The Lunar Eclipse Over South Africa on 15 June 2011 captured as never before by South African Photographer Mitchell Krog

South African Photographer Mitchell Krog, based in the beautiful Magaliesburg region has once again pulled something magical out of his photographic hat. Mitchell, a multi award winning photographer, is no stranger to the night skies and has spent much of the last 5 years photographing them. On Wednesday evening the 15th June 2011 a lunar eclipse event occured over much of the Southern Hemisphere and had sky watchers all over the world outside to witness this magical event.

In South Africa it is currently winter and up on the highveld in the Magaliesburg region it gets especially cold at night.  Braving the cold weather, Mitchell headed out to capture his 4th lunar eclipse and decided to try something different. Instead of just focusing on close up images of the moon, Mitchell decided to go much wider and set up one of his camera’s with an extreme wide angle lens.

What came out of his camera was nothing short of amazing and has certainly trumped a plethora of lunar eclipse images all over the web. Mitchell describes this effect, “A combination of heavy dew fall and misting from the very cold weather is probably what caused the camera to capture this, it is an amazing optical effect like I’ve never seen before and I’ve spent hundreds of nights out photographing the night skies. What I find amazing about this image is that, optical effect or not, it clearly shows the moon sitting in shadow surrounded by the blue glow of Earth’s light. It’s easy for people to jump out and say it’s manipulated but it most certainly is not, this is direct from camera to screen but I’m so accustomed to critics and competitors trying any avenue to demoralize or discredit.”

All we can say is we’re amazed with this image and it already seems to be circulating all over the web and being very much WOW’d.

See more of Mitchell’s incredible award winning photography at his web site http://mitchellkrog.com or on Facebook

"Mercury Down II" The sun sets and the mercury indicator starts to drop after a very hot day in Namibia - Copyright Mitchell Krog / Living Canvas Photography. All Rights Reserved.

For the budding and professional landscape photographer there is virtually endless landscape photographic opportunities in Africa and Southern Africa. South African photographer Mitchell Krog is no stranger to the African landscape and spends many months a year exploring, discovering and capturing breathtaking images of the beautiful African landscapes. Mitchell chooses to completely avoid re-capturing images which have been captured a million times or more, “I just don’t see the point in photographing things that have are captured 100 times a day when there is just so much that has NOT even been photographed yet” he says.

"Drakensberg Sunrise" - The sun rises over the beautiful and majestic mountainous region of the Drakensberg of South Africa. Copyright Mitchell Krog / Living Canvas Photography. All Rights Reserved.

The greatest parts of the undiscovered African landscape are only accessible via foot and often many kilometers of walking can be involved simply to capture one image. As Mitchell Krog says, “This is the game unfortunately and quite simply if you’re not willing to go the extra “mile”, excuse the pun, you will not return home with any new or unique images that have not been captured already. The Drakensberg region of South Africa, of which the greatest area lies within the province of Kwazulu Natal, is a good example. Photographers seeking to cover this area really need to go many extra miles to get to unique locations and in the Drakensberg there literally is endless locations on offer. The Drakensberg is so diverse and the landscape is ever changing, the light is so dramatic that you could sit and photograph the same scene every day for 365 days and not one image would be the same, it is for this very reason that I can say the landscape opportunities of the Drakensberg are endless.”

"Table Mountain at Dusk" - One of the most photographed mountains in the world, Table Mountain. Copyright Mitchell Krog / Living Canvas Photography. All Rights Reserved.

Similarly the Western Cape region of South Africa is also very mountainous and has some very dramatic landscapes. The Cape weather is rather unpredictable but this coupled with dramatic light seems to make for a good recipe for excellent landscape photography opportunities. The Cape is one of the most photographically covered regions of South Africa but this does ot mean that there is not still many landscape photography opportunities in store for the visiting photographer. No doubt South Africa will see many international photographers visiting our shores as the World Cup Soccer draws closer and it will be interesting to see how fresh eyes portray our beautiful landscapes.

PayPal For South Africa

It’s been a big week for the South African internet economy. First MWEB started a broadband price war with their uncapped ADSL offering and now Pay Pal and FNB have announced that they’ve entered into an agreement to bring Pay Pal to South Africa. This enables South Africans to sell to PayPal’s global customer base of more than 81 million active accounts in 190 markets around the world and move the proceeds to their FNB accounts. (South Africa is the 190th country to get paypal accounts!)

