Hidden treasures near Johannesburg

Gauteng in South Africa has many hidden treasures. One of the most beautiful caves in this area is the Wonder Cave which is believed to be 2,2 million years old. It is located within the Rhino and Lion nature reserve at the Cradle of Humankind. Robert Broom found the first fossils in 1937 and spent the rest of his life devoting himself to the discovery and excavation further hominids.

The dolomite limestone caves in this area started out as warm coral reefs in shallow seas and excavations produced fossilized remains of ancient plants, animals and hominids . 7 of the 12 sites have yielded hominid remains and this area is designated a world heritage site.

New pictures added in the wildlife gallery

I have updated my wildlife gallery with a dozen pictures I took whilst travelling in South Africa. Please check it out. http://www.sylvainoliveira.com/wildlife/index.html

Thanks.

Paris by night

Paris is known as the "City of Lights" and it's a beautiful place especially at night. Originally the phrase referred to the Age of Enlightenment. Later, Paris was known as this for it's early adoption of street lighting and the most spectacular example is the Champs Elysee. Everyone has heard of the Eiffel Tower, Sacre Coeur, Louvre and the River Seine but visiting this city is a truly amazing experience. Paris has around 45 million tourists each year and it is easy to see why. The transport system is excellent and easy to use. From Chatelet les Halles, a major shopping centre, take line 1 to Tuilleries and walk through the gardens to the Louvre, beautiful in spring.
Or, travel by metro to Trocadero and take a leisurely stroll to the iconic Eiffel Tower which is often empty in August as the Parisiennes decamp to the south of France during the summer. Anvers, near Gare de Nord is the starting point for the funicular to Monmartre and the Basilica of the Sacre Coeur. This stunning white domed building is dedicated to the sacred heart of Jesus and situated on the highest point in Paris.

I was lucky enough to spend a few days in my home city but November isn't the best time to take stock photographs. The trees are bare, the days short and cold but on a dark winters evening, Paris isn't known as the "City of Lights" for nothing.

Tring Reservoirs

The Tring Reservoirs are a haven for waterbirds such as Widgeon and Pintail and the viewing areas give easy access to watch or photograph the wildlife. Wilstone reservoir was orignally built in 1802 to supply the locks on the canal with water so canal boats could transport goods, livestock, grain and coal from London to the Midlands. The locks are used to make the water rise or fall so that boats can make the journey along the canal which is 400 feet difference between the lowest point in Brentford, and it's highest point, Tring summit. In late September and October the light is superb and early evening is great time to photograph the sunset as it disappears behind the trees. The area is located within a site of special scientific interest and is a managed nature reserve. The Tring reservoirs are famous for fishing, producing large perch, tench, carp and bream. They are made up of four reservoirs, Wilstone, Startops, Little Tring and Marsworth. These shots were captured using a Canon EOS 1DS Mark3 with two Canon zooms, a 24-70 2.8L and a 70-200 2.8LIS.

Pitstone Windmill

After a short trip to France, I returned home to the UK. September and October are excellent months to take night pictures as the sunsets are often colourful and provide beautiful muted light. One of my favourite places close to my home is Pitstone Windmill, an ancient post mill dating from 1627 that's believed to be the oldest in the British Isles. This was a working mill until it was destoyed during a gale in 1902. It was restored by volunteers and is now open to visitors on Sunday and bank holiday afternoons from June to August.
The windmill was dark and I wanted to avoid it becoming a silhouette in the picture. I lit it up from the side using a flash Canon 580EX Mark2 mounted on a lightstand and remotely controlled by a Pocket Wizard. As the windmill is quite big and the flash wasn't powerful enough, I set the aperture of my zoom, Canon 24-70 2,8L, to F4 to allow the dark wooden detail of the post mill to become visible. The flash combined with the sunset created this beautiful effect.

