Dec 03 2009
Christmas is a fun time of year. Lots of decorations, parties, presents and Christmas Carols. I was recently in Sydney’s Rocks area and they were decorating with a difference - using recycled soft drink bottles…
Nov 19 2009
Panning can be a challenge at the best of times, but trying to follow a miniature car zipping around a mini racetrack with a camera lens was a new experience for me.
I’d never been to a model car race track until recently and I was amazed at what a big enterprise it is! This is an activity that attracts young and not-so-young, men, women, kids, teenagers, you name it!
Here are my attempts to capture some of the smaller speed demons on the track…
Nov 12 2009
There’s nothing I love more than spending time with my dog, Mirabell. She is such a happy, loving, bundle of energy. Even when she does something annoying she’s cute!
Because she’s so energetic, getting a photo of her that’s in focus can sometimes be a challenge. When she’s lying down it’s OK, but on the go, she puts all her energies into what she’s doing.
Here is a somewhat unique photo where she’s actually looking at the camera and her eyes are in focus!
Nov 05 2009
One of the beautiful things about spring are the colours of the flowers, not to mention the smells! I love flowers, and the colours of Australian flora is even more stunning after rain.
Recently, I went for a day trip up into the mountains, about a week after we had received some much needed rain. Now the colours of these particular plants are my favourites…
Oct 22 2009
This week I’m trying out some more Photoshop filter effects. This image is from the same location as last week - different subject though. I liked the chicken as it really stood out against the dark surroundings of the sculptures. This is the original:
I was going for an other-worldly effect, and first duplicated the background (Layer > Duplicate Layer > Background Copy). Next I converted the image to black and white (Image > Adjustments > Channel Mixer > Monochrome).
Then I used the history brush to colour the chicken and bring its colour back into the image, while keeping the rest of the image black and white. Here is where to find the history brush:
Next I used the Magnetic Lasso tool to select the chicken and inverted the selection (Select > Inverse) so I could change the appearance of the background.
I adding an effect called Ocean Ripple then to the background: View > Distort > Ocean Ripple.
This is the result:
The effect is a little different. Not too other-worldly, but getting there.
The different filters are fun to play with and see what kind of ‘distortion’ is possible.
Oct 15 2009
Following on from last week’s post, I took a drive up to the beautiful Sunshine Coast Hinterland over the weekend and scoured out some photography subjects. I ended up looking at things I normally wouldn’t and came up with a few interesting images.
I’ve also had some fun editing them in Photoshop. I’ll take you through a few of them today, and continue on next week with a few others.
Here is the original image:
Now for the Photoshopped image. To achieve this you follow these steps: Image > Adjustments > Channel Mixer > Monochrome; then, Filter > Texture > Grain. Intensity = 30, and Contrast = 50.
Chinese warrior sculptures always look so solemn and intimidating. I wanted to amplify this, and black and white with a grain applied seemed the right way to achieve it.
Now, the next one isn’t quite as dramatic. Looking at the images side by side you can see that there is a difference, but you might not really have noticed the photoshopped image if you hadn’t seen the original…
It is subtle, but you can see that the craquelure effect in Photoshop makes the image a little grainer. The Grain effect made too much of a difference, and I wanted it to be subtle.
To achieve this, you go to the Filter menu, then select Texture, then Craquelure.
Have a play with the filter effects in Photoshop - it’s amazing what you can do.
Oct 08 2009
It’s been a bit of a lack lustre photographic week. I haven’t made the time or effort to go out and find something to photograph, so this will be a pretty dull post.
This week has been one of those where very mundane issues seem to have forced their way in. That will change this weekend though. I’m determined to grab my camera, jump in the car and head out somewhere - maybe the beach…
Hopefully it doesn’t rain…
I’m sure you’ve had one of those periods where creativity just doesn’t seem to be as forthcoming. That feeling change when I recently began reading Edward de Bono’s new book “Think: Before It’s Too Late”. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it to you. What a great read. He has an incredible mind and explains concepts which seem so obvious once you read about them.
He spends a chapter discussing creativity and how it’s not has devoid of logic as most of us think. It’s newly inspired me to go out and look at my environment differently and take photos with this new outlook.
So, watch this space! 
Oct 01 2009
There’s nothing more glorious than the colours of nature. Recently I had my film SLR with me, as I had to use up a roll of ISO 3200 colour film. I hadn’t planned to use the film on nature photography, but I needed to finish the roll of film.
Wandering around the streets I kept seeing these gorgeous trees covered in pink flowers. Then, as I looked closely I saw…
Sep 24 2009
Landscape photography seems infinitely easier than portraiture. However, there are some locations that just don’t ‘cooperate’ - rainforests being the worst offender.
I love going bush walking and rainforests are extra special with their waterfalls. The light that breaks through the trees doesn’t make for an easy subject…
Sep 17 2009
Like most people, I love fireworks. Since they banned the use of fireworks in my state of Queensland, seeing fireworks has become a semi-rare event.
Every year, as part of Brisbane’s festival to the city, the fireworks kick off the festival with a bang (literally). Usually, I haul myself to a prime location with my camera and tripod in tow. But this year they predicted record crowds, so I decided to enjoy the sky show from the comfort of my balcony.
Granted, there is a TV antenna kind of in the way, but you’ll get the idea…
