Kaizer Chiefs vs Celtic

On 29 October 2008 Kaizer Chiefs played Celtic FC in a PSL match at the Seisa Ramabodu Stadium in Bloemfontein. It was a sell out crowd and the atmosphere in the stadium was absolutely magnificent. I got a nice shot of Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper, Itumeleng Khune  trying to save a goal.  I saw the game moving to the middle and instead of focusing on the strikers, I prefocused on the goalie and got away with this shot. The settings on my D3 were 1/2500s at F5 , Auto WB and the picture control on vivid. I used the 400mm F2.8 with a 1.4 converter and I was sitting right at the corner of the field.

Copyright remains the property of Superimage Media. www.supermedia.co.za

Gerhard

Fina/Arena World Cup Swimming

From 18-19 October I covered the South African leg of the Fina/Arena World Cup swimming that took place In Durban.  Here is just a few hints on taking swimming photos. First of all, you need a really serious mother of a lens to take really decent swimming photos. By that I mean not less than a 500mm.  The reason for this is that if you, for instance, use a 300mm your angle that you are using get too big. Even if you sit down low it will still look like your view point is too high. Sometimes I go up to a 900mm to get a really dramatic feel on my smimmng photos.

Secondly, you have to spend a lot of hours by the side of the pool to get your timing right. It is now my eleventh year taking swimming photos and still there is an improvement each year as I gain more experience.

The photo below is a standard action swimming photo of Felipe Lima of Brazil.  My setting on my D3 were 1/800s at F5. ISO;4000 and the WB on 3850K with the picture Control setting on Vivid.  I used a 400mm F2.8 lens and a 1.4 converter.

On the next photo of Jean Marie Neethlling, I used a really slow shutter of 1/40s at F8 ISO:640 to get some movement in the photo. In photographic terms this is called panning. To get the result you must use a slow shutter. Move the camera along with the subject very smoothly and press the shutter (while doing this keep on moving with the subject till the shutter closes). This takes a lot of practise to get right so keep on trying.

The start of a race always produces good shots. The next photo is of Fabiola Molina of Brazil at a start of a backstroke event. She was in lane 4 which means she was the favorite to win the race. I focussed on her and luckily got the shot where she has her head in front at the start.

Gerhard

Copyright on images remain the property of Superimage Media.

http://www.supermedia.co.za

Soccer vs Rugby

On 15 October 2008 I covered the Bafana Bafana vs Ghana soccer match at Vodacompark in Bloemfontein. Once again realising the big difference in photographing Rugby and Soccer.

In Rugby one can, most of the time, get away with following the ball and not miss a lot of the game by doing so.

In Soccer, one has to preditermine  which player is going to receive the ball and focus on that player before the time, so you don’t miss too much of the action.  For example, have a look at the photo below of Mathew Booth(Bafana player for those who don’t know).  I saw one of the bafana players passing to the middle and while the ball was in the air I had to determine who was going to receive it. In this case it was Matthew and immediately focused on him.  Luckily i got the shot. By the way it was a night game and I had to use a ISO of 4000 on my D3. The exposure settings were 1/800 of a sec. and F4.5. I used a 400mm F2.8 VR lens with a 1.4 converter attached to it.

Then of cause in rugby, as well as soccer, there will always be some action after the action.  So don’t look at that little screen at the back of your camera to early (Rememder you are there to take photos, not to look at your photos). The bottom line is; don’t take your eye away from that little hole because you might miss the shot of the day.  This photo of Teko Modise was taken after he hit the crossbar in an attempt to score a goal,showing his frustation afterwards.

Gerhard

Copyright remains the property of Superimage Media.