This drastically lowers the barrier to entry for entrepreneurs to setup online stores and instantly start selling online. Bad news for online merchant providers like MyGate, VCS and even MWEB’s Safeshop.

Michael Jordaan, FNB’s Chief Executive Officer had this to say -

“We are especially pleased to make this announcement on the eve of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, as South Africans will be able to join the global eCommerce marketplace. Our agreement with PayPal also enables international businesses and individuals to transact with South African service providers via a secure and convenient payment gateway”

Pay Pal concluded -

“FNB and PayPal have a similar focus on innovation, so it makes sense that we would work with FNB to make online payments even easier for merchants and consumers in South Africa,” said Oded Zehavi, head of PayPal’s business in Israel and South Africa.

FNB Customers can simply open a PayPal account and link it to a qualified FNB account and receive PayPal payments in 21 different currencies. FNB will convert the currency to South African Rand, when the money is transferred into their accounts.

Source: http://www.bandwidthblog.com

At one point as many as 14 sluice gates were open and the water being released from the Vaal dam wall was like a raging monster emitting a massive cloud of water vapour into the sky above making clear photographs of the dam while quite tricky. The photo below captured by South African landscape photographer and freelance photojournalist Mitchell Krog is one such image where the amount of flood gates opened was 14. At the height of release of water from the Dam an amount of 2 040m³ of water per second was being released from the dam wall.

Like a raging beast water gushes out from 14 sluice gates on the Vaal dam wall due to heavy rains in the province which caused the Vaal Dam to burst it's banks. At the point of 14 sluices being open an amount of 2 040m³ of water per second was being released from the dam wall. - Photo: Copyright Mitchell Krog / Living Canvas Photography

Due to the large amount of water being released from the Dam wall, many road ways further downstream in the Vereeneging area were affected by flooding causing traffic chaos in the city and surrounds. The traffic officials sure had their hands full but seemed to control the chaos quite well. Traffic at the dam wall was really chaotic with cars parked everywhere and others trying to squeeze their way through the parked cars and people on foot.

Recent flooding at the Vaal dam drew crowds from afar who flocked to see the spectacle of a major river in flood. At one point authorities in the region had 14 sluice gates opened due to the massive amount of water flowing into the Vaal dam from the heavy rainfalls around the Gauteng region. Photo: Copyright Mitchell Krog / Living Canvas Photography

As of this week levels in the Vaal Dam have stabilised and they are down to only 5 flood gates being open with authorities saying they may close more today. The situation is still being closely monitored as rains continue to fall around the province onto already water-logged ground which can still result in more flooding but for the most part the big spectacle is probably over for now.

"Like a raging monster" - water gushing from the Vaal Dam wall after 14 sluice gates were opened due to heavy rainfalls in the region. Photo: Copyright Mitchell Krog / Living Canvas Photography

As of today the amount of sluice gates open is now down to only 5 and authorities have stated they may close another on or two tomorrow morning but they are still closely monitoring the dam as rain continues to fall around the province.

Mitchell Krog travelled out to the Dam wall on the 30th of January 2010 at the height of the release of water from the dam wall and took the image below using Infrared. “The water coming out of the dam wall was raging like a monster, creating a massive cloud of mist that seemed to join seemlessly into the clouds above it. It was quite something to see many enterprising South African’s who used the opportunity to sell food and drink to the thousands of South African’s who came to see this spectacle” said Mitchell.

The Vaal Dam in South Africa with 13 sluice gates opened as authorities scrambled to release as much water a spossible due to the dam bursting it's banks due to heavy rainfalls in the Highveld region of South Africa - Copyright Mitchell Krog / Living Canvas Photography

Why do we use HDR? Because a camera can’t always capture the dynamic range of light in most natural scenes in one exposure , which results in areas of the image that have no detail due to shadows or highlights. Traditionally we would use graduated neutral density filters to balance the exposure, but they are rather expensive and limited by many situations found in landscapes everywhere, like uneven horizons, tall objects like trees, mountains etc. When digitally blending 2 or more images we are basically simulating an ND filter, but we have full control over how the graduation of the filter would have been. HDR opens new doors in landscape photography, but I still prefer to use graduated filters and do where ever I can. Moving objects within an image creates a lot of problems for HDR blending, because your images have to be identical ( apart from the exposure ). You can get away with it to a certain extent, but cameras are still very primitive compared to the human eye and sometimes we simply can’t capture what we saw.
The basic concept of HDR is to capture the total dynamic range of the scene ( when it is greater than the camera can capture in one exposure ) in multiple exposures and combine select parts of the various exposures using Photoshop.
The first thing we need is the multiple exposures of a scene. In most natural scenes, the sky is brighter than the land/foreground and if you expose for the sky, the foreground is too dark and if you expose for the foreground then the sky is too bright. So we take a separate exposure for each.
The easiest way is to use your camera’s AEB (auto exposure bracketing – see camera manual ) function. It allows you to capture a sequence of 3 exposures, each a certain f-value apart. In most situations, you simply need one exposure for the sky and one for the foreground as shown below.

HDR image blending tutorial by Hougaard Malan

If this is the case, meter the sky and foreground separately, check the difference and set the bracketing so that the exposures are that f-value apart so that you get an ideal exposure for each. The 3rd doesn’t matter and can be deleted. So if the sky is 2 stops brighter than the foreground, set the bracketing for 0; -2; +2 and expose it for either sky or FG and you will have the 2 necessary exposures in your sequence.
Sometimes however, a nasty highlight or shadow requires a 3rd exposure as shown below.

Bracketing exposures

Once again, meter the sky and FG separately, set the AEB so that you get an adequate exposure for both and check if the 3rd exposure has the detail in the shadow/highlight area you require. If not, simply capture a darker/brighter exposure by setting a single exposure manually or do a whole sequence manually. Shooting for it comes naturally and you quickly learn with experience, so don’t worry too much about it.


In a short sentence : You need multiple exposures of which the darkest image may have no highlights and the brightest image may have no shadows.

Usually 2 exposures are enough for most scenes as I will show in the first example.


Blending a 2 exposure image

1.  We start by just opening our 2 images that we are going to blend. RAW adjustments should already have been applied and make sure your layers window is open (F7).

Foreground and Sky Exposures To be Blended

Now, simply for practicality reasons, stack the exposures ( in this case 2 ) from darkest to brightest by using the move tool (v) and simply dragging the one image onto the other one. Hold shift in as you drop the image and it will align itself within the frame. You have now stacked the 2 layers and you will see the 2 thumbs in your layers window. Clicking on the eye to the left of the top thumb will hide the top layer and reveal the layer below.

You can now close the bright exposure as you have it in a layer on the darker one. Maximize the window simply for better viewing. You will be working on a layer mask so that any mistakes can be easily corrected. At the bottom of the layers window there’s a rectangle with a circle in, click on it to add a layer mask (make sure your top layer is selected ) to the top layer.

To simulate the graduated filter, we use a gradient on the layer mask. Press G to select your gradient tool. Check at the top of the window for the following (if everything is on default, it will be right )

1. The gradient type must be foreground to background ( top left )
2. Orientation of the gradient must linear ( left )
c. Mode – normal
d. Opacity – 100%

Gradient Settings in Photoshop For Image Blending

Press D to make sure your FG/BG color is on default. 
You will now blend the two exposures. Where you click the gradient tool, the gradient will start, you then drag it to where you want the gradient to end. You can drag the line at any angle and the gradient will be in that direction. Below I have simply dragged a gradient onto a white mask to show you. You can see how the gradient starts where I clicked, transitions over the path I dragged and ends where I released the mouse. The black pixels will reveal what’s on the layer below them. The pure black will reveal everything with the gray pixels resulting in a smooth transition that fades the 2 exposures into each other.

Applying a Gradient

For this specific image, the gradient will transition over about 40% of the image at a slight angle (90 degrees to the horizon ). The line I dragged to create the gradient looks like this.

The gradient will look like this:

You can now touch up the gradient by painting on the mask with a brush. Once you are happy with the blend, you should flatten the image and treat it as one exposure. Doing separate adjustments to the blended layers can sometimes make a nasty unwanted transition between the layers visible.

You can now do your usual processing steps to get to the final result.

Blending a 3 Exposure Image

Stack the 3 exposures from dark to bright as explained above and give the 2 top layers each a layer mask. To give separate layers a mask, simply click on the layer thumb in the layers window and then click on the add layer mask button. Once you’ve added the layer masks, you can click on the eye of the top layer to hide it as we will work on the sky first. Your layers window should now look as shown below.

