebenpix aims to be the number one portal for all photographers in South Africa and also for those who require their talent. Liebenpix strives to uphold a level of creative excellence through our uploaded content.

To make it as a full time professional what-ever-it-may-be is a tough task in any industry. The photography environment in South Africa is well populated and aptly so. Our beautiful people & picturesque landscapes have encouraged many people to dabble in the artform. Liebenpix.com aims to expose our talent and provide it with a platform to live upon. Begin searching through our latest additions by scrolling down, or visit our directory page to get a quick overview of all our featured photographers.

Liebenpix had this to say about my photography, and it's a real honour...

Ian Weatherburn is a Johannesburg based Photographer who boasts an incredible Wildlife photography portfolio. Ian has the ability to capture the behavioural instincts of Wildlife. His shots evoke emotion, compasssion and admiration. Enjoy!

Be sure to check out some of the other great photographers on Liebenpix as well such as:

amongst others.

Catch up with Liebenpix on their Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/liebenpix) or follow them on Twitter (@liebenpix).

Thanks to Jason Liebenberg for the feature. It's great to be on your site. To see my photography presented this way along with other great photographers is very rewarding and inspiring.

Ian Weatherburn Day.li

2011-08-08T12:56:00.010+02:00

Ian Weatherburn Day.li

On occasion recently I've tweeted that a new publication of the Ian Weatherburn Day.li is out. If you've had a chance to check it out, or follow along daily then that's awesome, and you'll know what I'm talking about. If not, why not...? :D

You may also be curious as to how the newspaper is put together, in case you wanted to produce your own paper of interesting articles; photos and videos of your own particular subject matter.

“It’s not information overload. It’s filter failure.” – Clay Shirky

Firstly, to explain why the Ian Weatherburn Day.li is not spelled "daily". The whole publication is pulled together through the use of several aggregator services, the principle of which is responsible for formatting and layout: paper.li. So it's really just a continuation on that play-on-words.

paper.li is a service will turn your Twitter, Facebook and RSS feeds into an online newspaper in just a few clicks. It's thanks to paper.li that fresh photography and wildlife news is delivered to you daily.

paper.li - Settings

Signing up to paper.li is as simple as can be as it uses your Facebook or Twitter account. Once you have an account you can begin right away creating your paper and the first step is to give your newspaper a name, define how regularly it get's updated and at what time. Because my newspaper is pulled in from feeds that I know are regularly updated, I made mine a daily publication and chose to update it just before I start my day so it is as up-to-date as I could get it.

paper.li - Streams

Once that's done, you have to setup the content of your newspaper and this is where the real meat-and-potatoes begins. You can see above the various streams or sources of information where paper.li builds its content from. Twitter and Facebook have been there since the outset but fairly recently they have introduced RSS feeds and this has made the service extremely powerful. RSS stands for 'Really, Simple Syndication' and it's a web standard for publishing content from your web site in XML (eXtensible Markup Language). Essentially it's a text extract of the content of a site available for external subscribers (such as Google Reader for instance).

Below, you can see how I've defined my newspaper streams. You can have at most 5 different streams of content at any one time and the actual feeds can be rearranged by moving them up or down in the list, which appears to assign a priority and hence the extent to which content is sourced from. My first two feeds are based on RSS feeds and I'll explain more about that later, but suffice to say that feed #2 for instance is an RSS feed of my recent blog posts.

paper.li - Content

The next feed comes from my Twitter account, so whatever tweet or link I personally post on Twitter will be pulled in for content. Feed #4 is another feed from 500px.com which is to add some eye-candy to my newspaper. It pulls in the best photo's from 500px.com from the last 24 hours and it adds some great visual content to an online publication which is essential to maintain reader interest.

The final feed does demonstrate a very important feature of paper.li, which is the ability to pull in any Twitter feed with a specific hash-tag (you can look for keywords as well or leverage Twitter groups as you please). Here I've chosen to use the Twitter hash-tag of #photography. As my newspaper is photography related this makes sense, so long as Twitter users use the hash-tag appropiately.

Once the content is set-up you're essentially done. You can polish your paper off though, by getting paper.li to send out a tweet whenever a new edition is published as well as customise the look and feel of your publication (although this is still quite limited?).

Now that your newspaper has been published, I'm sure you will agree that the output looks very professional and very newspaper-like. Each entry provides an overview of the article of interest and allows you to link through to the original source. paper.li also makes some effort to break your content down into relevant sections (reflected across the top). The first time your paper is available be sure to add in your own personal Editor's note to finish off your customisation and make it more personable.

As with all newspapers, content is king and it's the definition of your feed sources that will make or break your newspaper. Hopefully mine is meeting the needs of the target audience? One key way which I'm ensuring that the Day.li has meaningful and up-to-date content is through the use of the Alltop.com service.

"Alltop enables you to create a “personal, online magazine rack” of your favorite websites and blogs. You can create a personal collection from over 32,000 information sources—if you’re interested in something, we probably have it covered." - Alltop.com

Ian Weatherburn - Alltop.com

With Alltop I can search for a huge variety of sources that are based on topics that interest me, and so I search for things like Photography, Nature, Wildlife, Current News, Photos, Conservation, Science etc. Alltop.com does a good job of presenting those searches in an easy-to-use manner but it's when you link it with paper.li that it really comes to the fore. Because Alltop also exposes an RSS feed, it's that content that I link to paper.li and all those engaging stories that Alltop has aggregated is now beautifully presented in paper.li. The more targeted your Alltop searches are, the better the content, so be careful not to pull in each and every news source you can get your hands of for instance, otherwise it does tend to overwhelm paper.li and of course the reader.

For more infrmation on Alltop.com check out their web-site and the video link on their About page.

So, that is how the "Ian Weatherburn Day.li" newspaper is being created each and every day. If you're into photography and wildlife, and I'm assuming you are if you read this blog (Ed: anyone out there?); then be sure to bookmark http://www.ianweatherburn.com/paper and check us out each day (you can also subscribe to an RSS feed for the newspaper if you wish - confused yet? :D)

Links:

Ian Weatherburn Day.li

Desktop Wallpapers

2011-08-07T09:54:00.000+02:00

An Eye for a Throat, Kruger National Park - South Africa

Free desktop wallpapers are now available on my Facebook page. You’ll find a high-quality, high-resolution wallpaper image that you can download which is available in a variety of sizes to suit all desktops. You will however, have to join my page by liking it first to gain access to the download links.

This weeks’s image is of two Zebra stallions fighting over the rights to mate with the mares of the herd. As you can see the fights can get quite vicious, although seldom do critical injuries occur. It’s great to see Zebra’s interacting like this as far too often all they are doing is simply standing around chewing grass.

This wallpaper download will be available for a limited time only, so head on over to my Facebook Photography page. It’s available from the ‘Free Wallpaper’ tab on the left-hand side of the page.

Links:
Ian Weatherburn Photography - Facebook
Click here to download a free desktop wallpaper of this Zebra fight


Above the Clouds, Maaisa-Mara - Kenya

Thanks to the increase in members following my photography fan-page on Facebook I added in a bonus wallpaper for this month. The above image of a Secretarybird in flight was taken in the Maasai-Mara in the late afternoon. As above, head on over to the Facebook page to download it from the 'Free Wallpaper' link.

Bumper Photo Week

2011-08-04T11:30:00.000+02:00

What a great week it has been photographically speaking; on two different fronts!

First I achieved a mention on the Facebook pages for Africa Geographic and Safari Interactive Magazine with a link to my portfolio of images taken in the Maasai-Mara in Kenya, September 2010.

Then I am honoured today (August 1, 2011) to appear in the first edition of a local online Wildlife Photographic Magazine. Check out the August edition on the Wild Photo Mag website where the Editor, Andre; interviewed me about my Wildlife photography. Page 35 of the magazine is the start of my interview, but be sure to browse through the rest of the magazine as there is wealth of information on landscape, macro and other photography in general by some very accomplished photographers and authors.

It was really great sharing my thoughts and experiences with the guys from Wild Photo Mag, and hopefully some of my answers inspire others to get out there and start putting their own wildlife portfolios together, even just for the fun of it - which is ok you know. Being a new magazine, I really wish them the best of luck with this endevour. It’s not easy putting a magazine together and keeping up that momentum; but they certainly have a great subject matter and a wealth of expertise to draw on - the South African Photographic community is incredibly talented!

My trip to the Maasai-Mara in September 2010 was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. You can read more about that experience here, but suffice it to say that if I look at the quality of the images that I managed in the short space of time that I was in Kenya, I am extremely proud of those achievements. I’m also in awe over the quality of sightings that we had when I was there which undoubtedly contributed to my good fortunes photographically speaking. To be able to share those images with the Africa Geographic and Safari Interactive community was really very special, as these are two high-class publications with a vast readership.

I was also a little taken aback by Wild Photo Mag’s request to do an interview to be honest. I am not a professional photographer but as you can read in the interview, I take photographs simply for the love of it. Therefore I was not sure what I had to offer to the reader? However, I’m really pleased with how it turned out and honoured by Andre’s editorial comments in the article.

As always it’s a pleasure sharing my photographs and thoughts with my readers. Thanks for taking the time to be part of that interest. If you are interested check out my other photographic web sites and online albums or drop me a line. I would love to hear from you.

http://www.ianweatherburn.com
http://www.facebook.com/ianweatherburnphotography
http://500px.com/ianweatherburn
http://mrstickman.deviantart.com

Kuhanya in Motswari

2011-08-04T11:22:00.000+02:00

Kuhanya Portrait

Kuhanya on a Termite Mound

On June 16th I managed to get away from the rat-race that is Johannesburg, South Africa and travel to a part of the Kruger National Park that I have never been too before. Motswari Private Game Reserve and Safari Lodge is part of the Timbavati, which is itself a private concession that borders the Kruger Park. There are no fences between it and the park itself, so the animals remain free to roam as they please.

They really do roam freely and in great numbers too. If you want to keep abreast of the amazing sightings that Motswari has, then I urge you to follow along on the Motswari Blog. The blog is high on my list of web sites to check out each day, to share in the dream that is the African bush. The editorial content is usually concise and detailed indicating the sightings each day, but it’s surely the photography of the amazing animals that one can see there, that truly inspire.

Of course, the Timbavati is famous for it’s White Lions. The White Lions are so extremely rare, (more so than the Snow Leopard even). Evidence seems to suggest that it’s not a recessive gene that is causing the colour mutation, and they are not albino - just take a look at their beautiful blue eyes. Scientific research unproven at this stage, may even suggest that the White Lions are a different species altogether and this makes this part of the world even more remarkable. Check out the Wikipedia article for more interesting information and remember that the Timbavati has the last few remaining White Lions NOT in captivity.

Chad Cocking, a ranger at Motswari and all round amazing photographer; surely has one of the most iconic images of the White Lions from Motswari.

White Lions - Chad Cocking - Motswari, Timbavati

Now when I was there on June 16th, 2011; we unfortunately never got to see the White Lions. As I mentioned they are free to roam and they do have a fairly large territory that they control. And so it was, that a week before we were there they were sighted, and then a couple of weeks after we had left they were back again. Bitterly disappointing!

However we did get to see a fair selection of game. Not the least of which is the beautiful leopard Kahunya which appears at the top of this post. She really is one of the most beautiful leopards I have seen in the bush, and this morning that we were following her, she was skulking after some Impala. However they both really surprised one another and the hunt was off. Kahunaya however took the opportunity to climb on top of this conveniently placed ant-hill and posed there for a while for us all to capture the moment. The morning light was just sublime and it was really easy in fact to capture great shots of this moment.

So while we didn’t get to see the White Lions we certainly made do with some wonderful leopard sightings, elephant by the tonnes (literally), buffalo at a river crossing, jackal and several lion amongst other things. So all in all a wonderful trip away and if you get a chance to visit the Timbavati and especially Motswari then do so. Check out the links above and make that booking.

Be sure to visit my page on 500px.com to see larger versions of Kahunya Portrait and Kuhanya on a Termite Mound or visit my web-site to order a print of these images.

Kuhanya Portrait - EXIF Info
Camera: Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
Lens: Canon 400 f/2.8 L IS
Shutter Speed: 1/3200s
Aperture: f/4
Focal Length: 400mm
ISO: 500
Date Taken: Jun 18, 2011, 8:15:36 AM

Kuhanya on a Termite Mound - EXIF Info
Camera: Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III
Lens: Canon 70-200 f/2.8 L IS
Shutter Speed: 1/2000s
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 130mm
ISO: 400
Date Taken: Jun 18, 2011, 8:13:47 AM

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. Copyright © Ian Weatherburn Photography.

Kruger Park - Zebra Stallion Fight

2011-08-04T11:06:00.001+02:00

Fighting Stallions

An Eye for a Throat

In December 2010, the family went away to the Kruger National Park, one of the largest game reserves in South Africa and truly an icon for our country. Kruger is truly a massive game reserve and you really only get to explore small snippets of it each time you go there. It is however still one of the most magical places to go to and this year my children had reached an age where they really began to appreciate it.
This sighting was really a very memorable one as these two Zebra stallions were vying for the attention of the females and trying to win the right to mate with the ones that were in heat. It was a great change as so often Zebras are simply grazing and not doing very much at all, which doesn’t make for exciting photography. However as you can see, this time was thankfully different.

I tweeted the other day how powerful photography is for evoking memories that could be so easily forgotten. My daughter, Michelle - age 7; was standing at my computer while I was processing these images in Photoshop and she immediately recalled the event that day in the Kruger Park sitting watching these guys fight it out. Photography is truly incredible that way. When you think of the number of things we simply forget each day (more so the older we get!), and yet a simple photograph can conjure up a whole flood of memories, sometimes even smells and sounds.

I feel truly privileged that we have the Kruger Park to go to and share with our children. Long may it last. With each passing day, and each new Rhino that is slaughtered we have to feel grateful, it may not be here tomorrow.

If you ever have the chance to come to South Africa, be sure to book several days of your trip to go and explore the Kruger National Park. You won’t regret it. If you’re really lucky, it won’t just simply be fighting Zebra that you will see, but keep an eye out for the so-called Big 5: Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Buffalo and Rhino. The iconic Big-5, so named as the most dangerous animals to encounter on foot in the bush. But don’t forget the Little-5 too (Ant-Lion, Leopard Tortise, Elephant Shrew, Buffalo Weaver and Rhino Beetle). Keep an eye out for those too and you’ll be amazed at the variety of wildlife there is to see.

Fighting Stallions - EXIF Info
Camera: Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III
Lens: Canon 400 f/2.8 L IS
Shutter Speed: 1/2500s
Aperture: f/5
Focal Length: 400mm
ISO:800
Exposure Bias: Av(+0.66)
Date Taken: Dec 18, 2010, 7:16:07 AM

An Eye for a Throat - EXIF Info
Camera: Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III
Lens: Canon 400 f/2.8 L IS
Shutter Speed: 1/2500s
Aperture: f/5
Focal Length: 400mm
ISO:800
Date Taken: Dec 18, 2010, 7:20:19 AM

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. Copyright © Ian Weatherburn Photography.

Hole in the Wall (Mono)

2011-08-04T11:05:00.000+02:00

Hole in the Wall (Mono)

The magnificent Hole in the Wall rock formation off the east coast of South Africa, in the Eastern Cape (formerly known as the Transkei); is such a great tourist destination. If you ever come to South Africa you have to do yourself a favour and travel to the Eastern Cape. It is very rural and rustic but such a beautiful part of the world with incredible scenery and friendly people. The roads are hell, so a good 4x4 is recommended but this makes it all the more fun as you really get to see the scenery as you travel around. Magnificent beaches, great fishing if you like that kind of thing and all round fantastic photographic opportunities.

This photo was taken near sunset and I was practically all alone on this stretch of beach by the Hole. Not once did I feel unsafe and even walked back to my car after dusk, so South Africa can be a safe place to vist. Really, you just need to be sensible. I remember this holiday like it was just the other day. It was really great spending time with some good friends (Cathy, Lance and family), who have now sadly moved away to Cape Town and we don’t see them anymore.

But I shall always remember walking down the hill and wading through the river. Setting up my tripod and trying to get the best viewpoint possible with an incoming tide was challenging. The monochrome conversion of this photo really does bring out some of the incredible detail more than the colour one, and in full-size at 22in wide it really looks great. I think I need to print and frame as soon as possible.

Hole in the Wall (Mono) - EXIF Info
Camera: Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III
Lens: Canon 24-70 f/2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/125s
Aperture: f/13
Focal Length: 24mm
ISO: 200
Date Taken: Apr 8, 2010, 4:57:45 PM

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. Copyright © Ian Weatherburn Photography.

Mashatu Birthday

2010-10-07T10:00:00.000+02:00

The 4th October was my 43^rd birthday and my poor wife Wendy is always struggling to know what to get me, mostly because I have these outrageously expensive hobbies! This year was easy though, albeit no less expensive mind you.

After having such an outrageously good time with C4 Images & Safaris in the Maasai Mara, Kenya; I put in an early request to go away with Shem and the gang as soon as possible. The wildlife photography bug has bit again in a big way and I wanted to keep the ball rolling. You cannot have enough photographs in your portfolio right? Fortunately for me, there was still space available on one of C4's upcoming workshops to Mashatu in Botswana.

So, I will be going away again from the 18th-22nd November and naturally I cannot wait. You can read more about Mashatu Tented Camp and the Photo Workshop by checking out the links in this blog. I am particularly excited to be going at this time as the rainy season has started and the youngsters are appearing in the reserve. Recent field trip reports, such as these from Albie Venter and Villiers Steyn on C4's blog, give an indication of what a bumper place Mashatu is at the moment. Of course the 18th November is a while away but I'm sure the momentum will be sustained, or I will have a different but equally compelling time.

