June 2016 - Eksteen Jacobsz Photography

For some reason I love to do indoor and destination photography. Maybe it’s the fact that travel is involved or that I have more time to get the shot right than for instance at a wedding. Either way, after my first visit to Falls Fish Farm in Schoemanskloof earlier this year Dee, the owner, invited me once more to take some photos for her. This time it was of Mandevu Cottage.

Of the two cottages Mandevu is lower down on the farm and consequently closer to the Crocodile River. Mandevu features a lovely free standing dam literally on the door step. I’m told it’s a good spot for fishing and there’s even a canoe next to the water’s edge. I asked her about tubing down the Crocodile River. She warned: “Due to the close proximity of Croc Grove crocodile farm I’d stay well clear of the river if I was you.” It’s a pity as it seems that the Crocodile River always have strong flows in the Schoemanskloof area.

How to do it

The biggest challenge with indoor photography is light. There is massive contrast between the indoor lighting and harsh outdoor light. Flash is not an option unless used expertly by the photographer. The only other alternative therefore is HDR or High Dynamic Range photography. This technique involves taking at least three photos with different exposures of the same subject. A tripod is thus essential as the camera should stay still between the different exposures. The exposures should range from underexposed (to get detail on the outside of the windows) to overexposed (to get adequate detail in the dark interior). Lightroom is then used to blend the seperate images together. This creates a pleasing picture that showcases the details in the well lit as well as dark areas.

I’m looking forward to my stay at Mandevu cottage a bit later this year. Hiking, fishing, landscape photography and sipping wine next to the fireplace will be the order of the day at this wonderful and relaxing destination. Thank you for the opportunity Dee.

Due to a wedding I had to shoot on the main show day I popped over to Nelspruit Airfield on the Friday to get some pics of the Kishugu Scholars’ day Airshow.

From the Kishugu website:

The 2016 Scholars’ Day was held on 20 May and attracted more than 2,400 eager learners from schools in the Lowveld. The day was hosted by Kishugu Lowveld Air Show, in collaboration with the Department of Transport and the Mpumalanga Department of Education.

Scholars’ Day is an annual event preceding the Kishugu Lowveld Airshow, and aims to introduce scholars to the various career opportunities within the South African transport industry, with a special focus on the exhilarating world of aviation.

Deputy Minister of Transport, Sindisiwe Chikunga, encouraged learners to excel in their studies, advance themselves beyond matric and to consider careers within the transport sector. Scholars were later treated to special flight displays arranged by the Kishugu Lowveld Air Show.

But first I needed a longer lens than what I owned and I made a quick stop at the Africa Photographic Services store in Riverside. I wanted a Nikon teleconverter but soon realised it wouldn’t fit on a Tamron for Nikon lens. So I opted to rent the Tamron for Nikon 150-600mm f/5-6.3 lens. It’s a long and heavy beast but I could hardly contain myself to get to the airport and try it out.

It was a cold and dreary overcast day and as I arrived even the odd drop of rain fell. Totally underdressed for the sniping breeze blowing from the east I made my way through the throng of school kids to the spectator line. It was weird to not have to compete for a spot next to the fence.

With the formalities and speeches completed the four hour long show started. It was a watered down version of what was to come the next day but there were still some spectacular moments. The skydivers had a scary moment when one of the team member’s parachute tangled when he opened it up. Within seconds he had cut himself away and deployed the reserve shoot which worked flawlessly.

Juba Joubert gave a world class performance in his Aerospatiale Gazelle helicopter. The SAPS’ PC-12 made an elegant entrance and left again soon thereafter. Kishugu’s Air Tractors are always impressive for their raw power. With the overcast and humid conditions they even created propeller vortexes on take-off.

The biggest bi-plane in the world, an AN2 Antonov called Little Annie showcased her extraordinary low speed capabilities. The Kishugu Huey helicopters, with their unmistakeable rotor sound, managed to deliver a solid punch to my gut.

Showstoppers like the jets and Nigel Hopkins were missing in action but the Silver Falcons gave a polished low level display to end off proceedings. To come back to that Tamron 150-600mm lens. It’s not only a beast in looks but in performance as well. It really does bring you closer to the action but panning technique is essential.

To capture propeller blur images generally have to be taken at slower shutter speeds than 1/250th of a second. When you’re zoomed in at say 400mm the reciprocal rule state that the chances for image blur is very good.

A big thank you to Kishugu for the media pass. Until next year.