Close Shave

Nikon D90 with 50mm f1.4 prime lens (shot at 1/320 sec @ f2.8, ISO 100)

Post Processing: Shot in RAW, just simple contrast boost and turned up the vibrance and saturation. Plus add in a little cropping to give that Macro feel :).

Due to poor weather my lawn has become somewhat of a jungle so on Saturday I finally managed to get the lawn mower out and give it a good trim. I found this little guy amongst the grass, somehow he managed to escape the blades of the mower (though only just as can be seen from the scars on the left side of his shell)

Ganesha

It's been a while since I last posted. Everything has been hectic lately with Sister-in-law getting married, training for a half marathon and getting a new puppy.

Here's one of my favourite shots from my sister in laws wedding, simple photo, taken of a Ganesha statue (Indian deity) it was perfect because I had the light streaming in from just the right angles. Also the flowers give the shot a touch of colour too!.

Autumn

Nikon D90 with 17-55mm kit lens @ 3 exposures


Nikon D90 with 17-55mm kit lens @ 3 exposures

Although I hate it that the days are getting colder and the nights are now longer, Autumn does allow for some pretty awesome shots. Great colours on the leaves, and the fallen leaves add for more drama to the image.

Food Glorious Food!

Nikon D90 with 50 mm @ f1.8 (ISO 320, 1/50 sec)

Nikon D90 with 50 mm @ f2.5 (ISO 320, 1/50 sec)

Nikon D90 with 50 mm @ f2.8 (ISO 100, 1/60 sec)

Why do images of food always make me hungry??, I think I can safely say that this food didn't last long on the plate. I swear I had nothing to do with the cake, someone else got to it first!

Windsor Hotel HDR

Nikon D90 with 17-55mm kit lens @ 3 exposures

This photo was taken on another phototrip to the city. The Windsor Hotel is a grand hotel in Melbourne city and dates back to 1884. This photo was taken with 3 exposrues and combined using Photomatix. I was quite fortunate to have an old style tram stopped infront of the hotel , it definitely adds to the theme.

Tell it as it is

Nikon D90 with 55-200mm kit lens @ f5.6 (ISO 320, 1/800 sec)

This pic was taken on a "Mancation" with the boys out at Walkerville, unfortunately the weather wasn't great but I still managed to come away with some pretty awesome pics. Even though I don't remember much from the weekend. This bird was flying from branch to branch and I just managed to catch him in mid flight, pure fluke and I doubt I could ever do it again.

Nikon D90 with 55-200mm kit lens @ f5.6 (ISO 100, 1/250 sec)

On one of my phototrips into the city, I caught this guy perched on a branch. It was pretty windy, and the sun kept going into some clouds which made it difficult to take a decent shot, because everytime I thought I had the exposure correct, the conditions changed on me!!!. The good thing was I had my kit lens zoomed out to 200mm which meant I was standing a good 2-3 meters (possibly more) away from this guy, which helps when you don't want him disturbed and flying away at the wrong moment.

Nikon D90 with 55-200mm kit lens @ f5.6 (ISO 100, 1/160 sec)

Nikon D90 with 55-200mm kit lens @ f5.6 (ISO 100, 1/160 sec)

My wife and I spent our second wedding anniversary (wow that makes me feel old) at Apollo Bay, we booked this awesome apartment/cottage up in the hills and got some amazing views of Apollo Bay (and some pretty impressive sunrises). This photo would have been taken around 7 AM and the sun was just beaming. I took the opportunity to take as many shots (and in as many artistic ways) as I could. I was surprised at how large a Kookaburra actually is, I always expected them to be small birds but the size of this guy certainly surprised me.

Decided to post up some photos that I have taken that have absolutely no post processing at all. Each photo has it's own little story in a way, some shots were just a matter of right place right time. Sometimes you just get that fraction of a second to capture that image, but when you do, it's pretty awesome. The best thing is that all the photos were taken with just the standard Nikon kit lenses, no fancy glass was used and no fancy phtoshop or any other program was used.

C'Mon Bombers.. Fly UP!

Essendon new recruit Mark Williams (round 2 vs Fremantle)
Nikon D90 with 55-200mm kit lens @ f5.6 (ISO 400, 1/200 sec)

Round 3 of the AFL series, and tonight my beloved Essendon Bombers take on Carlton in what has to be a season changing clash, potentially for both clubs but moreso for my Bombers. So far we're winless out of 2 matches and if we go down again tonight to Carlton, we can all but kiss our season and hopes of making the finals goodbye. Last week I went and saw us lose to Fremantle, a match that we should have won if not for our own errant style of football. There was seemingly no plan, no leadership and structure. All I can hope is that today, against our oldest rivals, we can turn things around and give all bomber fans hope that there is some life left in the team after all.

Go BOMBERS!!!

Darkly Dreaming Dexter

As soon as I got my new 50mm f1.4 prime lens all I did was play around with the depth of field. The depth of field is selected by changing the f-number (f-number is always a weird term), I found it confusing at first, because it's inverse to the aperture size (i.e. the smaller the f-number the larger the aperture, hence the more light that is captured). By decreasing the f-number you also create a "shallower" depth of field, or blurryness to the image. Sort of like when you stare at something intensely, causing everything around it to go blurry.

I love depth of field and the feel it gives to a photo. Here are some of Dex, none of them have had any post processing (except for some minor vignetting). All were shot at f1.4, hence the shallow depth of field, using natural light. For those that are curious, Dexter is a 35 month old Staffy x Mastiff, he's the biggest softie you could ever meet and yes my wife named him after the TV Show!.

Happy Easter!

Nikon D90 with 50mm @ f1.4 (ISO 100, 1/100 sec)

Nikon D90 with 50mm @ f1.4 (ISO 320, 1/60 sec)

Wishing everyone a safe and happy Easter Holidays!. I haven't posted much for a while (I've been gorging on too many chocolate eggs). Hope to have some more photos up soon!.

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