Macro Photography becomes easier with the new Canon lens Macro 100 2,8L IS

I am really excited that Canon have just launched their new lens, a 100mm f/2,8L IS macro USM which is part of the flagship 'L' series. Macro photography can be difficult as obtaining a sharp image can be challenging. But now, Canon have incorporated image stabilisation, the first of its type. The new Hybrid IS system means camera shake is corrected up to four stops on normal use and two stops when 1.0x magnified. Not only does it correct the shake if the camera moves side to side and up and down but this new system makes corrections if the camera moves backwards and forwards. This is why it is interesting particularly for macro work. Fewer pictures end up deleted and on the whole it makes macro photography a little easier. I hope to buy this lens and will post reviews and images in the near future.

The Cotentin

The Cotentin is a beautiful area situated in Manche on the north western coast of France. The picturesque port of Barfleur was the preferred port of the old Dukes of Normandy and it was here Prince William, the only son of Henry I, went down on the « White Ship » in 1120. About 3km to the north of Barfleur is Cape Barfleur which has one of the tallest lighthouses in France at 233 feet high. There are many charming ports dotted around the coast such as Saint Vaaste, Goury and Port Racine, the smallest in France. Forget the white cliffs of Dover, the grass covered cliffs of the Nez de Jobourg are one of the highest in Europe and have panoramic views of the Cap de la Hague, Baie d'Ecalgrain and the Channel Islands.Cherbourg, France's second largest cross channel port is at the end of the pennisula of the Cotentin. The town itself is little more than a point of entry to and from France but, if do you have the time, the Cité de la mer whiles away a few hours. It's home to the deepest aquarium in Europe and the largest visitable submarine in the world.
It is also possible to visit the landing beaches of WWII such as Utah and Omaha which may be particularly poignant for those whose relatives fought here over 60 years ago.

Romantic Régneville

Régneville is a small town with a rich history. The « fours à chaux » in Régneville are disused limestone kilns that date back to the 19th century. The local limestone used to be converted into quicklime and the kilns were powered by coal from Wales. Nowdays, the kilns are used as an amphitheatre to host concerts, ballets and plays during the summer months.
The 18th century lighthouse at Agon Point gives an excellent view of Régneville. The estuary is enclosed by moving sand dunes so it's best to explore this area by foot.
The 14th century remains of Régneville castle can be seen on the journey from Monmartin-sur-mer to Régneville. It survived the 100 years' war only to be blown up by orders of King Louis XIII in 1637.
To take these shots I used a Canon EOS 1DS Mark 3 with Canon zooms 24-70 2.8L and 70–200 2.8 ISL.

Mont-Saint-Michel

After a short stay in England, I spent the rest of August in France. One of the most famous and important monuments in France is the Mont-Saint-Michel. The abbey dates back to the middle ages and mass is still celebrated here every day except Monday. Legend has it, the Archangel Micheal appeared before the bishop Aubert of Avanches and instructed him to build and concecrate a small church here. Before the year one thousand, on the request of the Duke of Normandy, a group of Benedictines settled on the rock. In the 11th and 12th centuries the monastery was built and extended and in the 13th century, the gothic section of the « Merveille » comenced.
Now, this is a commune to around 50 inhabitants and is filled with restaurants, shops and hotels. The famous La Mere Poulard restaurant is situated in one of the most unique places in the world; in the middle of the medieval city of Mont-Saint-Michel.
The tides are an important part of the Mont-Saint-Michel and the water starts to rise two hours before the high tide. Vehicles must be parked on the causeway or in designated areas or they will become quickly submerged in the water.

Mont-Saint-Michel was designated a UNESCO world heritage site in 1979 and has over 3 million visitors each year.

Things to do in Johannesburg

If ever the excitement of the FIFA World Cup 2010 is not enough (as if!) there are loads of activities to keep you and your family busy in Johannesburg. Gold Reef City is a theme park near the FNB Stadium ( Soccer City ) that has over 30 thrill rides, restaurants, shops, kiddies corner and even a farmyard to keep all ages entertained. Sun City and Pilanesberg National Park are only a few hours drive north of the city but it would be worth staying a few days and making this a mini break within a South African holiday. Johannesburg Zoo is a good day out to keep kiddies entertained.
Or, visit one of the casinos to try your luck or just take in the beautiful surroundings. Relax in the botanical gardens to get away from the hustle of the city or, if this does not appeal, there are plenty of bars, restaurants and clubs to party the night away. Spend an afternoon in Sandton, the financial and commercial district of South Africa, and home to over 300 leading retailers for ultimate shopping experience. fear of crime has made the gleaming towers of Sandton the business heart of Johannesburg and the old city centre is no longer desirable. yes if you look at statistics, Johannesburg is the violent crime capital of the world but it certainly has plenty to offer and it is up to the traveller to decide if the benefits outweigh the risks.

