And so our hike started at 10pm on a Tuesday night in thick and cold mist. The group comprised one full-time photographer, 3 hobbyists and one victim of our passion who was just there for the experience. The plan was to follow the jeep track to a flat clearing where we could pitch our tents for the first night. After walking for about 90 minutes and obviously not finding anything other than jeep track, mist and darkness, we decided to pitch our tents in the middle of the road. Spirits and energy levels were high; we had dinner and retreated to our tents.

Starting on a misty night

We awoke to the same thick mist and a soft rain the next morning. If Rian (our navigator) didn’t know the mountains as well as he did then we would have had no option but to stay in the tents, but we packed up and started heading uphill to get to the bottom of Organ Pipes Pass. Rian told us that two or three hours up there is a mountain hut in which we could take a proper break and have a solid warm breakfast, so we slogged up the little berg in the mist looking forward to a warm brew and oats. Worse than the physical effort of going uphill is the psychological effect that the mist and hills create in the little berg. You ascend a ridge thinking that you’ll see the Basalt cliffs in the distance, but the mist just reveals another blind ridge. Endlessly. As with the flat area the previous night, the hut was never found and by the time the mist cleared slightly we realized we were very close to the top of the escarpment. We had been hiking for 6 hours, everyone was soaked from underwear to socks and gatvol, to put it politely.

Ascending above the mist near the base of the cliffs

We had a good meal, mustered what spirit we had left and continued up behind the Organ Pipes via Tuthumi pass. It was another 2 hours from our break spot that the mist fooled us yet again on our way to the top. What we thought was the escarpment edge was the neck behind the Organ Pipes and we could see that it was at least another hour to the top. Everyone was properly exhausted, we had one member feeling slightly sick and having ascended 1200m, two of us had a headache from the altitude. We had been walking for 8 hours and the photo-opportunities to the North were amazing, so we made the call to pitch camp.

A fleeting moment of magic as the upper clouds let some light through and the mist pulled away from the escarpment

As we were putting up the tents, there was a slight moment of perfection. The mist pulled away from the escarpment and the upper clouds opened to let some light through. There were strong rain clouds sitting quite low and it felt as if we ad ascended into another world. Changing into dry clothes after 8 hours of walking was certainly welcome and buying thermal underwear for the hike was a good call. Carl and I went up onto a ridge in anticipation of the clouds giving us a break, which it did momentarily. He got one great photo of me standing on a ledge overlooking the mist and that was to be the only clearing for nearly two days.

Image by Carl Jason Smorenburg

The next morning revealed the same thick mist we had become accustomed to. While we were disappointed, we did need the rest and Rian said we could stay in our tents until it cleared. It rained most of the day and even put down a proper amount of hail. That day was spent sleeping, chatting and being optimistic about the weather. Hopes were high as night fell, but we kept a realistic mind and it was very possible to have another day in the mist.

Setting up camp in the neck behind the organ pipes

Rian woke me very early the next morning and I was expecting to open the tent door and look at the same cold mist of the past two days. Opening the door revealed a star-filled night sky and a frosty breeze. As dawn approached the skies revealed mid-level cloud that was certain to make for a good sunrise, which it did. With some great shots on everyone’s memory cards and the sun climbing in the sky, elation was in abundance. The neck of Tuthumi pass looked like a squatter camp as everyone’s whole kit was spread out on the grass and rocks to dry.

Brilliant sunrise made for a cheerful start to the day

With everything dried out and bags repacked, we set off aiming to get to the Cockade. It was a perfect day in the berg and we hadn’t walked 500 meters when the first amazing photos started presenting themselves. Just before the last ascent of Tuthumi you have Cleft peak on the left, the spires of the Organ Pipes on the right, and the cathedral spur in the distance. There was mist in the valleys and the clouds overhead cast fleeting shadows through the foreground of our images. Snap snap snap.

The view through the organ pipes

After taking too many photos, the cameras were packed away and the uphill started. Climbing a steep pass is never a pleasant experience and it isn’t made any more pleasant by a 25kg backpack. Add to that the altitude of just over 3000masl and it’s a physical experience you can compare to those school sport fitness sessions you had to endure when the coach was having a bad day. Nonetheless I had done some dieting and training prior to the hike and most importantly, I was motivated. To the rest of the guys it may have looked like I was dying, but as long as I maintained my 20 steps, 30 seconds rest pace I always got to the top.

When I finally did Rian posed for us on a ledge and we got some dramatic shots of him dwarfed by the scale of the pass descending into the mist. It was about 11am and the thunderclouds were building. Looking across the plains of Lesotho, we could see the neck behind the mighty Cleft peak that we had to go through. Conditions were lovely and we got going at a strong pace. After an hour we took a break at a stream to refuel and before we got to the bottom of the neck we had descended about 200m into Lesotho and it was time for another hellish uphill. 20 paces, 30 seconds break, 20 paces, 30 second break…and we eventually crested the neck at just under 3200m.

