Although not visible in this image, there was a howling wind. This is a 4 sec exposure so water surface is also smoothed out. Sand texture was nicely detailed. A few shots didn’t work out as the tripod couldn’t be kept still enough even standing in front of it.
Six Poles
This photo was taken at 7:50pm if the EXIF data is correct. Late evening in Tasmania on the east coast. It’s from 2014 and I’m just processing it now. Not a very long exposure as is popular nowadays (thank you Michael Kenna). I don’t mind a little texture or movement in the water. I never noticed the wispy clouds near the moon adding a little something more to the mix.
Nearly missed out
I’m finding more and more that when going on photo trips by car, it pays to allow some extra time for unscheduled stops. Especially, if the weather provides good photographic conditions. Nothing worse than having ordinary weather for a stay then conditions changing on a return trip and having to drive straight back with little time for a break. I tend to do random stops anyway and arrive late at my destination.
Returning last year from a trip to Victoria, I came through some country towns and places that I wasn’t familiar with as notable photo destinations. This location - Woolshed Falls, was one of those places. It was a few kilometres out of the way and somehow I’m reluctant to make detours when time is limited and it turns out the waterfall may have dried up or some other unknown factor is at play. In this case I was happy I took the risk. A little gem of a place with very few people strolling around or perched on rocks for lengthy periods. For that reason, weekdays are a good options for travel.
Mad Tree disease
I posted this image about 10 years ago. You may not have scrolled back that far in the blog so here it is again. Driving through New Norfolk in Tasmania, this tree was some 100 metres from the road but stood out. It resembled a crazy person to me at the time. What made it more interesting was the passive cow standing nearby. Mad cow disease was in the news around this period and this image seemed to reflect a reversal of roles.
A side note - in the conversion process from a colour image, I’ve been using a baseline starting point, and this is useful whether you’re processing for either colour or B&W. Instead of selecting Landscape, Vivid or even Adobe colour, in the profile option select Adaptive colour. Check out Mark Denney’s explanation on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KijswhEgovs&t=2s) for a detailed explanation as to why this is a more useful option. You will need to start out with a RAW file to make use of this setting.
Yangshuo, China
China is such a reflective place. As a photographer there is a lot to take in. On the whole I didn’t see a lot of tourists. This photo was taken around September 2007. Looking back, I would have liked to stay here for several days instead of just passing through. It requires more time to explore, but it’s a goldmine really - plenty of atmosphere and old world charm. It’s so refreshing to be in a place that has a lot less of the modern trappings. Colours here are rich and muted. It was either misty or drizzling for most of this portion of the trip. These limestone stacks are a common sight in this area, not far from Guilin. Access was along the Li River. I was fortunate enough to have a translator ( a friend who was Chinese ). Otherwise, travel, food and accommodation would have been much more complicated.
Cormorant man was well known and sought after apparently for promo purposes.
Small format
I can’t remember which camera I used for this photo. I suspected the Olympus EM5 MKIII. The original seems to have disappeared from my drives and so this conversion comes from the jpg file. Not a rubbish camera by any means and certainly portable. If the weather is bad I can pretty much hide the camera in a pocket. The 12-24mm f2.8 produces as good result as either the Nikon 24-70mm or the equivalent Canon lens. Who cares if the f stop is closer to f5.6 on full frame. For most landscape images it’s neither here nor there. However…. I believe this was taken with an iPhone! The file numbering gave it away after closer scrutiny.
This image, apart from the excellent detail produced in the rock, shows how nicely suited to landscape photography the 4x3 format is. All the diagonals in this image give it a significant dynamic effect. Fortunately no highlights were clipped/harmed in the making of this image.
B & W Processing
There are so many ways to convert a colour image to B &W these days. At the turn of this century maybe before some of the current batch of software was developed, I remember using channels. A good range of options were provided through that process. Nowadays, depending on your ‘upbringing’ in the B & W genre, that may still be your choice.