Krugersdorp game reserve

40 minutes west of Johannesburg is Krugersdorp game reserve where you can see animals such as rhinos, giraffes and antelopes. The lions are kept in an enclosure to separate them from the other animals which would normally be prey in the wild. This provided excellent photographic opportunities without the need to track them as would be the case in the bigger reserves. For anyone visiting Johannesburg, perhaps to see the FIFA World Cup 2010, this reserve provides an ideal taster of being on safari if Kruger or Pilanesburg is too far to travel in the time available. There are lodges and camping sites in the game park for those who wish to extend their stay.

Bush fires are common in South Africa and unfortunately humans are often casualties.

This lone springbok was seen walking among the burnt grass after the flames were extinguished. This bush fire seemed to have transformed the area into an apocalyptic landscape which was amazing to experience.

Pretoria/Tshwane

From the top of the cable car station, Pretoria Zoo can be seen here against the backdrop of the sprawling city skyline. This city gave me the impression that it was more integrated and relaxed than Johannesburg and there is plenty for the discerning traveller to do and see. The National Zoological Gardens is home to Pretoria Zoo, the largest in South Africa and one of the best in the world. The zoo plays an important part in the conservation of endangered animals and is no longer just a home to rare species.
For nature lovers there are plenty of reserves such as Groenkloof, Zwartkop or Onderstepoort. For culture, visit the Transvaal Museum, Cultural History Museum or visit the Voortrekker Monument which is both a reminder of apartheid and a hommage to the Afrikaans pioneers. On Booth Street, south of Pretoria Zoo, is Paul Kruger House Museum which is the last house the ex president stayed before his exile to Europe.
The Union Buildings house the offices of the President of South Africa and it's considered to be the architects greatest achievement. The gardens have been planted with thousands of indigenous plants and is a “must see” when visiting Pretoria. The famous blue train starts it's journey here and Pretoria is also one of the venues of the FIFA World Cup 2010.

Newborn baby pictures

Following the baby pictures taken on 3rd June http://sylvainoliveira.blogspot.com/2009/06/baby-pictures.html, I had the opportunity to try newborn ones. What a disaster! Newborns are notoriously difficult to photograph and this one was no exception. I had to shoot between feeds, nappy changes and sleeps and she was finally captured on camera with her eyes open. Although this was good experience I am certainly no Anne Geddes. To take these pictures I used a Canon EOS1D Mark3 with a Canon Lens 85mm 1.2L Mark2.
The flash was Canon 580 Mark2 set in a Manfrotto lighting stand and taken through a transluscent white umbrella which was triggered by a Pocket Wizard. I used aperture of f7,1 set by my trusty flashmeter Minolta V to give more depth of field because the baby kept moving.

Advertising and marketing is not the only key to success

The current conditions are tough for any photographer. Advertising and marketing attracts new business but it is also important to retain the client base. Even weddings can have repeat business. Often, friends of the bride and groom get married around the same time and need a photographer and referrals can become secured business. Or, pregnancy provides the opportunity for maternity and child portraits. Unfortunately, not all photographers realise the importance of good service and fail to deliver prints on time or are not easily contactable. One even posts his daily life on Twitter
telling potential customers about a visit to a pizzaria or a football match but has no interest in clients beyond the secured sale. Good old fashioned service is just as important now than it ever was but changing values mean some photographers forget this.

Second Synchro Curtain

Yesterday, I shot pictures of a time trial organised by Team MK in Hanslope. I used the second curtain synchro on camera dedicated flash Canon 580EX Mark2 due to the poor weather. This makes the motion before the flash look more realistic. The second curtain synchro is when the flash fires just before the shutter closes on a long exposure. This makes moving objects sharp and the motion blurred. Here, you can see that the front of the biker is sharp but the back is slightly blurred as we are already starting to see the effect. To achieve this, I used slow shutter synchro 1/60 second. Had I used a slower speed setting, ie 1/15 second then the clothing would have left a "trail" behind him.