Rian posing just below the crest of Tuthumi pass

The wind was pumping on top, but we found a sheltered spot and took a break before heading down towards the Cockade. As we came down around the Northern side of Cleft we saw the Pyramid and Column sticking out of the mist. Upon seeing it there was just an immediate consensus that for photography’s sake we wouldn’t be carrying on to the back of the Cockade. The skies were thick with building thundercloud and below us was a carpet of mist cloud swirling up the escarpment wall in a cool mountain breeze. About 500 meters from the main escarpment wall was the pyramid and the column rising out of the mist like watch towers at earth’s edge. We hadn’t seen other people in 3 days, behind us lay the wilderness of Lesotho and the scene in front of us seemed like the frontiers of existence. That afternoon was one of my lifetime highlights.

The Pyramid and the Column rising out of the mist

After filling a memory card, we had to find a spot to pitch our tents. The wind had picked up and we were on an exposed plain, not the ideal place for a tent. We carefully selected our spots and set up camp. Tent pegs were weighed down with rocks, as were the edges of the outer sails, a small bit of extra effort that would prove vital later that night. It was about 5pm and the wind had pretty much died down. The skies were just getting better and we could hear the rumble of thunder from the hills of Lesotho. Far out from the escarpment the horizon over Natal was full of vast mushroom clouds. Most of the sunset was spent running around between compositions as the light peaked.

Last light of the day slipping in below the approaching storm

We gathered at the tents for a chat over dinner as butane flames whistled away, everyone was recalling what an amazing day it had been. The rumble was coming closer, but there was no wind and I mentioned how lucky we were with the weather, foolishly. Everyone was done eating and the first rain hit us just as we got into our sleeping bags. Softly at first with little wind, then as darkness fell the skies started lighting up and the rumble was getting louder. Within 15 minutes the soft drizzle had turned into hell, Stephen and I could barely hear each other as a torrential downpour rattled the tent sail. Gusts of wind bent the tent’s aluminum poles almost down onto our chests and the rumble had turned into a bombardment of deafening crackles. We were holding up the main pole with our arms in fear of the wind snapping it and in doing so the cold got to us very quickly. Luckily thunderstorms move quickly and we were waiting for it to let up any moment, but it was the perfect escarpment storm and it lasted…and lasted. After about two hours we decided to give up the fight and let nature do what it wants to. The storm died down somewhere between 11 and 12pm and I spent the rest of the night trying to get warm again.

Soft dawn light on the Cathedral Range

Peering out of the tent the next morning it felt like the whole storm experience was a dream. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky from Lesotho to the Eastern horizon. Breakfast was made, bags packed and plenty of jokes were going around about the storm. Rian and Mark had spent most of the night with their boots and rain gear on, ready for the tent sail to give in at any moment. We were all unharmed, rested (sort of) and it was another beautiful day in the berg. We were to make a call at the head of uMhlambonja pass. Head for Easter cave or go all the way down to one tree hill. We arrived at the pass eager for a good lunch, when Rian revealed that we had walked too far. We all took a 5 minute break, except Rian who immediately went off in search of the pass. Waving arms confirmed the correct neck and we all sat down amongst the cairns for a proper lunch before descending the never-ending pass.

The escarpment wall stretching off to the South East

The descent was done one careful step at a time, down zigzags in the grass, then over boulders. After an hour of boulders and zigzags we reached the river. We crisscrossed the stream over and over as the trail widened and narrowed from level paths to ledges along a gorge wall. At places we had to give each other a hand to climb up and down steep sections. The discomfort of the descent quickly trumped the beauty of the uMhlambonja valley and about 5 hours after starting we reached the bottom of the contour path. We had a wash and a snack, and we started the last section, our destination was a 30-minute walk at a soft incline away. Backs aching, we crested the hill only to see that one tree hill was at least another hour away along a deep cutback. Next to us was a large flat hilltop with soft grass and there was no deliberation about what to do. Backpacks were thrown off to huge sighs of relief after just over 10 hours of walking.

After 10 hours of walking the faces convey a deceitful message!

We were back down at a comfortable altitude; the air was warm and the breathing easy. The whole of the escarpment stretched out in front of us, we had the cathedral spur at the back and the previous night’s rains were still coming down every valley in dramatic waterfalls. For the first time on the hike we didn’t have to flee for the cover of a tent after having a meal. We made dinner one last time, reminisced about the storm and laughed at Mark who still had enough food to last a month in the mountains. The next morning was a pleasant 3 hour walk down to the hotel, but the prospect of taking the backpacks off for good set a motivated pace!

The pyramid and column below stormy skies

The car’s tire was fixed, we parted ways with the Durbanites and we headed back up to Gauteng relieved to be returning to our modern comforts. Make no mistake that hearts were heavy as Monday waited on us all and we wouldn’t be back in such nature for months. In the days after the hike it really hit me that despite all the physical hardship and horrible weather it was still one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. It’s the effort that you put in to experience it that makes you appreciate it. It’s effort that the absolute minority of people, even nature lovers are prepared to invest. It is thus an appreciation of nature that few people share, but it is certainly the most amazing one that I have shared.  Of all the places I’ve seen and experienced in my search for the ultimate photos, hiking the Drakensberg takes the prize by a long haul. Hiking may not be for everyone, but getting atop the Drakensberg is something every South African has to do at least once in his or her life

Unfortunately for me, South Africa doesn’t really have much temperate rainforest. If you say Forests to a South African, the first word that pops into their head is Knysna. That is about the average South African’s knowledge on where to find an indigenous forest. Apart from such common knowledge, even in many scientific articles on forests in South Africa, there is no mention of the place where I eventually found my Eden. Up until writing this I was also in belief of the common statistic that the European colonists destroyed more than 95% of the forests that existed prior to 1652. One article with a lot of substantiating facts tells a very different story, but I’m not writing about what used to be…this is about my quest for what still is.

