"Swirl"

"Swirl", originally uploaded by dr.r.lam.

This edit may be a little too dark and gritty, however it suited the conditions at the time though.

I got absolutely soaked. Must remember to carry chamois and some wet and dry lens cloths too (as per Brent Pearson! I should listen more to the man, he's a genius).

Ended up tipping water out of the 17-40mm. Unfortunately I can't have UV filters on with the Lee system (until I get a 0.9ND (I need to have a screw-in Hoya 3-stop). Hence the 17-40 isn't weather-sealed, which is a bummer, especially in these conditions.

So much to think about before and during the shoot!

Turimetta Beach

Turimetta Beach, originally uploaded by dr.r.lam.

Still practising. . . .

Not really happy with the cloud in the top left corner, though - my eye seems to be constantly drawn to it. However, I do like the warm tones of the sand, and the leading lines to the central anchor of the big rock.

Recently upgraded to CS5 and LR3. What a simply phenomenal combination. Pretty seamless integration.

Turimetta Hexagons

Turimetta Hexagons, originally uploaded by dr.r.lam.

A preliminary foray into CS4, courtesy of Brent Pearson, and his fantastic Seascape Workshop.

I have much learning to do......

Helvellyn Panorama

Helvellyn Panorama, originally uploaded by dr.r.lam.

360 degree, 13 x vertical shot, horizontally stitched panorama.

EOS 1Ds II, 17-40 F4/L, 17mm, f/8.0, ISO 400, 1/1000sec,

Handheld (tripod is too heavy!).

Taken on the walk out from Helvellyn, in the Lakes District UK. The same sheep is on the very left and the very right of the panorama.

Original sizing is 15820 x 4292 pixels.

My wife can be seen just to the left of the lake in the picture.

A truly memorable walk, favourable conditions, and one which I hope to repeat!

I'm working on some images of "Striding Edge" (also on the Helvellyn walk) which should be finished soon! I'll keep you posted.....

Frigid

Frigid, originally uploaded by dr.r.lam.

"Devoid of Warmth"
--- Fingal Head, QLD ---
210sec, f/8.0, ISO100, 17mm

Shot at Fingal Head Queensland, when Amy and I were at Science Week (Australian College of Veterinary Scientists Conference).

I hired a car and drove an hour to this site to find it raining and pitch black! Fortunately by the time the sun came up the rain had died off.

This is a long (210sec) exposure using my older Hoya 400ND (which I believe is an 8-stop equivalent). I also had recently acquired Lee filters (specifically a 0.9 (or 3-stop) hard GND), which I found helped dramatically with the skyline.

I think the cooler white balance helps with the illusion of ice and freezing temerpatures.

These are the kinds of pictures that I will be learning more about at Brent Pearson's workshop (http://brentbat.wordpress.com/seascape-workshop/). I'd love to learn how to properly post-process these. When I get better at these, expect to see a lot more!

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Avalon Beach

Avalon Beach, originally uploaded by dr.r.lam.

As the info states - 9 shot vertical panorama. This is one of the first panoramas made with the Acretach GP-s Head. I think this piece of equipment is fantastic. It is essentially a panoramic head and leveling base combined into a single piece of machined aluminium, weighing less than 500g. Simply phenomenal.

A few things I'd have changed about the photo - I think a closer crop from the left, and I would have taken a few more shots to the right in order to correct the distortion (seen as a warping of the balustrade of the wooden deck on the right side). So much to learn!

I'm glad the colours came out well - it certainly was a wonderful day for shooting. Glad I was in the shade though - using the Lee filters makes use of the lens hood impossible - I would have had significant glare issues were it not for the eucalyptus.

Singapore Day 1 - Botanical Gardens

Botanical gardens are one of my favourite places to spend time. I have a passing fascination with macrophotography, and botanical gardens offer endless opportunities. 

The Singapore Botanic Gardens (SBG) (Chinese: 新 加坡植物园; Malay: Taman Botanik Singapura or Kebun Botani Singapura) is a 63.7-hectare (157-acre) botanical garden in Singapore. It is half the size of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew or around one-fifth the size of Central Park in New York. It is the only botanic garden in the world that opens from 5 a.m. to 12 midnight every single day of the year, and does not charge an admission fee, except for the National Orchid Garden. 