It will be awesome to be out in the bush once again and to smell the morning sunrise! If you don't know that there is a distinct 'smell' when the bush awakens at sunrise, you haven't lived! I can't wait to have my camera in my hand again firing off some more photographs and creating some more memories. I am sad that my family can't be with me, but I certainly feel privileged to have this opportunity again so soon. Of course, you’ll be sure to share in some of those moments vicariously as well.

Mashatu is in the Tuli Block in Botswana, an area of spectacular and diverse scenery with wonderful Baobabs, Nyala and yellow barked Fever trees. The wildlife is prolific and the birdlife even more so, with over 350 species being recorded there. You can fly into Mashatu but for me it will be a 6 hour drive from Johannesburg to the Pontdrift border post where we leave our vehicles and cross the Limpopo River into Botswana. It's a long drive and it will be an even longer one coming back, but I can't wait to leave already.

Yes, once again; I'm on a count-down! 42 more sleeps at the time of writing this. We will be staying at the tented camp in Mashatu and as with all of C4’s Safari’s attention is paid to the photographers, ensuring that we have space in the vehicles to shoot from, exceptional guides that understand our requirements and of course the wonders of the African Bush. Here’s hoping for some amazing sightings. Who knows we may even be able to see something as exciting as this Leopard Porcupine incident that Shem had last year, which was featured on National Geographic television just recently?

Thanks for a great birthday present Wendy!
None of these photographs are mine by the way, they are all marketing material from the various Mashatu web sites. I will have some of my own very soon.

October 2010 Wallpaper

2010-10-06T20:28:00.000+02:00

Taking a leaf out of David DuChemin's blog, I've decided to upload some wallpapers for you to enjoy. They will be from my trip to the Maasai Mara for now, and I'll add a new one every now and again. The wallpapers are available in both 2560x1600 and 1280x853.

During my amazing trip to the Maasai Mara, this Cheetah Mother was with her two cubs (clearly not shown here). In between very brief moments of solitude such as this one, she was being completely mobbed by the two hooligans that were her offspring. She was extremely patient with the two cubs, putting up with their pawing; clawing; swatting and scratching. The cubs would climb all over her, her face and of course her beautiful swishing tail. For one brief moment of respite while the cubs were off playing around a bush, or darting off down the hill; she gave this very intense look. Naturally, it appears as though she is looking directly into the camera; however what she is really looking out for is any possible prey. As photographers of course, we made the most of the situation and grabbed this wonderful portrait of a truly beautiful animal.

I had seen only one Cheetah in it's natural environment before (in the Kruger National Park, South Africa) and to see as many Cheetahs as we did in the Maasai Mara was incredibly special and I feel truly honoured. They are magnificent animals indeed.

For those that care about such things, this photograph was captured with a Canon EOS-1D Mark IV and a Canon 400mm f/2.8 L lens; at f/5.0; 1/300s; ISO2000 with the assistance of a Canon 580EX II flash for some fill light due to the very overcast conditions. The black & white conversion was made possible with the incredible Nik Silver Efex and the acid border with OnOne's PhotoFrame 4.

Click on the image above to get the small wallpaper. You can get the large wallpaper by clicking here.

Look out for other wallpapers in the coming weeks or months. If there is a particular wallpaper you crave from the gallery, then leave a comment here on my blog. The most inspired one will get their wish with the next wallpaper.

Maasai Mara - Aug-Sep 2010

2010-09-29T23:04:00.000+02:00

Many of you that read this blog will know, that I have been dreaming of going to the Maasai Mara for a very long time. My aspirations and dreams were made quite well known, in this blog, round about last year (sorry that it has been so long between posts!), with an entry entitled: "The Greatest Show on Earth". I even began a countdown-timer on the blog with over 350 days to go, and every now and again reminded friends and family when I was off on my trip of a lifetime. So to be frank, I don't think I could have been any more enthusiastic if I tried?

With all of that anticipation and lengthy build-up of course, there was the very real danger that the Mara had been over-hyped in my mind. Had the dream been over exaggerated; would the reality be a cruel awakening? Added to this excitement was the realisation that as a photographer I was very 'out of shape'. Photography, like many other activities; gets better with practice - and practice was something that I had not done in quite some time. My enthusiasm for photography had waned for one reason or another and my camera had been gathering dust. In essence there was a wealth of self-doubt and on more than one occasion I even considered leaving my camera behind and just going to enjoy the experience and the wildlife for what it was, without all that other pressure.

Furthermore, I joked amongst photography colleagues; that the pressure was enormous, considering the fact that I would be in the company of award winning photographers, such as: Greg du Toit, Shem Compion and Mitchell Krog. Now I don't consider myself in the same league as these guys, but I do pride myself in the work that I am able to produce, and so from within there came this healthy struggle - would I be able to deliver. It was very intimidating though; as friends and family also talked about the high expectations they had of me.

So was the safari to the Mara a disaster? That's really easy to answer actually, and if you've had the chance to talk to me since, or see some of the images I have posted on my web site - that answer is an absolute and emphatic "No!". It would be unfair to say it was the greatest experience of my lifetime, but it came damn close I can tell you! The Maasai Mara is a truly magical place, and obviously I don't speak from a wealth of experience having only had the 6 odd days there, but it simply is - ask anyone. In the grand scheme of things, that short time is nothing; but what I can tell you; is that in those 6 days the place touched me, and left it's indelible mark on my psyche. It's a place I will dream of forever, and have a longing to go back there if ever I can.

Of course, I went on this safari with Shem Compion from C4 Images & Safari's. What a pleasure it was being with these guys. C4 is a very professional outfit who take pride in delivering the very best that they can. Logistics are expertly arranged, to the degree that our luggage was transported via road to the tented camp at Entim-Mara, which meant that we were at liberty to take all the camera equipment that we felt was necessary. Photographers were expertly arranged in vehicles such that there was sufficient space for ourselves and our gear and the C4 photographers rotated amongst the vehicles to assist, inform and provide good conversation during our game drives. The Entim driver guides at Entim-Mara are also really great in what they do, understanding the needs of photographers; in terms of positions around a sighting, how to get the best light and unobstructed backgrounds and are always willing to talk about the environment or the animals encountered.
Entim meaning forest in Maasai is a very secluded camp, surrounded by trees and with amazing views over the Mara river directly in front of you which provided the most amazing sighting in itself (see below). Cocktails and evening 'bitings' were held under the stars, around an open fire with the sound of Hippos emanating from the nearby river. Accommodation in well-equipped tents is first class and food at Entim-Mara was also of a high quality. I certainly ate and drank too much. Certainly don't forget to enjoy the excellent Kenyan coffee as well.

But, to be frank; we weren't there for the fluff and stuff. We were there to photograph Wildebeest, migrating Wildebeest; running Wildebeest; walking, sleeping, eating, crossing Wildebeest. They did this in their millions - literally. During the six days, I saw two Wildebeest crossings; both of which were extremely dramatic. One could almost be described as traumatic. My friend Mitchell Krog has done an expert job in describing the harrowing events surrounding a crossing where a Wildebeest fell down a cliff, broke its back on the river bank and then finally succumbed to a euthanizing Hippo. That encounter is best left to Mitch, who does a great job describing it in: "Wildebeest Euthanized by Hippo - Amazing Wildlife Spectacle in the Maasai Mara, Kenya". So hop on over to his blog for a bit, and enjoy that amazing encounter. I was completely awe-struck by the encounter and the photographs can only go part-way towards telling the full tale. But what I can tell you, there was a hushed silence that fell over us when the Wildebeest finally went under and was no more. If that had been the only crossing encounter we had for the whole trip, it would have been all worthwhile.

But there was more. Oh, so much more! It was only two days later that we found ourselves right in the very midst of the most incredible encounter. Directly in front of the Entim camp, down by the Mara river; literally next to us and around us, an estimated ten to fifteen thousand Wildebeest crossed. When the crossing began we were able to race down from the camp to the riverbank, camera's flying; shutters rifling off shot after shot, long lenses quickly becoming substituted with wide angles, back and forth during the melee. Our noses rankled with the smell of wet Gnu's and the noise was deafening over the roaring of the rushing Mara river. Before our very eyes, Wildebeest were trampled by the marauders approaching from the rear, giving those in front no opportunity to climb the slippery banks. There they lay in front of us, as we watched in horror as they were trampled and died. Yet, still they came, driven by instinct; more and more crossing in their frenzy to get to the fresh grass on the other side.

The adrenalin amongst us was palpable, our hearts were racing and it was really difficult to absorb it all. For several hours after, we were all still beaming from ear to ear, relating our personal experiences with each other as we downed a few local Tuskers and White-Caps served ably by the Entim waiters; not only to quench our thirst, but also to calm our nerves a little. Watch the short 20 second clip below of the crossing to try and get just a taste of what the experience was like. From the mouth of Greg du Toit himself, a very accomplished and experienced photographer: "This was the most incredible crossing experience [he has] ever witnessed!"; and trust me Greg has seen a few in his time! The next few days the skies were crowded over the river banks and the Entim forests with vultures and Marabou storks who came to enjoy the feasts aplenty, as the carcasses of those fallen and left behind began to decompose on the river bank. The Mara is definitely the land of plenty - for most...

Had enough yet? Hah, not quite! Here we will wring every last ounce out of you with an insatiable desire to showcase the magnificence that is the Maasai Mara. In between these outrageous Wildebeest encounters, we were being blessed with magnificent Leopard; Lion; Cheetah and Elephant sightings. Bat-Eared Foxes; Caracals; Giraffes and Gazelle's. Zebra's; Hippos; Buffalo and Birds. The list just simply went on and on. And on. Amongst us we would dream up the next encounter - perhaps we would come across some Lion climbing a tree we joked; and lo and behold - there we would encounter the famous Marsh Pride with cubs climbing a dead tree. We teased the others in our group about seeing a fictitious caracal, only to see one in the flesh on our very next game drive. A Cheetah with cubs? Cue the music! A live Lion kill, surely too much to ask. Not so, not for the place that provides "The Greatest Show on Earth"!

We were on a sighting one late afternoon watching a mother Cheetah with her gorgeous two young cubs. The cubs were full of energy on an overcast day, stalking; running; rough and tumble with each other. Periodically they would sneak up on mom, and completely maul the life out of her - she didn't seem to mind, it was all part of the learning experience I suppose - it did seem extremely boisterous though? The one cub was particularly mischievous, as it snuck up on its sibling and would leap up high over a bush and pounce on it, only to go darting off and quickly back again. The mother feigned disinterest and slowly sauntered off as we followed, desperate in the weak light and brooding storm clouds to get the best photograph possible. Suddenly in a flash, the mother was gone. One second she was there, the very next she was gone. A small squeak from the bushes and here she came back with a fresh rabbit kill. I've never seen anything happen so fast in all my life. We live in a completely different time-space continuum to the Cheetah I can promise you. The cubs were amazing to watch as they seemed completely bewildered by the fluffy thing in mom's mouth? Initially, they petted, pawed and licked it, and it was only when mom began to take the first few mouthfuls of meat did the cubs seem to realise and began to tuck in with vigour. What an experience! As if on cue, the young cub posed for the paparazzi that were witness to her coming of age that day.

The Lion kill was equally amazing, albeit much more graphic and somewhat disturbing. It became evident, after the fact that the warthog kill was more than likely an opportunistic one, as the lions had been moving through the thick grass. A young lioness had grabbed hold of this warthog, who was squealing and kicking for its life. She did have it around the neck initially, but given the thick skin of a warthog she was unable to make much of an impression. The young lioness nearly lost her quarry several times, as it wriggled and squirmed constantly; squealing at the top of its lungs. This struggle went on for 10-15 minutes as she grappled with it, top and bottom. Others in the pride drifting by now and again to swat the warthog nonchalantly with a paw, or lick the bleeding nose in a comical "Sorry?" sort of way - never to offer any real help mind you. Yet, still the young lioness struggled with her prey. It finally took the eldest lioness (presumably the mother) to finish the warthog off. It was awe-inspiring to see the massive puncture marks left in the throat of the warthog by the adult lioness. The youngster then proceeded to feed on the now 'mostly' deceased pig and that's obviously where the scene became very graphic. Fortunately we were down-wind of the whole affair. However, as photographers we kept on shooting, knowing full well that the photographs we were capturing, were basically unusable - not portfolio material. Yet, somehow we were compelled to document the drama that unfolded before us. I've never witnessed an actual kill in the bush before this, and I must confess it was very dramatic and extremely graphic. The number of kills that we saw in the six days in the Mara was quite amazing and the Mara really is too easy for these apex predators. It should be outlawed!

With each magnificent sunrise and sunset we knew we were heading towards our departure, and it was with a very heavy heart that we packed our bags the night before, destined for an early road trip back to Nairobi and the Serena hotel. Our bags may have gone, but fortunately, we had one more game drive left in us, and again that short excursion failed to disappoint, with an incredible sunrise and the magnificence of the Mara plains completely stuffed with migrating Wildebeest. Everywhere you looked and for as far as the eye could possibly see (all the way to Tanzania) Wildebeest lined the spotted plains. Undoubtedly, the early-rising hot air balloons had the bird's-eye view, but we were content to be in amongst them, our cameras always at the ready capturing those moments in splendour. Moments that will last forever.

It was a sad goodbye to Entim-Mara as we boarded our plane back to Nairobi. I caught many a photographer peering out of the small windows hoping to catch a last glimpse of the jewel as we flew away. The jewel had been left behind, but we had taken with us our small treasures to be closely guarded; the photographs on our hard drives, the memories in our minds and the warm glowing feeling deep down inside which to me shall always be known as "The Greatest Place on Earth!"

Thank you to Shem, Greg, Andre and Minette from C4 Images & Safaris for the experience of a lifetime. Thank you to the guides and staff at Entim, in particular Lexy for making sure we were so well looked after and Sammy for showing us some amazing wildlife up-close and personal. Thank you Maasai-Mara. Thank you for encouraging me to pick up my camera once again and share with you my love and passion for wildlife. Thank you especially to my loving wife and family, who afforded me the opportunity to go. Now...when can I go back? :)

The Greatest Show on Earth

2009-10-07T20:03:00.000+02:00

Oh my word! Oh! My! Word!

I really am one of the luckiest guys in the world with the best wife ever! That's for sure!

On August 28th 2010, I am going to go and see "The Greatest Show on Earth"; the migration of thousands of Wildebeest and Zebra across the Mara river into Kenya's Masai Mara National Park. This great migration takes place around August/September each year as the wildlife migrate through the Serengeti and into the Masai Mara in search of fresh grazing.

I'm going to have the opportunity to spend 7 days on Safari with C4 Images & Safari and our knowledgeable guide and great photographer Shem Compion from the 28th August until the 4th September.
If luck is on our side we will see several crossings of wildebeest and zebra as they brave the waters of the Mara managing the perilous drop down into the river whilst avoiding the snapping jaws of hungry crocodiles who lie in wait. Furthermore the massive herds are followed closely by predators including Lion, Hyena and Cheetah (and if we're really lucky a Leopard or two) as the herds offer such great feeding opportunties for them. The precise timing of the annual wildebeest migration depends on the rain and naturally it can be quite unpredicatable and spontaneous but if you look at the migration route below of the animals around the Serengeti and into the Mara you can see that August and September (the time period that I'm going to be there) is the typical crossing time which certainly does bode well.

The photographic tour to see the Masai Mara migration is expertly managed by Shem and his crew and one of the great bonuses of going on such a safari with them is the exlusivity and the experience that they can offer. The Safari is booked soley for 12 photographers of like-minded desire and motivation operating from a luxury tented camp inside the reserve 5 minutes from one of the favoured crossing points. The vehicles are specially catered for so that each person will have their own seat for their equipment with their own window and roof hatch access ensuring that they have ample room from which to photograph and get the best vantage point possible either low down or up higher for those wider panoramic shots that the Mara plains are famous for. The C4 guys also don't just focus on the river crossings which are a magnificence in the own right but also allow opportunities to explore a large part of the reserve with all the other bio-diversity on offer with the aid of expert guides and trackers. The luxury tented camp is catered for in traditional East African safari style with all the amenities that your intrepid photographers could possibly hope for including great meals, comfortable accomodation and the inspriation and motivation from fellow photographers and experienced guides around the fire at night.

If it sounds like I'm excited that's simply because I am overjoyed to be able to have this opportunity in my lifetime and one that I have long dreamt of seeing with my own eyes! The desire has been even greater since I became an enthusiastic wildlife photographer and the Mara crossing is like a photographers Mecca; one that you have to plan for so your lifetime does not pass you by without it leaving it's mark. So finally, in less than a years time from now I will be one of the very fortunate ones on the planet to be able to say: "I was there" and here are the images that I captured to bear witness. Let's hope so anyway.

A huge thanks goes out to my wife Wendy for giving me this opportunity, to be able to spend the hard-earned money on some mental therapy as she puts it and for loving and looking after my children, Michelle and Laura-Ashley while I am away for those seven days. Thanks also to Seymour Brugger with whom I'm going to be sharing a tent with, who encouraged me to come along with him on this adventure of a lifetime.

Thanks Shem and C4 - this all before I have even got to the place. I'm that confident it's going to a phenominal experience!
Have a look at this video from Shem's site to get an idea of what you might experience vicariously when I get back and have some photographs to tell my own tale with.

"10" plus "10 More" equals "Great Value"

2009-09-27T12:40:00.000+02:00

A great photographer David DuChemin (author of "Within the Frame" - which is a must read!) has recently released a couple of e-books on his blog and they're great value for money at only $5.00 each.

These tidbits of information about the creative craft of photography are a great read and don't just offer up more fluff that is readily available on the web elsewhere. David has a unique insight into what makes good photography great and the books also contain some wonderful photographs as eye-candy for good measure.