The best shot I got from many vists to the Knysna forests

So where do you start if you’re looking for forests in South Africa? My starting point was my wise old father, who has a great knowledge of botany in South Africa. Unluckily there’s a very big gap between what the average person calls a beautiful forest and a photographer’s understanding of what will produce the shot he/she is looking for. While we (me and the old man) have made great progress at bridging that gap, he just gave me the typical Knysna answer and also said there’s great forests along the wild coast. Then it was on to the Internet and books, which also just yielded Knysna. After hearing that place’s name so many times, I was so irritated I didn’t even want to go check out the most obvious place!

I was on a trip in Mpumalanga in 2008 when my father randomly told me that a colleague of his lived in an old forestry station near Tzaneen. This colleague knew the area’s forests well and they had talked about these lush forests with thousands of Clivia as my father’s hobby was cultivating the flowers. Since Knysna had been drilled into my head and I had never heard of any forests near Tzaneen, I brushed off the suggestion and forgot about it.

Over the following three years I visited both the Knysna and Wild Coast forests and in both I wandered off the path and into the odd gorge/valley in search of proper green…without success. Even here at home I properly explored the valleys of Jonkershoek with some reward. I discovered the lesser known Tweede Waterval gorge. A narrow twisting tunnel that leads to a waterfall concealed by two large cascades. I found a few other worthwhile streams and forested valleys high up the slopes of the Jonkershoek Mountains, but they all lacked that magical green.

Second Waterfall Gorge in Jonkershoek

I might not have explored 2% of the forested valleys in the country, but I did do a fair amount of research and I did explore the results that my research yielded. Short of becoming a bushman and going to live in the Knysna forests for a year, I gave up on my search and added Oregon/Washington’s Colombia River Gorge to an already lengthy bucket list.

Then late in 2011, thanks to the source of all procrastination; Facebook, I had a breakthrough. One of my Facebook friends from the photographic industry had gone on a hike in Limpopo…near Tzaneen. As much as any other South African, he had not expected serious photographic potential and he only took a point and shoot camera along. He posted some photos from the hike and those snaps taken with a point and shoot revealed a secret I had stubbornly ignored 4 years ago. The photos showed typical Afromontane forest, but the elements that were missing in all the other locations were there. Thick green undergrowth, lichen hanging from tree branches, moss covered trunks, all enveloped in thick mist. I immediately contacted him to find out where it was and made it a top priority to get there.

One of Villiers Steyn's images from his hike that caught my attention. Click on the imageto go to his site.

Late in May this year I was finally on my way to Limpopo after a very dusty week at Khubu Island. I had done some research on the area prior to leaving the Cape two weeks earlier, but I had 7-10 days there so I had a lot of time to explore the area.

Someone had told me that there’s a very scenic 4×4 route through the forests and on my first morning I took a slow drive up the mentioned kloof. I saw the well-known Debengeni Falls and witnessed patchy bits of that magical green I was looking for along the drive. The end of the road brought me atop the escarpment again and I decided to explore the maze of forestry roads. The amount of turns, road forks and times that the scenery changes from plantation to forest are impossible to keep track of.

Magoebaskloof's Debengeni Falls

Somehow (after about two hours of driving) I found myself entering a section of forest with a sign stating that it is a protected indigenous forest, so I was hoping that it would be a large section. Up until that point I had only been going through patchy areas of forest left between the unsightly pine and eucalyptus aliens. Past the sign the light quickly faded as the forest wrapped around the road like a shrinking tunnel. The road descended a Northern slope and as it did I entered the mist that was hanging below the escarpment. The photographer in me got excited as I started seeing potential photographs of trees and lichen disappearing in the mist, but just as my hopes started climbing I saw (ironically) the light at the end of tunnel – plantation.  My heart sank, but my eye caught a slightly overgrown road cutting away downwards into a similar dark tunnel. I followed this road and the exact same thing happened. Just before the forest turned to plantation, a road would lead off downwards into the forest again. With each of these turns, the road became more overgrown and full of spider webs. Signs that few people ever get there. I wanted to stop and shoot, but I kept telling myself I have plenty of time and that the first day is a reccy. See the whole area and shoot it systematically as the weather dictates. The ever-downward sloping road suddenly leveled out and what I had been in pursuit of for almost 5 years unfolded before my eyes. Whatever the culmination of geographic circumstances created on that small plateau on the escarpment, it created the superfluous green I wanted.

Looking up a small valley stream

I pulled off the road where I could, got my gear and popped the polarizer on the lens to capture those amazing greens. The mist limited visibility to about 25 meters, so apart from that 25 meters in front of me I never really knew where I was headed. The main problem was that the forest was too dense. There were no open spots to take a photo and the going was slow. Every 2^nd tree was bursting with a ‘colony’ of Clivia, many of which had ‘trunks’ that revealed them to be decades old. They were flourishing better than the most coddled prize winning plants, but without any of the fertilizers, special soils or hours of weekly attention that the breeders give them. Seeing these plants that I was so familiar with in the wild, instead of in a pot or in a garden was a revelation. The stopping and staring wasn’t helping my progress of finding the perfect photo, but If there was ever a time to pause and appreciate nature, this was it.