Even though I knew I would be going to the SBG, I made a consious effort not to pack the EF100mm f/2.8 macro. I wanted to travel light, and taking the 100mm macro didn't really fit with the rest of the holiday plans. I have the 17-40mm f/4L and 35mm f/1.4L lenses with me. As I mentioned previously I also have a stack of Kenko extension tubes (12mm, 20mm and 36mm). The magnification factor of the 35mm is approximately 0.12x which is poor for macro photography. However with a 12mm extension tube, I can achieve 0.54x magnification, and with a 20mm tube, almost 0.90x magnification is possible. The extension tubes are also very light and portable.

EOS 1Ds II, 35mm f/1.4L + 12mm Kenko Extension Tube, 1/250s, f/2.8, ISO 100

This jumping spider is only about 3mm in length. On the full size photo (here), you can see the detail captured with the extra magnification. Unfortunately, with the 35mm lens, the working distance (distance from the front element to the subject) is quite short - only about 4-5cm. That is the down-side of using tubes. With my 100mm macro (nonIS, non-L), the working distance (or MFD) is 15cm. Having  longer working length (and also true 1:1 macro capability) would have made taking this photograph a little easier.

The SBG is known for its orchid collection. I love orchids (I think because my mother has orchids at home), but also because they are so photogenic. 

EOS 1Ds II, 35mm f/1.4L, 1/60s, f/5.6, ISO 400

I always have problems with flower backgrounds - I get so engrossed with the actual beauty of the flower itself, that I forget about composition. I find that often, backgrounds are cluttered and distracting. It is a constant battle to remember to look around the rest of the composition and to find any sources of distraction. 

EOS 1Ds II, 35mm f/1.4L,1/200s, f/5.6, ISO 400

Fortunately, the 35mmm f/1.4 has a wonderful bokeh, so that the background (of which a lot is included) is usually not too distracting!

EOS 1Ds II, 35mm f/1.4L, 1/200s, f/2.0, ISO 400

The 35mm f/1.4L has an extremely narrow depth of field at f/1.4. This makes focusing a challenge. It also makes macro photography more challenging. You always want to include as much detail as possible and have a greater depth of field, but at these magnifications you really need to stop down to maximise depth of field. Also at this proximity, especially with using extension tubes, the amount of available light is less, resulting in slower shutter speeds.

EOS 1Ds II, 35mm f/1.4L, 1/160s, f/5.6, ISO 400

 Creating "isolation" is difficult, and I have lots of practicing to do!

EOS 1DsII, 35mm f/1.4L, 1/200s, f/4.0, ISO 400

 At the orchid house, they have a few stone sculptures that have been covered in moss. I think they're fascinating!

EOS 1Ds II, 35mm f/1.4L, 1/8000s, f/1.4, ISO 400

As always, you can see these photos and more on my Flickr page.

Singapore Day 1

We have this guide book - "Singapore's Top 10" that's given us a long list of things to do. From our Hotel on Butik Pasoh Road, we wandered up to Chinatown and wandered past the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, located here.  

EOS 1Ds II, 35mm f/1.4L, 1/320s, f/1.4, ISO 100

The temple is based on the Tang dynasty architectural style and built to house the tooth relic of the historical Buddha. The ground breaking ceremony was conducted on 13 March 2005. Costing S$62 million and 2 years later, a soft launch was held to coincide with the 2007 Vesak Day celebration." It is claimed that the relic of Buddha from which it gains its name was found in 1980 in a collapsed stupa in Myanmar. Since opening, the temple has become a popular attraction within Chinatown. Simple vegetarian fare is served for free in the basement of the temple, though donations are accepted.

Next up was the Than Hock King Temple, also in Chinatown. 

EOS 1Ds II, 35mm f/1.4L, 1/2500, f/2.0, ISO 100
Dragon on roof of an incense burner. One of the interior walls of the temple proper can be seen in the background.

This Temple is the oldest and most important Fukien, or Hoklo (Hokkien) temple in Singapore. The main temple is dedicated to Mazu, the Taoist goddess of the sea and protector of all seamen, while a second temple at the back is a Buddhist one dedicated to Kuan Yin, the bodhisattva of mercy.

EOS 1Ds II, 35mm f/1.4L, 1/160, f/4.0, ISO 100
Collection box for the Than Hock King Temple

After the temple district we wandered down to the shorefront to have a look at the developments of the Singapore skyline, which already is impressive. They have a statue, a cross between a lion and mermaid (Merlion), which is the symbol for Singapore. It is a massive tourist attraction, and we got swamped by people.

