HarveyG

Fabulous day. Days like this make you proud of what we have achieved in this country, from the old days to the new. Shot at SAAF Museum AFB Zwartkop, Gauteng, RSA

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!

I occasionally enter a few images over at DPChallenge.com
Quite a big caring community of photographers there and a a recent challenge to help lift the spirits of one of the members’ 5 year old sons who suffered 33% 2nd and 3rd degree burns over his body. Poor kid. The idea being that the images would be printed off and given to Dallas in a scrapbook. Lots of thoughtful images were submitted.The challenge allowed Expert Editing so a lot of Photo Shop fun was allowed.

Here is my entry of an African Stone Chat titled “Hang in there Dallas!” but with minimal editing.

Hang in there Dallas!

And one from my friend Leo in Arizona titled “AH!… a giant “taco eating dog”!”

AH!... a giant "taco eating dog"! © Leo Koach (Focuspoint)

Naturally the winner was Cristophe (gyaban) with his fantasy masterpiece “The Hero”

Check out all the shots here: “For Dallas” and Dallas’ Hospital Support Website

A big thanks to Arusha of Voetsek and the amazing bands. We donated our time, shutter releases, images and post processing to the organisers and all the bands to help raise awareness of those animals who can’t speak for themselves. Some of my shots of that night:

David Baudains Solo Acoustic | Tim Bland of the Couch Potatoes:

David Baudains © HarveyG Photography

Tim Bland © HarveyG Photography

Other Bands photographed that night: Spoonerman:  Animals in Suits:  Jet Black Camaro:  Ramblin’ Bones:  WONDERboom:  The Vendetta Cartel:   Submachine:

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!

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!

A few shots taken at a recent VIP birthday party Enjoy!

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: