Another HDR Adventure

Flinders Street Station


Melbourne International Comedy Festival IS ON!

My Baby :)

Yes... It's A Door :)


Since my first attempt at HDR on Friday I managed to convince my wife to come along with me on a phototrip into the city.

In the back of my mind I was wanting to explore a few more shots with HDR but I didn't want to go overboard. Too late for that, I think I'm addicted to the stuff. But it was with good reason, Saturday in Melbourne turned out to be a dreary day, just dark, grey and nothing interesting at all to shoot. It just lacked colour on the day. The perfect excuse to try ot some more HDR. I found myself taking pictures of odd things (usually doors, but hey they did turn out quite well in the end).

I was tempted to head down to Albert park and catch some of the Grand Prix, but Sig and I got caught up in the Ron Mueck exhibition that was showing at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV). Unfortunately we did turn up late so we didn't end up staying as long as we liked, but I highly recommend it to anyone that has a chance to get down and see it..

My First HDR Attempt!

I had the day off from work today, and as I came home from a jog (which I barely survived) I noticed how awesome the clouds looked just over my house. So I ran in, got changed from my sweaty clothes, grabbed my trusty Nikon, grabbed my cheap $20 ebay tripod and set about taking some shots.

The problem was that when I finally got setup, the clouds had moved on and the scene was just not as dramatic as I first envisioned. Lately I have had a bit of a "photographers block". I just haven't been able to get excited about shooting. I've been going crazy with trying to find inspiration, looking for that one unique thing to capture where someone says "hmmm... that's an interesting photo". So today I decided to try HDR for the first time ever!!!. I have read multitudes of literature on what it is, how you do it, what software is the best, but I have never actually put theory into practice.

HDR (for those not up with the lingo) stands for High Dynamic Range, the idea is that you take a scene at multiple exposures (usually 3 or more) , i.e. -3, 0, +3 ev. Then you blend them into one image using the software app of your choice, photomatix tends to be the most popular one that people seem to mention. The idea being that the underexposed image brings out the details in the dark areas and the over exposed brings out the details in the bright areas and the one that's just right has a little of both worlds.

It's not for everyone, and I know some people don't like it. Personally I love it and I think it has it's place. Although I don't believe that HDR can be classified as photography. I see it as more like "PhotoArt". But then again, I just know what I like, and as biased as I am, I like this image.

REPOST: Don’t move… or the dog gets it!!!

The thing about animals is that they aren’t great actors, what you see from their faces is simply who they are. They don’t understand “Say Cheese” or “Smile”. Dex is no exception, he can smile, he can frown. You can tell when he is angry or frustrated and when he is hungry (the drool usually give it away).

This pic was taken in our living room as we were playing with him, I think he just got spooked by the autofocus light of the camera, hence the expression. Gotta love how expressive his eyes are. The eyes are truly a window into someones soul.

REPOST: Vintage Winery!

Ahh the Yarra Valley, I can’t believe my wife and I have lived so close to it all this time and never been!!!. Amazing place with some great wineries. This pic was taken at Helen’s Hill winery, we both love it, and we always end up taking away plenty of wine back with us ;).

The hills in the background were severely affected from the black Saturday fires that raged through Healsville and surrounding towns only 1 year ago. Amazing how nature hides its scars so quick.

REPOST: Loving the DoF

Since we got our nifty 50 mm lens, Sig and I have been going crazy playing with the Depth Of Field that it produces. Some pretty cool effects and a pretty awesome portrait lens. Ahh the endless possibilities!

REPOST: PAN-O-RAMA

I’ve always been crazy about a good panorama. The first two Pano’s were taken from Sails on the Bay Restaurant in Elwood, good food and just as good scenery. Awesome night overall.

The second pano is from a phototrip Sig and I took in Melbourne, I tried to capture that iconic image of Flinders Street Station, and added a bit of a retro look to it.

REPOST: MY FIRST POST!!!

I originally posted this in Tumblr, I like this image, so here it is again :)

"Ok, well I’m just experimenting with this new photoblog account. So I don’t actually have anything prepared.
I have been playing around with photoshop lately, mainly with replicating cross processing techniques in a digital format. Although I do hate photos that are too “Photoshoppy” I do kind of enjoy this pic.
It’s of a cute King Charles Cavalier Puppy my wife and I saw at the Beneful Bark in the Park event in Melbourne."

Pimp My Lens has now moved!

Well it had to be done I guess. I gave Tumblr a go for about 2 weeks or so and to be honest, it wasn't my cup of tea. The whole photo slide show in flash was getting to be quite annoying, and all my readings across various forums seem to indicate that this is something you cannot get rid of. Also the fact that I have to use a 3rd party organisation to enable comments... well thats also just plain annoying. While it may suit some, I guess it's just not for me.

So I have now come to Blogger instead, the advantage is that I now have more power to set up everything as I like, and more power sometimes isn't a bad thing :).

Stay tuned for some more images to come, and please feel free to leave comments and feedback, be truthful and any suggestions that can make me a better photographer is always welcomed.

Evs