Celtic (1) – Kaizer Chiefs (0)

Celtic beats Kaizer Chiefs yesterday 1-0 and stay at third place on the log of the PSL. Kaizer Chiefs with seven points remain at 11th position on the log. Prince Olomu scored celtic’s only goal in the last five minutes of the game. Vodacom Park nearly erupt when over forty thousand supporters went crazy and were ecstatic with their home team playing so well at the moment.

At half time the noise levels were so high, the announcer ask the spectators to calm down because the players couldn’t hear each other talk in the dressing room. I think this will rate as one of my top 5 atmospheres i experienced in my life at a sporting event.

Here an image of Prince Olomu, the goal scorer for Celtic FC.

I used a Nikon D3 and a 400mm F2.8 lens with a 1.4 converter fitted to it. My settings were as follow;

Shutter: 1/800 sec

Aperture: F4

ISO: 3200

White Balance: 5000  Kelvin

Gerhard

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Proteas vs Sri Lanka

South Africa lose the opening match of the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy yesterday when Sri Lanka defeated them at Centurion in Pretoria. This put the Proteas under so much pressure for the rest of the series.

Here two moments which i think switch the game in Sri Lanka’s favour.

Tillakaratne Dilshan getting his 100. He ended up making 106.

JP Duminy clean bowled by Ajantha Mendis for a duck.

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Gerhard

Griquas (36) – Lions (31)

In a Currie Cup match in Kimberley today Griquas keep their Currie Cup Campagne alive by winning the Lions 36 – 31. Here an image of Jonatha Mokuena the Captain of Griquas taking on Earl Rose full back of the Lions.

I used a Nikon D3 with a Nikon 400mm F2.8 lens fitted to it. The settings on the camera were as follow;

Shutter:  1/1000 sec.

Aperture: F4.5

ISO: 320

White Balance: Auto

Gerhard

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For Sale

1.  Nikon D2X Body

2. Nikon 28-70 mm F3.5 – F4.5 Lens

3.  Nikon WT – 2A Wireless Transmitter

All in excellent condition

Price – R18 000

Call Gerhard  at +2782 453 2345 or email – info@superimage.co.za

Eagles vs Cobras – 17 September 2009

I covered the Gestetner Diamond Eagles vs Cobras Cricket match today. For the first time i used the Nikon 1.7 teleconverter in the field and must say i’m very impressed. the contrast and sharpness is remarkable and i really can’t see the use of a 600mm anymore specially if you look at the ISO capabilities of the Nikon D3. One loses one and a half stop light with the 1.7 converter but no problem, just push the ISO one and a half stop up and you’re fixed.

The next photo of Richard Levi i took with a Nikon D3, 400mm F2.8 lens fitted with the 1.7 teleconverter. Further i switch to the 1.5 crop factor on the camera which give you in effect a 1020mm F4.8 lens.

My settings were as follow;

Shutter: 1/1000 sec.

Aperture: F5

ISO: 360

Just a few tips when shooting cricket:

1.  One must see the players eyes in the photo (if possible).

2.  The ball must be in the photo ( if possible).

3.  Keep the background as clean as possible.

4.  Throw the background out of focus as much as possible.

5. It is always nice if there are more than one player in the image for instance the batsman and the wicket keeper.

6.  Keep the shutter speed above 1/1000 sec. if you want to freeze the action.

7.  Remember rules are there to be broken. So always look for something different.

Gerhard

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Nikon 1.7 Teleconverter

I got the Nikon 1.7 teleconverter today and tested it on my model, Lucas the Jack Russell. One can always rely on him for a good performance and a quick run.

Although the autofocus seem to be a bit slower(I must admit that the light was a bit low which can make the focus considerable slower) it still were more than capable following the tiger deluxe running straight at me. I can’t see any problem with the sharpness at all although theoretically it must be a bit softer, and also considering the fact that i used a ISO of 3200 due to the low lighting conditions. I used it on the 400mm F2.8 lens which convert it to a 680mm F4.8.

Overall i’m happy and can’t wait to shoot my first cricket game with it on Wednesday when the Eagles play the Cobras in Bloemfontein. Next week i’m covering the ICC Cricket Trophy in Gauteng where i will also put it through some testing.

My settings on the camera(D3) were as follow;

Exposure:  1/800sec.

Aperture: F5

ISO: 3200

Gerhard

www.supermedia.co.za

Digital Images not Worth a Penny?