As David says:

“So, what can I do to make better photographs now? I have the basics but want to take my images up to the next level. Where do I go from here?”
10 is not a bunch of cheezy tips cranked out to make a few bucks. It’s an effort to move us collectively towards better photography without feeling the need to contribute to the growing pile of Quick Tips to Shoot Like A Pro."

I highly recommend them, they're well worth a read and dirt-cheap.

"10" - "Ten Ways to Improve Your Craft. None of Them Involve Buying Gear."

"10 More" - "Ten More Ways to Improve Your Craft. None of Them Involve Buying Gear"

Ten More builds on the lessons and each book also offers some creative exercises to put some of this theory into practice. I really need to get off my backside and go out there and do so as I'm sure the results will speak volumes.

For instance a quick list of the "Ten" from the first e-book:

Get Pickier
Better Contrast Creates Better Stories
Change My Perspective by Changing Yours
Create Depth
Get Balanced
Pay Attention to the Moment
Pay Attention to the Light
Use the Best Lens
Expose for Aesthetics
Put a Great Foreground in Front of a Great Background

You can see there's nothing earth shattering or technical here, but read the e-book to get the detail and begin to put them into practice and see your photography improve.

If you can go out and buy "Within the Frame" as well. It's a unique book on photography that I thoroughlly enjoyed reading. It certainly doesn't dish up 'more of the same' that so many other photographic books present. It's largely all about "Vision" and how to see a great photograph, more so than it is about how to capture a great photograph - although there is some of that in there too. When I was reading 'Within the Frame' I was going through my Photo-A-Day-A-Thon exercise and David's inspriation certainly helped to keep me out there looking for that next great photograph. I believe the book deserves a re-read to really grasp the concepts and that can't be said of many of the other photography books that I own. To co-incide with the release of 'Within the Frame' David also published a set of PodCasts reflecting on the Vision that was covered in the book but dealing with photographs that were specifically sent to him by readers and published in the Flickr group. I have to be honest and say that David's writing is much more eloquent than his ability to communicate in front of a camera. :) Nevertheless, there was some interesting information to be had there as well.

David also has a new book coming out "Vision Mongers: Making a Life and Living in Photography" and whilst less appropiate to me personally I'm sure to pick this up as well given how impressed I've been with his other writing.

I'll leave you with one of his many great quotes from "Within the Frame":

"Pay attention first to your vision. You can’t rescue a poorly conceived image with a new, shiny, flavour o’ the day technique. Adopting someone else’s style is a good way to ensure your work is just more noise in a sea of imitations. But adapting that style, combining it – or parts of it – with your own to take your skills that much closer to being able to truly express your own unique vision – that’s the way artists have done it for years."

A Few of my Favourite Things

2009-09-03T07:12:00.000+02:00

Inspired by a great artist and photographer Gilad Benari on deviantArt the other day I decided to also share some of my photography via a freely distributable slide-show for all to enjoy.
Gilad relates how one day he received via email one of those many mails that go around and this one in particular was titled: "The Best Pictures You Will Ever See".

Lo and behold he discovered one of his photographs in that slide-show without any credit whatsoever. So instead of getting mad, he decided to get even and put together his own slide-show with his own unique perspective of Israel.
It's unfortunate that his photo's were used without credit or recompense but that is the reality of posting one's photographs on the web. They are there for all to see and use. The best one can do is to tag your images properly with copyright information in case of a direct download, or put a signature watermark on them that is hopefully unobtrusive enough not to detract from the overall viewing experience in case of screen-grabs.

Now, whilst I'm certainly not claiming that my photographs fall into the same league as Gilad's or that they belong in an email of the best photography ever, I thought it might be nice to put together my own slide-show. When I was done I was happy enough with the result that I decided to try a bit of viral marketing and the result was an email that went out to several friends and family yesterday with the wish that they pass it on freely. It's incredible how quickly emails can spread around the world and it's more out of curiousity and to see how quickly this email spreads that I sent it out. If I get no feedback well so be it; I had fun doing it - although it must be said - I have already received some very positive comments from strangers which is really great. Now I'm just waiting on National Geographic or Londolozi to give me a call for a 12-month assignment. :)

If you haven't received the email and you would like to see the slide-show yourself, simply save this Powerpoint slide-show by right-clicking on the link below. I see some SPAM bots are picking this up as unsolicited content and if this puts you off I understand, but I can assure you the link is safe and the slide-show is virus-free. Hope you enjoy it.

Ian Weatherburn - Wildlife Slideshow - 20090901 (4.51Mb)

or you can get it from drop.io here.

Photo-A-Day Feedback

2009-08-31T12:10:00.001+02:00

Roy Tanck's Flickr Widget requires Flash Player 9 or better.

On the 1st of August 2009 along with a few friends we started the Picture-a-Day exercise and it's been a fun ride to say the least. There is one day left and one more photo to take (of who knows what?) and then the month's challenge is over. I'm really looking forward to the end because it has been tough on occassion and the will and motivation to get just one more photo has waxed and waned over the month much like the lunar cycle I suppose?

However I will also definitely miss the challenge and I will miss the strong motivation to pick up the camera and just shoot - that has been the truly fun part. I need to try and hang onto that! Along the way I have learned several things about myself and my photography and after all that was the outcome that I hoped to achieve. I am sure you can come up with your own list and I would love to hear from you as well. So, without further ado:

It's very tough to come up an original and interesting idea each day. It's possible, but it's tough. That has been the most mentally taxing thing by far.
It's very easy to see possibilities around you each and every day. It's very difficult to show them in an inspiring way each and every day.
Scouting out locations looking for opportunities is time consuming and time is something we seem to have very little of.
I was hardly ever satisfied with the results that came directly from my camera. If that says something bad about my ability as a photographer then so be it. Perhaps it's just indicative that I enjoy post-processing to a degree.
I seem to really struggle with horizontal compsitions for some reasons. Framing a horizontal compsition is ten times more difficult for me. Perhaps it's because by nature we are tall beings and perceive our surroundings in that way. The horizontal frame is definitely less intuitive for me and something that I figure I need to work on.
Inherently I'm quite lazy and didn't make that massive effort to go out of my way to get the really killer shots. I realised that's what it takes, photo's don't just come to you.
To get those really awesome shots takes a lot of time and effort and planning and skill and ability and desire. Even if the result looks simplistic when you start the planning and the execution you realise how much time and effort great photography actually takes.
I believe I found myself to be quite versatile and am happy with my variety of approaches taken with the challenge. Although wildlife is still my passion, I believe I'm competent in other areas as well.
Very often I found myself resorting to gimmicks to rescue an average photo. This is not a great way to start or end.
I was often inspired by other images on the web and with the intention to recreate found myself going off in a slightly different direction. This is way I like to be influenced by others.
I wish I had more time to pursue this hobby.
I found myself favouring high contrast images over all others.
I was amazed at the results I was able to get from my small Canon Ixus 90 IS point and shoot. It's not all about the equipment although that does definitely help.
I learnt a whole lot about operating my point-and-shoot in manual mode whilst attempting to get the results I wanted.
I discovered a whole lot about Johannesburg and the area surrounding my offices at Standard Bank. It was refreshing to see the area with new eyes and great to see how clean the inner city actually is and how friendly a lot of the people are.
I overcame my fear of talking to people and was able to pluck up my courage and ask a few if I could take their portraits. This was a very positive step for me especially when they said yes. One gentleman said no, and you know what - that's ok too.
I learnt to operate my camera while driving. I also learned that it was impossible to capture a decent sunrise while driving at 80km/h!
I learned that I particularly like the sunset setting (ie warm white balance) on my point and shoot.
The Photo-A-Day exercise inspired me to get back into my studio. I really enjoyed that and need to do it more often. Who knows I might even be inspired to hire a model and MUA?
I managed to overcome my self-conciousness when holding a camera and by the end of the month was willing to pretty-much ignore passers-by or on-lookers as I crouched somewhere obscure looking to get a photo.
I was reminded just what a little model my daughter Michelle is. She just loves the camera and I believe it loves her?
I enjoyed pushing myself to try and find the unique and out of the ordinary, looking for that different image of the familiar that a lot of people don't even notice on a daily basis. It was fun to find an image in things people pass by each and every day.
I enjoyed the support I received from friends and family asking me each day what was going to be the picture for today or how much they enjoyed yesterday's.
Most of all I definitely learned to open my eyes. I found myself on occassion just looking at the light, at how it was reflecting off something or how that might make an interesting phot. I've certainly appreciated this lesson.
Lastly I enjoyed seeing the different photographs from my friends and wish that they had all stayed the course. Well done anyway guys. Hope you discovered something about yourself or your photography too?

Thanks for staying with me through the month. I hope you've enjoyed the 31 photo's as much as I've enjoyed creating them.

In a Flap

2009-08-14T14:01:00.000+02:00

I was really pleased today to see that one of my recent photographs of a Yellow-Billed Duck from the Marievale Bird Sanctuary was recognised with a Daily-Deviation on the deviantArt web site.

In a Flap was actually quite fortunate as the weather that day was not particularly great and the bird sightings were on the slim side. It just so happened that the duck was facing me directly as I photographed him and that makes for a much more powerful image. Slow-Speed Yellowbill is actually a good example of how misty and miserable it was.

The Hadeda Hide at Marievale is actually a bit of an enigma in the variety of bird-life that it provides and the ideal photographic opportunities it offers for photographers seeking water-fowl from the ubiquitous Coots and Cormorants to the migrant Flamingos and the frustrating glimpses of the Malachite and Pied Kingfishers that go whizzing by pausing long enough in the frame with a fish if you're really lucky.

Most of my waterbird photography has actually been achieved at the Hadeda Hide and it would be truly wonderful if we were able to get a few more hides out at Marievale in such an ideal position. From a light perspective it is the perfect shooting place in the morning with the sun rising almost directly behind the hide. As a consequence of course it makes for a poor afternoon venue. As photographers we often talk about how we would be willing to pay for the privilege of shooting there as well as contribute towards the construction of additional hides - but talk is cheap they say?

As with any bird-hides however, it does limit your opportunities and probably the ideal would be to have a floating hide directly in the water at ground level for those truly unusual photographs. But this is unlikely to ever happen and so Hadeda hide offers us the best compromise and currently some of the best opportunties in the Gauteng region - a short hours drive from home. There are several mines in and around the area and one can just hope that given it's status and protection that Marievale continues to be the Gauteng mecca for waterbird photography and no damage is being done to the environment?

Thanks deviantArt for choosing this photograph as a DD. I really appreciate the support and following that I have there and a lot of people have stopped by today and looked around the rest of my Gallery at the same time which has been really great. There are now too many comments to respond to. :)

Deke's Top 40

2009-08-03T20:39:00.000+02:00

Do you want to learn about some of the best features of Photoshop CS4 and focus on what will really get the job done? Well then head on over to Lynda.com's Photoshop Top 40 presented by Deke McClelland.
Every Tuesday on this Lynda.com blog, Deke will discuss one of the top 40 features in a video blog and so far it's been really interesting. You just know, watching these snippets that Deke really knows his way around Photoshop when you look at his layered PSD files!!
Check out the video blogs so far:

#40 - Introduction & Reset and Purge
#39 - Layer Comps
#38 - Vector Type
#37 - Fill Functions
#36 - Black & White
#35 - Refine Edge
#34 - Save for Web and Devices
#33 - Calculations
#32 - The Pen Tool
#31 - The Brush Tool
#30 - Actions
#29 - Liquify
#28 - Hue/Saturation
#27 - The Crop Tool
#26 - Dodge and Burn
#25 - Selection Calculations
#24 - Curves
#23 - Color Range
#22 - The Healing Brush
#21 - The Gradient Tool
#20 - Free Transform
#19 - Luminance Blending
#18 - Smart Objects
#17 - Layer Effects
#16 - Adjustment Layers
#15 - Alpha Channels
#14 - Gaussian Blur
#13 - File Info
#12 - Camera RAW
#11 - Opacity Mode and Blend Modes
#10 - Color Settings
#09 - Levels
#08 - The EyeDropper
#07 - Undo, History and Revert
#06 - RGB, CMYK and LAB
#05 - The Sharpen Filter
#04 - Navigation
#03 - Image Size
#02 - The Layers Palette
#01 - Open and Save

That's the lot!. A veritable wealth of information here, of that there is no doubt.
If you have the time and the inclination be sure to also check out DekePod for a somewhat irreverent, often humorous insight into all things graphics and imaging.
Thanks Deke - some great info here.

Photo-A-Day-A-Thon

2009-07-31T11:42:00.000+02:00

On the 1st August - myself and a few of my photographer friends (Clive, Shane and Johann) will begin a daily post of a random photograph - for the whole month. It's not the first time that this has been done on the web (and it certainly won't be the last) but now it's our turn to try and commit to this. So stay tuned to see what I come up (don't worry I'm curious as well? :D) and see if we can stay the course. The idea is not to capture the most amazing pieces of fine-art photography, but simply to open your eyes up to the opportunities that are around us each and every day; and to make use of our cameras - some of which are gathering dust on the shelf. The rules are simple; capture a photograph each and every day for the month of August using any camera on hand - it could be your mobile-phone camera, a simple point-and-shoot or your most expensive dSLR you have - it doesn't matter. Just get out there and take some photographs and share with us. Drop me a line here with your daily post if you join in?

Well it's all done and dusted. There you have it, 31 photographs in all. Thanks for watching. If you want to read what I learned from the whole exercise, apart from just having fun click here.

Today was Rea Vaya day in Johannesburg with the launch of the new Bus Rapid Transit system (BRT). Granted in had to be held under police escort so that the taxi's didn't burn the new buses or stone the people trying to get to work, but hey this is Africa. REA VAYA! (means 'We are on the move!' by the way)

My brother-in-law and I love to play some pool on a Sunday evening, while my father-in-law cooks up a storm for the evening dinner!

Last minute rush before the end of the day to come up with a photo for the day. I know I can always rely on my model in residence, Michelle.

'Mothers milk' (so to speak) on a Friday lunch-time. Nothing wrong with that eh?

After an unusual day of clouds and some rain, the sun had the last say finishing the day off in glory.

Shadows and Light. Reflections are trite. Scratches, no polish. Maid to admonish.

Wow, it's definitely a Dogs Life! What a pleasure to run like this...

You just have to love sunsets! :)

Poor Laura-Ashley wasn't feeling so well today, but she did give me a few minutes in front of the camera to help out with the photo for the day. Thanks little-one!

Michelle posed in front of the camera in the studio for me with those wonderfully coloured tights on. You gotta be quick to catch them though. :)

The flying rats of the city. They've already bred 3 or 4 times in the 9 months that I've seen them on this balcony. Yes, I'm struggling for photo's here. :) 10 more days to go!

On one of the Standard Bank buildings is this rather interesting domed roof which was letting in some wonderful light. Most of the workers were oblivious to it.

Crossing the overhead walkway to Standard Bank you encounter this eerily blue glowing bridge (particularly in the early morning when it's still dark outside). It's kind of alien-like - much like the environment itself! :)

This character was on the streets in and around Johannesburg. When I asked can I take his photograph he agreed and politely put his cigarette away. I had to specifically ask him to please put it back in his mouth as that is the look that I wanted.

Slums and slumlords go hand-in-hand in some areas of Johannesburg. Ironically enough this building 'lives' right next to the posh and modern Standard Bank building. Goodness knows what the conditions are like inside?

A slow-speed panning shot with my model-in-residence, Michelle. Who say's a photo has to be in-focus to be interesting?

Michelle and Laura-Ashley look out through the window-blinds...

In amongst the Impala...one of the statues commissioned by the Oppenheimers in the Anglo American square, Marshall Street - Johannesburg.

A composite of two photo's taken today, one an unusual statue in the Standard Bank building in 25 Sauer Street, and second one of my cameras shot under studio conditions in a light-tent.

Cobbler, cobbler, mend my shoe. Get it done by half-past-two. Thanks...

Johannesburg CBD has some really beautiful buildings and statues.

Breaking bread...for the birds

Around the house today so took to shooting some rather simple subject matter with simplistic results. Nevertheless here we have a backlit palm leaf for today's shot.

Spent the morning at Marievale Bird Sanctuary with Clive and it was very foggy early on. So with poor light I decided to try my hand at a nice slow shutter-speed panning shot.

Tasha's restaurant and coffee-shop at Melrose Arch has these really interesting light fittings, replete with cutlery. Fortunately you don't have to get yours from there! :)

An interesting looking sculpture glows in the early morning light in Sauer Street, downtown Johannesburg. I wandered around the block this morning and there are some great opportunties to be found, but settled on this one right outside the office.

These lamps (albeit not quite as funky admittedly :D) can be found in the underground walkway between the parking lot and the Standard Bank building. I plucked up my courage and ignored the on-lookers and took the shot.

25 Sauer Street, Standard Bank Building in downtown Johannesburg is where I work on a daily basis. Managed to get this in some great light and with a bit of cross-processing and tonal contrast pulled out some detail to make an interesting image?

Heading Home! After a day at work and two simple boring photographs taken during the day of a coffee cup and a keyboard, I needed to come up with something a bit more inspiring - and fast! So how about a photograph while travelling down the highway at 60km/h? :) Don't worry, it was safe. I see my car is due in for a service soon? :(

My father-in-law Tony, is a passionate chef. He loves to come over on Sunday evenings and cook up a storm for us and spend a bit of time with his grandchildren as well. Today I took the opportunity to capture a few of these moments with him as he explained to my wife Wendy how best to prepare the meal. I wanted to include his hands in this shot because without them he would be half the man he is and tragically he has already lost one finger in a terrible accident.

