One of the considerations in presenting an image and this is part of the PP, is whether an image should be cropped or not. In this example, these flowers are clearly the subject of the shot. As such you might consider this image as having unnecessary background. However the background in this shot contributes to the overall appeal of the image in my opinion. It reminds meal of a meal served on a beautiful plate that adds to the visual appeal. Too much cropping and the image can't breathe. Too little and the image floats around.
More atmosphere
A continuation of the weather this afternoon ie, more clouds and interesting atmospheric conditions. Now you see it, now you don't - except if you catch it in between!
The dense air creates a 'thickness' in the scene. Even though clouds are prevalent, a low level mist colours the background skies. A little light throws highlights on the escarpment.
Sunlight pierces the cloud cover further towards the west.
Lion's head? Close up version of a photo from yesterday's blog under different lighting conditions.
Elsewhere on the mountainside, a rusted out car becomes visible after the bushland is 'cleared' by a fire.
Support pillar in shelter near Katoomba Falls.
Change of weather
A very warm day yesterday but predictably the clouds rolled in over the valley later in the afternoon. This shot was taken from Narrow Neck which was soon enveloped in cloud cover.
20 minutes before - taken from Cahills Lookout, scene of bushfires in November 2014. This angle could be shot thanks to fires burning away the undergrowth and foliage allowing access to lower areas.
Unremarkable
How often do we venture out as photographers to capture a beautiful scene? As it happened the day I shot this image was also the same day an earlier photo was taken with dramatic cloud formation and featuring another tree. Firey skies and black clouds are striking in their impact. This is not one of those photos. It is however a simple exercise in relationships and tones with a helpful diagonal element thrown in (cloud base). The dark tree form is rooted in the solid (also dark) base. The light cloud form above also benefits and is shown up by the darker sky. The tree is also slightly slanted away from the cloud at the top which is 'moving' from left to right of the frame. The tree may be catching a low flying darker cloud (what has this guy been smoking!). It is Friday afternoon....
One more thing on format. Some time ago a photo magazine publisher had a podcast on image format of a newer camera he was using. In particular he pointed out how he was quite taken by the 16 x 9 format it offered him (he could selected that crop factor in the camera menu). He concluded that since becoming used to that format, other crop factors seemed... not quite right. The crop factor of the above image is 4 x 3. The photo wasn't copped afterwards, it was taken like this. Neither are right or wrong. Both can be powerful. Some people never stray from the square.
Hay barn - Wilton, TAS
A strange combination of cool weather and no rain - Tasmania has been pretty dry for months. Fields are yellow and hay is an important food source for cattle and horses.
Heading north
Tasmania isn't a big place. If you move around you will see a variety of weather conditions. This shot was taken traveling north from Hobart. The weather moved in and provided a subtle landscape with just enough detail. Sometimes a limited palette of colours contributes more to a photo.
2015 Tasmanian Wooden Boat Festival
Hobart turned on some well received warm summery weather for us mainlanders during the boat show recently. Well worth the trip with boats of all types on display in the water and in the exhibition halls nearby (on the waterfront). A lot of salty old dogs roaming around with many years of experience in life on the water. I had only the Olympus em5 with 24-80mm (full frame equivalent) capturing these images. Every kind of watercraft was represented from super lightweight single seater kayaks and row boats to sea going yachts and ships reminiscent of the 'old days'.
Also represented at the Festival was the Wooden Boat Centre at Franklin offering short courses in boat building. A short tour of the facility gave us the low down on this craft and a little history as well.
Surprisingly few tools are required to build your own boat according to John, our tour guide. Some of the older tools are shown on display here. A course is around 7 weeks to complete. 2-5 people are taken for each group. At the completion of the course, one of the attendees are invited to buy the finished product if they like. Materials for a 12-14ft boat are around $7,500.
Most of the timber used to make boats in Tasmania come from the bottom of rivers. They are floated to the surface then processed (dried etc).
In the background is an old style motor boat as you might have seen in a James Bond movie. There are no straight straight panels in that example.