Excellent Service from Lexar

Everyone has different experiences with companies when it comes to dealing with problems and I would like to share mine. Back in 2005, I bought a compact flash Lexar Professional WA 2GB 80x which has now corrupted. I contacted Lexar as this has a lifetime guarantee. Trouble shooting would not fix the problem and less than a week after returning the product, Lexar sent me a new upgraded replacement, a Lexar Professional 4GB 233x .

Some companies try to weazle out of fixing any problems and their after-sales service is poor. For me, this means no repeat business. So whether you are a shop, company or a self-employed photographer, excellent service is key to a thriving business.

Baby Pictures

Lately, everyday has been busy and today is no exception. Baby portrait pictures are new to this blog but this is something I spent time doing a few years ago in France. These pictures were taken at home and, for this reason, they were challenging as I wanted to create the look of being in a studio. It’s not necessarily practical but the room is white and cream coloured with large windows which give a lot of light and brightness and helped with these shots. I used a Canon EOS1D Mark 3 with a lens Canon 85m 1.2L Mark2 setting speed 1/250s, aperture F3.5, my flash Canon 580EX Mark2 and a white translucent umbrella which directed light onto the ceiling. Babies do get tired but this one was a pleasure to work with and, as you can see, loved smiling for the camera.

Effects of using a filter

Here, I wanted to show a “before” and “after” pictures . The baby had redness on his cheeks due to teething which you can see from the colour picture. The picture was transformed into black and white using Digital Photo Professional from Canon.








The redness still shows ( see picture above ) but if a red filter effect is applied then it eliminates the redness completely as you can see on this last picture.

Time trial

Yesterday was a stunning summers day and I spent the evening shooting a time trial organised by Team MK. With narrow sloping roads which are open to normal traffic it was sometimes challenging to obtain a good shot. The positioning of the photographer is crucial. The sun was exceptionally bright which made shots with a blurred background impossible and I needed shade. This shot was taken using a Canon EOS 1 D Mark 3 with a zoom Canon 24-70 2.8L and a flash Canon 580EX Mark 2 synchronised high speed 1/1000s to light the harsh shadow on the bikers face.

Late in the evening provided the perfect opportunity and with the sun starting to set, the light changed and my much needed shadows appeared. I could then move to a shady spot to take this picture which was taken mid course. It’s the difference in light and use of the flash that enables the photographer to “freeze” the biker yet have a blurred background. Here, I used a slow synchro 1/80s and the flash was set on a light stand and triggered using a Pocket Wizard.

My new website

Today, I' m very pleased to announce the launch of my new website http://www.sylvainoliveira.com/ . Some Galleries are not finished yet but it' s working well.
I have used the software Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 ( trial version ) with Microsoft Windows Notepad.

Horse and Hound

Yesterday, I covered a pony club show at Haddenham. This one included dressage, showing, show jumping and my favourite, horse and hound which, for me, is always highly entertaining. For those of you who are not familiar with this sport, the event is raced in pairs. The first is on horseback and the second runs alongside their dog. First, the horse and rider races over jumps one to five, the second person runs with their dog over jumps six to nine and the fastest pair wins. Sounds easy? Animals don't always want to jump. Dogs sometimes need a little persuasion to follow the course. They run the wrong way or go under jumps instead of over and the entertainment comes from the children who have to control their pet. This race is mainly completed by youngsters but is open to all. It's alot of fun and an excellent way to keep fit.

Panoramic Bluebells

Spring is the time of year when bluebells carpet the ground here in Ashridge Wood. To achieve this panoramic shot, I have taken several photographs with a Canon EOS1DS Mark3, a zoom Canon 24-70 2.8L using a panoramic platform Novoflex mounted on a Manfrotto tripod and stitched them together to create this spectacular result.

Do shops really want to sell?