Today was greeted with miserably cold, wet rainy weather. The opportunities are still out there, just harder to get - so I took the easy route and did a few studio shots of my two gorgeous girls. Here's a cute one for my pic of the day, especially for my Dad who is 71 today! Happy birthday Grandad!

Blogging about Blogs

2009-04-15T17:09:00.023+02:00

When you have nothing to write about you turn to subjects like this one: Blogging about Blogs.
I thought it might be fun to talk about the blogs that I like reading on a daily basis (photographically speaking of course). These bloggers are effective because they keep me coming back to their sites on a daily basis - for me the fundamental success of any blog writer. I'm often amazed where these guys and girls find the time and the inclination to write but am very glad they do. Without further delay:

Scott Kelby's Photoshop Insider

I love to read Scott's blog as he usually has something interesting to say about the world of photography or Photoshop in general. You may not always agree with the way in which he says it, but you're almost always guaranteed to learn something new or just enjoy the pleasure of reading about his experiences in the world of writing (Scott is a prolific Photoshop author), training, conferences, camera equipment or his own shared experiences. Scott's 'Guest Blog Wednesday' is always a highlight when an invited guest takes over the blog and shares their insight, wisdom and experience with us. Such luminaries as Zack Arias, Chris Orwig, Joe McNally and Jay Maisel have graced Scott's pages.

Joe McNally

Joe's irreverent style and indomitable talent are a pleasure to read and behold when he has free rein over the content which is his own blog. Usually insightful and always amusing Joe opens us up to his wonderful world of talent and 'Light'. Well worth a read. Go and buy a few of his books as well, you won't regret it! (The Hot Shoe Diaries and The Moment It Clicks!)

John Nack on Adobe

John is Principal Product Manager for Adobe Photoshop and so what you get in this blog is coal-face like detail in respect of Photoshop and associated products. John is usually first to reveal new and insightful details about the latest Adobe offerings and the number of tips, tricks and techniques you can pick up here is amazing. Reading the comments from his followers is also always good for a laugh - Adobe can engender some vitriolic responses sometimes and John usually handles them with aplomb - usually.

Julieanne Kost's Blog

Julieanne's blog is light on content, hyper-loaded on detail. She is Adobe's Digital Imaging Evangelist but this blog primarily focuses on Photoshop's usability and many gems are to be found here in terms of the esoteric keyboard shortcuts that will make your Photoshop experience that much better. A daily dose is recommended.

C4 Images & Safari Blog

Thanks to Shem and his wonderful writing style and even more impressive photographic ability we get to be carried off into the bush now and again. Shem is a photographic instructor and wildlife guide that leads photo safaris and workshops to wild places that most of us only dream of getting to. Shem conjures up dreams and fantasies that attempt to satiate an appetite that will not be fulfilled. It will have to do though.

These are of course my favourite photography specific blogs that I like to read. A few other blogs that keep me reading include:

JohannMarx - my good friend Johann (aka FuzzyYak - a great photographer)
Vesta - my Sister's daily blog which keeps me entertained
Whimsical Blog :) Yes, yes, this is really my 'other' blog!

While I'm on this roll how about a list of some of my favourite inspirational photographic web-sites. Here in no particular order:

∙ OneExposure - 1X
∙ OutdoorPhoto
∙ deviantArt
∙ Shem Campion
∙ Joey Lawrence Fine Art
∙ Ridout Photography

∙ Marc Adamus
∙ Bird Photographers.NET
∙ Bob Krist Photography
∙ Art Wolfe

Happy Surfing!

Addendum
So after writing this blog I remembered about several other blogs I browse as well as a few new ones I've come across recently of several other very inspirational bloggers. So I thought I would add them here but be assured there are many many others out there as well?
∙ Chase Jarvis Blog
∙ Doug Menuez 2.0 Go Fast, Don't Crash
∙ Vincent | Lafore
∙ Strobist

...and finally you have to check out Jason Lee. His Flickr photostream is just incredible. His creativity and style are just amazing! His children...wonderful! :)

2009-03-26T22:49:00.064+02:00

DxO Optics Pro Elite 5.3.3 - A Review

DxO Image Science has recently released DxO Optics Pro Elite 5.3.3. The DxO RAW image converter seems to hold a niche corner in the marketplace amongst professionals due to the fact that it tries to fill a gap that many perceive not to exist? It’s relative complexity of use and previously poor implementations have not helped its cause either over time and its adoption rate is relatively low. With many other RAW image converters available such as Adobe Camera RAW, Adobe Lightroom, Apple Aperture or Nikon Capture NX there seems to be little space for DxO? It is the very niche nature of DxO however that actually makes it all the more compelling and worth the effort to learn to use effectively. The results can speak volumes and many professional photographic artists have turned to DxO to produce their fine results.

Since its inception DxO has always strived to provide the best image quality by supplying unique profile-based lens correction techniques to camera manufacturer’s proprietary RAW files. This ability to optically perfect images based on specific camera and lens characteristics usually results in RAW image conversions that are more optically correct and representative of the real-world scene which they captured. DxO’s ability to correct optical imperfections can result in reduced distortion, less vignetting, increased sharpness and fewer aberrations than any other available RAW image converter. More recently, DxO has made great strides in actual RAW conversion (the demosaicing algorithm), noise removal and overall colour fidelity.

Included in your DxO license is the ability to download a variety of camera and lens profiles which describe the characteristics of that combination. Mapping out the lens strength and weakness tells the software how to correct the optical geometric defects such as lens distortion, vignetting, colour fringing, lens softness, volume anamorphosis and keystoning or horizon correction. During the RAW import process this profile is applied automatically if you have it loaded on your computer. At regular intervals the DxO science laboratories profile new camera and lens combinations and make them available. For a complete list of currently available profiles visit their web site here. If you do not have the appropriate lens profile loaded then you still have access to other DxO image processing functionality but optical corrections are performed manually.

The RAW converter included in DxO achieves some of the best RAW conversions available in part with its ability to correctly demosaic the Bayer pattern found in most dSLR’s. Other RAW converters exhibit artifacts, false colours and maze-like structures during interpolation whereas DxO generally does not. Comparisons of this nature are easy to do for oneself and compare with your existing RAW converter. The results are quite remarkable actually. DxO achieves this improved interpolation largely through a proprietary mechanism as well as an interpolation of a larger selection of surrounding pixels in order to make a more informed decision. By making a larger selection of surrounding pixels DxO is also able to improve on noise reduction quite dramatically producing cleaner and more precise images. According to DxO their noise reduction techniques provide an overall two-stop gain. Results may vary but this is quite significant. Due to the increased complexity and additional overhead of RAW interpolation the conversion process in DxO is processor intensive and can take a while even on a high-end machine. With the extensive batch processing functionality built into the software however, this comes at a small price as you can simply set up your conversions and walk away.
The overall processing speed and stability of DxO 5.3 and higher is one area where significant strides have been made recently. DxO in the past has been known to be slow and prone to crashes. In DxO 5.3 or higher however this is a great deal better and works effectively on a graphics accelerated 64-bit system with the ability to leverage additional RAM to improve on overall performance. During the transition from DxO 4.x to 5.x the company went through significant change and this affected overall application stability and delivery to its detriment. It does appear however as these issues have now been resolved and updates have been rolling out more frequently and consistently and the application runs without fault on my Vista x64 8Mb system with full support for my camera and lens range.

Apart from the underlying technology in understanding camera bodies, lenses and RAW interpolation the DxO application actually provides a complete environment for managing your Workflow and processing your images. In DxO parlance the application summarises that workflow into ‘Select’, ‘Prepare’, ‘Process’ and ‘Review’ and is not unlike many other tools such as Adobe Lightroom. The ‘Select’ component allows you to import images into DxO, rank them according to quality and filter based on rankings to select the best images for manipulation. The ‘Prepare’ step allows for the full range of image manipulation techniques and is discussed in more detail below. The ‘Process’ step applies all the adjustments made in the ‘Prepare’ step and writes the output in a variety of formats (including JPG, DNG and TIFF). Finally, the ‘Review’ step in the workflow allows you to verify the process for accuracy and compare before and after images for quality-assurance.
DxO integrates with Adobe Lightroom in a variety of ways and does allow you to place DxO in the beginning of your workflow or use Lightroom as your primary image repository and DxO as a stand-alone RAW converter. My preferred workflow solution is to use Adobe Lightroom as my image repository and DxO on selected images that I intend for high quality fine-art reproduction. In my opinion Lightroom excels in the management of image catalogs and does a better job more intuitively in ranking, ordering, keywording and filtering images. I will still use Lightroom for more general purpose image adjustments as it is still simpler and quicker to use. Previously I would convert my images straight into the Adobe DNG format during the Lightroom import process but as DxO works most effectively on native RAW images (.CR2 or .NEF for instance) the conversion to .DNG is then deferred until after the DxO raw adjustments. DxO is also available as a plug-in for Adobe Photoshop but in my opinion this is less than effective as that is generally too late in the workflow.

Therefore the ‘Prepare’ step in DxO becomes the most significant aspect of the application after the implicit optical correction and RAW image conversion. Naturally this is where the wealth of the application comes into its own with the available palettes indicating the type of operations that can be performed, including: Move/Zoom; Histogram; Edit EXIF; Preset Editor; Light; Colour; Geometry; Detail and My Palette. It is import to realise that any adjustments made in the ‘Prepare’ stage are not actually applied to your images immediately; they are only applied in the ‘Process’ stage on creation of the output.

The ‘Move/Zoom’; ‘Histogram’ and ‘Edit EXIF’ palettes are fairly self explanatory with the ability of the Histogram to show clipped shadow and highlight areas.

The ‘Preset Editor’ allows you apply a custom developed presets or load a variety of presets available on the web. Creating presets is a simple affair and in much the same fashion as Lightroom a preset is simply a stored combination of the adjustments made to the various sliders in the other modules (Color, Detail, Geometry and Light).
The ‘My Palette’ palette is more useful on screens with less real estate as you can drag a virtual palette into the ‘My Palette’ region to customize the user-interface to your liking and make the more common adjustments easily available.

The ‘Details’ palette allows you to adjust sharpness or softness, grain, dust, chromatic aberration and noise. Any sharpness adjustments take into account the specific constraints of the lens used. In addition you can at this stage apply a more conventional Unsharp Mask if you wanted to. Luminance noise (noise caused by excessive granularity) and Chrominance noise (noise caused by unwanted coloured artifacts in neutral areas) can be adjusted very effectively at this stage. Chromatic aberration can be further adjusted in this palette over and above that which is performed automatically by the lens profile. A dust removal brush is also available to clean up the image with the addition that these settings can be automatically applied to a whole batch of images. (I still find Lightroom or Photoshop dust clean up easier to use however).
The ‘Color’ palette allows adjustments of ‘Vibrancy’, ‘Color Rendering’, ‘Color Modes’, ‘Hue/Saturation/Lightness’, ‘Multi-Point Color Balance’ and ‘RAW White Balance’. The ‘Color Rendering’ option also facilitates access to the DxO Filmpack 2.0 plugin module which provides access to a variety of authentic looking film types emulating exposure latitude, colour, contrast and grain. The Multi-Point Colour Balance tool is unique to DxO and allows selective colour adjustments for up to four areas in your image using a colour wheel. The Multi-Point colour balance works in a similar way to the Nik Viveza tool but with colour adjustment in mind only.
The ‘Geometry’ palette allows for keystoning and horizon adjustments to straighten an image. As long as you have the appropriate camera-lens module installed geometric corrections are performed automatically so adjustments in this panel should be minimal. The ability of the ‘Geometry’ palette to correct volume anamorphisis is quite remarkable and has to be seen to be believed. Particularly useful for correcting art-work or architecture photography when perhaps you weren’t quite level and centered with the subject matter. You can also crop images in the Geometry palette according to various aspect ratios.
The ‘Light’ palette allows for Exposure Compensation; Tone Curve and DxO specific lighting adjustments. The DxO Lighting section includes adjustments for Intensity, Black and White points, Brightness as well as Global and Local contrast. Highlight recovery is particularly powerful in the DxO Light palette but this is available for RAW images only. The Tone Curve gives you precise control over the luminance levels for each color layer in the image.
At any stage during your image adjustment you can quickly and easily see a before and after view to verify that your corrections are going in the right direction. DxO provides a variety of split before-after views or simply holding the mouse down on an image toggles between the two views.
Once your image adjustments are complete you then Batch process your images into their desired output format. DxO supports output in JPG, TIFF or DNG format with the ability to resize, specify image resolution and ensure a proper ICC profile tag (which currently only supports sRGB and Adobe RGB although you can reference a custom profile such as ProPhoto RGB as well with an additional step).

This is a processor intensive step of DxO and can tie up your machine resources quite substantially so it is best to prepare and batch your images in volume and then start the output process. Once completed DxO provides you with a full audit of the results including any errors that may have occurred and you now have the ability to ‘Review’ the images to compare in complete detail the Before and After results. You can also simply return to your image editor of choice and continue further image adjustments where desired.
DxO 5.3.3 is available as a trial version from their web site and in my opinion is a worthwhile addition to your RAW image processing arsenal. I do not use DxO on all my images but those that I have identified as my portfolio images definitely get the special treatment and adjustment that is available with DxO. Further adjustments are then usually made in Lightroom and Photoshop CS4 to complete the image before printing.
The DxO product is fairly complex in terms of the underlying adjustments that it makes to your images and to what it makes available through the various adjustment palettes. The documentation and videos are however relatively approachable and accurate even to the point of suggesting a variety of workflows to best satisfy your needs. The application does however require some experimentation and finesse to achieve perfect results.
DxO comes in two varieties: Standard and Elite with each version offering slightly different degrees of functionality. In particular the Standard version does not offer support for the high-end professional cameras or lenses. In my case the lack of support for the Canon 1D range or the high-end lenses in the standard product version necessitated the Elite purchase. The DxO Filmpack product is also an additional purchase if you want access to a larger variety of colour adjustments and various film-type emulations.
DxO has previously received bad press due to inconsistent updates that lagged behind industry standards and provided poor performance. Recent strides in product delivery and stability have however made DxO a valuable tool and one which I highly recommend if you’re after the very best from your RAW images.

Disclaimer
This essay is based partly on my experience with DxO Optics Pro since version 3 and information contained in the manuals and other online tutorials. I did not receive any financial compensation from DxO for the production of this essay nor am I affiliated with DxO in any way.
If you wish to purchase DxO Optics Pro you can use the following Sponsor Code which will entitle you to an immediate discount of 15% on DxO Optics Pro or DxO Filmpack if used before the 31st March 2009 - RAF8SBR6E. (See Referral programme regulations for further details).
For a downloadable PDF version of this review click here

2009-01-10T22:32:00.009+02:00

BlackRapid R-Strap

How do you carry your camera around? Do you have it on a strap around your neck? Do you have a hand-strap? Have you dispensed with any and all straps altogether because they are irritating or uncomfortable? Or perhaps you've tried the BlackRapid R-Strap?

If you've ever tried to carry a large professional camera (such as the Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III) around all day coupled with a large lens (such as the Canon 70-200 f/2.8 L IS or the Canon 100-400 f/4 L) then you will know this is quite a bulky combination. Due to the overall weight and lens length the balance of the camera is off with a standard neck strap and it constantly leans forward and down all the time. It can be particularly dangerous for the camera or a child as you lean forward and the camera swings out and to the ground. It's also really irritating having this contraption bounce around the whole day against your stomach and let's face it after an extended period of time you're likely to be facing severe neck and shoulder cramping. You also look like the definitive Japanese tourist to any on-looker!

An alternative is to simply shoulder the camera but unless you're confident that your strap is not going to slip off and come crashing to the ground this is not really an ideal solution. You can get rubber straps that are supposed to be non-slip and 'stick' to your shoulder however in my experience this is also not a completely reliable solution and I was always nervous of the camera sliding off.

A hand-strap on the camera body is very useful however and I carried the Canon 1Ds Mark III and the 70-200 f/2.8 lens around the Australia Zoo the entire day with just a hand strap for support. It worked really well as the camera was always readily available however I would often find myself cradling the lens with both hands to alleviate the strain/fatigue and by the end of the day my wrist and forearm were quite sore. However at the time I much prefered this solution over a neck strap which I felt would have been much more uncomfortable and unwieldy for that length of time.

Along comes the BlackRapid R-Strap which is a really interesting innovation in camera straps. If you have the chance you should definitely check out the video on the BlackRapid site to see how the strap works and how intuitive it can be. At first glance it looks strange but after a little consideration it's clear that the implementation works really well for such a simple yet necessary piece of camera equipment. The strap goes across your chest to the opposite shoulder and the most striking aspect is that your camera hangs upside down by your opposite hip. Yet when you actually use this strap it instantly becomes second nature to just reach down, grab your camera and start shooting.

I received my BlackRapid RS-2 strap a while back but only recently had the chance to test it out with the family on another outing to the Zoo (this time the Johannesburg Zoo). Once again I used the same camera and lens combination. Overall I was extemely impressed. The strap sits across your chest and shoulder such that the weight is evenly distributed. The camera and lens sit very nicely against your hip and when properly adjusted with the strap attached to the tripod collar mount of the 70-200 the whole ensemble sits parallel to the ground. It was so comfortable that after a while you hardly notice it is there until it's needed and then you are able to instantly swing the camera up into position for the shot.

As mentioned I attached the strap to the tripod mount collar of the 70-200 lens for effective weight-balance distribution but with smaller lenses you could easily attach to the strap directly to the camera tripod mount itself. Having the strap connected to the camera does mean that it is slightly in the way of your hand for portrait oriented shots although not significantly so. Swinging the camera up in front of your eyes is quick and easy although the strap does tend to move slightly on your body during the process so that after shooting your have to move the strap to bring it back into position.

