HarveyG

At a recent farewell to a dear mentor (Goodbye Dr. B. You were truly a leader of men.) in my early days in the Sandton Emergency Services, a lot of my old colleagues whom I’ve not seen in years asked me what I am doing now with myself! I left the service in ’97 after 8 years of some of the most tumultuous times in South Africa’s history and dangerous yet oddly rewarding work of my life. I always had my 35mm cameras at hand but they were not as easily taken into a township in the back of an Mfezi and D&P was pricey on my salary…so I have sadly very little in the way of photo’s of those days, some were destroyed in a flood a few years back.

So to get back to the point, when I said I do “event photography” I drew a bit of a blank stare from them. I admit they didn’t expect this considering I mostly post nature/scape/wildlife/birding shots on my Facebook Page. These are the subjects that draw more pleasure than a picture of bored conference attendees or staff right? However if done properly, professional event photography can also draw emotion and attention, and be a powerful tool or conveyor of ideas, product, promotions, launches, services and more. Here are a few samples of my work:

Contact me for tuition and tours as well as event photography!

Gear I use: Bodies: Nikon D-SLR’s / Lenses: Nikon, Sigma, Tokina, Vivitar
Filters: Hoya UV & Polarizing / Flash: Nikon Speed-lights / Bag: Lowe Pro
Tripods & Heads: Manfrotto / Grips, Triggers, Timers, Batteries: Phottix
Editing Plug-in: Topaz Labs Noise Reduction, HDR, B&W Conversion & more!

Canon .CR2 RAW

Nikon .NEF RAW

So you have a Canon (CR2) but want to help a friend edit or Post Process their images but can’t open or view them because they are Nikon (NEF)?

When you install your DSLR software, the codec for your brand of camera is embedded into and used by the O/S so you can view thumbnails, open and edit with your manufacturers included software, however it can’t read a RAW file from another manufacturer if that codec is not installed.

You might have bought the camera 2nd hand and the packaging/software is amiss and downloading the original software is either daunting or it simply isn’t available.

Here’s a solution:

You can download the RAW Codec Pack from a number of online resources. Solutions are to get the codecs from your camera maker, O/S House or from a 3rd party, if you have failed at finding/downloading the software from the manufacturer. Please visit each site regularly as they are updated as new camera models are released. You could also join your local camera club, as there will be a diverse collection of cameras and someone might well be willing to copy his/her install CD for you. Once installed, most s/w self-updates to the latest version.

I’ve done some of the leg work for you; download them here > Codec links: (continue reading…)

’nuff said!

ROFL @ “Is that your ‘skinny’ lens?”

Original here:

According to this MF photographer, there are limitations…

After receiving a newsletter from DP Review about the Phase One Mamiya – Leaf tie-up , one commentator, kb2zuz; (Kurt Heumiller)-USA, who shoots for the Yale Center for British Art, with a Hasselblad H3D-II 39 MS and H4D 50 MS, had this to say about the Medium Format  debate (added below for those without restricted internet access):

What are the mythical advantages of sensor size (or the often related larger pixels)? Less noise, better dynamic range, shallower depth of field. I work with an H4D every day, … I can tell you this, at anything over 50 ISO it has worse noise than any 35mm “full-frame” digital I’ve seen. It has only slightly better dynamic range (and again, that’s only at 50 ISO). Yes with the 120mm f/4 lens it will have a shallower depth of field than an 85mm lens on a full-frame at f/4, but you can get f/1.2 lenses for full-frame. Most MF lenses are f/2.8 or slower, there’s a couple f/2.2 lenses… so there goes the DOF advantage. I use medium format every day and there are reasons for it: multi-shot uninterpolated images, no AA filter, and high megapixels. That’s about it.

I’m no expert on MF, but I’ve long thought it would be better than FF or APS-C in all regards, at that sensor size, and I’ve seen jaw dropping images by MF photographers, but there are other factors I should have taken into consideration, (continue reading…)

Lunch Lizard © HarveyG Photography (published on SigmaPhoto.com)

I lay flat on my stomach for an hour watching this guy catch his lunch during a workshop/getaway in and around Hoedspruit, Limpopo, South Africa. Used a Sigma 100-300mm f/4 APO EX DG APO HSM full-frame non-stabilised lens on the D90 (Sadly it is discontinued by Sigma as they have replaced it with a 120-300mm f/2.8 and I’m counting pennies ;p ) This gives me the effective range of 150-450mm on the DX small-frame sensor of the D90 (remember the D90 has exactly the same sensor as the D300s). Distance to subject about 180 cm / 70.9″ right at the cusp of closest focus. A “kit” 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 would also work as long as it’s the DG (full frame) that has that extra reach, and not the DC 18-250mm version. I shot a lot of my early work with 70-300mm f/slows and they are very versatile. A 55-200mm VR or any equivalent new 70-300mm VR DX/OS DC lens will work, but you have to get closer and often these subjects have a personal space of a few meters.

Note the low POV. Critical in getting more powerful images. I wished more people would do that with their pet images on Facebook!

The lizard polished off at least half a dozen insects and larvae in one hour. They are so fast that by the time he’s scampered to catch the fallen insect he’s half swallowed it already before you get a shot. You have to be spot on with focus and constantly alert. Shutter priority is the way to go and once you have mastered that go aperture priority but keep an eye on the shutter speed. At least double the speed of the maximum focal length of your lens to get a sharp unblurred image. In my case that would be 1/1000th (300mm full frame lens x 1.5x crop factor = 450mm x 2 = 900). A bean bag is handy as this big lens weighs 1480 g / 52.2 oz, and gets harder to hold as time goes by, however the POV is then slightly higher and perhaps not as powerful a shot.

ETA 2012/01/19: ID just in! Thanks to to Trevor from Hardaker.co.za Common Flat Lizard (Platysaurus intermedius) Possibly male.

Watching him snack bugs reminded me of The Crunchy Frog sketch by Monty Python:

Well it’s back to the grindstone for most of us. Hope you all feel refreshed like these little guys and have a fabulous 2012!

Splish Splash - Crowned Lapwings aka Kiewiet (c) H Grohmann photographed during a Workshop at Rietvlei NR

and all those togs that can afford the new Nikon D4 should have a blast at the Olympics with it this year.