PaW 2010 Week 15

MY SISTER AND HUBBY

Week 15 had me down shooting portraits for my sister
it was a fun day with some good results
I asked them to pose for my HDR PaW on their camper trailor
the pic with sammy is just after he let rip a huge fart that echoed thru the floorboards
just as i hit the shutter his dad gave him a shove and his sister couldnt stop laughing as you can see




Your Hilliarious Sammy







Submission Week 15

PaW 2010 Week 14

ENDEAVOUR HILLS SUNSET
Unfortunately i slipped behind on this blog but will endeavour to catch up over the week
the other day as i arrived home from work the sun was starting to set with the most amazing cloud formation
just around the corner is a new estate and the homes are quite amazing so with the sunset as a backdrop i captured 5 frames and using matixpro merged and tonemapped them
then in CS4 i did noise reduction and sharpening




Submission for week 14

PaW 2010 Week 13

FRANKSTON PIER



Saturday I had to visit my parents in Carrum Downs which is close to Frankston
so I decided to put my gear in just in case the morning was nice and it was
The sea was pretty calm and although it was rather overcast at first soon the sun came out and the sky's cleared
I had intended to shoot an arched bridge that is on the foreshore but as i wandered about i found myself under the pier and decided this would make for a better subject with the newly refurbished pylons



OUTTAKES







WEEK 13 SUBMISSION

Week 12 " Camberwell Station"

Waking up early again for a Sunday at least with our daylight savings ending soon the sunrises are becoming later it was about 7.30am today so I got to sleep in a little longer

Each morning on the way to work I drive past this area and one of the hotels which I had intended to shoot for the challenge has always interested me with its stunning lighting

so I shot a few HDR of the Palace Hotel as well

Camberwell station has a rich history as it caused a huge community fight a few years ago over a proposed redevelopment of the site

bringing a few well known celebs including Oscar winning Actor Geoffrey Rush to fight to preserve this icon

till next week thats it for week 12

thanks for visiting

Palace Hotel

Week 12 Submission

Week 11 "March Sunset"

G'day
Welcome to Week 11
hasn't the year just flown almost the end of March already
this week I guess I wasnt feeling all that creative and as the week started drawing to a close I wasnt really all that keen on doing a submission but that soon evaporated when on Thursday night Mrs C rang me from Gym and asked to go get something for dinner up the street as I stepped out the front door I was struck by this amazing sunset I had tried to do a HDR of one before but failed miserably as I was just at the end of the sun setting that time.
I went back in grabbed my camera bag and tripod and went to get dinner {with a quick detour} to an agistment property around the corner where I had shot some of the horses previously
one thing that never ceases to amaze me is as soon as you set up to take an image someone will miraculously appear from nowhere and walk directly into your image these happened on two occasions and you should have heard what I was saying to myself they even said hello before strolling down the road.
luckily the sun cooperated with me at least







SETUP

knowing that there are these powerlines that run towards the sunset I set up to include them as well as the leading line of the rails that border the areas of the local council parks and vacant blocks in Endeavour Hills
I only captured 15 frames in total
to create 3 images with 5 exposures in each
-2, -1, 0, +1, +2. (.8s ,1.6s, 3.2s, 6.0s,13.0s - for the submitted image)
All shot @ F/22
ISO 100


PROCESSING
using Photomatix Pro I merged the images then tonemapped
set the increments back to default then {B}boosted or {R}reduced each of the toggles
starting with the amount of strength{R} then saturation{B}, luminosity{R} and microcontrast
{B}
I normally dont use the slide toggle for smoothing but check the box and then use the program settings this time I went with medium
then in the Tone Setting Section I reduced the white and increased the black and also just reduced the gamma a little
this gave the darker tones a bit more pleasing look
finally i increased the smoothing in both the highlights and shadows
then processed it and opened up CS4
in Photoshop I tweaked the noise and sharpness then saturated the reds blues and greens
and finally adjusted levels and curves


OUTTAKES
although these may look similiar in composition there is a slight difference in the road position









WEEK 11 SUBMISSION

Week 10 " Kurth Kiln"