I so wish that I had had this camera strap when I shot a recent wedding. I tended to stick to one camera/lens combination for the wedding as the hassle-factor of managing two cameras outweighed the benefit of getting different shots and angles with different lenses. It would have been so easy to have had one camera on the hip with a 70-200 or a 16-35 and my primary camera in hand with the 24-70 with very little effort to switch between the two cameras as a consequence.

With the BlackRapid strap you can even shoot one-handed with the camera (provided of course your on-camera two-handed settings are all setup properly - which is not a fault of the strap in itself).

The strap appears to be very safe and the mechanism for securing it to the camera or collar is good. You do have to be a little concious of the fact that you are now slightly wider when passing through narrow openings so as not to bump the camera and getting into and out of a vehicle I was concious of the fact that I had to pick my camera up and put it onto my lap. This far outweighed the negatives of having a camera swing out from your body as you bend over for instance or suffering muscle strain from the other carrying mechanisms.

I would highly recommend one of the BlackRapid R-Straps. I bought two RS-2's on the strength of recommendations from other pro photographers without even trying it out for myself and I certainly have no regrets.

What's Hot

Comfortable and Versatile
Quick and Easy access to your camera
Working with multiple cameras is much simpler

What's Not

Cell phone pouch too small on the RS-2 (although it is useful for a memory card or two)
Strap does tend to move when picking the camera up and needs re-seating when returning the camera to your hip

2009-01-09T08:38:00.009+02:00

My BeBook

I have finally managed to get my hands on an eBook reader that I believe works really well. It's called the BeBook from Dutch Manufacturer Endless Ideas.

For those of you that aren't aware of eBook readers (Ed: what rock have you been lying under?) then let me give you a brief rundown. Essentialy an eBook reader is a highly portable electronic device that allows you to store many documents or books in a variety of formats and read them as naturally as you would a paperback novel anytime, anywhere. The BeBook reader is slightly smaller than a trade paperback in size and weighs in at 220gr so it is really easy to hold and read.

Probably the most significant aspect of any eBook reader (including Amazon's Kindle and Sony's Reader) is it's use of the so-called 'e-paper' technology. Click on this link for a more technical explanation but in essence ePaper is not like an LCD that uses emitted light but rather it uses reflected light. This makes an eBook reader much more pleasant to read over a longer period and much more paper-like. It also makes it possible to read an eBook in full sunlight which you cannot do with LCD type readers. Of course this could be considered as a negative as like any normal paper you do need an external light-source such as a beside lamp to be able to read. An upcoming technology which is quite interesting is flexible ePaper and I have seen a new eReader that comes out with a roll up screen which makes for a really small device. Quite amazing what they can do with technology these days.

Like all eBook readers the BeBook comes with some integrated memory (512Mb in this case), however it also has support for an external SD card up to 4Gb. On 4Gb you could probably store about 6,000-8,000 average novels! The support for the SD card was one of the reasons I favoured the BeBook reader over the Amazon and Sony offerings. Probably the most significant must-have feature is that the BeBook doesn't tie you into any Digital Rights Managed (DRM) material and has full support for a large variety of document formats with support for .mobi which is possibly one of the largest eBook retailers out there. Sony absolutism dictates that you can only buy DRM eBooks from their web site and then of course you are restricted to the range that they have on offer. As I have access to a variety of PDF's off the web this seemed to me to be an illogical choice.

The current BeBook reader does not have wireless support and it would have been really great as I could then have simply downloaded a new novel onto the BeBook while I lay in bed. However truth be told that is probably overkill and the simplicity of plugging the BeBook into the USB port and downloading in that way cannot be overstated. Wireless support would have added to the overall cost of the device however BeBook indicate that their next model will support wireless. It is however a change in hardware and not a possible upgrade to existing devices unfortunately. One particular instance where wireless support would be very useful however is with RSS downloads. Many websites make their content available via RSS (Really Simple Syndication) which simply put is well-defined file-format standard that allows websites to publish content that can be interpreted by a variety of readers such as the BeBook. This allows you to keep up with new content that comes out regularly on the Web, such as a news or magazine site, blogs, stock information etc. The current BeBook has RSS support however you do need to download it via the USB connection.

So what is it like to read from the BeBook. Well in my experience so far; provided the book is properly formatted to fit the 800x600 screen display resolution and the font used is legible and not significantly anti-aliased (ie the edges are jagged) then it is an absolute pleasure to use. The text is crisp and clear, paging works really well and the reader remembers which books you were reading last and what page you were on. You can also bookmark certain pages if you wish to return there at a later stage. However when the book is not properly formatted you begin to run into viewing problems. Of course you are constrained by the size of the display so sometimes the text can appear rather small. There are two zoom levels in the BeBook to alleviate this problem with the 3rd zoom level reverting to a landscape view of the book at which point you must hold the reader sideways. This in itself is not a real problem but does feel a little clunky at first. I have experimented with 're-printing' some of my existing PDF's to another PDF that has the page size properly formatted to suit the BeBook dimensions and this does appear to help. It has been great to have finally been able to read some of the PDF books I have had on my computer for absolute ages. I have never been a big fan of trying to read off the computer screen as it always felt counter-intuitive, you suffered from eye-strain and excessive eye-movement. Truthfully when on the computer as well I'm often distracted by other open windows, in-coming emails etc. So just being able to lie in bed with my 'book' has worked out really well.

Browsing through a book quickly does not work so well however. For instance a technical reference manual in which you may wish just to skim through it looking for one solution or another certainly is a lot easier in a paper-based book. However holding a 1000-page reference manual in bed does not work quite so well? The BeBook allows you to page forward one page at a time or by holding down the button 10 pages at a time so this does help somewhat, however it is still not ideal.

The BeBook also has support for MP3's and you can listen to Audio-Books or music via the headphone socket. I haven't tried this out yet to be honest as I have a really good MP3 player with my Archos 605 however throwing a few audio-books onto the device and trying them out may not be a bad idea? MP3 support certainly wasn't a must-have feature for me though.

Overall I am really pleased with the device. It really is too expensive at 329,95 Euros but on a par with the other devices on the market so I guess that is the going rate. As a gadget freak this was right up my alley and I believe that I will get good use out of it.

What's Hot

Support for many different file formats: pdf, mobi, prc, epub, lit, txt, fb2, doc, html, rtf, djvu, wol, ppt, mbp, chm, bmp, jpg, png, gif, tif, rar, zip, mp3
SD Memory card support
No DRM (Digital Rights Management) restrictions
Great battery life

What's Not

No Wireless support
Rendering - The document needs to be formatted properly to appear correctly and crisply on the readers display otherwise it can appear too small or the fonts can appear pixelated.

2008-11-10T10:58:00.004+02:00

Save the Photographs

I came across this poem today and found it quite poignant...

Photographs are smiles that last forever
Snowmen that can never melt away
Birthday celebrations caught in amber
Rescued from the vaults of yesterday.

Faces that were once more dear than diamonds
Boys who kept you up until the dawn
Houses filled with bicycles and babies
Ghosts who left their shadows on the lawn.

Then turn the page and see the children glow
The adults age, the lovers come and go
Photographs are holes in time's gray curtain
Through them we can peek into the past

Call upon our parents and our children
Pop a cork with members of the cast
There they are, the days of jazz and joyrides
Snaps of magic moments lit by laughs.

If you ever find my house on fire
Leave the silver, save the photographs.
-- Anonymous

2008-09-26T16:00:00.014+02:00

Nik Software and U-Point Technology

I have recently become a very big fan of the Nik Software product range. Apart from a great suite of filters and tools in their product range the one aspect of their toolset that I find most appealing is the U-Point technology. With U-Point and Nik tools I have been able to achieve retouching in Photoshop that I would never have attempted before. Retouching in Photoshop is an art and can be quite difficult depending how far you wish to go. However Nik and U-Point have taken this black-art and turned it into childs-play.

U-Point control points were designed to allow photographers to make various adjustments directly on their images without ever having to create complex selections, masks or layers. The degree to which an image can be manipulated is now only superceded by the simplicity with which this can be achieved with U-Point. U-Point isn't revolutionary but more an evolutionary step as one could undoubtedly recreate the effects of U-Point in Photoshop; albeit with complex masks, layers and creative selections which naturally take much longer to achieve and more prone to error.

With U-Point powered Control Points, there is no need to ever create these complex selections, masks, or layers. With simple click and drag functionality, photographers can work directly on their image to control virtually any aspect of their photographic edits. Depending on the toolset the control point is being applied to, you can for the first time control specific elements of an image (such as the sky, skin, grass etc) independently of the rest of the image without the use of masks, layers or other complex procedures. With a control point you can adjust a specific area of object very accurately and by adding more control points to the image the U-Point blending technology works it's magic considering all enhancements and subtely merging these adjustments together. What used to be beyond my ability as a Photoshop user is now simplicity itself. The adjustments made are so visual that your post-processing speeds up dramatically allowing you to adjust colour and light as easily as capturing the original photograph or adjusting exposure. The end result is an image that better suits your intentions or desires.

So, what exactly is U-Point and how does it work then to make your life so much simpler?
With traditional post-processing performing retouching usually involves adjusting pixels at the RGB level or by using complicated and fancy selection tools to mask off objects or aspects of an image. Once these accurate selections are made (which is a very laborious and time consuming process) you then need to apply one or more appropiate filters such as levels, curves, color-balance etc. You also need to manage the interaction between these filters as they applied so that they blend seamlessly and you don't introduce artifacts or banding.

U-Point however changes this process as adjustments are made using a single method that is simple to use and extend. With a Control Point simply click on an area (or object or region) of an image that you wish to enhance in some way. Then by simply adjusting sliders left or right with the mouse you can effect control over your image depending on the underlying filter.
Currently the following Nik Tools allow for U-Point Control point adjustments:
· Nik Viveza: Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, Hue, Red, Green, Blue, Warmth
· Nik Sharpener 3.0: Sharpening Strength, Structure, Local Contrast and Focus
· Nik DFine 2.0: Contrast Noise and Colour Noise
· Nik Color Efex 3.0: Opacity Slider to localise filter effect
· Nik Silver Efex Pro: Brightness, Contrast and Structure

Once a Control Point is placed, the Control Point automatically:
· Reads RGB and location values for each Control Point that is placed on the image.
· Calculates additional values of hue, saturation, brightness (lightness), and image detail to create the complete and unique set of U-Point pixel characteristics.
· Incorporates the U-Point pixel characteristics into a central intelligent blending function. U-Point technology’s central blending function enables the user to adjust the entire range of parameters to control color and light (including, Red, Green, Blue, hue, saturation, brightness, contrast, and warmth, as well as the size of area to be controlled) using a set of sliders associated with each Control Point.

When an additional control point is placed on the image, U-Point pixel characteristics for that specific control point are calculated and are then factored into the central blending function. As more control points are placed on the image, the central blending function becomes more intelligent, enabling even more refined and precise changes in the image. The user controls color, light, contrast, and tonality by placing more control points on the image at specific locations. The control points are interdependent and communicate to combine and blend enhancements naturally, which can be easily adjusted or undone at any time, regardless of the order in which the change was made. The important thing is that the overall adjustment is seamless and professional.

Most of the U-Point properties are quite obvious although the size slider may need a bit more explanation. When the size slider is at 100% the Control Point effects all the pixels on your image. Lower values than 100% restrict the effect to smaller areas around that Control Point. By clicking on the 'Show Mask' icon at any stage you can visibly see the exact area that is to be affected by your Control-Point and refine it accordingly.

Once your Control point adjustments are in place and your filter settings have been applied most of the Nik product line now allows you to apply those changes as a Smart Object in Photoshop. If you haven't experiemented with Smart Objects in Photoshop I strongly recommending doing so as in this particular instance it's a great way of being able to modify the respective Nik Adjustments at any stage during the editing process if you change your mind. Of course you can also apply the effect of the Nik adjustment layer and brush in the changes on a seperate mask if needed.

U-Point is already available in Nikons CaptureNX, Apple Aperture and of course Photoshop. As an image retoucher I would really enjoy it if Adobe would introduce this U-Point technology into Lightroom as soon as possible. However it does seem unlikely that they will do so given the way they are forging ahead with their own selective adjustment tools in Lightroom 2.0? It isn't as powerful as the Nik technology however in my opinion.

If you haven't had the chance to try out the Nik Software range of products I strongly urge you to do so. The software unfortunately isn't cheap but the results are certainly impressive. The results may not always be perfect but Nik does a far better job far quicker than I could do with my current knowledge of Photoshop, layers, blending-modes and masks.

Be advised that in no way am I affiliated with NikSoftware, Nikon, Adobe or any of the other products mentioned here.

2008-09-22T06:51:00.014+02:00

Backup strategies

Have you backed up your computer lately? Have you backed up all your important and precious photographs to another hard drive; a CD or DVD? If not, stop reading this right now and go and do it. I'm serious. What are you still doing here? Stop reading and go make copies of all the data that is important to you? Use whatever mechanism you have available to you but go and do it now.

Aah, so you're back. How did it go? It's a bit painful and laborious isn't it which is probably why we tend to put it off and put it off until....well it might be too late.

The fact of the matter is that hard drives fail. How often do they fail? Well a respected Seagate hard drive comes with a 5 year warranty but on average a given hard drive will have an MTBF (mean time between failure) of 3-5 years if you're lucky, sometimes a lot less than that. So the simple fact of the matter is that the hard drive on which all of your photographs are now residing will fail at some point in the not so distant future.

Fortunately there are a plethora of solutions in the market-place to satisfy both the hardware and software requirements of automated backups to alleviate some of this pain. It is important however to formulate a strategy to make the process as seamless, accurate and painless as possible. Because there is such a variety of options available to you, you should make up your own mind as to how best to go about it. All I can do here in this blog is to relay my own experiences and what works best for me currently. It's important to note in reading my personal strategy however that I have a large investment in hardware and software of all kinds that does help the process. But this is not a requirement. The most fundamental part of any backup strategy is to ensure that you have at least one other working copy of your data at all times. You should preferably have two (or more) copies but that is not always feasible or practical. If you're completely paranoid one of those copies should be off site.

In my working machine at my office I have four hard drives which are utilised in the following fashion. Two drives are 160GB 10,000 RPM Western Digital Raptors. These drives are configured for RAID-0 with the sole purpose in inmproving performance as these super-fast RAID-0 devices allow the file system to be distributed across all disks and reduce latency for both read/write operations. What is important to realise is that RAID-0 is NOT a backup or redundancy strategy and this is an important consideration when talking about full system backups (later on in this article). In the event of failure of even one of the hard drives in a RAID-0 configuration it will be almost impossible to recover as the data on any one drive will be corrupt and incomplete.

The two other drives in my system are not setup for RAID but are configured with one drive being storage for my raw digital negatives that are in a work-in-progress status. The other drive stores the photograph derivatives that have been processed either in Lightroom, DxO Optics Pro or Adobe Photoshop and subsequently prepared for web and/or print output. These two drives are constantly backed up using synchronisation software and completed photographs are then deleted to make space for new incoming work. I use an application called Allways Synch and this software allows you to migrate only the changed files or folders from source to a backup destination. The software also allows for dual or one way synchronisation as you please however it works best for me by simply ensuring that my backup drives have an exact copy of whatever has been placed onto the RAW or DERIVATIVE drives at any stage. I use Allways synch in this manner to ensure that my Lightroom Catalogs, Digital Negatives, layered Photoshop files, web JPG output, print prepared TIFF files, documents, saved games etc are always backed up. Since the installation of Allways Synch I have saved about 32 hours of file copy operations as the application ensures that it only copies the new or changed files. That's also 32 hours of hard-drive thrashing that has been avoided increasing the longevity of those drives. There is no manual scouring of files and folders to determine what exactly needs copying over. The application is scheduled to run daily at midnight and this way I can walk away from my machine knowing that it will be securely backed up.

So where does Allways Synch backup to? It currently writes to a Drobo Unit that has four 1 terabyte (TB) drives in it. The Drobo unit utilises a data striping redundancy mechanism that is very similar in nature to RAID-5 however it works much better. It's better and simpler because with the Drobo unit you can mix and match drives as your need and budget allows. The unit can hold up to four drives of a maximum of 4TB in size each for a maximum storage capacity of 16TB per unit. However let's assume starting off with only two drives; once they start to full up the Drobo Unit alerts you to the fact. You can then simply slot in another drive of whatever capacity and the unit then makes that space available. It also then automatically and redundantly stripes data across all three drives for you in the background. Remove a drive and Drobo knows how to recover from just the remaining drives. Nothing could be simpler. With RAID-5 all drives have to be of equal capacity and recovering from a RAID-5 crash is a long process as the damaged drive is rebuilt from the working ones. It can be done, I recently had a hard drive crash on my Intel NAS RAID-5 server and it was simply a matter of removing the damaged drive, replacing it with another similar drive (500GB in this instance) and wait the requisite 24 odd hours while that drive was rebuilt. It worked well, it just took a lot longer than the Drobo and the Intel doesn't support drives of varying capacities.

So the Drobo is where Allways Synch backs up to. Because there is redundancy already built into the 4 1TB drives that's where most of my photographs now reside. If I was completely and utterly paranoid then these drives in itself should also be backed up to some other device (DVD for instance) and stored off-site. However because I am intrinsically lazy and confident that I can recover these photo's if I need them I have left it as is. Besides I can't honestly imagine backing up 4TB to DVD!! Some really very important photographs however (such as the wedding photo's for Renett and Johann are backed up to a seperate drive - my Intel NAS RAID - to be absolutely sure that data is uncorruptible). Previously I used a Digital Asset Methodology espoused by Peter Krogh in terms of creating RAW 'buckets' of 4.2GB each that could be backed up directly to DVD but since I have moved my DAM catalogs over to Lightoom 2 I have dispensed with that idea as I'm not writing to DVD anymore. For more on a DAM philosophy go to Peter's web site - The DAM Forum.

