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