EOS 1Ds II, 35mm f/1.4L, 1/40, f/4.0, ISO 100
Bridge near the Merlion Fountain, Singapore Harbourside.

There seems to be constant construction works at the perimeter of the city centre, but the city centre itself is completed. The thing which strikes me about Singapore as a city is how clean it is. It seems that people are very conscientious about rubbish. Also, the commercial district has been planned out well, with emphasis placed on a green city - between the towering skyscrapes, room has been allocated for gardens, open plazas and green belts.

EOS 1Ds II, 35mm f/1.4L, 1/640s, f/8.0, ISO 100
Walking from Chinatown to Little India, Singapore. Detail from a wall near some roadworks.

For lunch we headed into a Japanese restaurant, which seems a little strange, in that I felt I should be at least eating Singaporean food! However, there were plenty of opportunities to try hawker food (street food) later in the day. 

EOS 1Ds II, 35mm f/1.4L, 1/60s, f/1.4, ISO 100
This was taken when we were at lunch (Japanese Restaurant). They'd lined up these finished Sake bottles against their outside window.

The thing I like about this photo is the phenomenal ability of the 35mm f/1.4 to be sharp at 1.4. I also found out that I have a slight backfocus problem on the 35mm f/1.4L. As you can see here, the focal point of the pocture should be the green bottle. However the lettering of the bottle to the left of it (in red and white) is mostly in focus. It is small, and most likelIy not noticable (or so I keep telling myself)!  However I still have a learning curve with this lens, and probably need to master the technique of focusing accurately with such a thin depth of field. If I had a 1Ds III, of 5D MkII body I could do microadjustment (to bring the focal plane of the lens into line with the sensor plane of the SLR), however I don't have that capability on the 1Ds II. 

After lunch we headed out to the botanical gardens (walked actually - quite a long way too!). I'll dedicate the next post to the gardens, so see you soon! As always, you can see all of these photos on my Flickr site.

Sydney-Singapore-UK 2010

I writing this from the desk in our room at the New Majestic Hotel in Singapore.

EOS 1Ds II, EF 35mm f/1.4L, f/5.6, 1/200s

The flight over here was uneventful. I spent most of the time listening to some Audiobooks - Stephen Fry's reading of JK Rowling's Harry Potter Series, and Stephen Hawking's "The Universe in a Nutsehll". Clearly I didn't finish all of these - it was a relatively short flight. I must recommend the extra legroom we got from getting exit-row seats. My knees didn't hurt as I walked off the plane!

 Strobist Info:
580EXII 1/8, 1/2 CTO in bathtub
580EXII 1/8 -0.7, Full CTO camera bottom left.
EOS 1Ds II, 17-40mm f/4L
1/8sec, f/8.0, ISO 100, 17mm

Anyway - back to the New Majestic Hotel . . . .

Amy found this place online when we were looking for places to stay. I'm glad she stumbled upon it. We received an exceptionally warm welcome from the service staff here upon arrival last night. Our room is simply amazing. I think the outside bath simply says it all. 

I"m glad I brought my flash gear, and not the 85 f/1.2L II (as you can see above). I'm beginning to explore more Strobist-style lighting, so I see this trip as an opportunity to practice what I've learnt.

Tomorrow is going to be fun! I've never been to Singapore before, so Amy has a whole heap of places to take me. I'll keep you posted!

Things to come:

• What's in my travel bag
• Which travel bag I"m using
• Lee Filters

I'm going to be busy writing these posts!

Exotic Locations . . .

. . .don't always have to be far away. Today, after dropping Amy off at work, I decided to go for a short walk down to the creek. Because we've had some serious rain over the last 24 hours or so, the waterfalls were flowing nicely. 

I spent about an hour or so at this location getting soaked. I played around with various angles and heights. I'm glad I've got a good tripod that can withstand getting wet, and is tall enough. I brought along the ND400 filter and was achieving about 30 second exposures at f/22, ISO 100. I would have liked to have used say f/8 or f/11 (I think f/22 pushes the limits of diffraction on the EF17-40mm f/4L), but a) there was too much light, b) I didn't have enough ND filters, and c) I don't have a remote shutter release yet (that will be remedied shortly!).

As I was leaving (read: crawling on hands and knees out of the slipper creek), I noticed a bark piece that had been stripped off. I thought the leaves provided enough contrast to provide an off-center focal point.