90% of the time the 3rd exposure is to deal with a highlight around the sun and it is always a big circular blob so to blend it we will use the radial gradient. Choose the gradient tool ( g ) and now select the radial gradient in the top tab (refer to point 4 above – tab b – 2nd icon) and set it to a 50% opacity (tab d) to begin with. The necessary opacity depends on the image.

Now drag the gradient from the centre of the highlight outwards. Usually the transition has to be quite big so you can drag it as far as you can. It’s a trial and error process and practice makes perfect. Below you can see the gradient I settled for and how it revealed the detail in the highlight area from the darker exposure below.

You can now simply blend in the foreground of the image as explained in the previous example. Remember to select the correct gradient again as shown in point 4 above. When starting out with this stuff, the most common errors people usually make is simply not having the correct layer or gradient tool or palette colors selected so always double check your tools when something isn’t working as it should!

Here are a few more of my images, some of which uses the same techniques as mentioned above.

"More Boats" - by Hougaard Malan

‘More Boats’

"The Bay Of Fire" - by Hougaard Malan

‘The Bay of Fire’

"Cliche" - by Hougaard Malan

‘Cliche’

"Victoria Bay" - by Hougaard Malan

‘Victoria Bay’

"Desert Storm" - by Hougaard Malan

"At Rest" - by Hougaard Malan

‘At Rest’

If you have any questions of thoughts please feel free to comment!

Hougaard Malan

If done correctly you as a photographer could earn a decent monthly income from selling your images through stock photography agencies.

Many aspiring and hard working photographers get to a point when their images are no longer considered amateur and their images actually start to get some sort of commercial value. But where do you begin if you want to start selling images online? The easiest starting point is to sign up on some stock photography web sites, submit a portfolio of images for approval and then keep adding to your catalogue of images for sale. Stock imaging sites have thousands of photographers submitting images daily and literally millions of images online. The stock agency takes care of all sales and legalities and as a contributing photographer you get a commission on all sales of your image(s). The amount you receive as commission is considered by many initially to be a kick in the face as you will normally receive just a few cents (US $) per sale of your image but it is important to note that your image can keep selling over and over again. If you have a particularly good image it can sell many times a day, every day and the more of these type of images you have in your catalogue the quicker you will see your income start turning from cents into dollars and the quicker you have 500+ images online the quicker you could start seeing your monthly income grow and if done right, you could even one day be able to live off that monthly income.

When you first sign up at a stock agency, your first requirement is to submit a portfolio of images for approval. This process ensures that your images are of a high standard and meet the requirements of the stock agency. Things like image noise, over-sharpening, JPEG artifacts, composition etc are stringently checked by image moderators and if your images meet the standard your initial portfolio will be approved and you can then start submitting images regularly. Most photographers do not get their first portfolio submission approved and to many this can be very disheartening but don’t give up just yet. Visit the forums on those stock sites, put some of your images up and ask other photographers where you went wrong and how you can fix your images before you resubmit your portfolio. There are many people on these forums willing to give freely of their time and their guidance will get you on the road. Some photographers only get through on their 3rd or 4th attempt simply due to the fact their images contain noise and other simple image problems that are easily remedied. Once you know the recipe the stock agency is looking for you’ll be able to stay on track and have a reasonably good acceptance rate thereafter.

Your next step is finding out WHAT sells and then start concentrating on image types that are selling and then constantly improving on those. It’s easy to see what sells by typing in keywords in the search boxes on a stock site and then viewing the images that have sold the most times. Simply trying to copy someone elses image is NO guarantee that you will get any sales, try and be original and produce images that other will try and copy. If you work hard at it and play your cards right you could eventually earn a living from stock photography.

Some stock sites to get you started:

Shutterstock
IStockPhoto
Fotolia

The strange craft which fleeted across South Africa's night skies on Sunday the 18th of October 2009 causing UFO reports to flood observatories and Radio 702. Most people in South Africa thought they had seen a UFO but this object turned out to be a Centaur rocket carrying out tests when they passed over South Africa. From Mitchell Krog's Astrophotography Portfolio. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved)

Information from http://www.planetarium.co.za/ thanks to Claire from the Planetarium for doing so much research into this event.