An explanation of what goes into the making of a boat - processes, types of timber etc. One of the boats recently built incorporates timber used around pipelines, cleaned up and recycled. New timber is at a premium.
By the water
Tree reflection in water with waves. F4.5 1/10s ISO100 31mm
Cox's River Road
A turn off on the way to Lithgow - a solitary tree against the backdrop of stormy skies.
Mt Wilson revisited
What a difference 24 hours makes. Today temperature dropped 12-13 degrees and most of the mountains are covered in mist. Cue to visit Mt Wilson again - populated with private gardens available to view for the public (for a fee), there are many locations within this area that are rich resources for the keen photographer. These are a few shots captured in the course of my visit.
The waterhole
About 45 mins drive from Katoomba is a waterhole whose precise location will remain a secret for the benefit of locals. As it turns out its fairly well populated anyway on sunny days. A generous swimming area surrounded by small cliffs and a weir which takes away excess. Nearby, is a beautiful grotto like space where rock climbers do their thing.
Olympus OM-D EM5
First impressions of the Olympus 4/3 camera are very positive. Will all landscape photographers want to trade their full frame setups for this camera - unlikely. Nevertheless it has a place in the gear especially when light weight together with quality is called for. Light and compact it certainly is. If rumours of a 40MP replacement in Feb 2015 become a reality it may have even more of an impact. Wha.....? 40MP?!! Apparently the sensor shifts to compile a 40MP image. Let's see. In the meantime the 12-40mm f2.8 does an admirable job attached to the M5. Its currently one of three Pro lenses Olympus has on offer. I haven't explored it fully but here's a crop of a square shot taken today at Leura Cascades converted to b&w.
A variation on the reflection theme taken from the water. Reflections onto rock face. Something I couldn't have done with a big heavy DSLR - holding the camera above water while swimming out to a vantage point then holding the camera still enough with one hand to take the shot. I could make EVF adjustments with one hand also.
Wave action
Some shots from time spent on the coast a few weeks ago. Slightly slow exposures around Tamarama and Bronte showing waveforms. In particular a few of the black and whites give the appearance of fur showing texture and movement you don't get to see at faster speeds.
Tamarama - late afternoon light on the waves
Rock shelf at Bronte - water coverage showing waterfall effect is created with just enough exposure time
Foreground wave appears as some giant furry creature
Unlike more general surfing shots which are better viewed as colour images, wave and water details can be rendered with more interest in greyscale. They have a more dynamic appeal
Water flow around rock shelf - Bronte
Tasmanian coastline
I've been surprised and amazed at the rock formations around the coast of Tasmania. Both the larger variety and the smaller which has incredible detail and shape. A few samples...
Close to the mouth of the Arthur River. Plenty of beach areas to walk and explore.
One of my favourites from the Arthur River area. A kind of hobbitland on the coast. Late afternoon with an incoming tide.
Not being a palaeontologist, I can't speak about their formation but its certainly a work of art.
Bay of Fires
Around the shoreline at Stanley.
A "Day that earth was formed" shot. Arthur River area.
A lovely spot close to home - Gordon, Tas.
Water retreating along channel - Arthur River
Huge variety of shells washed up at Randalls Bay
Old man or Buddha?
Fossil Cove was one of the first places I visited on the east coast near Kettering. Incredibly detailed and coloured formations by the water.
Timing is everything. Tide is out, revealing the sandbar ridges.
Gordon - shoreline. Taken with iPhone.
Hasselblad lenses on Nikon D800E
I mentioned how I replaced my broken Nikon 24-70mm lens with a bunch of manual focus Hasselblad (Zeiss) lenses. Even though I'm restricted to manually focusing I'd have to say I'm happy with the trade off given the quality of the Zeiss glass. Build quality is excellent with all four lenses and the tilt/shift capability is a plus whether for architectural shooting or stitched panoramas. The following is a list of equipment I've been using:
Distagon 4/40 T*
Distagon 3.5/60mm T*
Distagon Makro-Planar 4/120mm T*
Sonnar 4/180mm T*
Extension tube 35mm
Really Right Stuff Carbon Fibre Tripod
Markins Q20 Ballhead
Selens Variable ND Filter
A noticeable limitation of the manual focusing lenses which really needs to be considered is the ability to focus them in low light. A technique that helps in this is to open the aperture fully, allowing viewing of the subject in maximum light allowed by the conditions, then stopping down if necessary. Another 'assist' in this is to bring another light source to help focus.