On a side note, I've made a resolution to try to post more pictures (on Whirlpool, OCAU forums) for feedback/critiques. I feel that I haven't really improved in the last few months, and am looking for more challenges.

As always, any comments or critiques are more than welcome! Feel free to post below. Thanks!

Botanical Gardens, Circular Quay Photowalk Results

Our planned photowalk was a minor success! The weather on Saturday started out gloomy (overcast and raining), but soon cleared to a glorious sunny afternnon, with some residual cloud. We followed the planned route and enjoyed some good time in the Botanical Gardens where some participants got lost in trees, others found wildlife and others simply disappeared (JYP!).

Throughout the afternoon we experienced fantastic afternoon light with looming clouds to break up the sky, rainbows and the odd thunderstorm. The photographers experienced a wide range of challenging shooting conditions.

We ended the walk a little earlier than planned (the sunset wasn't spectacular by any means) and we were all looking forward to the excellent food at the Lowenbrau.

I've obtained contributions from some participants, with more to come! The full gallery can be viewed on the Photowalk Galleries page.

Outstanding Photographs

Seeing as I've only had contributions from 2 other photographers, I'd like to show my favourites from their contributions.

IDL

JO

Fantastic stuff!

Flying Penguin

Flying Penguin, originally uploaded by dr.r.lam.

Supposed to be reading for Journal Club. Oropharyngeal Dysphagias seem less interesting than post-processing images from a while ago. I found this one I took during one of Chris Bray's Photo Workshops. I like the black and white conversion. It seems that removing the colour element sharpens the outlines of the two penguins and makes them stand out from their surrounds. Two silhouettes (one positive and one negative).

Botanical Gardens, Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge Photowalk

Date : Saturday 22nd May

Time: 2:00pm

Start : At the front of the Conservatorium of Music

End : Dawes Point (southern end of the Harbour Bridge)

Route : Proposed Route

Dinner : Lowebrau Beer Hall in the Rocks.

Welcome! If you have made it to this site, consider it your official invitation to this photowalk. Feel free to invite friends and family (and other photo-buffs) along for the ride. This is FREE!!!

I think the planned route (check it out here) is about 4.5km should be easily doable by everyone on the walk (with gear). It starts at the Conservatorium of Music, through the Botanical Gardens, around the Opera House, along the waterfront (or through the Rocks) and ends up at Dawes Point.

Regardless of the weather I will be at the start (Conservatorium of Music). The best way to get there is probably Cityrail to Martin Place and walk up the hill, or get to Circular Quay and walk up the hill!

The starting time is quite late in the afternoon (nice golden light hopefully!), but gives us plenty of time to wind our way down to Dawes point for sunset. Sunset is predicted to be at 4:55pm. Astronomical Twilight ends at 6:25pm. That gives us roughly around an hour and half of blue-hour which is plenty of time for great photos of Luna Park and Blues Point etc.

Afterwards, dinner is planned for the Lowenbrau in the Rocks. I'll make a reservation beforehand once I know the numbers so it should be a great place for chimping. (Chimping is a term used for reviewing your shots on your lcd screen on the back of your camera, usually accompanied by lots of ooh, oohs and aah, aahs)!

Important points!

• Wear comfortable shoes.
• Bring a warm (and/or waterproof) jacket. It probably will be windy.
• Camera (DSLR or Point-and-shoot)
  
• Charged battery (or two!)
  
• You’ll want to bring a couple formatted memory cards so you don’t get caught short. If you’re shooting raw, 8GB is a great place to start and should get you through a photowalk. Bring two if you have them though.
  
• Wide Angle Lens for shooting large buildings, stores, or full downtown area scenes.
  
• Telephoto lens. A 70-200 or 70-300 is always nice so you can zoom in and really capture your subject without lots of distracting things around it. 
• Consider a tripod but it’s not necessary. Our walk is in the evening, so a tripod will probably come in handy, but be mindful that you'll have to lug it around!
  
• A good photo walking strap that won’t slip off your shoulder.
• Oh and just in case it rains, bring a plastic bag and some rain gear to put over your camera. A simple grocery store plastic bag can work but if you want some extra protection, Kata makes a rain cover for DSLRs.

After we're all done, I'll post some photos on this blog, and in a Flickr group so we can all check out the beautiful photos that were made on this day!

Don't forget to contact me (best by email) if there are problems!

If you are inviting other people, please get them to send me an email too! This way I can keep in contact with anyone and advise them of last-minute changes. 

Can't wait!

Richard.