It’s a good thing I don’t have a camera at the moment, because the weather has been shocking in Hobart over recent weeks. Weeks of overcast skies and rain. Is summer really here?
My 5d Mark 2 is on order and I can’t wait for it to arrive, finally some full frame goodness 🙂 I can’t wait to see the results using the 16-35L to it’s full potential, 24mm on a 1.6x body is just not the same.
The above picture was taken on my old 40D with the 16-35mm L.
I’m expecting big things Mr Canon….
After living in Tasmania for all my life I shouldn’t be surprised when I stumble onto “new” fantastic locations.
I’d been viewing lighthouses recently on flickr and decided to try shooting the Iron Pot lighthouse, after a quick visit to google maps it appeared the only suitable location from shore to shoot was Fort Direction near South Arm.
During the Second World War Fort Direction was used to monitor the mouth of the Derwent river and protect Hobart. Because there is still a military base located there, the only way to the southern most tip for shooting the Iron Pot is via walking the coast line, about a 30 min walk.
Some of the rocks and foreshore are the most interesting I have seen, with patterns that seem almost impossible to form.
Due to poor weather I don’t think I took any fantastic shots, so I’m waiting for that “magic” weather pattern.
Trees In Morning Light, originally uploaded by BrendanDavey.
This shot was taken at Taroona near the shot tower in the early morning light. The leaves lit up a nice goldern colour, appearing they they were just about to drop from the trees in Autumn.
Failing to capture anything on Taroona beach due to a rather plain sunrise, this was the best I could do for the day.
I’ve printed this picture out at A3. Looks Great.
Melbourne @ Night, originally uploaded by Brendan Davey.
I think one of the important things that has worked for me in the past in capturing interesting pictures is the location and sometimes risk I’ve had to place my camera in to get them.
For example the above shot was taken while sitting my camera on the curb (in a bicycle Lane) alongside busy traffic in the middle of Melbourne. In the same outing I also lost a lens hood into the river while precariously balancing my Camera on the edge of a bridge to capture a Melbourne Night Scene.
It can probably be said that a good picture involves risk, something new, something different. So why not use the same philosophy when capturing the picture.
Stick your tripod in the water, use the fact that your camera has weatherproof seals. See your camera as a tool, built to do a job. Your camera is most likely depreciating at a huge rate, so you mite as well get some good use out of it.
Sure don’t take unnecessary risks, but don’t be scared to get a scratch on your camera, after all why do you have your camera?
P.S. Don’t worry Paul, I’m taking real good care of your baby 🙂
A friend of mine keeps trying to convince me to buy a Nikon. Recently I had the chance to try a D300. (Thanks Paul).
My overall impression is the Nikon has more features, some useful, some not. Quality wise it’s about the same as my old 40D, all though slightly more Megapixels.
I did however notice that Lightroom changed the images a lot more than it would from a picture from the Canon. Not sure why, maybe someone can let me know. (I noticed a similar change from my 300D to the 40D, where the 40D needed less correction).
Being a Canon user I found the Nikon to be fairly unfriendly and not all that intuitive to use, but I’m sure it was just the way it was setup. The lack of the focus / metering Beep was most frustrating.
I just hope with the falling Australian dollar Canon can keep the 5D mark 2 price reasonable. I still have some money invested in Canon glass, and I’d hate to have to defect to Nikon.
I’ve posted a few flower shots on flickr taken from the D300.
Long Walk, originally uploaded by BrendanDavey.
It looks very very nice, good enough to make you run like a 10 year old ready to bomb right off the end. In reality it was frezzing COLD!
Not somthing I normally shoot, but it makes a nice change.
It’s been quite a while since I’ve used a prime lens. I think the last one I used was on my Canon AE-1. Even on a 1.6x sensor body it’s still quite somthing special to be shooting at f1.4, and what better place to start than with flowers 🙂
80mm is quite constrictive and you have to be a fair distance from subjects to get everything in, but once you get used to it and the small depth of field it really starts to work it’s magic. I can’t wait to go full frame, and maybe a macro len.
What is the point of taking pictures if you don’t get to enjoy them, and what better way than via a simple coffee table book. I’ve been spending a bit of my spare time recently creating a photo book which is just about finished.
It will only contain about 20 images, I say ‘about’ because there are 20 large full page images, but quite a few smaller ones as well.
I’ve been using their downloadable book software over the past few months to create my book, The software is quite good (booksmart) and very easy to use, allthough not perfect.
I can’t wait to see the results.
Tranmere Foreshore, originally uploaded by BrendanDavey.
Sometimes I think a big component of photography is being in the right location at the right time. The sunset I managed to capture from the Tranmere foreshore was quite nice last night. Not the best I’ve seen, but with some post processing it matches the orange rocks quite nicely.
I’ve added a few of the pictures taken to the store. (Even a few shot in landscape) If you would like to see more visit my flickr page.
Moo I hear you say?
Moo is a company in the UK that converts your flickr pictures into business cards. The process is very simple and relatively cheap for 50 business cards delivered to your door.
Moo allows you to design your cards via a web browser, then submit your order electronically. Once ordered my Moo cards arrived in a little over a week. The flexibility is great, they even allow every card picture to be different or all the same or any combination in between. I decided on 12 unique cards.
The overall quality is excellent with nice thick card, a semi flat finish (satin) and a very good resolution even though my pictures were relatively low DPI directly from my flickr account.
I can’t wait to give them all away so I can order some more with newer pictures 🙂