Off the Field

IMAGE COPYRIGHT: Superimage Media

On Saturday 11 October 2008 the Cheetahs played the Blue Bulls in the semi Final of the Currie Cup and as you all know the Blue Bulls won 31-19. Seeing that I have been a Cheetah supporter for long as I can remember, it wasn’t a good day for me.  Luckily there was enough to capture off the field (that was interesting), like the Blue Bull girls;

At halftime Steve Hofmeyer sang “Die bloubul sal nie van die vloer af eet nie” ;

And then there was the real Blue Bull;

 

But still, all this wasn’t good for my health.  Luckily on the field, Juan Smith still had the gutts to put up a good fight;

 

Gerhard www.supermedia.co.za

Photo Integrity

 

How much editing are you allowed to do on a photo before it intrudes on your photo integrity?  Across the globe, this is a big thing amongst photographers; especially news, sport and documentary photogs.

The photo below of Alex Criville was taken by me in 2000 at the 500 cc Motorcycle Grand Prix.  The shot was quite boring in the sense that I froze the action with a high shutter and at this specific spot there wasn’t a great number of people in the background.

So what I ended up doing was to take another photo (with alot of people in the background), took this background and put it into this photo to make it more interesting. Furthermore I used photoshop to give a pan effect (Blur).

 

I didn’t sell this photo to anyone because I thought I had done too much editing on it. This meant there wasn’t a great deal of photo integrity from my side.

The next photo I took on 15 June 2008 in a World Cup Qualifying match between Lesotho and Libya. I think it is a great shot except that it is a bit boring since there isn’t a crowd in the background. The bottom line is this: the photo has a great deal of photo integrity with no resale value.

What do you think?

Gerhard 

www.supermedia.co.za

                              Copyright:Gerhard Steenkamp/Superimage Media

 

 

 

Copyright

 

Copyright!! Okay, this is a very sensitive subject.  If you ask 10 Photographers what rights everyone involved in a photo shoot have regarding the photos  you are probably going to get 20 different answers. Every time you ask someone this question you get a different answer than the last time.

Now this is where you come in.  Maybe you’re the one that’s going to help us clueless photogs so next time some clever guy is trying to abuse us we can tell him that you said ………..

Look at this photo below and simply answer the following questions.

 

I took this photo of Jean de Villiers on 23 August 2008 in Durban when the Springboks played a Tri Nations test against Australia.  I got media accreditation from SARU (South African Rugby Union) to cover the game for Superimage Media which is a registered media company. Now for the questions;

1. What rights do I, the photographer, have?

2. What rights does Jean de Villiers have?

3. What rights does Superimage Media have?

4. What rights does SARU have?

5. What rights does the Sharks Rugby union have. They were the host union?

6. And lastly, what rights does the sponsors have since their logos are visible on the jersey?

Gerhard www.supermedia.co.za

 

Meyer Bosman against the Boland Kavaliers

 

Hi

On this blog I will publish a few photos each month and explain how I go about taking action photos and discuss different techniques.  You are more than welcome to give comments and ask questions.

The photo below was taken by me on 4 October 2008 in a match between the Cheetahs and the Boland Cavaliers. I used my Nikon 400mm F2.8 lens and Nikon D3  body.  The photo of Meyer Bosman, centre of the cheetahs was taken from the sideline and the settings on the camera was;

Exposure;  1/1000s at F5

ISO: 400

The 1000 of a second freezes the action and F5 was wide enough to throw the background out of focus. It was a little overcast with no direct sunlight which gave a nice soft light source.

 

Normally you won’t catch me standing up when taking rugby photos.  The low viewpoint adds to a more dramatic feel to the photos.

To take photos at big matches and arenas you have to apply for accreditation prior to the game.  In South Africa we apply for accreditation at SARU (South African Rugby Union) at the beginning of the season.  This accreditation applies for all the Vodacup, Super 14, and Currie Cup games. For the Tri Nation Tests and other test matches additional accreditation must applied for.

On a match day I arrive at the stadium 2-3 hours before the game to get a feel of the conditions and be part of the vibe in a stadium.  At halftime I will upload 4-5 photos on our website  www.supermedia.co.za  for our clients with tight deadlines to quickly download the photo they need.

At the end of the game I will upload another 10 or more photos before exit and go and enjoy a beer.

Gerhard