Last Tuesday as I had the day off I had arranged to spend the aftyernoon helping a friend with his new camera
about a month earlier he was telling me of this place he took his dog to for a swim and showed me some of the images he had captured
when I saw the detail in the brickwork I knew that it would make a pretty interesting shot for my HDR images

what is Kurth Kiln?
I had never heard of this place nor realized the signifiant of it even tho it was only about 40km from me in the Dandenongs at Gembrook
from what I had learnt during World War 2 when petrol was heavily rationed they built a number of these charcoal producing kilns scattered around various state forests this one was named after Professor EE Kurth of the Tasmanian University who patented and developed these kilns as well as the converters used in cars during the war but was found to be not economical and was soon discontinued and is located in a state forest that now bears his name
the drawbacks with the charcoal fuel was it was dirty and less economical with the units costing 100 pound in 1941 which was 18 times the weekly wage and also produced 40% less power
this is apparently the only intact kiln left in australia


the additional images are of the caretakers quarters and where they have set it up as a small village that is well looked after which was a pleasing thing to see

PaW 2010 Week 10 Submission

Week 9 " Scots Uniting Church"

Today I tried something different once again
as I wasnt to keen on the Color version I went for a duotoned effect
to give it a sort of B&W
I have often driven past this old church built in the 1855
the oldest standing church in Victoria
it has a small cemetery at the start of the grounds that really hasnt been maintained unfortunately
as it has been heritage listed I was a little surprised that the area wasnt all that looked after
the church is from what I could see very well maintained so that is a good thing I guess


OutTake



Week 9 Submission

Week 8 " The Red Handbag"

I decided to try something different to the usual landscape HDR I have shot the past 7 weeks and went along the lines of a product shot
using Mrs C's red leather handbag I set it on the 1/2 wall at our entrance
using the EF 10-22mm lens on a tripod I shot 3 frames
+2, 0, -2 @ F/16
with shutter speeds of
30.0sec, 16.0 sec, 3.20 sec
ISO 400
16mm focal length


My Submission for week 8

Week 7 " Good Morning Melbourne"

G'day and welcome to week 7

The only real difference between the past few weekends is that I got out of bed on a Saturday at 5.00am rather than the usual Sundays I have dedicated to the PaW project

with all good intention of shooting the Eureka Tower for the constructed my man challenge

I decided to go with something else after all

I will add the shots of the tower to the outtakes.

Saturday Feb 13th 2010

The morning was exceptional so serene and still and very little activity but for the occasional seagulls piercing the stillness as they squabbled over a scrap of food.

As the city starts to come alive a few stragglers emerge from across a footbridge and in the distance music starts to become increasingly louder mixed with a whirl of a motorized wheelchair I had heard about this guy but this was the first time I had seen him

" The Legally Blind Busker " as his message board that hangs around his neck proclaims

he travels along Southgate and the rivers edge singing to a recorded tape.

he actually has a great voice.

I said good morning and then he was off on his escapade

so here are a couple outtakes and the image I submitted to PaW 2010

-

OUTTAKES

#1

Eureka Tower

#2

City Skyline

PaW Week 7 Submission

Southgate

Week 6 " A day at the Prom"

Well we are now into February where did January go ?
Before long we will be into double figures for our PaW adventures.
during the week I was thinking of where to shoot this week
and as I had organised to have Friday off I though OK maybe


Wilson's Promontory National Park

I hadn't been there for a couple years and this time last year The Prom was one of the locations engulfed in the worst bushfire our State/Country had ever experienced
it was just incredible seeing the skeletons of the trees and how little growth had there been in the 12 months recovery to date it will replenish but it will take a long while i guess


info on Black Saturday Feb 7th 2009
http://www.blacksaturday.com.au/

THE DAY BEGINS
It seems like I had just dozed off when at 3.00am the alarm sounded.
Yes that's right 3.00am {my wife is sure I have lost my mind}
usually on my RDO you wouldn't have seen me before 10.00am as I wake at 5.00 each day for work
first things first "COFFEE" I needed a double hit this morning as I was endeavouring what was to become an epic journey which involved a round trip of 6+ hrs driving and a lot of walking
So kettles on , showers done , battery for camera charged , GPS set
Bugger as I stepped outside I was hit by rain damn its pissisting down too
such a contrast to Thursday's Fiery Red Sunrise that had me in awe


ohhh well no point bitching and seeming your up & in the words of NIKE "just do it" off I set
The rain just didn't let up as I went thru Cranbourne the wipers were going flat knackers
about a couple hrs into the drive it started to let up to a drizzle when ahead of me I saw two bright lights "ohhhhhhhhhhhhh great UFO's what else could go wrong I thought?" as I approached the lights I knew it had to be wildlife so I slowed down thankfully because sitting in the middle of the lane was this cute little Koala so I slowly went past him and pulled over
grabbed the camera and as I opened the door I just caught a glimpse of him/her disappearing into the black night as I had never seen a koala that close before in the wild, I was disappointed I missed getting a shot of him/her but at least it was off the road so that was good


so another hour I finally pulled into Welshpool and had a look around as i waited for the sun to come up all I had was dark grey Sky and hardly any visible clouds everything just looked flat grey then finally the rain stopped and I was able to get a few shots of my FS entry{see Later}
while planning the trip i googled local attractions and saw a reference to this waterfall called Agnes Falls at least with all this rain it should have some water what it is really is a water management scheme where the local shire has damed the stream and its well maintained with facilities for picnics etc


