Busy Days

Many of you will have noticed that I haven’t been writing anywhere near as often as I used to. There’s a very simple explanation for that … wait for it .. UNI. Between Organic Chemistry and Inorganic Chemistry and Analytical Chemistry and Physical Evidence, it’s hard to find time to write these days.


Lucky for me, I still find a small amount of time to get inspired and take the occasional photo. In fact as I’m writing this I’m watching the Wallabies vs Springboks rugby match (Steyn is a magician out there). The world champs are really flexing their muscles right now.

I won’t reveal too much, but there’s some exciting movement in the photographic plans at the moment which involves some possible new equipment along with some other stuff that could lead to more shoots and more work. On a side note, I’m writing & posting this using Windows Live Writer which is surprisingly intuitive and easy to use.

Oh and how rude of me … I introduce my brothers Chuck and Cam

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Small Planet

On August 24 2006, Pluto was officially demoted as a planet. Pluto is now known as a "dwarf planet", which is in itself an oxymoron (planets aren't exactly dwarfs). So I've decided to make my own planet, still just experimenting so hopefully I'll have some better ones up in the near future.

It's quite simple to do as long as you have the correct images to start with. I took a 360 degree panorama at Homebush Bay (bird sanctuary), merged the lot on photoshop, then used the polar co-ordinates filter. After that all you have to do is clean it up a little bit with the clone stamp and healing brush and you're done! More in depth tutorial can be found here.

You might also notice my font is different, many users will know that the basic windows fonts don't provide too many cool fonts to work with. Theres a website (click here) where you can download fonts, then simply drag them into your fonts folder in control panel to install them. The one I used this time is called Waltograph (actually looks pretty similar to what the name suggests).

Like I said I'll be workin on more stereographic projections, but in the meantime you can have a browse at this flickr pool dedicated to these images.

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Photomatix Pro 3 (finally got rid of 2.5)

I finally decided to update my HDR software. The one I've been using since I discovered HDR was Photomatix Pro 2.5, I now use Photomatix Pro 3.13 (or something like that). The differences are subtle, a slightly modified UI (User Interface), and the menus are in language that the layman can understand (more or less).

To understand why computer generated HDR images are necessary, we have to get a little more technical. To start with, a camera with a higher dynamic range allows you to capture more detail in the highlights and shadows of scenes. When you look back at your images, you may notice blown out highlights (that stay white no matter what you do), and dark shadows (that stay black no matter what you do). A camera with a higher dynamic range will actually give you some detail in those parts.

This is getting more and more important as a lot more people (from a wider market base) are buying DSLRs. Traditional film has a dynamic range of approx 15 stops, the dynamic range for my EOS 50D is approx 8.5 stops. To get around this massive shortage of dynamic range, us digital users can do 2 things:

1) Live with it (and you actually can ... most of the time)

2) Take a few photos. Underexposed, correct exposure, overexposed (doesn't need to be in that order)

Once you have taken those photos, a program like photomatix can be used to blend all of them. After minor adjustments, we end up with a photo like the one above. There is detail in every single part of the photo (where there is supposed to be). At 100% view on the original edited photo, the detail is astonishing.

Apart from getting an incredible amount of detail, you can get quite a nice effect on the photos as well. Give it a try.

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Why we love panos

Panorama photos have always held a spell over me. When I first saw them, I couldn't see what the big deal is. If anything I thought panos were stupid, they're long, odd shaped, hard to frame, and have no standard in sizing.

Soon after the purchase of my first SLR, the EOS 400D, I realised the limitations of taking a single photo to capture a landscape. When working with lines such as the horizon and the contours of mountains, valleys & coastlines, it is natural to utilise a wide format frame.

This technique in photography have become such widespread that some photographers have dedicated themselves to panoramic photos, Ken Duncan is a well known example. What makes him so well known is not only his dedication to panoramic photos, but his style of image processing after taking the photo. In this day and age, an artist's post processing style is as unique as his signature. All successful photographers have a fine tuned way of processing their images that are instantly recognisable by those in the field.

Post processing has become especially important as almost anybody mildly interested in photography is likely to own an SLR. No longer will resolution and turn around time separate the amateurs and the pros, the market has become much more diverse and it will come down to how well you process your photos that will set you apart.

Me, I'm still working it out :P

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Close to the end

less than 24hrs until freedom. Free from uni, lab reports, assignments, exams, pracs for a month. Doesn't sound like much, but I've been looking forward to this for a LONG time. Hopefully I'll find the time to do more shooting, work some extra shifts, scan some of my old photos as digital media etc. There's plenty to do, and very little time, but I'll make the most of it.