Hundreds of South Africans saw a star-like point moving across the sky while emitting “haloes” or “bubbles” of light just before 9pm on Sunday evening October 18th. This strange sight turns out to have been a Centaur rocket carrying out tests as it passed over South Africa nearly three hours after launch. The mission (AV-017) is a project of United Launch Alliance – see ulalaunch.com for a nice video of the launch and a 23-page “mission overview”. The purpose was to launch a US Defence Force weather satellite (DMSP F18) into orbit.

Event timeline (all times are South African time)

6:12pm – Atlas V rocket launches from Vandenberg Airforce Base

6:16pm – booster rocket shuts down and is jettisoned over the Pacific

– Centaur main engine starts

– payload fairing jettisoned

6:27pm – Centaur main engine shuts down

6:30pm – satellite released

– Collision and Contamination Avoidance Maneuver

6:46pm – testing begins

8:57pm – testing ends

9:10pm – Centaur main engine fires for 4min to send the rocket away from Earth (into an Earth-escape trajectory)

9:17pm – “blowdown” of the fuel tanks

9:56pm – burn off of residual hydrazine

What caused the bubbles?

Possibly venting of fuel during the tests, or firing of “reaction control” motors used to change the orientation or spin of the vehicle.

Tests carried out on the Centaur

Since the DMSP satellite was relatively light, the Centaur rocket had fuel left over after completing its mission of putting the satellite into orbit.  The collision and contamination avoidance manoeuvre gets the rocket a safe distance from the satellite.

After this, the Centaur is in free-fall – a (almost) zero-gravity state that can be created on Earth for a short time by dropping something from e.g. a tall tower, or in a plane for a few minutes (e.g. NASA’s “Vomit Comet“).  The test phase of the Centaur lasted about two hours.

The tests carried out during this time were described by ULA as:

“zero-g, long-coast propellant management . . . we do zero-g settling by very reduced motion of the settling thrusters . . . [and then] settle the propellants against the wall of the tank by spinning the stage with no settling thrusters . . . [and] some venting during zero-g.”

Before re-starting the engine, the engineers also planned “a pulsed chilldown demo . . . then some experiments related to the depletion of [the engine]“

One interesting use for these tests is to see how feasible orbiting “filling stations” are.  These would be useful for future manned spacecraft missions to the Moon or Mars, that would have to carry large (heavy) amounts of equipment into space.  Some of the experiments that would be useful for the design of these orbiting “propellant depots” include spinning the spacecraft to settle the fuel against the sides of the container, and firing small rockets or venting small amounts of fuel to push the fuel against one end of the container.  A large fuel tanker in zero-gravity has problems that include leakage of the hydrogen fuel (hydrogen molecules are very small and eventually leak through the walls of containers), and keeping the fuel cool.

United Launch Alliance has a great collection of (fairly technical) publications related to the future development of space exploration – see their publications page, especially this one which mentions using the DMSP-18 mission for zero-g propellant tests.

"The mothership is watching us". What many would love to believe was a UFO turns out to be something actually from this world. A centaur rocket is captured dumping excess propellant into the atmosphere as part of a testing phase of this rocket launch. From Mitchell Krog's Astrophotography Portfolio. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved)

If you would like to order prints

of Mitchell Krog’s images above please visit www.livingcanvas.co.za and send an enquiry form through and someone will get back to you with pricing and shipping info. Details on the front page of the web site.

More articles at: http://selenianboondocks.com/2009/10/av-017-bubbling-ufos-and-centrifugal-settling/

Radio stations were flooded with calls on Sunday Evening the 18th of October 2009 with people reporting they had seen a unidentified flying object (UFO) in the sky, it has also been referred to as a Bubbling UFO or Spacecraft too. Actually according to reports from official sources what was seen in the night skies over South Africa on Sunday was a Centaur Rocket dumping excess propellant as some form of testing from the rocket manufacturer. Some experts who have seen fuel dumping excercises dispute this as the answer to exactly what “test” were being performed while over South Africa.

The strange craft which fleeted across South Africa's night skies on Sunday the 18th of October 2009. Most people in South Africa thought they had seen a UFO but this object turned out to be a Centaur rocket dumping excess propellant. From Mitchell Krog's Astrophotography Portfolio. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved)

The Centaur rocket was launched from VanderBergh Airforce base in California earlier that day with a payload of a US military weather satellite named DMSP F-18. When the rocket and satellite were over South African skies they apparently dumped excess fuel which resulted in large halos surrounding the two objects which were a short distance from each other. Later in the evening when they were over Europe they dumped the rest of the fuel which also caused a minor sensation in Europe.

