Holding Back The Rain - October Berg Workshop

The last weekend in the Drakensberg was an absolute blessing of weather of in the end. I have now learned never to trust the weather report when it comes to the chain of mountains that is the Berg. Despite grim forecasts for the entire weekend, we had amazing luck with dramatic lighting, excellent cloud features when we needed them, and blanket cloud at the places where we needed soft light. It was as if the weather gods had taken up photography. 

FLM Centre Ball CB48FTR Tripod Head Review

Along with the set of carbon fibre legs that I recently reviewed, was a large ballhead also manufactured by FLM. Follow the link to the permanent review page on Limphoto.co.za.

Early Morning Shores Workshop

Last Saturday we ran a very successful landscape workshop on the coastline near Ballito. The day, which had been forecast to bring rain, wind and cold, turned into an absolutely perfect sunrise with beautiful cloud along the horizon, smooth seas and glorious warmth. So much for the weatherman. 

FLM Tripod Review - Is this a worthwhile CF tripod?

I recently had the opportunity to test out the FLM CP30-L3s carbon fibre tripod on a workshop in the Drakensberg. The unit was loaned by Sunshineco. an equipment retail and rental company based in Cape Town. There's a full review of the legs on the Limephoto page at this link.

Carry Water! - October Drakensberg workshop

Samuel Johnson famously said, "when a man grows tired of London, he grows tired of life". In some ways the Drakensberg is a little like my London. I never grow tired of it. Right now as I write this I'm sitting with a group of the photographers at Didima Camp in the middle of a cloud. Tara (from African Impact) has just walked in and said, "what happened to the mountains? They're all gone." The vagaries of the weather is part of the joy of the Drakensberg. It's always different. From boiling cloudless heat to wet, dripping, cold in a matter of 12 hours. This is a dynamic mountain that always keeps the visitor guessing as to what's about to happen.

Paul Greenway's tips on panoramic stitching

Paul, with whom I regularly work, has recently published an excellent blog article on panoramic stitching. It's well worth a read and has some fantastic images to boot. You can view the article by clicking on the link, or pasting this url into the nav bar (http://paul3pphoto.blogspot.com/2013/09/panoramic-stitches-simple-10-point.html) . Give it a read, it's worth it I reckon.

Unleash the Creativity - Get Off Auto!

“Your photos look amazing, you must have a really good camera!” We’ve all heard this one before. The assumption that the camera does the work and all the photographer does is press the button. It irritates many, but the surprising thing is how many enthusiast photographers also believe that this is true. In the last few workshops I have run I have heard from a couple of photographers that when they have a problem they slide the mode dial back to the dreaded green square, thinking that it will sort out the problem that they can’t figure out themselves. Talk to seasoned photographers and they do the exact opposite - they slide the mode dial into manual when things get confusing!