For some reason or another people can’t understand that digital images are worth anything. They see it as a lot of 0 + 1’s on the computer that is worth absolutely nothing.

Magazines and Papers can’t understand why they have to pay me between R450 and R600 for a once of editorial usage. What they don’t consider is the fact that i use well over R200 000 worth of equipment to cover a rugby, soccer or any other event. Further i got over 25 years of experience taking action photos(since 1984).

What they normally suggest is that they will give me credit(my name) underneath the photo and in return i must give them the usage of the image for free. That way i will get some exposure and must see it as some sort of marketing. Just one question, who took the front cover of the Rapport yesterday? Yes i also don’t know because nobody except a few jealous photographers take a look who took the photos in magazines and papers. So this is no way of marketing and it is not going to buy me one liter of milk a month(don’t mind the R200 000’s equipment).

When we do Junior level tournaments the public can buy either the photo(A5,A4 etc.) from us or the digital image for R125. When you tell somebody he have to pay you R125 for the digital image such a person normally makes three “Flik Flakke” backwards, Gasp for air three times, Faint two times and after all this start screaming at you and can’t understand why he or she have to pay such a lot(R125) for a peace of crap(image taken with a Nikon D3 and a Nikon 400mm F2.8 lens with 25 years of experience at the back of it).

Then one(me) must stay calm and remember the first principle of business, ” The customer is always right”. Well normally at this stage i loose the tiny bit of business sense i got totally.

On a positive note. I took some images at the rugby on Saturday when the Cheetahs played WP and at the Soccer on Sunday when Celtic played Amazulu and got some brilliant shots. This is my life and this is what i love doing. Maybe someday i will came across somebody who is prepared to pay me for the use of my images what they are worth. If not i will still be doing it till the day i die.

Tonderai Chavhanga – 12 September 2009

Mark Mayambela – 13 September 2009

Gerhard

www.supermedia.co.za

Photo Agencies vs Freelance Photographers

In South Africa the editorial photo market is completely dominated by the big Photo Agencies.  The result is a decline in quality images seen in papers and magazines these days. If you had a look in the Sunday papers today 6 September 2009 you can clearly see the difference between the sport images taken of the Springboks vs the Wallabies in Brisbane and the images of the Currie cup games in South Africa.

Okay now you will say, but these images were also taken by photographers working for big companies. That is true but the difference overseas and specially in the UK, where i got the most of my work published at the moment, is that they really try there best to support the smaller companies and freelance photographers. That way they keep the image quality high because the bigger companies know if their images ain’t up to standard their work will not be published and the freelance guys know if their work is the best they will get published. Yes as simple as that.

I fore see that in the next three years one will really see the decline in image quality that will get published because of this policy of the papers and magazines. The reason for this is that there are still a few good photographers in SA working for the big guys like Duif du Toit and Lefty Shivumba. When they going to finish in a few years time the younger guys won’t be able to deliver the quality because they don’t need to because there is no competition.

Here two images i took of the game between the Cheetahs and the Lions on Saturday 5 September 2009. I’m not going to say much but if you have seen better images of this game in the papers please let me know because i haven’t seen them.

Johan Wessels tackled by Jano Vermaak

Tertius Carse tackled by Alwyn Hollenbach.

Gerhard

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Jongi Nokwe

Jongi Nokwe left wing of the Vodacom Cheetahs definitely got his eyes on the jersey of Bryan Habana. In the last year he work hard on his skills and specially his skill under the high ball improved tremendously. At the moment he is the leading try scorer in the Currie Cup with nine tries.

“I’d like to be in the Bok squad again after the Currie Cup and that is why I play as hard as I can every week,” said Nokwe

Nokwe is happy with his form and wants to maintain that to keep the pressure on Habana.

“Bryan is a world class player and my goal is to pile the pressure on him. He has to know that there are players competing for his Bok jersey,” he said.

Here a image i took in Kimberley on 29 August 2009 when Jongi got a hat trick against the Griquas. I used a Nikon D3 and a Nikon 400mm F2.8 lens. My setting on the camera were as follow;

Shutter: 1/1000 sec.

Aperture: F4.5

ISO: 500

White Balance: Auto

Picture Control: Vivid

Focus: Nine point focusing zone.

Continuous shooting set on seven frames per second. Although the D3 can go up as high as 11 frames a second i feel seven frames a second is the fastest i can shoot at in order to still follow the action. Faster than this one’s vision became a problem because the mirror is in the way the whole time resulting that one can’t frame the subject properly.

Gerhard

More images on www.supermedia.co.za