It is a beautiful location and as i shot it for the HDR challenge a fine fog swept up the gorge adding atmosphere.
after shooting quite a few frames I was confident I had what I needed for the Challenge



so PHASE 2 begins

THE PROM

A short 40 min drive from Agnes Falls sees me at the gate to the National Park and forking over a $10.60 fee
about 15 km into the drive into the Prom I came to Cotters Lake which I never did find even tho I walked for like 2 km running into Emu's and Kangaroos I so learnt that I should have carried my 55- 250 lens with me. soi i made do with the 18mm - 55mm wide angle lens i had on the body

aftermy excursion around Cotters Lake area I headed to a beach I knew from the last visit here Squeaky Bay
this is such a beautiful beach when the suns out and illuminating the white sands and the colored boulders

I took a few HDR frames from here as well
so after spending about 3 hrs on the Prom it was time to make the 3 hr drive back home
I was pretty stuffed by then and 1/2 way home I had to stop and get something to eat and coffee to perk me up i have never like McDonalds as much as i did yesterday :)

well thats my Day on the Prom see you all next week


Emu





Kangaroo














OUTTAKES

#1 Port Welshpool

#2 Squeaky Beach











Week 6 Submission Agnes Falls

Week 5 "Carlton Gardens & Royal Exhibition Building"

Well G'day again
what I had intended to shoot today couldn't have gone any worse if I tried
Firstly there was a howling wind when i woke and i noticed that the sky didnt have a single cloud in it as i drove into town
The plan was to get to the Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton by 6.30am well that part was right on schedule the only problem I could foresee at that time was the strong winds that I knew was going to play havoc with shooting HDR
Tree movement just kills any hope of a decent effect being obtained in HDR
so I figured the Exhibition Building wont move :)
this building is just amazing it was the site of our first Parliament back in 1901
and always has something happening this week as you see its the Hot Rod Show
so I shot the building from a few different pov and I do actually like the 2nd image and likely would have entered it in the Jan Free Study if it didn't have the dust particles and the tree shadow from movement but oh well another time maybe

I also tried Topaz Adjust for the first time in image 1 the effects can be quite staggering and also be way over done
When I got home and downloaded the images to my horror as you see they are a mass of dust spots
the only real usable image was one I took of the Garden beside the building as the garden camouflaged the dust spots
so thats it for this week a real disapointment in the way the images turned out but i will have this sorted in the next few weeks


ROYAL EXHIBITION BUILDING












Additional info on the REB
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Exhibition_Building


CARLTON GARDENS


My Submission into PaW 2010 Week 5 " Carlton Gardens"

Week 4 "Captain Cooks Cottage"

Well hello again
So we are now into the final January week and it has been so much fun so far, and I actually am learning a lot as I go along.
I tend to find myself looking at things a lot more photographically and I am sure we all agree that cant be a bad thing but for some reason my wife just doesnt get as excited at cloud formations as I do { funny about that} ... :)
It now seems that now my Sunday sleepins are a thing of a past but I have been blessed with having awesome weather especially for at about 6.30am when I get on site to where I had planned to shoot that weeks image
I am trying to not have a specific theme in the way of locations and to offer some insight into this wonderful city I live in

So here is todays shoot
hang on i need a beer brb ... lol
arhhhhhhhhhhhh thats better
good old Miller Chill (yes we even have that downunder)

ok so where was I
thats right

BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
ohhhhhhhhhh great its 5,00am again on a Sunday
today I am feeling just a little more fuzzy than usual why could that be.
thats right Red Wine will do that :)
but surprisingly I fling the legs out and hit the alarm to death
before she hits me to death remember I told you last week she is not a Sunday 5.00am Morning person {{laughs}}
after last weeks car key debarkle I was please to see them on the hook
its coffee time so I flick on the switch before jumping in the shower
then gulp that down and quietly say hoo roo to Mrs C and with camera bag tripod and GPS its to the car Terrence.