It has been proven also that backing up to DVD is not a fool-proof exercise. Writing DVD's can be prone to failure and the longevity of DVD's is also in doubt. Will we be able to read these DVD's in years to come? Look at those with tape drive backups of their data - they currently have no way of retrieving that. More simplistically can you still play those Betamax video tapes anywhere? With BluRay now replacing normal DVD's who knows what the future of this technology holds? So for now, I personally have dispensed with DVD backups altogether?

It acutally might be worth taking a step backwards for a second to talk about the process I follow when importing images from my cameras CF cards or the Epson P-5000 which I use to store photographs on when in the field. The process is effectively the same; it's just that in the field if a CF card is filled up then I will offload that to the Epson P-5000 so that I can reuse the card if necessary. If a card is filled up and not backed up to the Epson then it is placed in a Gepe card safe 'upside-down' so that I know it cannot be used until offloaded to either the PC or the Epson. Once a card is placed right side up in the card safe then I know that it must always be formatted in-camera before re-use. When back at the PC I begin the import process into Lightroom. During the import I convert my RAW images to Adobe's Digital Negative format (.DNG). I have adopted DNG across all my photographs for longevity and am comfortable that Adobe will continue to support and enhance the DNG format. During the import however for safety's sake I make an automatic backup copy of the images to a IOMega 250GB Firewire drive (supported by the Lightroom import process). This is just a temporary measure as due to the small nature of this drive the files are only kept there until that drive begins to fill up and then I delete the oldest imported files as we go. It's merely a safety net in case something goes wrong during the import process.

So what about the Intel NAS RAID-5 Server. This server has 4 500GB hard-drives configured as RAID-5 for data redundancy and recovery. This server comes into play with full-system backups and backups of all other purchased software, music and any other important data that I have. Most importantly for the purposes of this discussion however, the Intel NAS server holds the full-system backups of each PC in my office. These full system backups are generated using Acronis True Image Home which runs on each workstation. This application is not scheduled although in truth it could be. Once a system has been built to spec with all the requisite software (Windows, hardware drivers, Photoshop, Lightroom, Office etc) then I will use Acronis True Image to image the entire hard drive (remember those RAID-0 drives?) to the Intel NAS server. In this way if one of the system volumes should ever fail then that machine can be rebuilt from scratch quite quickly and will be up and running as before.

I have also recently just installed a Microsoft Windows Home Server on my network to determine it's efficacy. This is only a 180-day trial so we'll see how it goes but in essence all my machines on the network (all 6 of them) are automatically backed up each night by the server. These backups are stored on the Windows Home server and again should any machine fail it can be restored quite quickly. I have to ask myself the question though, shouldn't I be backing up those full system backups to the NAS server? Perhaps I will set that up tonight?

Does this all sound paranoid? Possibly? Overkill? Probably? But then again, I take comfort in the fact knowing that my data is secure and redundantly stored in the event of failure. I say again - hard drives fail! It's just a matter of time. Have you backed up your data lately?

2008-09-19T11:09:00.012+02:00

Microsoft AutoCollage

I was searching on Google recently looking for some collage building software for my wife Wendy. She has previously attempted to prepare a collage for one of her work functions in Photoshop and whilst it can certainly be done it is very time consuming and laborious. Fiddling around with multiple layers and layer masks takes patience and the inclination to do so.

There are some good collage packages on the web and I came across the Microsoft Research AutoCollage program which I want to tell you about today. This has just recently been released and after giving it a whirl on a few collages I must say I'm suitably impressed at the speed and ease at which you can create collages. It's not perfect but it's versatile, fast and it certainly couldn't be easier to use?

Microsoft Auto Collage is not a free program but you can download a trial version and play around with it to see if it works for you. The trial version will work for 30 days and will watermark the collage. If you wish to purchase the software it retails for USD19.95 on the Windows Marketplace website.

Start your collage building by opening the application and clicking the Image Browser ellipse '...' to browse to a folder that has your collage pictures. At the moment the software is restricted to a maximum of 25 photo's in a collage and there is no way to specify which of the 25 you wish to use from a particular folder. My suggestion is that you create a seperate folder in which you place your selected photographs.

Before creating your collage it's worth spending a little time setting up the environment. Do so by clicking on the Options button and selecting the size of your collage output. There are currently some limiations in terms of output size and you are restricted to imperial measurements or your desktop size. Click on the Advanced button and adjust the relative sizes of the image that you have ranked higher than the others. AutoCollage reads the EXIF data and determines the star ranking that you have assigned to your image using the Microsoft photo tools or some other image editing application such as Adobe Lightroom. You can also adjust the collage image overlap to taste. No doubt you will come back to this screen and adjust these settings once you get a feel for how the application operates.

Click the Input tab at the top and be sure to turn on Face Detection. Although not fool-proof this does stop the AutoCollage rendering process from obscuring faces during image overlap. When you have face dection on Auto Collage will draw yellow-boxes around the faces it can recognise during the import process.

Once you have the preferences setup be sure that the slider reflects the correct number of images otherwise you will get a warning message and an option to create a collage of the correct number of images. This slider seems totally redundant to me but nevertheless there it is. I guess it remains to be seen how Microsoft utilise this slider in a later version? When you're ready to generate your collage press the Create button and your collage rendering will begin by showing a revolving carousel of images as well as a progress bar on the top right. This process is incredibly quick for the work (blending and compositing) that AutoCollage is doing but then again with a maximum of only 25 images the process shouldn't take that long at all.

If you don't like the Collage result you could possibly adjust the star-rating of your images or simply press the Create button again and a new rendering will take place. The final collage can then be exported as a JPG, sent to friends via email or saved to your desktop as your wallpaper.

As a first release AutoCollage has some misgivings and these include:
· Maximum of 25 images in a collage
· No mechanism for specifying an image that you want dead-centered
· Small paper sizes up to a maximum of 8"x10" and would also be ideal if it supported metric paper sizes (A4 and A3 for instance)
· It would be nice to see the star-rating of images in AutoCollage so you know their relative rankings beforehand

However not withstanding these problem areas; for an incredibly simple 'quick-and-dirty' collage, it's hard to beat. Other applications have more features and slicker output perhaps but cannot match the ease of use at this stage. From an application point of view the Microsoft Research engineers have done some great stuff with face-recognition, automatic alpha blending and image segmentation. It's great to see it in action. Have fun.
P.S. Thanks to Stacey and Clive for letting me use photographs of their children that I just happened to have on my PC at the time I was creating screen-shots.

Addendum (2008-09-28): It turns out that I am completely wrong about how image ranking occurs for Auto Collage. Simply put it's a WHOLE lot more complicated than using star-rating of images. For a more 'scientific' explanation review this AutoCollage paper or visit the Microsoft Research website.

2008-09-18T12:48:00.018+02:00

Photokina 2008 and the Hype

It's that time of the year again and photography forums around the world are buzzing with all the hype surrounding Photokina 2008. Photokina is the worlds biggest trade fair for photographic and imaging equipment and is held every two years at the Cologne trade fair in Germany. Leading up to Photokina (which opens on Tuesday September 23rd) the industry is abuzz with rumours and new releases.

It's quite amazing to witness all the hype and excitement that leads up to the start of this fair and often it's hard not to get caught up in it. As the camera manufacturers start releasing snippets of information about their new models the rumour mill begin to work overtime and dreams up all kinds of outlandish wishlists and feature-sets. When a manufacturer does finally release their specifications for a new camera the whiners and complainers start to kick in moaning about this missing feature or that unwanted functionality. Anything to beef up their post count on their favourite forums I guess? Sometimes it's quite laughable to beat witness to.

So let's focus on some facts here and talk about some of the news that has caught my interest and in particular Canon news as that is where my investments lie.

Canon's biggest announcement so far is of course their upgrade to the 'venerable' 5D. The Canon 5D Mark II was possibly overdue according to some pundits and by and large I don't think it has failed to impress. You can read a full review of the camera here on the DPReview.com site and even a hands-on summary. Key features of course must be the 21 mega-pixel full-frame sensor and the inclusion of HD 1080 video capture. Ironically both of these features are the ones causing most consternation amongst the photographers that I've spoken to.

They're saying: "Do we really need so many mega-pixels. Why are Canon chasng the mega-pixel marketing myth when we are still missing some key features".
They're also saying: "Why do we have video capture in a still camera. Why is this included, which is pushing up the overall cost of the camera when in fact R&D could've been better spent focusing on the refinement of some other essential features?"

In summary, here are the Canon 5D Mark II's Key Features

∙ New 21.1 Megapixel CMOS sensor with improved EOS Integrated Cleaning System (E.I.C.S.)
∙ New Full HD 1080 resolution movie recording
∙ 3.9 frames per second continuous shooting
∙ High performance DIGIC 4 providing superb image quality
∙ Maximum 310 large JPEG images in a single burst with a UDMA card
∙ 3.0” VGA (920k dots) Clear View LCD
∙ ISO 100-6400 (expansion from 50 up to 25,600)
∙ 9 AF points + 6 Assist AF points

I'm inclined to agree with some of the complainers. The 5D is traditionally a wedding photographers camera (yes, that's a generalisation I know) and many wedding photographers really don't need 21.1 mega-pixels. The video - while a nice feature to be sure - still comes across as a bit of a gimmick and not a real feature needed by hard core pro's that will likely use this camera. It certianly seems more like a marketing feature and an attempt to keep up with the likes of Nikon and Sony? Proper dedicated video cameras will do a better job for some time to come. Let still camera's take still photographs. Let video camera's take movies. No doubt the technologies are merging, but is it ready for prime time? I'm not so convinced?

To me the 5D Mark II is still missing some basic key features that the community has been going on about for a long time. Where is a simple one-click mirror lock up button for those landscape photographers? Why are there so few focusing points? Why are the focusing points so poorly arranged as not to facilitate the focus-recompose problem. Canon needs to spread their focusing points out a bit more, more in line with good composition (rule-of-thirds and the like). Improved AF functionality is still not there. Why not spend more money on f/2.8 vertical and horizontal focusing sensors or more focusing points? 3.9 frames per second still seems very low for a camera in 2008. Granted it's moving 21.1 megapixels of data with each frame but that's not the point is it? A 16mp camera at a frame rate of 8-10 frames per second would probably be more welcome? The 5D Mark II has a Digic 4 processor which is great, however given the other misgivings a dual Digic 4 might have been better received as well for better image processing at a faster rate. Perhaps Canon reserve this kind of high-end functionality for the 1D range?

Nevertheless, for photographers in the market for an upgrade at this point I am sure that the 5D Mark II is quite compelling on many fronts and will probably be snapped up at it's very reasonable price of USD2,700. For a 21.1MP camera compare this price to the Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III and those of us that bought this camera are hurting a bit at this price differential. That's the nature of Moore's law of techology I'm afraid.

What else is interesting from the Canon stable at this stage. Lens wise they've come out with a Canon 24mm f/1.4 L II USM lens. Ok, but it doesn't really catch my eye I'm afraid to say - more of a niche lens? At the PMA in March the 800mm f/5.6 was announced. Now that's much more compelling but for a whole bunch of different reasons for me in particualr being primarily a nature/bird shooter.
I have to be honest and say that for a point-and-shoot Canon's release of the Canon Powershot SX10 IS looks very interesting indeed. This looks like a great camera. I'm not in the P&S market but if I was - very nice indeed.

Leica have released their incredibly expensive Leica f/0.95 50mm lens. Ridiculously priced at £6290 and yet really an amazing piece of light gathering equipment. I can't really imagine using a f/0.95 lens? That's better eyesight than an Owl?
Sony have released their own high-end camera, the A900. At 24.6 megapixels they have also entered the megapixel war with vengeance and certainly there are some compelling reasons to look into the specifications of this camera if you don't already have a significant investment in Canon or Nikon glass?
Nikon's D90 also looks great no doubt.
For the consumer there's a veritable plethora of choices in the marketplace at this stage provided you have the spare cash and the wherewithal to make the right choices.

There are all sorts of other interesting oddities coming out of Photokina, like's Sandisks' 32GB CF cards, Epson P-7000 portable hard drives/video players and Adobe's announcement of Adobe Photoshop CS4 which is due to take place on the 23rd.

Now I was complaining about the rumour mongering at the beginning of this blog, so perhaps I shouldn't even begin to discuss Photoshop CS4, but what the hell; let's tread dangerously shall we?

Adobe have been extremely tight-lipped about CS4 and there really is quite a lot of excitement pending this release. There are naturally many nay-sayers, back-biters and critics alike about the Adobe product line but the fact remains that Photoshop is the most widely used imaging product in the marketplace. More people; professional and amateur alike use Photoshop to adjust, touch-up and manipulate their photographs than any other product. Adobe themselves have diminished some of that market share lately with the release of Lightroom and then you can throw into the mix Apple's Aperture, Corel's product line and many other smaller simpler applications. However, Photoshop; the behemoth that it is still remains the king (for now).

So what does the rumour mill have to say about Adobe CS4?
Two of the most sigificant features to look out for at the announcement on the 23rd are 64-bit support and the off-loading of some of the intensive processing on the graphics processing unit (GPU) of today's highly sophisticated graphics cards.

I have a big investment in my desktop of course with dual 64-bit processors and a very sophisticated NVidia GeForce 8800 GTX with 768MB RAM (yes I'm aware that this GPU is a bit old now but still delivers a massive computational punch which seems a shame to waste on high-end games and video only?). If Adobe Photoshop CS4 can see a marked improvement in overall image processing time with 64-bit and effective GPU usage then I think this will be a huge win regardless of any other improvements. Running complicated lighting filters and touching up massive 100MB tiff files could become a dream with proper use of all this computing power.

It's important to realise that a simple move to 64-bit processing is not a panacea to all of Photoshop's woes. The application doens't simply become faster overnight. It has to be effectively engineered by Adobe to make proper use of the dual-pipeline architecture and a larger addresable memory space to be more effective. A properly implemented 64-bit application will be able to process in-memory those massive stitched landscapes without having to rely on so much disk swapping which is notoriously slow and this is what in general hurts Photoshop. (Can you say roll-on solid-state drives?)

It goes without saying that Adobe has plenty of scope with which to imporve on their current CS3 release and you just have to read some of the complaints at the Dear Adobe site to be bemused and enlightened.

Roll-on Photokina 2008! We look forward to seeing what other exciting releases you have in store for us!

Please feel free to leave me some feedback by clicking on the comments hyperlink at the top of each blog entry (just under the date). Would love to hear your thoughts. Many thanks.

2008-09-06T16:20:00.008+02:00

Photoshop Gallery

Tried out the new Photoshop Express Galleries today by creating my own gallery there at: http://ianweatherburn.photoshop.com

It has some nifty features and some great ways of show-casing your images in a slide-show or 3D wheel and the like. I can't help but feel that CoolIris' Piclens gallery wall is simpler, easier to use and faster.

Anyway I created three albums so far for anyone to see. You can never have enough exposure can you? You can view these albums either via the main site or the specific album links below:
∙ Wildlife Fine Art
∙ Birds Fine Art
∙ Landscape Fine Art

The Photoshop Express tools and gallery are still in beta, so I think there are still a few issues to iron out.
For one thing, it's very slow to do certain operations and sometimes the processing goes walk-about and never comes back.
Also it does appear to be very bandwidth intensive especially when loading up the galleries.

Of course this gallery doesn't dispense with my normal web galleries at:
http://www.ianweatherburn.com
but I thought it might be interesting to try.

Let's see where Photoshop takes this tool. Curiously enough at this stage there doesn't appear to be any Lightroom integration which is a major oversight but I would imagine that it will be forthcoming. That will be nice.

Also the ability to get more creative slide-shows might be nice. And well, as for the choice of possible music to add as a background to your slide-show; that's kind of laughable at the moment.

2008-06-29T19:05:00.007+02:00

They Say: I Do. I Say: We Did

Well it finally happened. We photographed our first wedding (we of course being Johann and myself) on Saturday, 28th June 2008.

Boy was it hectic and strenuous and rushed and stressful and fun and frustrating and entertaining and beautiful all at the same time. Began the day at 09h30 to go and fetch Johann on the way to the bride's house as we were offering full coverage for the day. We ended up getting home at about 22h00 and I got to bed at 23h30 after making sure all the images were properly backed up (and even then missing out a CF card or two - *gulp* - sorry Johann - but at least everything is now backed up *twice* safe and sound. Note to self - don't do mission critical tasks when you are so exhausted).

All told, between Johann and myself we took 3,179 photographs. That's 55GB worth of images. Anyone want to volunteer for the task of going through these now and deleting the bloopers (yes believe it or not there are some of those. :lol:) and star-rating the rest of them so that we can try and whittle it down to about 500 top-class images that will show-case their Wedding day?

I was fully prepared for a hectic long day, but in now way shape or form was I prepared at all for the frenetic pace at which some events just moved along. It was unbelievable actually how quickly parts of the day flew by and I was definitely most stressed from the point where we left the brides house (after rushing to finish off some of the group family photo's there once she had finally got dressed) and then getting to the church before them and setting up knowing full well that I would need all my wits about me in the church as it was just so dark in there. I was getting 1/30s at ISO 1600 at f/2.8 - so clearly we were going to be needing some flash for assistance. Luckily I had already cleared this with the minister and he said that he was fine with it.

After the ceremony we moved on to the reception venue where we were able to get onto the Golf Course and get what I think are truly some wonderful photographs of the wedding couple. It really is amazing how on the day most brides are just so radiant. I really think it is their inner happiness that truly shines through and really makes for beautiful natural photographs. Both bride and groom have children already and so we were also able to make them part of the group photo's and hopefully those will be some wonderful memories for them to cherish in years to come.