While I was thinking about the things I'll be doing in these upcoming holidays, I rummaged through the external HD where I keep all my photos and found an old favourite.

This is a photo taken from UTS Tower level 27 (most people will know UTS tower as one of the ugliest yet iconic buildings in Sydney) facing towards Central station. It was also back when I was still using my EOS 400D. I had to reprocess the colours/tones/crop/HDR as I've developed a new style of editing since. Overall, it's not the greatest photo, its not the sharpest, and doesn't show a whole lot of detail either ... but I just really like this photo, and I don't know why.

As I write this I should really be studying for my CSI exam tomorrow morning, so I'll keep it short.

Handy photo hint: Right when you think you can't get a new perspective of the city (or anything landscape), get up high (really high), and you'll get some unexpected results.

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From the past

I've decided to continue on my HDR craze, this was done using auto-exposure-bracketing (AEB) handheld. On occasions where there's a fair bit of shade and a strong sun blaring down, HDR is often the way to go in terms of getting detail in every part of the photo.

This is a picture of an old Vietnamese war tank, similar to the Type 59 main battle tanks used by the People's Republic of China. And ofcourse, it's nowhere near as gangster as Master P's "No Limit" gold tank seen in the music video "make em say uhh".

With everything going on in the world, so many people are saying "you only hear about what they want you to hear" (about the war). Which is true ... what's more true, is that we are also only seeing what the media giants want us to see, in terms of photos from the war. Sure there have been some graphic and confronting photos in the press, but I'm sure that what we're seeing is tame compared to what's hidden from us.

Of course, people are saying that they WANT to see these photos, and they WANT to hear the untold stories. In my opinion, they only think they want to know, and they're only saying they want the truth because they know they won't get it. People are going to come to me on facebook, on msn, on twitter, text msg (whatever) and say I don't know what I'm talking about. I don't blame you, because this is a pretty polarising issue ... and I'll be the first to admit that I'm curious to know what's being hidden from the public.

I'll even admit that at times I'm outraged with the exaggerated emphasis that the media places on certain issues, Matt John's "scandal" for example, Matty Johns took the fall for EVERYONE in the Shark's organisation, and EVERYONE let him fall.

We all know that the media doesn't always have truth on its agenda, they love rage and controversy ... and why wouldn't you if it was making you $$$. They place an overemphasis on some things, while completely burying other issues under the carpet. Sure it's easy to blame people like James Packer and other media giants, but we should all have a good look in the mirror. Because it's US that fuels their drive, they publish things for US, and whether you like it or not we actually DO want to read that crap. Without us, there is no them ... what's in music if there is no one to appreciate it?

But as always, feel free to read MY crap, and wonder what photo I'm going to publish next, along with what photo's I'm hiding from all of you :)

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Pano Madness

Within photography there's a very minute niche market. A lot of people attempt it, most people play around with it, very few people are known for it. Yet whenever we talk about landscape photography, panoramas always come into the equation.

Most people will think about panoramas as long sweeping photos of landscape, and done mainly to fit more into a photo. And that's true ... in most cases. But the real reason behind panoramas (for me personally), is to increase detail in my photos. It doesn't make sense when I first say it, but it'll come to you eventually ... I promise. For example, my blog from a couple of days ago, that photo looks more or less like an ordinary photo with ordinary proportions. In reality it was 9 photos stitched into one ... 9 photos at 10mp each theoretically gives you a 90mp photo (in a perfect world). We all know that doesn't happen, but you get the idea and you can really see how detail is increased just by stitching photos together.

The panorama above IS a traditional panorama, but I did it to get sharper detail in the background. I quite like how the row of trees separate the peacefulness inside the area and the complete chaos on the outside (photographically speaking and in reality).

So my children, go forth and stitch up your photos, you'll be surprised with the results. But ofcourse, I can't end this post without mentioning the master of panoramics ... and he is indeed Ken Duncan.

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Behind every cloud is another cloud

"Clouds come rushing to my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add colour to my sky"

~Rabindranath Tagore

This quote by Tagore is the perfect caption to this photo. He was a poet, visual artist, playwright, novelist, educationist, social reformer, nationalist, business manager and composer. To top it off he has also won the Nobel Prize in Literature (1913). In the last post when I talked about leaving behind a legacy, this is the type of legacy I was talking about. Only problem, as accomplished as Tagore is, today was the first time I heard about him. There are a vast amount of deeds that go unnoticed in everyday life, and similarly there are a million photo opportunities that are brushed aside.