As this location was one of the places I was tossing up over last week I was pleased to see that it was a pretty fine morning not a great deal of clouds but enough
as I got closer to the city I noticed a few hot air Balloons starting their soar across the Melbourne CBD
I quickly got the 55-250 lens on but they were still to far away for keeper shots so an opportunity missed grrrrrrrr
one of my friend had kindly lent me his canon EF 10 -22mm lens and a new tripod he just bought
both are incredible to use the tripod really impressed me it has a pistol grip ball head that makes leveling horizons a breeze and is so much sturdier than mine so guess what i am getting soon lol ... shhhhhh its secret too ok
so I start my exploriation of Fitzroy Gardens and come across what I had thought was Cook's Cottage but it was actually called Sinclairs Cottage a small brick dwelling built in 1864 that James Sinclair lived in till he died at the age of 72 in 1881, Sinclair was the man responsible for the planting of some of the magniciant trees that are scattered thru the Gardens.



SINCLAIR'S COTTAGE





I then noticed the sign pointing to "Captain Cooks Cottage"
the first thing that strikes you is how small the cottage is but it is quaint and well maintained
it has a small traditional English garden surrounding it that i am sure would look magnifiant when all the flowers are blooming
but as we are still in the grip of a severe drought its amazing anything is alive there.
Although Captain Cook never actually lived in the house it was reportedly to belong to his parents and there is little doubt that he would have visited many times

THE SHOOT
for the image I captured 13 frames at F/25 to give good depth of field
and an 1so of 100
with such a high F# the shutters were very delayed from 3.2 sec to 1/500 and I guess I was blessed that there was no wind at all or the images would have looked all over the place

well I hope you enjoyed my morning out there
also at the gardens they had a miniature tudar village that was also quite interesting and a hand carved tree stump thats is adorned with australian animals and fairys
"hense the name "The Fairy Tree"
I will put some up on DPC asap

Captain Cooks Cottage




THE OUTTAKES
I wasnt to sure which to submit there were so many options this cottage provided

I didnt choose this one mainly because I felt the other was a more realistic image this has that look of over done HDR
I may be wrong I would be interested to see what you all think




This one I was almost going to submit as it showed a lot of detail in the Cottage
had the sky been more detailed and not so blown out I probably would have



more Information
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooks

Week 3 "St Kilda Pier Kiosk"

So another 5.00am start to Sunday for week 3's submission


it was a toss up between 2 locations i had thought of during the week


I will do the other next week :)


I had been to this location before for a challenge on DPC that failed badly *well not as bad as I thought looking back* but anyway I wasnt too wrapped in the image after all

http://www.dpchallenge.com/image.php?IMAGE_ID=810760



THE DAY BEGINS

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz damn already 5.00am
I crawl outta bed trying not to wake the Mrs "she is sooo NOT a morning person" well at 5.00am who could blame her?

so first things first hit play on the kettle for the heart starting coffee

brush the biters and as usual grab the GPS as I head out the door .... "hmmmmmmmmm hang on somethings missing
"CAR KEYS -??
" ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh chit where are they????????

well I want to get there as the light breaks so I'll grab the spare set and find them when I get home

so off we go I was still in too minds where to go till the sky lightened up and there was some amazing fluffy white clouds "perfect for St Kilda."

It was the first week I had had some decent clouds to use in the HDR images
The best part about doing this early especially on a Sunday is parking is a breeze especially around this place that is thriving by mid mornings with the craft markets etc that are on the esplanade

As I wander along the pier an young asian kid is walking back fishing rods in hand and I ask "any luck?" with a smile and a shake of his head I get a no
further along I see a familiar sight " A Photographer" as i get closer I get a traditional Australian greeting "G'day" then he proceeds to shoot the sun bursting from behind the clouds " man that was one awesome sight the rays beaming upward " I did try shooting it HDR but it didnt work out there was too much movement in the clouds that threw off the alignment"

As I got to the Pavillion there was another Photog who remarked " hey your as crazy as us, I laughed and said "Yep!! but look at what those who are sleeping are missing out on"
and we all went seperate ways to do what we planned.

THE KIOSK

A timeline history about the Kiosk
1859 - Pier is built after a storm destroys the former Fitzroy street jetty.

1903 - Frances Parer a caterer submits plans to the council for a Kiosk.
1904 - Plans are drawn up by James Morell and the Kiosk is completed.