My preference is to begin with a flat file, meaning less contrast, less saturation with brightness levels also reduced so that the file isn’t close to clipping in the highlights. Then Silver Efex provides plenty of options: I use a variation of 6-8 of those of which I typically use 3-4 depending on the nature of the image - if it has clouds or snow etc. My most used are probably More Silver and Full Dynamic (smooth). Neither are too dramatic with the More Silver leaning a bit stronger towards the darker tones. These can be moderated if required by using the yellow filter option. Finally, if it’s still too dark, going to Shadow/Highlight adjustment in PS can slightly raise the darks further if required.
Bent tree
Quite a while back I posted a photo of this tree from another angle. Although only a small portion of it is visible, there are a couple of elements that help make the image work: The bush on the left serves to keep focus on the tree shape with it’s lumpy root. above ground and the thinner vine like roots/branches add a little interest also. It was snowing on this day but not much has penetrated the forest floor at this point.
There was a time
when… I would have only seen and printed this image in higher contrast. I find it useful now to see these images in a more high key way. Where the subject of the image is not so contrasted and removed from the supporting elements but the unity of the image is maintained. We are so used to every image having ‘punch’ and stand out characteristics. We make every effort to separate the elements. I wonder if the Japanese have a word for this?
No Lifeguard Today
Egyptian style
Taken from the waterNSW website: The gates were inspired by the popularity of all things Egyptian following the discovery of King Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922. Construction of Cordeaux Dam started in 1918 and was completed in 1926.
The dam itself can be seen at the end of the walkway. Below also some young gum trees and bushland.
Window view
Shame on me. I have lived in this area for over 5 years and I’m visiting this place (Cordeaux Dam) for the first time. It’s only a few kilometres away. In my defence I have seen other dams which didn’t hold much interest for me. The surrounding area was bush, but here there were some interesting gums (gum trees). I will post more images later in the week. Just inside the entrance to the walkway leading over the dam are two small rooms either side. The left side had this view of the reservoir from a small window.
Almost Surreal
I took a couple of lenses for a walk this afternoon. Dumb luck strikes again. Late in the day the clouds and sky turned interesting. It looked like a storm was brewing. As it happens on this part of the coast, ships are always toing and froing. This ship headed south adding some extra interest to the scene. Taken with Fuji GFX and 90mm f2.8 Pentax.
This image has a little extra shading, more particularly on the left side due to the tilt/shift adapter which moved from the centred position.
Honeycomb Rock
On the coast - most likely Tamarama ie McKenzie’s beach cliff face.
Reflected light
I spent most of the time here taking XPan shots. Late afternoon and sun mostly gone but decent reflected light. Patterns and sheen on the water as the waves washed around the rocks gave it that little extra appeal. A couple of seconds for this exposure. The image below was similar exposure time.
10 second exposure
Liffey River, Tasmania
After using the Fuji 100S for some time and reacclimatising to the 4x3 format which I really enjoy, there are a few cases where the 3x2 format is preferable.The 4x3 version of this photo does not have the ‘extra’ rocks on the RHS of the image which gives that tree a little breathing space. You might say this is a more environmental image given that it’s not so tidy or picturesque especially on the left shore. You can imagine the wildness inherent in this river when a storm or torrent hits.
acceptable?
Black and white images seem to have more leeway in their acceptability. We don’t judge them the same way as we do colour ones. Adjusting tones in colour landscapes comes with a caveat. Different if your doing cityscapes or some variety of indoor shoots like music concerts. Noone judges them much from colour point of view because of the coloured lighting that’s standard for such an event. Colour landscapes can’t stray too much from the established standards provided by stock films of the analog era and more recently film simulations from the likes of Fuji. But using Nostalgic Neg simulations on a rainforest scene would not seem appropriate. Silver Efex on the other hand in the version I use at least has 58 different conversion options for B&W. Granted, some of those are also not suitable for the most part - like Film Noir or Antique. But there’s still a lot of latitude which then comes down to taste.