The reception gradually wound down into the usual partying affair after the mandatory dance, boquet, garter toss and cake cutting. Johann and I were both exhausted. Mentally and physically drained the likes of which quite surprised us.

In some ways now the real work begins otherwise it's all for naught really without the final images as proof-of-the-pudding. We got some compliments from guests along the way as to how we were operating and managing ourselves and that was nice to hear. Of course there were the other usual know-it-alls who believe that because they have a camera in their hand that may be similar in capability that they now are suddenly the professionals. :) Go to it I say! I knew from prior weddings that these kind of guys always creep out of the woodwork so was
able to take it with a pinch of salt.

So yep, now to begin with the whittling down process and the real editing post-work. Truthfully a lot of these photographs look pretty good straight out of the camera to me? So that is a good start. We shot exclusively in RAW though on a Canon 1Ds Mark III, Canon 1Ds Mark II and a Canon 1D Mark IIN so our image quality is definitely up there. But as with all RAW photographs they do need to be 'developed' and tweaked to give the best results exposure, white balance and colour-wise. It's going to be fun. :)

Please bear with us as I would really like to have a substantial portion of this work done (at least in proof stage) to present to the couple before it is revealed to our web watchers (we appreciate your support by the way). I think it would be only fair for them to have first say in what photo's they (and not us) think are the winners. Then again they might just say: "All of them!" Here's hoping. :D

After that it's deciding which photo's will then form part of their DVD slide-show, Coffee-table book style wedding album, enlargements and what-not. So definitely lots of work ahead for both Johann and myself. I just have to convince Johann not to cross-process all his images! LOL! :) (only kidding Johann).

Ok that's about it. Had a really chilled Sunday just recuperating and trying to sit and lie somewhere where I didn't feel my sore back and have finished it up with this Journal tonight as a memory of the event. Thanks for reading and thanks as always for all your support throughout. Thanks to Johann as well for his support and assistance on the day. It was really appreciated and I couldn't have imagined doing the whole wedding without him.

2008-06-17T12:44:00.007+02:00

Sammy Mark Museum - Outdoorphoto Wedding Practice Shoot

On Saturday, 14th June I had the opportunity to join a group of other Outdoorphoto photographers at the Sammy Marks Museum.
The event was kindly organised by one of the ladies at the Outdoorphoto forum and afforded us the opportunity to practice our wedding portraiture on a couple without the stress and strain of a real wedding.

Three of us: Johann, Etienne and myself were really lucky as we were joined by a wonderful couple: Tracey and Craig Hean. Tracey and Craig had just recently been married (2 months prior) and unfortunately on their wedding day they were plauged by poor weather and overcast skies so jumped at the opportunity to have some more photographs taken of themselves in wonderful surroundings such as there are at Sammy Marks.

Tracey and Craig were dressed in the same clothes they had for the wedding and they were such a lot of fun to work with. Really relaxed and excited by the opportunity as much as we were. They even participated in setting up poses/scenes and were always willing to try something new even when it meant poor Tracey's dress would get covered in blackjacks. :( Sorry Tracey.

The net result was that we were able to get in some much-need practice ahead of the real wedding shoot Johann and I have with Renett and Johan at the end of this month. Personally for me this was a great experience. I felt comfortable (more than I thought I would be), jumping in and directing the couple for this pose or that and generally trying to get a vibe going between us as I feel that it is really important that the couple feel relaxed. They will then enjoy themselves more and the results will show in the photo's.

We made good use of the opportunity to practice things like master/slave flash combintations as I know for certain that lighting and opportunities will be against us on the 28th so we better have our wits about us when setting up scenes. I'll be sure to take my reflectors along as Etienne's came in very handy during the day as well. Johann will be shooting with my Canon 1Ds Mark II (and perhaps his 20D as well), and I will be shooting with two Canon 1Ds Mark III's on the day. I will take both cameras along so that I can have a wide-angle (Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 L) and a standard zoom (Canon 24-70 f/2.8 L) on each camera. I want to do this as I felt I limited my shooting opportunties by not being willing to slow down the shoot by swapping lenses and so I felt I missed out on some wider shoots which would have really shown the venue out to be what it was. I also desperately need some wider shots to make up an album. I will also be taking along my Canon 100mm Macro for those stunning ring shots as well as a standard portrait lens (Canon 85mm f/1.8).

I was really thrilled in general with my overall exposure settings and probably 98% of my shots are in focus! So this was a real morale booster as well. Granted I do have some under and/or over-exposed shots but I am 100% convinced that the Highlight Tone Priority option on the 1Ds Mark III certainly helped out with some of my shots. Of course shooting only in RAW helps tremendously as well and I did try and expose to the right as so wonderfully explained by the Luminous Landscape guys.

Highlight Tone Priority mode gives wedding and landscape photographers the option to boost dynamic range for highlights when shooting above ISO 200 – reproducing more tonal detail from wedding dresses, clouds and other bright objects

The light was fairly harsh during the photo-shoot which did make for some more difficult exposure and to be fair we really didn't make the best use of the venue. There were tons of other options for shots to be taken in and around the musuem itself but we tended to stick to the ruins and the veld. So that is certainly an important lesson I learned for the up-coming wedding. It is going to be a fairly difficult venue both at the church and the reception but we really need to work it to it's maximum potential and extract the best possible shots for the couple. I look forward to that challenge. Other lessons that I took away from this day include:
· Make sure your flash cards are all pre-formatted and ready to go. I made a real nooob mistake by having old photo's on my flash cards and then wondered why they filled up so quickly. Of course I was able to offload the images onto my Epson P-5000 but this was an unnecessary interruption to the flow of events and a waste of time
· Take along a Lens pens so that you can clean any dust off your lenses that will accumulate during the day
· Take along a bulb blower so you can clean your sensor during the day
· Take along reflectors - they may prove to be very useful
· Wear sun-screen. My neck and face got a little burned from the sun.
· Take along lots to drink. In just a few short hours we got very hot, bothered and dehydrated. Also make sure you have some energy bars or other sustenance to boost your energy levels. It's going to be a long day.
· Work the scene to it's full potential but don't waste additional shots once you've got it. Start wide, come in closer, come in closer still and then move on. I have too many repetitive shots from the day and probably not enough variety.

If you would like to see some of the photographs that I got of that day you can check them out in my Tracey and Craig Gallery.

Now it's full-steam ahead in preperation for the real-thing.
Thanks again to Nikky from Outdoorphoto for a wonderful opportunity that has certainly settled some of the butterflies in my stomach.

2008-06-12T19:40:00.008+02:00

New Look and Feel

Ian Weatherburn Photography took on a whole new look and feel today! In exchange for a studio session with some friends: Annemarie, Bennie and their son Christiaan; Annemarie who has her own graphics design business - Artery Design & Production; agreed to put together a logo, business card and letterhead for me.

She truly outdid herself and I am so thrilled with the outcome. I really like this professional design and impression that my new logo and colour scheme creates. I love the dark colour scheme especially as it shows off the photographs so well - I mean you just have to take a look at the direction in which the Lightroom GUI has gone for instance. Thanks so much Annemarie for having some patience with me while we went through a few iterations and thanks for your professionalism in making sure the design was right. Let's hope that she likes the studio photo's as much! *gulp* :)

I liked it so much that I was inspired to update this blog after a long hiatus and even fix up the old tutorials on my web site that had become broken due to invalid links etc. The overall result is just spiffing!

My business cards will be printed soon and hopefully will be done in time for my first Wedding that I will be doing (together with my friend Johann) on the 28th June. Yep, the time is finally coming for that and it would be a lie if I said I wasn't a little bit anxious. This wedding photography shoot came about as a result of a free offer I put up on my web site in an attempt to get a portfolio of Weddings started. So hold thumbs for us that it goes really well. I'm sure it will and a big part of me is really looking forward to the opportunity. The couple, Renett and Johan are fun people and I'm sure they are going to have a great day together and we can share in the privilege of capturing that.

Well that's about it for this blog, suffice to say; hope you like the new design and I'll sign off by showing you my new Business cards.

2008-03-13T13:33:00.005+02:00

Nkorho Lodge - Sabi Sands - EOS Roadshow

Last week Thursday (6th March 2008) I was VERY fortunate to be able to get an opportunity to get away to the Sabi Sands which is a private game reserve which borders the Kruger National Park with no fence between Sabi and Kruger so the animals are free to roam.

This was a 5 day photographic excursion to Nkorho Lodge (one of several private lodges in the Sabi Sands) and was hosted by Manus van Dyk of the Canon EOS Roadshow. Manus had received a late cancellation and offered up a slot on the course at a discount and I was lucky enough to be the first to respond to him. He is fully booked up on this course which he runs once a month, for the next year!

So early Thursday morning I was off on a 6½ hour journey from Johannesburg leaving all the worries of work and family behind. My wife Wendy was extremely gracious in allowing me the time off as having to stay behind and look after a 3 year old and a 4 year old on your own can be quite a challenge. So thanks so much Wendy.

Nkorho Lodge is a beautiful 4-Star lodge in the Sabi Sands. It is not over-the-top in terms of function but is extremely comfortable, with lovely rooms and beautiful surrounds. The staff are very friendly and you are made to feel extremely welcome. The food is also fantastic and I ate much too much while I was there. We were so busy most of the time with the course that we didn't get much time to experience more of the lodge - for instance I never even made it into their swimming pool. :(

Manus proved to be a very adept teacher and photographer and soon I was learning all sorts of things for him. He went to great lengths to have a good setup in the lecture room with properly calibrated monitors, a good presentation and lots of tips and techniques for both camera and Photoshop CS3. One of the great aspects was that he provided special brackets on the game vehicles which allowed us to use our Wimberley Gimbal tripod heads on the vehicle with our long lenses (400-600mm). As you know these lenses are extremely heavy and can be unwieldy but this combination worked really well and we were able to get some great shots.

What also really helped was the knowledge of the bush by our tracker, Freeman; and the willingness to try his level best to get us the best possible shooting position from the vehicle by our ranger Andre. Manus and Andre have a very good working relationship and Andre understands the need to get good light (usually from behind) and stop in the right places while the animals approach the vehicle. This was really appreciated and allowed us to come away with some great shots (well I think so anyway! :D)

I keep referring to us, and the us were Dries, Grizan and her husband Wouter; so yes there were only 4 other photographers which gave us plenty of room on the vehicle to maneuver into position and have some of our equipment on the seat next to us (other lenses, converters etc). There was a lot of Afrikaans spoken that week so for this Soutie by the end my afrikaans had improved substantially - at least I can understand the language pretty well after having being in the South African Defence Force for 2 years (for my sins!).

I thoroughlly enjoyed the course and the opportunity to photograph the Big 5 (Leopard, Lion, Rhino, Buffalo and Elephant) in their natural surroundings was just the cherry on the top. I came to understand Spot metering and exposure lock (something that I have struggled with in the past), and learned quite a bit about composition and even a bit about Photoshop too.

I was disappointed that Wendy wasn't able to join me as I know she really loves the bush as well but I will definitely be making a trip back there when the children are older. It's quite an experience and I've been wanting to go to Sabi for a long time. I only had to wait until I was 40 to get my chance. :)

While out in the bush we had many fantastic sightings and saw many leopard as well. This is the first time I have seen leopard in the bush so clearly and just being there was a fantastic experience on it's own. We even came across a leopard Karula with her two cubs. She was off to hunt and so left her two cubs to their own devices. The cubs aren't that small anymore but definitely still full of fun as they tried to track down two doves to no avail! :)
One of the most fantastic sightings however was the 4 Lion brothers that we came across. There is a 5th brother but he was off doing what comes naturally with a lioness somewhere else in the bush. :) Anyway, these male lions were stalking a full grown male Buffalo. If anyone knows the African bush then you will know that a lone bull buffalo is THE most dangerous animal in the bush and although you could see he was anxious with the lions surrounding him he was certainly going to put a fight. And put up a fight he did. The lions hardly managed to get close before he charged them at full speed. Needless to say the lions scampered away at incredible speed (look out for an upcoming photo!). Eventually the lions got bored and rolled over on their backs in the shade all next to one another and allowed the buffalo to go his own way. Perhaps another day! This was just one of the many highlights in the bush and we also saw: Black-Backed Jackal; Hyena, Walhberg Eagles, Saddle-Billed Storks, Warthogs, Giraffes, Zebra, Wildebeest, More Buffalo, Hare, Squirrels, Lilac-Breasted and European Rollers and many many other animals. What an experience!

I'm not sure how many pictures I am going to be able to process before the whole family leave at the end of March for a month long holiday with my family in Australia, but I hope you enjoy the few that you do get to see. We are going to stay with them in Brisbane and then have a trip up and down the coast, to the Zoo and all the good touristy stuff. Then Wendy and I are also managing to get away on our own for a couple of nights in Cradle Mountain, Tasmania. Pray for good weather - otherwise I guess we can enjoy a log fire and some red wine together. Mmmmm. :)

Here are a few snap-shots of Nkorho lodge in case you're interested (not the best time of day to shoot them, so as I say snap-shots). Other 'proper' photographs will be posted in the normal gallery.

2008-01-28T08:05:00.002+02:00

I've Been Framed!

I recently took ten (10) of my favourite photographs to be framed after I had printed them out on my new home printer (see Printing Euphoria). I really am still so thrilled with this Epson 3800 printer. It produces some fantastic prints and is really easy to use.
If anything I still am struggling a bit with skin tones and getting the colour right but practice makes perfect.

Anyway, back to the framing.
I chose these images from my online Gallery as they struck a chord with me for one or another reason. Going back now I guess I could've chosen several other images which also really appeal but hey, I chose these and now they're printed and about to to be hung on my wall. I'll guess I'll print more at some stage but can't have the house looking like a Gallery now can we? :) (Then again there's still the walls in my office!) :)

To have the ten prints framed was really reasonable and cost just over R3,500 at a framing shop just up the road from where I work. This was great as I was able to spend some time with them choosing the wood, matte and crop of the pictures. The shop is called 'Gallery Oriental' in Oxford Road, Rosebank and I found the owners/assistant to be really helpful as I went there not really having any idea of what the final result was that I was looking for. Overall I am really pleased with their work.

The Black and White Lions Head landscape looks truly sublime as does the Umdloti Sunrise. For the beach sunrise I chose a wonderfully textured wooden frame that really picks up the grains of sand shimmering in the early morning sun and it's just gorgeous. Probably my favourite photo of all is the Glossy Ibis having it's morning drink and the overall effect of this photo when it's framed truly makes it appear like a piece of art. I'm really thrilled with it!

Now I just have to find the time (and the space on the walls) to hang these all up.

Reflections on Photography and Art

2007-12-03T00:20:00.000+02:00

Anyone who knows me knows also that I have an interest in the photographic medium being treated as a bona-fide fine-art form. There are many such views and opinions on the web and others who have provided significant dissertations to the fact. One such viewpoint has been expressed by Alan Briot however and it is the purpose of this blog entry to simply point you to a series of articles that Alan has put together which have been collected on the Luminous Landscape site.
Happy reading! I found it quite enlightening it must be said.

Reflections on Photography and Art by Alan Briot
01. Introduction
02. Art and Science
03. Subject Matter and Print Size
04. Of Cameras and Art
05. The Eye and the Camera
06. Just Say Yes
07. New Lands Night
08. Finding Inspiration
09. Exercising Your Creativity
10. Developing Your Vision
11. Achieving Your Personal Style

Thanks Alan and Michael Reichmann from Luminous Landscape for a very interesting series of articles. Now just to put it all into practice. Eeek! :)

Printing Euphoria

2007-11-10T10:36:00.001+02:00

If you been onto my Photo Porfolio site recently then you will probably know that I recently acquired an Epson Stylus Pro 3800.
Not to repeat that information here but the printer prints in 9-inks up to A2 size.

I have printed out about 10 photographs on it so far and I am still blown away every time a print comes out of the machine!

Today I did my first black and white print on Epson UltraSmooth A2 Fine Art paper in matte.

The quality of this print was simply amazing and I am definitely going to pursue some more fine-art black and white prints. They just have such an aesthetic attraction for me. I'm not sure what it is but often a black and white just communicates so much more than a colour image. Perhaps it's because we are not used to seeing these stark contrasts on a daily basis. Anyway, I love it!

The Epson uses about 2-3ml of ink when swapping from Matte to Glossy ink and this was/is a criticism of this printer although it is a lot better than previous models apparently. So I guess one has to a little thoughtful when printing matte and glossy during the same run to minimise the ink loss. It may add up but at this stage I haven't really let that ink loss bother me too much.

Today, I also printed a panoramic view from Bloubergstrand of Table Mountain. This time in full-colour glossy on A2 and unfortunately I still need to get a better handle on soft-proofing on my monitors at home. Even though they are pretty well calibrated the initial print still came out too dark and dull. So a few quick few curves and saturation adjustments in Photoshop and the second print was so much better. So yep, unfortunately a wasted R100 or so (*gulp*) but I guess I have to anticipate this as I still learn a bit.

One of my favourite prints so far has to be of the Glossy Ibis in the sunlit morning mist and this came out better than I could ever have hoped for. It certainly is one of my favourite images just for it's originality and inspiration that I felt when I did the post-processing. It was taken at Rondebult Bird Sanctuary on the East Rand in Gauteng, South Africa. It was a very overcast morning and the original RAW image is quite dull. Needless to say a lot of creative juices went into the post work and the results certainly appear to be worth it.

Clearly I'm happy with the printer that goes without saying. Next week I shall be taking the prints in for framing and I reckon they are only going to look even better! Luckily I've got wall space at home to hang these up and I reckon some of my existing prints will be coming down. *blush* They look quite lame in comparison to some of these. :)

I will try and take a couple of pictures of the framed prints if anyone is interested in seeing them. Now, we've just got to get the sales process to start rolling. Anyone want to buy one??