This photo was taken using the newly acquired Panasonic LX-3, shot using the sunset mode (I wanted to see what these modes could do), then processed the RAW files in Photoshop CS3. Originally I took 9 photos (3x3 matrix arrangement) and stiched the lot together, then cropped and processed.

Hundreds of people must walk past this scene everyday, how many do you think stopped to appreciate it, let alone take a photo.

Keep an eye out

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The First One

Hmm, the very first post of this blog had exactly the same title. Finally I had the chance to have a play around with the LX-3, and here's the first real shot taken with the camera.

Camera: Panasonic Lumix LX-3

Settings: 13sec, f/6.3, ISO 100

The sunset was showing some decent colours, and I really couldn't help but take a photo. I used the roof of my car as a make shift tripod for such a long exposure setting, and ended up cropping the bottom in LR2. Prize goes out to the person that can guess this street ... Hint: It's in Cabramatta.

On the side, to show some of the other photos taken with the camera ... I've merged together a couple of the other photos (mainly to save space)

These are the kind of photos that you would take when you're bored. A quick survey of your surroundings and a quick flick through the local paper will provide a reasonable amount of subject matter that can be manipulated. The 24mm wide angle of this camera allows you to have slightly more interesting angles and geometric distortions. Also, the macro on this camera is quite good ... and what better way to demonstrate it than to take a photo of text.

One other thing that stands out is the rendering of blues and greens by the sensor. It's definitely not the kind of blue I've been getting from the Canon 50D, and there's something about it that I really like. NB: These 6 photos are all straight out of the camera, the only processing is codec conversion from RAW to JPEG.

Looking forward to posting more from this camera, maybe it'll surprise me even more than it already has.

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Stick a needle in it

Is there really a drug problem?

There was a time when I could walk down the street and see somebody shooting up in the middle of the day without a worry in the world. Today, waiting for my train to come at central station, I glanced down at the ground and well ... guess what I found?

Camera: Canon EOS 50D

Lens: EF 50mm f1.4 USM (read the review here)

Settings: 1/100, f/3.2, ISO 500

In my opinion it's not really a problem if it isn't hurting other people. Drug users have made up their mind about their decisions, and if it doesn't pose a detriment to anybody else ... let them be.

Without a doubt this syringe should have been disposed of properly, but they atleast had the decency to put a lid on it.

Thinking about it, there are a fair few advantages to administering drugs intravenously but there's also quite a bit of disadvantages. You can educate yourself by clicking here.

About the photo, I used manual focus in live view to get exactly what I want. All the processing was done in Adobe Lightroom 2.3, only because it's so simple to get the desired effect.

So until next time, I leave you with a quote by the ever inspirational Salvatore Dali ... "I don't do drugs, I am drugs" :) Oh and kids, don't do drugs. If you do drugs you'll end up in prison, and drugs are very expensive in the pen.

To answer the question proposed earlier, testing for drugs won't solve society's problems ... we should really be testing for stupidity, ignorance and incompetence.

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Synergy, Synchronicity, & Serendipity

 "Serendipity is looking in a haystack for a needle and discovering a farmer’s daughter." 

~Julius Comroe Jr

It was almost certain that I wouldn't get a photo worth putting up today.  Another bleak, wet, depressing day in Sydney.  I was almost desperate to get a photo, and I didn't want to believe that I couldn't get one. 

Almost given up, on the way between my garage and the front entrance to my humble abode I found what I was looking for ... well sort of.  It was more like, I knew what I wanted ... but I didn't know.  

As usual I had my 50mm f1.4 on the camera, and realised I couldn't get close enough to get the type of photo I wanted ... I needed a macro, and more light as the sun was setting pretty early.  As quick as I could, I ran upstairs, switched to my Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro and mounted a Canon 580EXII flash with a diffuser.  After some basic processing in Adobe Lightroom, we have the result ...

Camera: Canon EOS 50D

Lens: Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro

Shot Settings: 1/60, f/2.8, ISO 500, External flash fired

This photo is the farmer's daughter, the world is my haystack, and I had no idea what my needle looked like.  I'm a catholic, not a very good one, but one nonetheless.  And for this photo to happen, the raindrop had to be the perfect size, land on the perfect spot between 3 very symmetrical leaves, and on top of that I had to walk past at the right moment to pick up on the details.  Coincidence ... possibly.  

Since we live in a world of such synchronicity and serendipity where different elements combine to produce such a synergistic effect, it's hard not to believe in an omnipotent being.

Simply put, I'm just glad I was there at the right time

And until next time, Cheers

Side note: Dwight Howard had an amazing game today (40pts 14rebs) to lead the Orlando Magic to the NBA finals to play the Lakers in a best of 7 series.  Check out the recap here

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