South African photographer Mitchell Krog was out and about shooting a lightning storm and happened to notice this anomoly in the sky and captured some superb images of the event. He explains his story.

A scene from a sci-fi movie? What many South Africans and Europeans thought was a UFO on Sunday the 18th of October turned out to be a testing phase of a Centaur rocket launched earlier that day from VanDerBergh Airforce base in California. From Mitchell Krog's Astrophotography Portfolio. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved)

“I was out chasing a lightning storm which circulated through our area, at around 8:47pm I noticed a strange shape in the sky, at first I thought it was some cloud formation but quickly ruled that out and immediately swung my camera around and started cpaturing images of this object in the sky. It started off relatively small and as it moved across the sky the rings grew in size. I photographed from 8:48 to 8:52 and by then it was too faint and almost out of sight. I knew I had captured something unusual because I have spent my entire life watching the night skies and the last 4 years photographing them. Deep down inside me I kinda hoped it was a UFO but I have learned in life not to jump to conclusions and rather investigate before causing sensationalism as the mass media always does. On Monday morning I sent my images off to a number of astronomy friends of mine and quite quickly got a reply about the Centaur Rocket. Some people who have been in contact with me since yesterday are still questioning exactly what “tests” were being done up there and they have contacted the owners of that rocket who said they will be giving a press release. As soon as I hear anything I will update this info but for now the mass consensus is the centaur rocket dumping fuel. This is certainly not something you see every day in the night skies and as a photographer I had one minute to decide what settings  I would use and 4 minutes to shoot it, I did not even have a moment to scratch my head. It was a great thing to witness and even more rewarding to come home with images.”

"The mothership is watching us". What many would love to believe was a UFO turns out to be something actually from this world. A centaur rocket is captured dumping excess propellant into the atmosphere as part of a testing phase of this rocket launch. From Mitchell Krog's Astrophotography Portfolio. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved)

Images featured on News24.com at this link
Images featured on Astronomical Gallery at this link

When you strip away all the colour in an image you get down to the bare essentials of life. A black and white photograph has a certain mystique about it and once all that colour is out of the way we get down to the life and soul of imagery at its most powerful. Where a colour image does not need much more than colour to get a WOW factor out of viewers, a black and white image needs to have a lot more going for it in order to captivate a viewer, stop them in their tracks and keep them looking at the image for a considerable length of time. Textures, tones and contrasts are the be-all and end-all of good black and white photography and few photographers ever master this delicate process which is not as simple as using some arbitrary plug in to turn a colour image into a black and white image.

"Harry Potter's World". This panoramic image of Glenfinnan in the Western Scottish Highlands was home to parts of some of the Harry Potter movies and ever since has become a tourist hot spot. The full size image weighs in at 93 megapixels and will soon be available for purchase in the online print ordering galleries. From Mitchell Krog's Scotland Landscape Photography Portfolio. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved)

With today’s advances in digital camera technology everything is about colour and even black and white digital photographers have to capture all their images in colour, that’s just the way digital sensors work. A black and white photographer however does not see the colour when he is taking the image, he already sees the tones, textures and contrasts in his minds eye and strips all the colour out long before even clicking the shutter knowing well that the image he has captured is going to make a great black and white image.

Anyone can make a black and white image !!! Yes anyone can, but few ever master the true time honoured techniques developed by masters like Ansel Adams. It is most easy to take any colour photograph and turn it into a black and white image, that can be done in under 30 seconds with any plugin developed for this purpose, but the chances of that image standing the test of time as a black and white masterpiece is rather slim. Black and White is not something to be used as an after-thought or a remedy for a poorly taken colour image, it is an image that was shot from the word go with the intention of the final image being black and white and there most certainly is a big difference between the two.