My Blood is Green

2007-10-19T01:38:00.000+02:00

And no; it's got nothing to do with my being an enviromentalist or conservationist (although I do think those things are important).

This is all about Rugby!
World Cup Rugby to be precise.
South Africa vs England in the final of the World Cup Rugby Tournament 2007 in France on Saturday, 20th October 2007 to be even more precise.

The South Africa Rugby team are called Springboks and below is a brilliant video courtesy of YouTube of an ardent Sprinbok supporter. Well worth a watch!

Go Bokke! Go!
May the best team win - the Sprinboks of course!

There is a great vibe in the country at the moment with supporters wearing their green and gold everywhere you go and flags flapping out of windows and trailing behind motor-cyclists!
I was found to be running around the office this morning with my huge South Africa flag trailing behind me shouting "Bokke! Bokke! Bokke!" much to the hilarity of my fellow staff-members.

I have butterflies in my stomach at the thought of how tense the game is going to be as England are quite a formidable opponent. Even though we thrashed them 36-0 in the round-robin stages it is still going to be a challenge to emerge victorious in this final.

Good luck boys! We will be rooting for you!

(P.S. Normal photographic service will be resumed at some point after the Final! :))

Photography as an Art-Form

2007-10-16T02:45:00.000+02:00

A short essay inspired by several frustrations of late and a perception that the photographic community at large are all too often hung up by the perfections of photography. I understand that wildlife photography has it's own credo to adhere to in some respects but still believe that it has merit as an art-form (along with the many other genre's of photography). I also belive that the photographic community often get too hung up with the technicalities of the perfect photo. Hope you enjoy my bit of philosophical thinking on this Tuesday?

Photography as an Art Form

Every dog and their Uncle these days has a camera! Everywhere you look, absolutely everywhere - people are taking photographs. Photographs of sporting events, photographs of graffitti, photographs of dogs and cats, photographs of paparazzi, photo's and yet more photo's of your children. The list goes on and on.

The pervasiveness of camera's these days is unbelievable. You cannot get a cell-phone anymore without a n-megapixel camera that takes better pictures than the average point-and-shoot did only a short year or two ago. Technology is racing ahead. Are we ready to keep up though? And is our Art?

With all these photographs lying around and all of these photographers (some of them very fine photgraphers) taking so many pictures I can't help but believe that the value of photography has been diminished as an art-form.
As ardent fans of photography some of us complain about the lack of the 'sale-ability' of our productions but it is small wonder when you see the plethora of images being produced these days. Go into any half-decent book-store and just look at the amazing array of not just photographic books and magazines but also those publications that use photography as their primary medium - fashion; art; decor; gardening; travel. There is an unbelievable amount of photographs being produced and utilised in a myriad of ways. How do you stand out amongst that crowd or do you give in a succumb to the stock masses?

I would go so far as to say that there is an over abundance of photographs today; beyond the point of market saturation. Once again this diminshes the value of photography as an art-form. Or does it?

Some purists have the view that the main aim of photography has been to register reality and that photography has never more to offer than is seen on the picture itself. I believe that many would disagree with this viewpoint and I for one cannot abide by this definition. Many photographs inspire me and conjure up countless variations and visions with what they don't show rather than what they do. Or they carry me away to far off places to witness events and sights that I would never get the opportunity to see. What is reality anyway? Reality is certainly subjective and we all know that the boundaries of reality can indeed be pushed through the creative use of photography. Furthermore the digital medium and photographic manipulation most certainly brings photography back into the realm of a substantial art-form requiring significant creative interpretation.

The conundrum of course is that photography is both science and an art. Alan Briot eloquently states that "Unlike a painter, who is in direct contact with his subject and his canvas, a photographer is separated from his subject by the camera and from his "canvas" by computers and printers today and by darkroom equipment previously."
Some of us (more technically minded perhaps) can become bogged down by the technicalities of photography (i.e. how many EV levels is one photo different from another, or how many different Photoshop post-processing techniques are there to sharpen a photo).
This can diminish the benefit one can gain from approaching photography as an art-form with photographs that lack emotion or 'feeling' - that unquantifiable feedback that we get when viewing a masterpiece that just 'speaks to us'.
It's not to say that the scientific aspects of photography are unimportant. On the contrary. In much the same way as a traditional artist needs to learn and understand the various techniques and practices, rules and guidelines in his chosen art form before he can even begin to extend the boundaries or break the rules a photographer must do likewise. An artist should also learn to draw from historical perspectives and leverage what the masters before him have learned. I really believe the same is true also of the relatively new form of digital photography. We should not discount the lessons learned in the dark-rooms and in the field of the masters like Henri Cartier-Besson, Ansel Adams and the like? Those lessons are invaluable and insightful and we should build upon them to further the art of photography to even greater heights.
Certainly painters have far less technical challenges to deal with than photographers do as we depend on a variety of technical devices (sensors, monitors, printers, software, calibration etc) to reproduce the visual effects we perceive or desire to reproduce and it is therefore that we should strive to master all of those technical challenges so that all we are left to focus on is our creativity. Once we can move past the technicals we can create images that form an emotional response to a particular scene rather than any perfect mechanical representation could.

So now hopefully you will agree that some photography can indeed be considered an art form? However I believe it is really important that you as a photographer strive to establish yourself with a particular style and energy that makes you stand out from the crowd. You cannot hope to compete with the weekend warrior wedding photographers unless you have a vision for the art that you wish to create. You cannot hope to have your photographs hung up on a wall in an art gallery if they are not only technically incompetent but more importantly fail to send a message or stir an emotion in the viewer. The millions of photographs produced daily by the millions of photographers out there do a more than adequate job to capture our daily lives in all of it's success and stife. Very few of them however fail to send a message, capture an emotion or speak to the viewer. It is only then that we have an artistic photograph.

Is it hard to do? Yes of course it is! If it was easy the market would be flooded with artistic photographs. Instead the market is flooded with cookie cutter representations of reality. Don't misunderstand me. That photography can bring much joy to the viewer (albeit a much smaller audience) and it has great value in recording us as a civilisation but it does somewhat diminish the appreciation of photography as art. The general viewing public tends to gloss over the medium as a whole as a result and dismiss it as being not credible or valueless in terms of enriching our spirituality or emotional well-being.

Why are great sums of money paid out for pieces of traditional painted art-works. Several reasons I believe. One is the scarcity of masterful artwork. Another is the amount of perceived effort and energy expended in creating that art-work. There is this perception that one simply has to press the shutter on a camera to produce a great photo, whereas an artists labours for months or years over a piece of work. Quite simply this is a misconception of photography. Sure, one can blindly and with pure luck capture an award winning photograph. But those artists who produce phenominal photographs consistently may spend months evaluating a scene waiting for just the right light to capture the perfect landscape. Or spend a life-time in the bush waiting for the perfect kill, the perfectly balanced stride of a Cheetah in pursuit of it's prey. They may also spend a significant time in preperation of their images in post-production agonising over every small detail from capture to print. I agree it is hard to rationalise this with the general public when they see Uncle Tom with his Canon 5D at a wedding produce one or two photo's that are absolutely sublime?

Art takes many forms. It is up to us as the artists to produce something that not only speaks to us as an individual but to a wider audience as a whole. Don't mistunderstand me; it is also quite acceptable to have an audience of one. But art can communicate on so many other levels: break down barriers; speak to the masses with a new message; inspire even.

I believe it pertinent to close with a quote from Clive Bell in his classic essay "Art" states that only one thing can distinguish art from what is not art: "significant form." Bell wrote: "There must be some one quality without which a work of art cannot exist; possessing which, in the least degree, no work is altogether worthless. What is this quality? What quality is shared by all objects that provoke our aesthetic emotions? What quality is common to Sta. Sophia and the windows at Chartres, Mexican sculpture, a Persian bowl, Chinese carpets, Giotto's frescoes at Padua, and the masterpieces of Poussin, Piero della Francesca, and Cezanne? Only one answer seems possible - significant form. In each, lines and colors combined in a particular way, certain forms and relations of forms, stir our aesthetic emotions."

Not all photographs have to be works of art but if that is our goal then we must look at our work crtically and ensure that our "paintings of light" stand up as such. Only then can our photographs be deemed to be art and only then can our photography stand up as an art-form and reach the lofty heights of traditional artists whose works hang with pride and place in homes and musuems around the world.

Battle at Kruger

2007-10-11T10:01:00.000+02:00

Yes I know it's an oldie, but it's still a goodie...

The video is just over 8 minutes long but it's well worth the wait for it download if you haven't seen this before?
It documents an epic battle between Buffalo, Lions and a Crocodile in the Kruger National Park.

The Big Four Oh

2007-10-02T02:59:00.000+02:00

Time for the Big Four-Oh

Oh no! :(

Yep, it's that time in my life to have my chance at being fourty on the 4th October. I have to be honest; I'm not that thrilled about the idea!But then what can you do. Time stops for no-one and it really doesn't help to stress about it. Nevertheless...

My thirties were quite probably the best years of my life. During that decade I met my gorgeous wife Wendy who I later married on the 9th September 1999. A couple of years later we had our first child Michelle and then 14 quick months after that our second child Laura-Ashley.These three ladies are the light of my life. Rest assured they can all be very trying at times but I still love them to bits and I hope that they know it?

Work wise my thirties were also a fantastic decade as our company Mindkey grew from strength to strength. When Richard (my partner) and I started Mindkey in 1998 there were just the two of us and three junior programmers fresh out of college. Mindkey is now a thriving company of 50+ staff members and still growing. It's been a thrill and a privilege to be involved with everyone that has made this such a success and long may it continue. Like all things in life there have been some significant challenges managing it along the way but that has been part of the fun.

But of more significance for readers of this blog/journal I discovered a passion for photography.Thanks to some inspiration from two friends; Johann and Mauritz I acquired a Canon 20D. It was actually meant to be a present for my wife Wendy *ahem* - yes well we know how that worked out didn't we (at least she is using it more and more these days?).That was the beginning of the end in terms of managing any kind of budget! I now have too many cameras and lenses to count and I'm still passionate about taking photos although finding the time in a hectic life is the real challenge.I really enjoyed Digital Photography as you got this immediate feedback and it was really quick and easy to learn from your mistakes. I also really enjoyed spending the time in front of the PC learning applications like Photoshop and understanding how RAW works and all that jazz. I remember when I first fired up Photoshop I was in awe and thought there's no way in hell I will ever learn this program. But gradually and with the help of a lot of books and online tutorials I grew to love the flexibility and power of this amazing application.I began spending so much time playing around with photo's that all other PC interests began to wane. No longer did I want to play games; it was much more fun fiddling around with photo's; posting them on sites like deviantArt or OutdoorPhoto and getting crit and meeting like-minded individuals.

What am I doing for my birthday? Well when Wendy asked me what I would like to do; I easily and instantly replied: "Just some time out to go and take photo's is all I ask for?" :)
So tomorrow (3rd October) I am off to Pilanesberg Nature Reserve which is a couple of hours drive from Johannesburg where I intend to spend the whole day (hopefully) being out in the bush with just the animals and me (and my camera of course). Hold thumbs that I can come back with some great photo's for us all to enjoy.

Take care
Ian

Spring has Sprung Johannesburg. Wake Up!

2007-09-07T07:38:00.001+02:00

Spring has Sprung Johannesburg, Wake Up!

Spring has definitely arrived in Johannesburg. This past week we have had absolutely gorgeous weather with temperatures in the high 20°C-30°C. It has been glorious although some would say perhaps a little hot? The birds are singing early in the morning. The leaves are coming out on all the trees and some flowers are already budding. Fantastic news although some will admit that it is already a bit hot so we could be in for a scorcher of a summer. Time to get that pool all sorted out for summer, otherwise my daughters won't be very happy with me. Of course we haven't had any rain yet so we are looking forward to that. There is nothing like that first rain of Spring/Summer as it clears the air of all the dust in the air and the sweet smell that’s associated with it. Johannesburg has the most wonderful storms most afternoons with fantastic cloud formations, thunder and lighting so definitely some photographic opportunities there. Plus, the added benefit that it cools the atmosphere down.

Photographically speaking however things at the moment are still very dull. I've really been wanting to go out and about and take some more pictures but it really is a bit depressing as almost everywhere the dead browns still pervasive. Nevertheless this is changing rapidly and I'd better be ready for hopefully what will be a great season. Of course, there are still plenty of birds about and the migrants have already begun to come back as witnessed by several recent photographs from Marievale of the Flamingo's etc. So no excuses really?

Speaking of excuses sometimes it's really difficult to open your eyes up photographically. We work hard all day and then home life can also be hectic and we travel to and from work like zombies. It can be a real challenge just to open your eyes up and 'see' the opportunities out there. Recently I saw some posts by a local Pro photographer 'Mark Thomas' on the OutdoorPhoto forum. Mark hasn't posted in absolute ages and I guess he has been really busy, but he came back with a vengeance with a really simple photo that was just awesome in composition and style. It was a stone cross almost covered by surrounding shrubbery and flowers. It was really simple but the composition and depth-of-field was really stunning and proof that Mark has the 'eye' to just see photographs.

I have really been trying to 'see' colour opportunities lately and I have seen some on the road between our offices in Houghton and our client in Braamfontein but I am much too anxious top stop the car and get out and photograph with expensive equipment. This is Johannesburg after all. One of the most severe crime-ridden countries in the world! Really, a rather depressing thought that we are restricted in such a way from just 'living' - but that surely is another topic for another blog.

On another sombre note, I was saddened to see the departure of Luciano Pavarotti from this world. We shall surely miss such a great and talented artist. Sure he had his quirks and apparently was a bit of womaniser but I'm sure we can agree - he had a magnificent voice. I quickly went scrounging around my CD's for 'Nessun Dorma' and have played it several times. Magnificent!

C'mon Summer! Best of luck to the Springboks in France as the World Cup Rugby tournament gets underway today!!!

Ian

Digital Asset Management

2007-09-04T05:27:00.000+02:00

Lately I have been researching a lot about Digital Asset Management. The so-called DAM side of photography. It's a very interesting subject and there are many approaches to handling the massive amounts of digital files that we collect as we go about pursuing our hobby.

For instance, I am not a very prolific shooter and I have nearly 700GB of RAW Image files stored away. Some on CD, some on DVD and most on my 2TB Network Storage device. It's great to have the NAS (that's the 2TB job) but I'm nowhere near diligent enough backing it up to something more permanent (such a DVD) or even having an off-site backup. It would be a tragedy to lose any of that data.

The whole DAM principle is not just about backing up your images but also determining a workflow that best ensures the image integrity of your photographs right from capture to print and storage. It's also founded in principles that allow you to catalogue your image collection so that you are able to not only pick out your best work for publication or presentation to a client but also to be able to find a particular image at the drop of a hat.

Primarily as a RAW shooter I have a lot of .CR2 files from my Canon cameras that I hope I will be able to read in the years to come? Adobe has a more universal format called the Digital Negative (.DNG) and now Microsoft are coming out with a JPG replacement called HD Photo. So it's really important to decide just what 'negatives' to hang on to and how you would process them up front so they are easily viewable and searchable in the future.

Metadata (data about data) is cruicial in an effective DAM methodology and it becomes apparent that not only protecting your images with your name, location, copyright and rights usage terms but by adding keywords and catalog sets your images become instantly much more valuable. For instance, imagine being able to search your entire catalogue of images since you started for all images that are of print quality for an A2-print of Male Amethyst Sunbirds in breeding plumage. Ok, I know this search example is a bit contrived; but I think the point is moot. I certainly would struggle to do that now and as I collect more and more images this task is only going to get harder.

I have a lot more research to do on this. Slowly but surely however I am beginning to get a handle on the matter and I think a tutorial or article is in the pipeline. I have also made some enquiries about hosting a training session or two related to DAM where I can share my research and personal experiences on the matter. Let's hope there' a few takers in that regard.

Time to go read some more...bye.

Ian Weatherburn Photography On-Line

2007-09-04T05:00:00.000+02:00

Hello and welcome to Ian Weatherburn's Photography Blog!

I have finally got around to setting up my own web site to host my photography work in a Gallery format that also allows for the sale of prints and services.

You can find my Gallery online at:

http://www.ianweatherburn.com/

http://www.ianweatherburn.co.za/

as you please.

The site is powered by a group call Photium and their interface is really easy to use and you can have a gallery setup in a matter of minutes. Of course it takes a little longer polish a site to bring it in line with something that you may have envisioned but that is half the fun of it really?

I still need to load many more photo's to my Gallery but I now that I'm a subscriber I need to reorganise my initial layout as I can now create nested portfolios etc and I want to set it up properly. Also some of the images uploaded are not ideal (for instance they are not in the correct format for displaying etc) so I have a bit of re-work to do.

Other parts of the site are looking more complete however and this includes the makings of a Tutorial section where I have posted three tutorials already that I had previously done. The News section is also coming along quite nicely with a couple of interesting posts captured there (photography related of course).

What will be the intention of this blog? Well while my Gallery web-site aims to show-case my best work and present some photo's for re-sale either via stock or print, I think this Blog will allow me to discuss other photographic issues.

Such as: where I have been lately; and what I saw there. What equipment I have been trying out lately and how has it worked out for me? What new lessons have I learned from research on the web? How did a recent event shoot go and what did I learn there? Perhaps even a discussion around the merits of different post-processing techniques, stuff that I've learned regarding Digital Asset Management or any number of other issues that pertain to photography in general.

I will try and keep it focused but other times I may deviate from this path (who knows) and just rant and rave about life in general.

Hope you enjoy the ride?

Ian