Clivia perched atop a tree in the forests

After about 30 minutes in, the slope descended slightly before leveling off. Once again, I don’t quite know what the circumstances were, but I got lucky. I had found the ideal spot. The forest looked like the interior of a building, with walls of trees leading into open chambers of lush fern undergrowth. There was the odd dead tree strewn about, covered in moss and smaller ferns. Now I had found exactly what I was looking for. Little light penetrated the mist and forest canopy…even at f/8 and ISO200 my exposure time was over a second. The wind was blowing quite strongly, but every few minutes it would die down as if catching its breath and then I had to capture the moment. When the wind slowly picked up again, it swept the mist away and the entire forest appeared out of the cold white. In an instant a gust would blow it back through the forest like an approaching wall of disguise, concealing the secrets of the woodland. For what seemed like an eternity, I forgot about my camera. I just stood frozen by the contentment of what I had finally found. Watching that mist sweeping in and out of the trees was an experience rivaled only by the view from atop the amphitheater wall.

Foliage blurred by the wind sweeping banks of mist through the forest

After about 3 hours of crawling and climbing through the vegetation, the mist lifted and I headed back to my car.

Over the next few days I identified a few more spots that might produce the same circumstances and two of them paid off. Even after driving as close as possible to the potential places, getting into the heart of the forest on foot wasn’t easy. It usually required the descent or ascent of very steep slopes. ‘Wading’ through 1.5m-high undergrowth and trying not to imagine what could be hiding below it. At the time of writing this (10 weeks later) I still have bite marks on my legs from whatever lived in those forests. After my adventures I got the flu, which then turned out to be tick fever. After a blood test it was confirmed as tick fever AND malaria, caught before it started doing damage luckily.

Two ancient trees rising into the mist side by side

I finally achieved my goal to photograph a properly green indigenous forest. The fact that I couldn’t find one probably escalated my need to do so and drove me 2000km away from home to go look for it. Without deliberately doing so I  ‘discovered’ (within the photographic community at least) a prime photographic ecology that most people thought didn’t exist in South Africa. It took five years, over 10000km of travels and contracting Malaria, but that has made me appreciate it ten times more than I would have.

For the sake of conservation the exact location of these forests will remain with me, but there are clues within the article that can get a reader close enough. From there you will have to get lost on the forestry roads as I did and go crawling through the forests to see what I did. To those who rejoice in the surrounds of untouched, thriving nature, it will be worth it. To those who lack the respect to conserve the few patches of pristine forest in our country, it will hopefully forever remain out of sight.

Tree trunks covered in lichen

You can view more images in my Magoebaskloof Gallery on my website. Bookings and details for a workshop to Blyde River Canyon, Mariepskop and Magoebaskloof will be available on Sunday.

The workshop will kick off with 3 nights in the Namib Rand on the 16th of March. After that we’ll head South to the Fish River Canyon for 2 nights and then finish off with 3 nights at Sossusvlei.

Dates: 16-24 March 2013

Cost: R24950.00 pp sharing

Single Supplement: R3200.00

To book or enquire about more info, simply send me a mail at hougaard@hougaardmalan.com or call me on 0762792202

Close outside the Sossusvlei Lodge

Fish River Canyon

The Namib Rand

Deadvlei

Images and story by Dom Wills – Check out his Deviantart page to see more.

“After an early evening of looking at some stars at the campsite at Sesriem, I was a bit shocked to be awoken a few hours later by thunder and rain. Being in the Namib Desert, I thought it would be temporary storm and move on. I was wrong. It rained solidly for 2 days.

I took periodic trips to Deadvlei to see how much, if any, water was landing on the pan. On the second morning, I was one of the first to the 4×2 parking lot and the road to deadvlei was flooded. Other cars had parked and were waiting for guides to help them get through. I knew that the river was going to come down in flood at any time, so I lowered tyre pressures and pressed on.

I though there would be the odd puddle at deadvlei at the most, but as I walked over the dune, I was delighted to see there was loads of water pooled up in large puddles all over the vlei. Given the river flooding situation, I gave myself an hour before heading back. What a glorious solo hour in this iconic landscape.

When I got back to the 4×2 parking lot, the rangers had blocked access to the vlei – suppose timing is everything and sometimes early mornings do pay off.”

The Day Before. Dramatic sandlip kicked up by the impending storm...

Wind being blown across the pan the day before

At this point one starts getting to the nice trees in the pan

Dom said that instead of running around and trying to get a shot of all the trees, he focused on getting one or two good shots.

My favorite shot from his series

Spitzkoppe under a stormy afternoon sky

My first destination was the famous Spitzkoppe mountains, a spine of granite mountain peaks protruding from a plateau like a set of jagged teeth. It’s one of the most iconic landscapes in Namibia and I had 6 nights to try and do it some photographic justice. The weather forecast looked good: rain showers most afternoons. After arriving and setting up camp I spent the most of the first day just exploring the location for potential compositions. Photos of Spitzkoppe are very common in all tourism related media of Namibia and I thought I had seen most angles of the place. Upon some exploration I was surprised at the vast amount of possible foregrounds and compositions dotted around the main mountains. Iconic arch apart, there were so many rock pools, rock patterns, grass fields, trees, boulders etc. that I was very confused about where to start.

