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Oblivious to the lights.

IMG_7875When your out shooting late at night you have a lot of time for thinking during exposures and between shots, especially if your by yourself. I often think of all those people at home, watching TV, or asleep in their beds, oblivious to what is going on around then, and the silent lights that weave across the night sky above them.

I think the mood in this shot sums up how I often think of those people. They are inside, working away or watching some program on TV. Meanwhile outside the lights are dancing in the sky and the stars are shining brightly on a perfectly clear and moonless night.

The picture was taken in Mortimer Bay (Tasmania). The photograph to the right was taken only a stones throw from the boat shed when the Aurora was a little more active.

Fossil Cove (Tinderbox, Tasmania)

Fossil Cove - TasmaniaI have lived in Tasmania all of my life, and surprisingly this is the first time I have visited Fossil Cove. I think it’s one of those places that photographers know about, but keep it a secret. So, it was not me who told you about it….

For this location you really have to check the tides as well as the weather to ensure your going to be able to walk under the arch to be able to shoot all those fantastic rock layers. Of course you can always get your feet wet, which I don’t mind.

Fossil Cove is not far from Hobart, and it’s a very nice location. I’m sure I will visit again soon, maybe take the family.

The Aurora Australis

Aurora Australis from Mortimer Bay
Aurora Australis from Mortimer Bay

It has been while since Hobart has seen a good strong Aurora. Yesterday the numbers were looking good all day, see: ozcreations.biz, and sure enough come dark the green and red was clearly visible to the naked eye.

From about 8:30 to 11:30 I snapped a few shots, and a few panorama stitches. I will upload some more to flickr as well.

If you would like to know more about the Aurora Australis, why not join the Facebook Page?

:Update: I returned to this location the other night, and while the gum still stands it has lost the main branch shown in this shot. It’s a shame as I would have liked to shot this tree again with a stronger aurora.

Haida 10 Stop.

I went out last night looking for a nice sunset, not a cloud in sight. I was looking to test out a Haida 10 stop filter.

The filter works well with wide lenses, this shot taken with a Canon 16-35 f2.8 @ 16mm. The shot does have lens correction, but the overall composition, lighting and color has only been slightly adjusted. It could easily be mistaken for a lee filter, although slightly warmer. Overall not a bad filter, one I think I will keep in my bag of tricks…

The filter used was a Haida Slim Multi-coating ND3.0, 1000x (PROII). Shot taken on a 6D, 15sec, f6.3, ISO 50.

The Perfect Orb.

It’s taken some time, but I think I am getting better at creating Orbs. Recently myself and a fellow photographer tooks some shots in the Remarkable Cave at Shipsterns Bluff in the south of Tasmania.

I think this orb is one of the best I have produced from a single 30 second exposure. It was created using a bright LED, with the power supply and on/off switch located in my hand.

If you click through to my flickr page you can see some more I created. All of the exposures were 30 seconds, so the triple orb shots were taken very quickly, with about 7-8 seconds allocated to each orb.

Fishing with the Hi-Tech Pro Stop 10 (IR)

Fishing, Townsville. by Brendan Davey
Fishing, Townsville., a photo by Brendan Davey on Flickr.

It’s been a little while since my last post, so I though I would do a quick post about my first experience with the new Hi-Tech Pro Stop 10 (IR).

When Lee first introduced their big stopper I doubt they had any idea just how popular it would be. The Big Stopper quickly got a good name because it gave a very neutral color cast, ad just worked. Consequently this filter is most than likly going to be on backorder if you order it.

Hi-tech over recently years have really started to expand their filter range, catering more to digital photography, and their new Pro Stop range show their commitment to produce quality filters. The New Pro Stop range can be purchased from 1 stop right though to 10 stops. Designed to reduce IR as well as normal wavelength visible light, which produces a very neutral exposure.

Although I have not dropped my filter and I don’t plan on doing so it is claimed to be more durable than the Lee, of which there are numerous complains about how fragile it is. It also has the rubber / foam black strip to block light entering from the edge of the filter.

And then there is the price, it’s cheaper, what more do I need to say…..

Results: Fantastic, Neutral, no light leaks. stunning.