Today, I wanted to investigate various light stand models for sale in Jessops. So, with my camera strapped on back safe in it’s Lowepro backpack I was serious shopper looking to spend money in this recession hit climate.
I hovered around the light stands reviewing the various products expecting one of the staff to ask if I needed any help. Although, I dislike being ‘pounced’ on the second I enter a shop, after 10 minutes I expected one person to come over ready with their sales spiel. It seems the recession has affected service. The shop was empty (except for me) and the staff preferred to chat amongst themselves leaving me to it. Maybe I could have gone over to them and asked questions but with the abundance of camera shops, from hobbists to professionals, I have my choice and there is always the internet. With this in mind, I left. Plus, I can often buy the same or similar product on the internet for less. My question is do these shops really want to sell? I didn’t buy anything and we ask why the economy is gloomy...

Technological advancement

Yesterday, I went to Snowball Farm to cover an affiliated show jumping event. The changeable weather meant I had to adjust the ISO up to 2000 with my Canon EOS1D Mark3 so there would be enough speed to freeze the jump. Had I been in this situation 5 years ago, the technology available at that time would not have allowed me to do this. Today, with the rapid advancement of the digital age, more and more shots like these are possible.

Bluebell Wood

For the last couple of weeks I have been visiting Bluebell Wood on a regular basis. I have been waiting for the flowers to bloom. On Sunday my trip was not in vain. Everywhere you looked were Bluebells! The lighting and views were absolutely perfect! I used this opportunity to shoot various shots of the wood with the Bluebells in bloom, using my Canon EOS1 DS Mark3 with a Canon zoom 24-70 2.8L and my amazing Canon 85 1.2L Mark2.

Forgotten accessories

A few years ago, while we were still shooting with film cameras, we were using accessories such as the lightmeter/flashmeter or filters that we do not often use with a digital camera. This is because at the time, we could not see the instant result of the pictures like we can now and it was safer to use the lightmeter/flashmeter rather than wait for the film to be developed which is why it was so important to have the correct exposure. Nowdays, with the instant results of a digital camera, we can use trial and error to find the correct exposure or composition.








Yesterday, I shot pictures of a young boy, Adam. I wanted an action shot with the sun in the frame. I used my flash off camera in manual mode and asked him to scooter down the hill. After a few attempts, I realised I needed my Minolta V as I had to have the correct exposure before I started to take pictures of Adam. Children become tired very quickly and it can be difficult to take repeated shots to capture that “perfect” picture. Because of this, I still find that the lightmeter/flashmeter are important accessories to keep in the bag.

A pleasure ride through West Wycombe Park

This morning, in West Wycombe Park, I photographed a pleasure ride which was organised by the British Connemara Pony Society.












The whole ride was about 10 miles long through beautiful countryside. I chose my position at the river crossing so when some of the riders crossed really fast the splashing water provided some interesting background footage.

Fast mountain bike

A mountain biker wanted me to take pictures of him. I wanted the shots to be dynamic and make it look like the rider was biking at speed. For this reason I took the shots while it was cloudy and used a very slow speed setting. I set my camera Canon EOS 1 DS Mark3 and a zoom Canon 27-70 2.8L at 50/100 ISO. To freeze the rider I used a flash synchro at the second curtain and to make the backround blurred, I used a speed of about 1/20s or 1/30s, aperture F8 and manual focus.

The sky became darker so I under exposed my camera to make the shot look more dramatic. I put my flash on a tripod to my left and remotely triggered this using the pocket wizard Plus II and this picture is the result.

Team Chase

On Sunday I took pictures of team chasing events at Kingsclere. It's considered to be a " grown up " competitive sport which is similar to hunter trials or cross country. The difference is that there are a team of 3 or 4 riders and at least 3 have to finish together. This was new to me but I soon understood the rules after I had watched the first team! So, I wanted to take pictures of one jump and some of the team riding together as you can see. I set-up one camera, a Canon EOS1 D mark 3 with 85mm 1.2L on a manfrotto tripod and used a Pocket Wizard Plus II to remotely control the trigger. I then had to find another view to take photographs of the team riding together using my second camera, a Canon EOS 1 DS Mark3 with a zoom 70-200 2.8L IS.