Interesting play of light and shadow created as the last sunlight fades from the lower part of the arch

I decided to kick off with the iconic arch shots, and then move on to something more unique. After 4 days I had gotten a satisfying amount of material of the location and while I never got a proper storm at sunset, I certainly couldn’t complain about the light I had. For a first visit to the place I was very happy and I decided to head to the coast for a well-deserved break from climbing up and down granite ‘hills’. I had four days to kill before the C4 workshop kicked off in the Rand and I thought I’d make a decision on where to go over a cold drink and the sound of the waves in Henties Bay. While there I made the decision that while I don’t really want typical photos of Sossus- and Deadvlei, for business reasons it was a necessity in my portfolio.

Cliche Deadvlei

I spent three days at Sesriem, but I still don’t have any stories of revelation or inspiration about the place. I had one good sunset and one good sunrise so I got the shots I wanted. I already knew all the typical wide angle compositions at Deadvlei so it was simply a matter of moving the tripod around and getting the shots. The one morning we arrived to find a British group of about 15 photographers already shooting. ‘We’ were another 4, and as the sun climbed I think about another 10 arrived. There were more tripods than trees and it was impossible to get a shot without someone in it. Luckily the skies were cloudless so I had a nap on the side of the pan while the masses bustled about in each other’s compositions. It’s a place that still fails to touch me, or maybe I fail to connect with it??

The mist cleared for a few minutes, allowing soft light through slatted ceilings

The next 7 days followed with the C4 workshop of which 4 days were on the farm Excelsior in the Namib Rand and 3 days were at Sossusvlei. The weather was good and we had very flexible hours at Sossusvlei which allowed our clients to get some great photos. The strenuous hours and long walks were a bit of a shock to some of the clients, but they quickly adapted to the desert! We had a good rest on the last morning and spent the last night well into darkness shooting stars in deadvlei. The group tried a few static milky way shots with light painted trees and ended things with a 32 minute star trail exposure that came out brilliant. I ached to get the night sky photos myself, but I’ll return at a later stage to attempt something unique.

Ghost rain lights up in flaming sunset light

After the workshop, I and a client traveled on to the ghost town of Kolmanskop, a location that was a complete block to me last year. It was a bucket list location for Jill and I think her ambition to get great shots influenced me to give it another proper try after failing so miserably last year. I studied a few images of Kolmanskop in the run-up to my trip and learnt quite a few things from them. Armed with this new knowledge, me and Jill were psyched to shoot the iconic ghost town. On both mornings conditions were very misty which not only cast beautiful soft light into the buildings, but kept things pleasantly cool. Without really noticing it, we shot nonstop for 5 hours on the first morning and the second morning went similar. After those two days we were both very satisfied with our results and it was time to carry on to Fish River Canyon.

Rain falls over the Nubib mountains beyond the plains of Dina

The Fish River Lodge is definitely my favorite lodge in Namibia. Everything from the location to the service to the architecture is astounding and I often end up just relaxing more than shooting. As with the rest of the trip, the weather wasn’t amazing, but it certainly wasn’t bad. I got some new photos to go home with. The potential of the place is however much greater than I’ve ever seen in any photo, but you need a pretty rare synchronization of weather elements to get killer light over the canyon at the right time.

15 degree winter weather at Luderitz was a welcome relief from 40+ degree days at Sossusvlei

It was a successful three weeks, but I’d be lying if I said it was as special as last year. Most places were definitely easier to shoot after having been there before, but then they were also less exciting. I can’t wait to get back next year and experience the place again. The magic of Namibia never fails to refresh the mind and satisfy one’s craving for excellent photography. Even when I say that it wasn’t as special, you can see from the photos that it was still an absolute feast of top class photographic opportunities…and this is about 1/5th of the work I’ve deemed worthy of being processed to go into my portfolio.

Excelsior's chocolate mountain below a dramatic afternoon sky

2013 workshops

Bookings will open in the coming weeks and there will be a slight variation on last year. The one workshop will be 4 days Namib Rand, 2 days Fish River Canyon, 2 days Sossusvlei and on the other date Fish River Canyon will be substituted for Kolmanskop/Luderitz. Both will be in March next year and the price will be roughly R20000-R25000 ($3000-$4000) with about 15 places available between the two. Watch this space!

Beautiful side lighting from a window brings out the ripples in the sand

Photograph Namibia Guides

These have both been removed from my blog. I am in the process of turning them into e-books which will be much more content rich and precise and available for purchase at a small price.

Afternoon sunlight on the Fish River Canyon

Nikon has now taken the lead with its 36mp D800, but it wasn’t willing to compete in the pixel race with the model that won it the global sports and journalism market?? They’ve  increased the resolution of the D700 by 1.73x, while upping the resolution of the D3 only by 1.22x. There are obviously the speed, focus and noise areas where the D4 needs to perform much better than the D800, but looking at this fact I suspect the D800 is a confident throw of the dice to try and get their foot in a market that is dominated by the 5DmkII. I may have stuck faithfully to Canon over the past 3 years, but the way in which they compromise IQ for specs that sell cameras really pissed me off. The companies obviously just want to make money, but it’s insulting when they sacrifice the performance of their cameras for high pixel-counts that appeal to the Tom, Dick and Harrys that don’t know squat about resolution.

