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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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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Royal National Park

Camera: Panasonic Lumix LX-3

7 photo Panorama

The Royal National Park in NSW is located south of Cronulla, near Waterfall and Engadine Station. The actual national park covers a huge area of land that is impossible to cover on foot. After being defeated by the Wentworth Falls trails, we decided to tackle one a little closer to home, giving us more time.

We chose a circuit style track which goes along the edge of the coast and back through thick bushes and steep inclines. Overall we covered a large variety of terrain, including coastal, tropical, bushland, and marshes. The panorama above is a typical view during the coastal section of the track (if you're lucky you will also find small herds of deer in low lying, high incline bushland).

As with any day of hiking, travelling, roadtripping ... there's always a time when everything goes wrong ...

Camera: Canon EOS 50D, EF 24-105 F4L IS USM

Strobe: 580 EXII with diffuser on camera hot shoe (1/2 power),

580 EXII bald 5m to the right (1/1 power)

Photo inspired by the multitude of potholes and unpaved roads leading out of the national park.

Finally, if you want to try out these hiking trails, pack food ... we didn't, and we starved

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Undiscovered

It's true when people say that you can make a good photo out of nothing. With the right timing, right inspiration and the right processing you can do a lot with some very ordinary photos. The pano above is a little different to what I normally do, I tend to be conservative and keep my photos looking as real as possible. In this case, I went crazy with the levels adjustments, masks, and colours ... and ... I like it. If not for the moment of madness, this pano would NOT catch your eye the way it did (don't pretend it didn't) and you wouldn't even take a second look at it.

This HDR is another example, the subject is more interesting, but there isn't a whole lot to it. After processing in Photomatix Pro, I played around with the sliders in CS3 until I created an effect that I was happy with. It's all about trial & error, and when you finally get the right blend of elements you'll be very surprised with what you've created.

Both photos were taken in Vietnam when I was on holidays earlier. I tend to dig back at my old photos in the hard drive and find undiscovered potential like these two photos. To the photographers out there that snap as much as I do (more than 1000/month), then keep them safe in an external hard drive ... keep looking back as much as you can, every now and then you'll be rewarded.

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A different light

How often do we see works of art, buildings, even fashion where its merely an appropriation of a previous successful model. When you look closely, there is often only one major change, along with several subtle alterations that give the impression of something fresh and unique.

The first example will show how correct cropping, levels adjustment and presentation will give the impression of a photo that's better than it actually is.

Shot taken with my ancient EOS 400D (Rebel XTi), Tamron 17-50mm f2.8. It is also a 3 shot HDR, merged together with Photomatix Pro, then cropped and bordered in Photoshop CS3.

The second example shows how careful colours adjustment, levels, and masking can produce a very eye catching thumbnail. I said thumbnail because in sites such as flickr, the thumbnail in albums and group pools are tiny, so it needs to make people curious enough to click on it.

This photo was taken with the same gear as above. It's a 4 photo panorama, stitched together in Photoshop CS3, then minor colour, contrast, sharpening combined with a bit of masking. It almost gives the effect of an IR photo, which not many people do. I'd love to experiment with IR, but I'm just not game enough to mess with my 400D sensor (even though it's my 2nd body).

If anyone knows how to convert their sensors to IR, let me know and I might consider having a go at it haha.

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Conquering power of nature (Part 1)

Wentworth Falls is about an hour and a half drive from Sydney (Parramatta). It is also home to one of the biggest, most awe-inspiring, photogenic waterfalls you will ever see. It is a 3 stage waterfall where 3 smaller (still huge) waterfalls combine one after the other.

To get to the very bottom, you have to descend approximately 600m, with the trek beginning at the Charles Dawin Nature Track which is about 2km. Near the end of the trail is a track called the "weeping rocks circuit" (will post these photos tomorrow). If you keep walking for another 5 minutes, you'll find yourself standing at the top of said waterfall (stage 1). On either side of this are plenty of lookouts called "Fletcher's lookout" and "Rocket point lookout" to name a few.

This is a 12 photo panorama from Fletcher's Point lookout, taken with the EOS 50D and EF 24-105 F4L lens. From here we began our descent in our quest to get to the bottom. Along the way there were a few photo opportunities that I had with my Lumix LX-3, it was very handy to have around for quick snapshots, portraits and group shots.

These are a few of the photos done with the LX-3, and you can see the colour and contrast came out quite well despite the harsh lighting conditions in these valleys. When the trek first started we thought the conditions were pretty rough, it was slippery, muddy, wet, tiring ... had a couple of falls along the way and shoes were soaked from walking through shallow creeks. But the trail from here on made the beginning look like child's play ... seriously. To give you an idea, it looked like something straight out of "Man vs Wild" (great show by the way, learn a lot of survival tips).

Since most hikers and photographers end their journey at this point, I'll end part 1 of this post here as well. Keep an eye out for part 2 :)

p.s. If you do decide to embark on this journey, you need to be determined to atleast make it to the lookout, which is the end of the Charles Darwin Nature Trail ... the view is exhilirating and definitely well worth it.

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ORIGIN

Many of my readers are from Australia, so most of you will also know that State of Origin II just went by. Here are some other things that you may or may not know:

- NSW had yet another horrible start (18-0)

- NSW had yet another great 3rd quarter of the game (caught up to 18-14)

- QLD somehow managed to score the last try again ...

and in doing so made the scoreline a lot less respectable (24-14)

- The Blatchy Blues wigs are ridiculously itchy

- Wolfman had a shocker of a 1st half

- Jarryd Hayne had a legendary 1st half

- Jonathan Thurston is still a wanker

- The Maroons secured their 4th straight Origin series and made history

"I don't know what to say ... I'm shattered" said Blues Captain Kurt Gidley. Well Kurt, as easy as it is to point the blame at the captain, the coach, the selectors ... the whole team needed to put their best foot forward, and only a few answered the call.

With all that aside, being a part of the 80 000 at the near sellout stadium was definitely the best $60 I've ever spent. Being there at a packed stadium (see 1st photo) is easily the best way to support your team, the atmosphere alone is worth it. Other sporting events/teams I would love to hit up include:

- Staples Centre (Lakers home game)

- Madison Square Gardens (Knicks home)

- NCAA Final Four

- Old Trafford (Man U)

- FIFA world cup finals (anywhere)

About the photos, both were taken with my Panasonic Lumix LX-3. 1st photo was a 4 photo stitch using Photoshop CS3. 2nd photo was a 12 photo stitch using Photoshop CS3, and that explains the distortion that you see in the photo.

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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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Holidays

There isn't too long until semester break in uni, so I thought I would process some of the photos taken from my last holidays.

Camera: Canon EOS 50D

Lens: Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8

Settings: 1.3 Sec, f/4.5, ISO 100

Location: On top of a rooftop in HK

I really like this shot because half the photo has the cars and minibus frozen in time while the other half of the traffic is doing its own thing. It depicts the usual industrial area in HK, which tends to be fairly busy no matter what time of the day it is.

Camera: Canon EOS 50D

Lens: Tamrom 17-50mm f/2.8

Settings: 10sec, f/6.3, ISO 100

Location: Rooftop in HK

Again, the view from up top is quite interesting, showing a typical skyline in the industrial areas of HK. The refraction and reflection of light from the dust/water particles in the air gave the photo a gritty glowing effect. This was a combination of 5 photos, stitched cylindrically using Adobe Photoshop CS3.

Meanwhile, if your in Sydney, you should really check out Vivid ... a short walkaround the city during this time should get you some nice shots.

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