"Secluded" A fisherman braves the cold morning weather. A good black and white image has a wide range of contrasts, tones and textures which give the image depth and soul. From the Black and White Photography Collections by Mitchell Krog. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved)

As photography has advanced in recent years, photographers are continually in search of noise free images, meaning images with little or no film grain in the images. Stock Agencies continually feed this “noise free” perfection in images immediately rejecting images with even the slightest of noise. As such it has become the ultimate goal to produce noise free images and photographers will always be waiting for the newest camera body promising better noise handling while also developing an armada of noise removal techniques in Photoshop or their favourite image processing application. Unfortunately a great majority of photographers today have become too accustomed to publishing their images online in galleries and seldom ever take their work to print. Critiques delivered on online forums will immediately start off with the amount of noise in an image, this results in the photographer doing noise removal and smoothing of areas of the image to produce the perfect online image. But when it comes to taking that same smooth, noise-free image to print it does not necessarily produce a very good print versus an image that still has some natural grain still in the image. The grain actually gives life and depth to an image whereas important details are lost when that has all been smoothed out with noise removal software.

A good black and white image contains film grain and without it the image is flat, dull and most incredibly boring. If you happen to work with a professional print agency that’s knows their stuff, they will actually introduce grain back into images before printing them and once you have compared the two side by side you will think twice about producing super smooth images for print ever again.

"Deadwood". Black and white imagery contains a wide array of textures, contrasts and tones. Film grain adds life and depth into the image. From Mitchell Krog's Black and White Photography Collections. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved)

Watch out for more articles on black and white / monochrome imaging by South African Black and White Fine Art Photographer Mitchell Krog.

South Africa's Rugged Coastline Offers Un-ending Opportunities for the Landscape Photographer. The Coastline of the Western Cape is among the most popular coastlines for landscape photographers. From Mitchell Krog's South African Landscape and Seascape Portfolios. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved)

The Western Cape coastline is undoubtedly one of the most popular stretches of coastline for both South African and International landscape photographers and this region of South Africa has bred some really talented photographers who truly appreciate and understand the gift that they have on their doorstep.

Panorama of the Kogel Bay, Western Cape Coastline at Sunset. From Mitchell Krog's South African Landscape and Seascape Photography Collections. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved)

The Eastern Cape stretch of coastline becomes even more rugged and is a place full of adventure and there is a reason why it got named “The Wild Coast”. For photographers this stretch of coastline involves much walking and climbing over dunes and dangerous rocks but only those willing to go the effort of getting to the best locations are the one’s to return with beautiful images of this coastline. There are many parts of this coastline, also known as the “Sunshine Coast” that have hardly been explored, least of all photographed.

Approximately halfway between industrial centres Port Elizabeth and East London sits a quaint little seaside coastal town called Kenton On Sea. Nestled between the Bushman’s and Kariega Rivers it’s an ideal holiday destination and full of opportunities for the landscape photographer. The area has many pristine beaches and a declared nature reserve along the shoreline ensures that no housing developments can spoil the coastline.

Carriage Rock is a recognisable landmark on the Kenton-On-Sea, Eastern Cape coastline. Captured here at sunrise by South African Landscape Photographer Mitchell Krog. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved)

Carriage Rock, a recognisable landmark at Kenton-On-Sea captured at first light with movement in the water by South African fine-art landscape photographer Mitchell Krog. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved)

Moving further North along the coastline we get to Kwazulu Natal with Durban as the metropolis. Durban and the surrounding coastal towns has for many years been the top location for holidays. It’s a half day drive from Johannesburg and even in winter the weather is warm and mild, making it the ideal all year round destination. This stretch of coastline offers some wonderful opportunities for the landscape photographer but much of this coastline has had poorly planned developments encroach right onto the beach fronts. There are still many areas where development has been kept more inland allowing the photographer to capture images with hardly any human element in them. South African fine-art landscape photographer Mitchell Krog however believes that photographers try too hard to capture pristine images without any human element visible and including such elements in a landscape image can add a great sense of scale, impact and drama to an image.

A Lonesome Fisherman at Sunrise on the Kwazulu Natal Coastline. Including Human Elements in a Landscape can add great impact to a photograph. From Mitchell Krog's South African Landscape and Seascape Portfolios. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved)

Landscape photographer’s generally seek the best weather for a photograph and will often pack up and go home if conditions are not optimal. Come rain or shine a landscape or seascape photographer should be prepared for any weather that nature cares to throw his or her way. Instead of packing up, a photographer should learn to use the conditions available to their best advantage. Cold stormy days can produce images otherwise unobtainable when the light is too bright. Where human elements are unavoidable a photographer needs to get creative and seek out intimate parts of the landscape.