It’s been proven time and time again through many models from every brand that the higher the pixel density, the worse the image quality gets.  Nikon faithfully stood by this knowledge and produced cameras with low resolution, great speed and focus that resulted in a great overall camera. Apart from the 1Ds III and 5D II, I can’t say I ever desired one of the non FF Canon cameras. The 1DmkIV was killed on launch by the D3s. The 7D’s pixel density was more than twice that of the 5DmkII and while its IQ did surprise me, it was a very useless 18mp.

Now it seems that Canon has taken the lessons it learned from those over-rezzed models and applied it in the development of what I hope will finally be their comeback from the knock that they’ve taken from Nikon over the past 4 years? They’ve been surviving off the consumer market and the 5D II. The money may be in the consumer market, but it’s the pros that build your reputation and 3 years ago it was like Canon pro bodies were Polish Jews all taken to Auschwitz under the rule of the D3.

Rape Victim of the D3s

Enough speculation, there are solid facts to look at.

22.3mp – I’ve had 21mp for 3 years now and I honestly can’t say I want more unless it’s on a larger format. In what situation will you truly benefit from 7-8mp more? I’m still very doubtful of whether Nikon’s new technology can truly pull out that much detail from a 35mm format lens, BUT, if the D800 can prove me wrong then I’ll get in my car and go buy one.

New AF system – I focus manually most of the time using Live View because you can zoom in 10 times to any part of the frame and make sure focus is dead on. I do however shoot on AF when shooting handheld and I know the focus isn’t reliable, so while it’s not a make or break issue it is a useful improvement for me.

Light metering, video functions and higher fps don’t really tickle my fancy, but it has all been considerably improved.

Improved Weather resistance – After a year of risky seascape shooting and one final wave giving me a sunset shower, my 5D II kicked the bucket. Upon analysis it was constant exposure to sea air and water that corroded the circuit boards around the buttons, so improved weather sealing is very welcome.

New sensor cleaning – They’ve added something at the bottom of the shutter box that absorbs the dust after it has been shaken from the sensor? I’d love to get a better understanding of how this works. All I know is that everyone HATES dust!

Larger, better LCD – Always welcome.

New HDR function – In camera HDR processing…I don’t want to say much about this, but I suspect the results to be very photomatix-like. I’ll wait and see.

Multiple Exposure Function – This I’m very excited for…Something you could do in the film days to create very interesting results. If you don’t know the potential of this then you don’t deserve to get excited about it!

If you go read the page on Canon’s website you’ll see that there are many other cool new functions like comparative playback, in camera processing, variable aspect rations…the list goes on!

100-25600 Native ISO range – Canon says that newly designed photodiodes, a better signal to noise ratio and improved image processing has upped noise performance by two stops. To most people that doesn’t mean much, but for landscapers wishing to go to the night skies it means a lot. I’ve always shot at 3200, which is good enough for web viewing but I wouldn’t print it. Two stops more will mean you can print ISO3200 files and you can shoot at ISO12800. Imagine this…pitch black wilderness sky, a milkyway so bright it casts a shadow under a Namibian tree…ISO12800, 30s, f/2.8. To say that the thought of that gets me very excited is an understatement. If you use a 24mm f/1.4 lens you can get another two stops, and if you’ve got a 1Dx (100-51200 native range) then you’ve got another stop. I’m confident that these new cameras are about to open one massive door to night sky photography and that is the thing I’m most excited about.

Conclusion

I’m going to try and type my conclusion  as short  as possible without elaborating on points. I would love to hear people’s arguments for or against certain things.

Megapixels – I don’t think that on the medium term the way forward for 35mm cameras is resolution. Even the sharpest lens can only project so much detail in a 36x24mm area and Nikon has gone upstream from their recipe for success of low res, high IQ. I can’t wait to see hi-res samples from the D800 because it will confirm or bust this theory. If you’ve seen the detail that LF film or MF digital produces, you’ll understand.

Live view – Up until the D3s, Nikon’s live view was very 3rd world compared to Canon. The ability to meter and zoom to x10 anywhere in the frame is a brilliant function. If Nikon has improved on this they’ve won serious brownie points from me.

Noise – Canon has a native ISO range going two stops higher, but Nikon has dominated noise performance over the past years. This is going to be interesting.

Highlights – Most readers of my blog know my passionate hate of Nikon’s highlight tones and colors in skies. If this hasn’t improved then there’s no chance of me buying a D800.

Price and availability – The canon is set to be a few $100 more and history has shown that Nikon is better at getting things on the shelf on time…

I honestly don’t know what to expect. These cameras will come packed with 3-4 years of R&D. My main standing point is that I’m doubtful about 36mp in a 35mm sensor. The proof will be in the pudding, so lets hope the pudding hits the shelves ASAP!