Before buying the Zeiss lenses I searched for images taken by each of the lenses in addition to reading reviews. There's not many available unfortunately. Nearly all images posted here will be from one or the other of the above lenses. In most cases I found it a little (well, a lot really) troublesome to record the detail of f-stop or even which focal length was used for each image. I have listed details like this before but that info was readily available through the exif data where manual lenses have no such info.
Large mushrooms growing at the base of a tree trunk
Colour rendition is another reason I love the Hasselblad lenses. Its more pleasing to my eye. I have yet to enjoy its translation into print.
Back again
Its been sometime since the last post here (coming up to Anzac Day seems appropriate ; ). I've been spending the last 3 months anyway in Tasmania - one of my favourite places on the planet. After a rocky start, I really enjoyed the photographic offering on the coastline right around Tasmania. Not that I've covered every inch of ground but the places I got to had some very worthwhile features. I say rocky start as I lost camera and lens down a cliff before even starting the travel part. Lens was totalled while the body could be repaired.
The good news for me at least was the replacement of this very capable Nikon 24-70mm came in the form of several Hasselblad prime lenses all of which I'm happy to report are performing to the highest standard. Additionally all replacement lenses have tilt/shift capability thanks to the Mirex adapter allowing me to fit the lenses to my Nikon body.
Once broken you can see the solid piece of glass that its made of.
A sample of the tilt function can be seen on the following photos. If used with restraint and some purpose, the effect does not detract from the appeal of the image. Certain features can be 'highlighted' leaving the rest of the image blurred. It can result in the 'miniature' look more noticeable in the second photo with a person.
The log is given prominence but effect is subtle.
More accentuated tilt creates the 'miniature' look.
Kolkata street scenes
A distracted boy watches as foreigners ask for directions. Next to him a man conscientiously does his bookkeeping.
Girl in orphanage - Cuttack, West Bengal, India
Sleeping in the street - Kolkata, India
Waterfall and rainforest
A shot from one of the waterfalls in Mt Wilson. The rock face is almost black as coal with a blue green tinge. Tripod definitely required for this one. Specs: f13/-67ev/8 secs/ISO100/focal length 44mm
Showing two streams. Specs: f13/-67ev/10 secs/ISO100/focal length 32mm
Rainforest Mt Wilson. Specs: f13/-1.67ev/.5 secs/ISO100/focal length 70mm
Autumn in Mt Wilson
A beautiful transition of the seasons in Mt Wilson. About 40 mins drive from Katoomba autumn was in full swing. With a light drizzle, the weather was otherwise great for photography of detailed nature rich in colour and textures. Some 'scenes' due to tonal arrangements work better in colour and have an impact that does not work as effectively when converted to b&w. Objects seem to merge into one another. Generally this is the case with complex arrangements. See the two photos below to compare.
A more direct, side by side example below. This time, although more detailed than the b&w example above, the two elements of the foreground have very different tonal values and separation is apparent. Leaves appear to be floating below the tree.
Specs: f4.5/1/125sec/ISO640
Mt Piddington cont'd
A return to Mt Piddington a couple of days later produced a series of images from rock layers. The variations and colours were stunning (I was equally impressed with the black and white versions). Some were taken with shallow depth of field and one in particular creates an illusion (near/far) which can be frustrating and defeats most viewers when trying to see the image "correctly" - me included. A sobering lesson in how ineffectual the conscious mind can be. Even when you know something is not right, simply telling yourself is of no help at all. Particularly frustrating when you have seen the "correct" perspective already. Anyway, here is the image... see if you can view it as it was. Hint - the blurred section on the right hand side is the most distant part of the image. Specs: f3.5/1/30sec/ISO100/-.6ev
I won't be posting the whole series here but the next is a b&w sample from the same area. Specs: f13/.6sec/ISO100/-.3ev