1905 - Parer operates the Kiosk living on site and is know as Parer's Pavillion although its offical name is Austral Refreshment Rooms.

1939 - Noble and Ivy Kerby take over the lease and operate the Kiosk for 18 years.

1940 - the 40's prove the heyday for the pier as it shares the beach with another StKilda icon "the baths".

1959 - Noble Kerby passes away his son Colin and wife Judy take over the lease.

1970 - The Pier is demolised replaced with reinforced concrete and the Kiosk place back onto it.

1987 - Australia's Bicentennial year sees a $1mill refurbishment to the Kiosk.

1991 - with rental increases growing the Kerbys retire to sail the world and the Kiosk opens under new management.

2003 - on a dark September night the Kiosk is a vitcim of an arsonist and is burnt to the ground.

2004 - 12 mths after the Kiosk is destroyed a $2.75 mill restoratioin plan is unveiled.

2004 - November the St Kilda Pier arsonist is sentenced to 3 years jail.

2006 - the Kiosk is completed rebuilt to the original plans from 1904

for more info on the Pier and Kiosk visit
http://www.stkildapierkiosk.com.au/index.html


MY SUBMISSION FOR WEEK 3

I shot 13 frames rangeing from
1/8 sec to 1/125 sec
@ f/22
100 iso

used Photomatix Pro to merge the frames
then
In CS4 did some dodge and burning and tweaking levels and curves
noise reduction and sharpening
rotated the image a little to straighten the horizon
for the border I used the Filters Unlimited "Glass Border" Plugin

I hope you enjoyed this adventure as much as I did

here is my image




BTW : I found the keys and she went nuts at me as I had left them in the lock of letterbox since Friday afternoon when I got home from work and checked the mail mind you this was after I had gone thru the rubbish bin and that wasnt fun

so all in all a fruitfull Sunday

Cant wait for Week 4 now

Till next week be safe and happy shooting

Week 2 " Bathing Boxes"

Well it is finally here Week 2

With the temperatures soaring into the mid to high 30's Celsius what better way to start my Sunday than with a trip down to Brighton Beach

During the week I was thinking of a list of places I would shoot for these side challenges when I recalled shooting my niece and her hubby's wedding and using the bathing boxes in one series of their images and as they are so colorful i thought "perfect"

here is one of the images from her Wedding shot with an Olympus C-5060 P&S

SUNDAY 10th January 2010

Buzzzzz damn its 5.00am already

OK quick shower, brush the biters, and scoff down a coffee and grab the GPS on the way out the door
While driving as it became lighter I noticed "again no clouds to speak of"
After a short 30min drive I pull into the parking area at Brighton Life Saving Club
and watch as the sun slowly rises but i misjudged the location just a little, hoping the sun would rise further down the beach rather than over the boxes which it did grrrrrr "note for future shoots here"



One of the best things with shooting on sand with a tripod is its so easy to get the levels right
OK press this leg in a little deeper etc etc etc



The 1st attempt (and the best) I set up getting close to the 2nd box and shooting down the line of them, the reason I didn't shoot from the 1st box is they have a massive power pole in the way
instead of altering the shutter speeds I altered the Aperture settings this time from
F4 - F13 range over the 10 frames I guess this gave a more sharpness to the image but the colors weren't as vibrant its all a part of learning and this is what PaW does it gives you the chance to shoot and experiment
because the light still wasn't all that great I used ISO 500 and shot all frames at 1/160



so here is the image I have submitted

Week 1 " The Church"

G'day and welcome to my Blog

As a member of http://www.dpchallenge.com/ i have undertaken one of the side challenges

PaW {Photo a Week} for 2010

The topic I have chosen is HDR {High Dynamic Range} a technique whereas the same image is shot using different settings mostly the shutter speed the merged using photomatix pro3 and Adobe Photoshop CS4

so i hope you enjoy my journey thru the year starting with


WEEK 1

THE CHURCH

Each day i pass this little church on the way to work and have often thought of capturing it
using my Canon 40D and Canon EF 18 - 55mm F3.5- 5.6IS
I shot 5 images starting with the correct exposure of
F7.1 , 1/250 ISO - 100
dropping it down : -1 (1/500)
then -2 (1/1000)
then
increasing : +1{1/250)
then +2 (1/50)

Processing

I merged the images using Photomatix pro 3
a very simple and easy to use program then tone mapped the merged images
after saving it i then did the noise reduction and sharpening using CS4
and tweaked up the levels to get the image i was after

Here is the result