Download Link

Karoo Storm

To obtain the ideal sharpness at a low resolution, you have to sharpen the image multiple times at larger resolutions. There are so many variables that come into play here regarding which methods to use, how many times to sharpen and at which various resolutions to sharpen that I don’t think any two photographers use the exact same method. The problem with this method is that it robs the image slightly of color and you have to do something to replace it afterwards. While 99% of people are probably just going to download the action and not even look at the steps, I know there’s a few nerds out there that will appreciate the detail and use it to write their own actions suited to their photography and workflow. This is for you guys!

Throughout the action I only use the unsharp mask sharpening function, varying only the sharpening amount while keeping the pixel radius and threshold constant. The first sharpening is done on the original layer, then step two and three is done on a duplicate layer for final adjustment. I learned the automate resize trick from Philip Perold. It allows you to tell the action to make the longest side of the image a specified size, so you don’t need separate actions for portrait and landscape images. I’m only explaining the 900px example, but the action has a 720px, 900px and 1024px action in it.

Sharpening to 900px

• Filter – Sharpen – Unsharp Mask ( amount 150, radius 0.5, threshold 0 )
• File – Automate – Fit Image (width 2300, height 2300 )
• Duplicate Layer ( CTRL + J | APPLE + J )
• Filter – Sharpen – Unsharp Mask (amount 150, radius 0.5, threshold 0 )
• File – Automage – Fit Image ( width 1500px, height 1500px )
• Filter – Sharpen – Unsharp Mask ( amount 80, radius 0.5, threshold 0 )
• File – Automate – Fit Image ( width 900px, height 900px )

Highlight Diffusion

I think that everyone reading this blog probably knows the work of Marc Adamus. His processing of images has astounded landscape photographers for many years now and no one can put a finger on what exactly makes it so special (apart from mindblowing composition and light). Myself and another photographer noticed that the bright highlights in his photos are often very fuzzy and we did quite a bit of experimenting to try and imitate it. What we came up with is using luminosity selections to get a selection of the highlights and then blowing it using two methods. The selection I use is [basic lights] – [super lights] so that the very right side of the histogram isn’t blown too much when applying this diffusion. Once you’ve got the selection, create a layer of it and set it to color dodge. This makes the selection a lot brighter and more colorful. Then apply a guassian blur to the selection of 2-4 pixels, which will make it very soft. You can now adjust this layer to a low opacity (10-20%) and it will give that soft diffusion to the  highlights in the image

Feel free to make suggestions and I’ll build it into the action if I think you’ve got something worthy to add!

Download Action

Right click me and select “save as”

On the photography side I feel quite stoked though. I saw and photographed many amazing places in S.A and Namibia. Good business removed any doubts I had about pursuing this career. I got a 4×4 vehicle which has opened many of Southern Africa’s very best landscapes up to me. I was planning to leave on a 5 week trip at the end of this month, but I’m involved in certain publishing projects that require a lot of shooting close to home.

I also came to the stupidly obvious realization that I live in the cradle of one of South Africa’s most amazing mountain ranges. A treasure chest of towering granite peaks that have barely been photographed. I feel extremely ambitious to get serious about hiking this year in an attempt to create a portfolio of the Cape’s mountains that might some day be compared to John Hone’s work of the Drakensberg. There are many places on my destination list this year, but my top priority is to find my way around the Cape mountains’ best hiking routes so that I’m prepared for misty Autumn sunrises,  Winter snow and Spring flowers. Other places I long to visit are the Richtersveld, Drakensberg, Kubu Island, Pondoland and Lesotho. I’ll be spending About three weeks at Namibia’s best locations again this year hosting workshops and some shooting by myself.

Workshops

I’m excited to announce that I’ll be working with the legendary Chris Fallows this year to offer his clients landscape add-ons when they come to shoot great white’s sharks with his company. There is still one spot left on the C4 Namibia workshop from 18-25 March. It’s truly the ultimate landscape photography experience in Africa. We’ve got special access permits for Sossusvlei and the whole of Excelsior farm in the Namib Rand to our self.

If you can’t take 10 days off to make it to Namibia, check out my seascape workshop for Cape Town in April. An easy and convenient learning experience with some of the best seascapes in the country to shoot while learning. I will advertise a similar Gauteng workshop shortly, but a lot of the learning lies in shooting a photogenic landscape, which Gauteng doesnt have. Coming down to Cape Town for the weekend will be a much better learning experience. I would appreciate if any people interested in a Gauteng workshop similar to the Cape Town one would be interested? Just mail me or comment here!

Tutorials??

Part two of the Namibia guide will be published next week. I’ve run dry with ideas for tutorials so if there’s a specific field or Photoshop trick that someone is interested in then they’re welcome to shoot with suggestions! Just comment below

An Exciting Year Ahead

The whole photographic industry is on the edge of it’s chair to see the the 1Dx and D4 in action and for the release of the D800 and 5D III. Technology is advancing and I can’t wait to get one of these new cameras and see how they will help me improve my photography! I’ll end of with some recent images from the Cape.

Most people have welcomed the fact that canon have finally decided to make the move to full frame, which has been the main difference between the two in the past. Now for the first time both brands are simultaneously releasing a fast, full frame, high resolution camera with near identical specs. If you look at the past timeline then it’s obvious that it took both companies longer than usual to develop these cameras and my guess is that they were so obsessed with the pixel race in the past that they fell behind in keeping the peripheral systems of their cameras on par with the pixels.