Where it is difficult to keep human elements out of a photograph, a photographer must get creative and isolate intimate parts of the landscape. From Mitchell Krog's Landscape and Seascape Photography Collections. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved)

SA born landscape and seascape photographer Mitchell Krog regularly travels to coastal destinations around South Africa and has produced numerous masterpieces. Mitchell believes that for photographers the South African coastal landscape offers endless opportunities.

The International Space Station Fleeted Across the South African Night Skies on The 30th of August 2009 at 6:51pm. From Mitchell Krog's AstroPhotography Portfolio. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved)

More photos from other astro-photographers here.

A discussion on the SARL web site here.

Mitchell regularly travels to all corners of South Africa and abroad to keep bringing high class quality images to the Photographic Market Place. He is regularly featured on a number of internet forums and communities and has contributed thousands of hours to helping budding photographers to improve their game.

The Wild Waters of Kogel Bay in the Western Cape. From Mitchell Krog's Western Cape Landscape Photography Series (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved)

Mitchell has also developed a very fine eye for black and white photography and has produced a number of spectacular black and white seascape images on his trips around South Africa. Black and White photography, says Mitchell, despite this colourful world we live in, remains to be one of the most powerful mediums of photography. When the colour is stripped away we get down to the basics and simplicity of life. Black and white photographers have to have a keen eye for tones, contrasts, textures and especially light, without which a black and white image would be dull and dreary. Black and white or sometimes referred to as Monotone or Monochrome, captures the very soul and essence of nature.

Secluded. A fisherman braves the cold morning weather. From the South Coast Landscape Photography Series by Mitchell Krog. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved)

Mitchell also travels abroad and captured a variety of magical images on his trip to Scotland earlier in 2009. Covering over 2700 kilometres by vehicle and approximately 30-40 kilometers on foot, well lets just say this trip was not one of resting and Mitchell showed his total dedication to going the extra “mile” to find those incredible images he keeps producing. Mitchell was awarded First Runner Up for his image Sentinels in the first South African PIX Awards of 2009.

Sentinels. Ancient Trees stand guard over the Forest Floor. From Mitchell Krog's Scotland Landscape Photography Series. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved)

Miles from Nowhere, Isle of Skye, Scotland. From Mitchell Krog's Scotland Landscape Photography Series. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved)

This is the first edition of a series of articles on Landscape Photography by Mitchell Krog.

Our group first encountered two of the male’s and three of their females catching a late afternoon nap and then shortly after dark we followed the two males to a water hole and captured some magic images of the one Mapogo male drinking. Mitchell’s image “The Ghost in the Darkness” below was born.

Mr T of the Mapogo Male Lion Coalition At a Drinking Hole At Night, Appearing like a Ghost in the Darkness. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved)

The following morning on our 6am game drive we arrived at a different water hole to find the two Mapogo male’s again with their three females but this time we were in real luck to find all their cubs around for their morning play time too. Arriving on this sighting just as the sun was rising gave us some magical “golden light” photographic opportunities.

Two of the Mapogo lion cubs of the Sabi Sands at a water hole in the golden light of the sunrise. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved)

Shortly after returning from his trip, Mitchell did some more online research into the Mapogo Male Lion Coalition and came across some great information. First off this group of lions has their own Facebook Group Page and it has already attracted a bit of a fan base. Through finding this group Mitchell learned that the image of the Mapogo male below is one of the coalition called “Mr T”.

A male lion of the Mapogo coalition of the Sabi Sands Reserve who has come to be known as Mr T. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved)

The Mapogo are a coalition of 6 male lion warriors. They are known in some areas of the reserve as The Eyrefield Males, the Sparta Males and in some areas as “The Cannibals”. It is said they were named Mapogo after a security company that utilizes rather harsh methods in dealing with offenders. There appears to be several different meanings for Mapogo. Ulusaba refers to it as meaning “Vigilantes“ and Savanna Lodge refers to the Mapogo name being a Zulu word meaning “Rogues”. Whatever the meaning, they are Bad News! The Mapogo males have been known to kill and eat other lions, even cubs that they have fathered. They seem to kill and eat just about anything in their path which may sound rather gruesome but nature has its ways and some things we will never understand. I can say one thing you certainly do not want to be on foot and cross paths with these guys.

You can read more about the Mapogo Lions here.

Another insert from this Photographic Safari coming soon.