More Prague, a panorama...

                  View from the bell tower on the city square. 8 images stitched together.

Dudes with attitude...

            I met these two buddies as I was shooting in a Township. Now that is some serious attitude!

Remember December?...

Lazy days by the pool... it seems so long ago.

                                                      Leica M9, 50 mm Summarit

The bench by the beach...

All over the world people hang-out with friends on benches. This one is under trees on the beach in Mauritius. Does it get any better than this?

                                                         Leica M9, 50 mm Summarit

La Canonnier hotel, a panorama...

The view from the ocean onto the beach at La Canonnier Hotel, Mauritius. 8 images stitched together.

Hong kong, a panorama...

                                    Hong Kong, The Peak. 6 images stitched together.

Shooting zone-focusing...

I had to wait for a friend in a nearby park the other day and thought I will sit and wait for the people to come to me before taking the shot, - zone focusing. All images made with the M9, 35 mm 'Lux.

Time for a break?...

It would seems that the holidays of December are long forgotten. Time for another break?

                                                       Even my dog takes naps frequently.

Mini VW rugby beetles...

This is what happens when you are a mechanic and an obsessive rugby fan. You build VW minis with rugby themes. All images made with the M9 and the 35 mm 'Lux.

                                              The green Beetle have a Cheetah theme.

                                                                    A Blue Bulls Beetle.

                                                      The paintwork on the Sharks beetle.

                                                          The back of the Cheetah beetle.

Mauritius beach, a panorama...

                                         Grand by in Mauritius, 6 images stitched together.

Langtoon Dam, a panorama...

                                Golden Gate National Park, 5 images stitched together.

Informal settlement, a panorama...

                  Made this panorama in Khayelitsha, Cape Town. 7 images stitched together.

Hundreds of Cosmos flowers...

About 5 images of Cosmos flowers stitched together. Once you start seeing these flowers next to the road, you know Winter is on its way!

Valencia, a panorama...

                                From the bell-tower in Valencia, 9 images stitched together.

                                

Trout farm, a panorama...

                   Dunkeld Estate, a trout farm near Dullstroom. 9 images stitched together.

Buffalo, a panorama...

We came upon this herd of Buffalo just after they took a mud-bath. Kruger National Park. 8 images stitched together.

Chinese fishing village, a panorama...

       On Lantau Island by Hong Kong there is this fantastic fishing village. 8 images stitched together.

Barcelona, a panorama...

 Made this in Barcelona, from an elevated viewpoint, 13 images stitched together.

Misty morning, a panorama...

                              Misty morning at Crystal Springs, 6 images stitched together.

Pondering... a panorama...

                                   7 images stitched together, Golf corse Clarence.

Hong Kong 5 AM, a panorama...

                    At 5 am Hong Kong harbor is quite deserted. 11 images stitched together.

Shooting into bright light...

Have you ever notice when you shoot an subject with a very bright background, - like a plane in the sky, surfers in the ocean or skiers on snow, that the subject come out so dark and the rest of the image so bright that you can hardly see any detail? In Layman's terms here is a solution,

The sensor "sees" the bright light and under-expose to give you less brightness. The usual thinking will be that this is correct. Some people will actually think they need to set the exposure to minus a stop or so to bring the light down. However the result will be like this;

You see, with the sensor doing the under-exposure there will be very little details in the subject you are shooting. This is because the sensor "thinks" you want to have the whole image evenly exposed, but does not see that you are actually focusing on a small subject in the frame.

Sure, you can correct this in PS, but why not expose correctly from the start?

The solution is to over-expose by one or one-and-a-half stops. As crazy as this sounds it works. It is all about thinking the way the "sensor thinks" and correcting it. As soon as the biggest part of your image is against bright light you can correct the exposure by doing this.

You can find a previous article with images attached on Air-show images that I took with this method here on the blog under November, 2011, A fix called Traveling.

Year of the Dragon...

As I was walking at a shopping mall, I just caught the dragon dancers finishing their routine.

                                                              M9, 35 mm Summilux

An all-round helping hand...

In the heart of Johannesburg is an area known as Alexandra. In this community I met Gabisile. She is a young lady who saw a need for someone to care for both young children and old, retired people.

After school she meets youngsters at the local library and not only helps them with schoolwork but also teaches pre-scholars to read and write. Computer literacy is also high on her agenda and she also teaches others on this important skill.

A local old age home couldn't manage with all the people they had to care for, - so when Gabisile came with her volunteers to help, - they were God send!

All in all she does her absolute best to uplift her community and make life a little better for all.