Even after 4 years of R&D they’ve had to settle for sensors of 16 and 18mp for the Nikon and Canon respectively, when both have had massive success with their 24 and 21mp sensors in slower cameras. So the peripheral systems are still far behind the pixel technologies. I’m especially interested to see how this new sensor from Canon will perform because Canon pushed the pixel race much further than Nikon with production models like the 7D featuring sensors of a monstrous pixel density and new individual-pixel designs. I’m confident that they learned quite a few lessons from that sensor which they’ve been able to apply in creating the ultimate “low” resolution full frame sensor.

Canon 1Dx

If the 4 years have been worth the wait, then these two new cameras will raise the bar on everything from dynamic range to noise performance and they’ll be doing it at a resolution just slightly under the 20mp we’ve been enjoying in much slower cameras. One needs to stop looking at individual specs of the cameras, but at what they will mean when combined to push the boundaries of what can be captured in nature. Faster processors, higher native ISO’s, better metering and focus systems and brand new sensors should open doors to photographers who have been technically limited in their creativity.

The rumour sites will now obviously turn their attention to wild guesses about what the yellow and red will produce on the slower high res side of things, but I’m of the firm belief that there needs to be some revolutionary technological advancement before sensors and lenses can truly resolve more than 25-30mp of detail in a 35mm sensor. Until solid facts can change that view, I’m not really interested in a 35mm camera with a 30 megapixel sensor.

Nikon D4

I can only speculate about how these cameras will perform in the fields crucial to me, but the past models of each brand have always held strong pros and cons and how the companies have improved on the cons will determine which one I’ll be buying. Below are my main problems with each system, which will be the crucial factors in determining which camera I favour.

Low Light Performance

In January last year we were three photographers shooting side by side in Deadvlei at night. There was a 5D II, a 1D4 and a D3s and we all had f/2.8 lenses shooting wide open at ISO3200 for 30 seconds. While the settings were identical it’s just as if the Nikon pulls an extra stop of light out of nowhere. The Milky Way came out brighter, the subtle blues and yellows in the sky were stronger. The D3s is just undeniably superior in that field.

Highlight Performance

3 months later I was hosting a seascape workshop in Arniston…I was shooting with my 5D II and between my clients there was a  D700, D3s and D3x. It was a beautiful sunset with strong oranges and we were all shooting into the sun. My camera captured the sky as I saw it with my eyes with perfect white-orange-yellow tonal graduation, while all the Nikons produced a muddy clipped white-yellow graduation. We all know Nikon’s highlights are more yellow while Canon’s are more red, but that is a relatively incorrect way of stating it if you ask me. I would put it as Canon’s colours are true and Nikon’s are too yellow.

One of Nikon’s tricks to getting cleaner images is that the photo is slightly overexposed in the pre-raw stage which produces a cleaner image which is then darkened again to produce a raw file of the intended exposure. Because the image is slightly overexposed, the cleaner image comes at the cost of the quality of the highlights.

That many of Nikon’s lenses are sharper is no rumour. Lens design is a trade-off between contrast/colour and sharpness and while Canon sticks to a balance between the two, Nikon opts for sharper glass, sacrificing colour in the process. To compensate for it, the colour, specifically the yellows are then oversaturated. They can then do more pre-raw noise reduction to produce a cleaner image because their systems produce slightly sharper images.

The end result of these two things is that Nikon’s extreme highlights in red skies are clipped, yellow and have bad tonal graduation compared to Canon. While it is not really an issue in most photographic genres, it plays a big role in natural colours in landscape photography. Sunset skies come out too yellow and it’s not something that can be easily corrected in processing. Let’s face it, landscape photographers live in eternal pursuit of red skies.

Live View

Whether you like it or not, live view is here to stay and many people including myself have embraced it. It makes shooting ten times easier and gives you an exact preview of your image and how graduated filters will affect the exposure before you’ve even pressed the button. When you’ve set up a composition on your tripod, you can take a Light reading anywhere in the frame thanks to the metering block that can move to any position in the frame. You can also zoom in ten times and check that your focus is spot on within any part of the frame. Nikon’s live view is just plain terrible in comparison and I hope that they’ve worked on this area.

Conclusion

Things that immediately caught my attention are the 1Dx’s whopping 100-51200 native ISO range and the D4′s Iphone/Ipad wireless control function. If by some miracle the Canon can produce a ISO6400 image at the quality of a ISO3200 image of the D3s, then the D4 stands no chance on my shopping list!

If this new Canon sensor can give Nikon a run for its money in capturing a night sky, then I’m definitely not changing brands. If it doesn’t and Nikon has improved on its highlights and live view then I will most probably be joining the dark side. While it’s fun to speculate and waste away your nights arguing with people you’ve never met, I prefer to wait and see the real results. It’s taken 4 years, but I’m sure these cameras are building the next plateau in digital still photography. Let’s hope that both hit the shelves on time and that the companies have placed them in the right hands for testing…

If the 5D III is as good value for money as the 5D II was, then I know I’ll rather buy two of those than either of these pro bodies. It’s going to be an exciting year in this field and I can’t wait to see what Canon and Nikon deliver!