In Two minds
Well before investing in the Fuji 100S, I was considering the Pentax 67 film camera. Funny that you can get a decent Camera body with lens - say a 55mm f4 for well under AUD$2000 and the Fuji GFX system with lenses came in at $9500. So, no auto focus - which affects the speed at which you can operate. An issue mainly when you are working with people (other examples below). Secondly, no chimping, so you can’t tell whether eyes are open or closed. Even some landscape photographers take a safety shot in case of light leaks, exposure comp etc. Thirdly, (and a consequence of the previous point), cost of processing and scans if you don’t have a high quality film scanner yourself. Finally and this is fairly persuasive in my case… the slow rate of movement - which is the big part of why you chose this system. It’s not spontaneous. On the other hand, image making is well considered but may lead to some regret due to perceived missing out factor. What if you arrive at a scene where image potential outweighs number of sheets you have to work with? Option in this case - work with roll film cameras only and bring enough. In any case, did Ansel Adams have regrets?
The landscape image below (middle - Flinders Ranges) was taken in a very tight window of opportunity. I would estimate 2 minutes that these conditions lasted before the whole scene disappeared into rain and grey. I somehow doubt I could work fast enough to capture this scene if I had to unpack a bunch of gear and do all the setup required with medium or large format film.
Actually what initially grabbed my attention was a flock of sheep grazing at the time on the right half of the landscape. They promptly bolted when I got out to take the shot. I don’t think the image suffers as a result though. As far as I remember this was handheld also. This scenario happened twice on this trip. The second example I clearly remember being handheld. I took it from a few different angles. The light on the trunk of the front tree was gone in a minute. Of course, you could come back the next day and attempt another exposure but no guarantee on conditions being as favourable.
OK, so you miss a few. Are you still passionate about it after considering the compromises? I haven’t made up my mind yet.
Can you tell the difference between Hasselblad xPan digital or film?
Near Wilpena Pound, Flinders Ranges, South Australia.
Brachina Gorge, Flinders Ranges, South Australia.
Coxs River
A quiet section of the Coxs River. Not that the river is particularly wild anyway. But some nice lighting in between rain showers today. Some other reflections..For some reason - maybe sub-conscious now that I think of it, I’ve never been a regular user of CPL filters (polarisers). When I think about some paintings I’ve appreciated I notice that the artist has gone to some trouble to depict reflections in water in order to convey some realism. Modern photography often does the opposite. CPLs are utilized a great deal in order to reveal as much detail as possible in an image: rocks underwater and the like. There probably are cases where employing filters might be of advantage but it might also have unintended consequences. Unnatural darkening of the sky being one of them.
Nowadays, exotic landscapes with super saturated colours and micro details are the result of technology being refined to the nth degree. I think that’s why I enjoy vids with old tech like large format cameras. They tend to take in the countryside on a more relaxed level and pace. Landscape paintings also have a certain feel and may more easily take us on the journey back to our childhood. I’ll continue to explore this idea whenever possible.
simple architecture
I get a lot of enjoyment from simple images like this one. There must be a part of my brain that registers a certain combination of elements visible in the image that add up to a pleasing or satisfying result. Firstly, I’m happy to go back to the 4 x 3 format. It’s compact and quite powerful in the way square format also works. 3 x 2 works for me in some instances but definitely not in portrait mode. Putting aside for a moment the great look that B&W conveys, The geometric nature of the subject perched in the middle of a natural environment grabs my attention. This effect is somewhat enhanced by the horizon line cutting through the middle of the image. The tonal range of a black and white image in the right proportions makes for an attractive feature in an image. The sand surrounding the cabin isolates it and gives it some breathing space as the main subject. The very dark coloured door (not too large) also serves to keep the attention.
There are many b&w conversion options options available using something like Nik Silver FX. The highest contrast or grungiest look isn’t always the best option especially for daytime nature shooting. In this particular image the surrounding plants and bushes provide sufficient variation in texture and ‘dark elements’ to give the images some pop. Also, the image is divided into two. The smooth textures in the sky provide a contrast to the highly textured bottom half.
Finally, there’s another amusing aspect to this image… The two spiky plants in the foreground seem to be observing the scene along with the photographer. All these factors work on a subconscious level to make an image appealing which is probably why we go back for another look and why a photo captures our attention in the first place or even grows on us with time.
