After getting frustrated with a slow memory card reader for a number of years, I recently bought a SanDisk Extreme FireWire compact flash memory card reader, which is rated at 40 MB/s read and write performance.

I've always been happy with the SanDisk memory cards I've used in various cameras, and decided that a genuine SanDisk memory card reader would be a good option.



The SanDisk card reader comes well packaged, and with a clean design showing just a SanDisk logo on the top of the actual card reader, it looks very business-like.

Build quality is just what I would expect from SanDisk - the card reader is well-built, robust, with good quality cables, and clean styling.

While walking around Dove Lake, near Cradle Mountain in Tasmania, we came across this wombat. He wasn't too concerned about all the people crowding around with their cameras, but just slowly continued on his way.

wombat

Cradle Mountain, Tasmania
Canon EOS 350D, 17-85mm IS @44mm, 1/125 sec, f/5, ISO200

When I saw the graffiti on this bamboo at the Perth Zoo, I had to stop and take a photo of it.

bamboo graffiti

Perth Zoo, Western Australia
Canon EOS 350D, 70-200mm f/4L @70mm, 1/25 sec, f/4, ISO200

If you ever visit Dove Lake and Cradle Mountain in Tasmania, it's worth doing the walk around the lake.

There is some fantastic scenery as the track makes its way around the lake, and in some places, it's a wooden walkway bolted to the rock cliff, as shown in the photo below (with Cradle Mountain in the background).

walkway around Dove Lake

Cradle Mountain, Tasmania
Canon EOS 350D, 10-22mm @10mm, 1/25 sec, f/8, ISO200

Other sections of the track will take you through a temperate rainforest called the Ballroom Forest.

The walk is 6km, and takes approximately 2 hours (depending on how fit you are, how fast you walk, how frequently you stop to take photos, etc). It's a relatively easy walk, and is mostly flat.

Here are some photos from Michael and Kathryn's wedding, shot in December. It was a very hot day, but we had a lot of fun, despite the heat, and the two flower girls performed very well all day!

While in Sydney recently, some colleagues took me for a lunchtime walk through the national park that is located right behind our office.
It's part of Lane Cove National Park, and we walked through an area called Fairyland Park, which used to be an amusement park of sorts that closed in the 1970s.

Here's a few photos taken during that lunchtime walk.

leaves

Fairyland Park, North Ryde, NSW
Canon EOS 50D, 10-22mm @15mm, 1/30 sec, f/4, ISO200

Last night, I returned home after two weeks in Sydney. It was a work-related trip, but I was hoping to get out with my camera, as I have done on previous trips to Sydney.
However, it was pretty wet, with a lot of rain during the time I was in Sydney, including rain for most of the weekend I was there.

wet roads ... and a bridge!

Sydney, NSW
Canon EOS 50D, 10-22mm @22mm, 1/50 sec, f/6.3, ISO200

Despite the rain, I still spent some time wandering around the city on the weekend, and managed to get some photos.

The photo above shows a wet Sydney road, with the very recognisable structure of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the distance.

There is a saying which states that the eyes are the window to a person's soul. It is important to know how to handle people's eyes in portrait photography, as the way the eyes are represented in a photo can make or break the photo.

For example, Steve McCurry's Afghan Girl photo, which appeared on the cover of the June 1984 National Geographic Magazine, was named "the most recognised photograph" in the history of the magazine. This was primarily due to her piercing sea-green eyes, staring straight at the camera, resulting in a very striking and appealing portrait.



With portrait photography, it is important to ensure the eyes are in focus. This is particularly important if shooting with a large aperture, when the depth-of-focus is small.
A portrait with the eyes in focus will have more impact, will be more appealing, and the eyes will help draw the viewer into the image.

Samantha

Canon EOS 50D, 70-200mm f/4L @70mm, 1/640 sec, f/4, ISO200

To ensure your camera focuses on the eyes, configure it to use only one focus point, and compose the shot with this focus point on the eyes, half-press the shutter button to focus, and then re-compose and take the photo.

I recently purchased a Yongnuo OC-E3a Canon TTL flash cable from Deal Extreme (an online store based in Hong Kong) for just USD$24.86, with free shipping.
The Yongnuo OC-E3a cable is less than one third of the cost of a genuine Canon OC-E3 cable, which retails for USD$69.95.



A TTL flash cable allows you to get your flash off your camera's hot shoe, while still maintaining full ETTL communications with the flash. This can be useful when using a flash bracket or light-stand to hold the flash, or even when using one hand to hold the flash away from the camera body.

It's not limited for use with flashes - you can use a TTL cable for mounting a Canon ST-E2 wireless transmitter remotely from the camera. This can be handy if you are using the ST-E2 to control one or more remote flashes wirelessly, but where the flashes are outside the forward-pointing optical transmission of the ST-E2 (ie, the flashes might be to the side, or even behind the camera, and without sufficient reflective surfaces to bounce the infrared signal from the ST-E2 to the remote flashes).



The Yongnuo cable is a clone of the genuine Canon OC-E3 TTL flash cable, but is significantly cheaper than the genuine article from Canon.

Yongnuo OC-E3a TTL flash cable

The old oil tanks at Albany's Whale World, which have been converted into mini movie theatres. Each of the movie theatres has a different short movie about the whaling station.

Whale World tanks

Whale World, Albany, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 10-22mm @10mm, 1/4000 sec, f/4, ISO250

The Canon ST-E2 is Canon's dedicated wireless flash transmitter, designed to be mounted on a camera's hot-shoe, and can trigger one or more Canon flashes wirelessly in E-TTL mode.

When mounted on a camera's hot-shoe, the Canon 580EX and 580EX II flashes can also be used as a master device for triggering and controlling multiple remote Canon flashes in E-TTL mode.

However, there are a number of differences in functionality between using a 580EX / 580EX II as a master, and using the ST-E2 as a master device, with advantages and disadvantages for both options.

The tables below summarise the differences between using a Canon ST-E2 or a Canon 580EX / 580EX II as a master flash trigger, with differences highlighted using a different background colour.
Details were sourced from Canon's technical specifications and user manuals, as well as the results of my own testing with the ST-E2 and 580EX II.

Here's another one from a sunset shoot last week at North Beach.
The colours in this particular photo were not very inspiring, but a black and white conversion provides a more striking result.

receeding waters

North Beach, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 70-200mm f/4L @70mm, 1/13 sec, f/22, ISO100

Yesterday evening, I met up with some fellow photographers at North Beach, to shoot the sunset from the beach, using the rocks to provide some foreground interest.

Here's a long exposure, taken about 30 minutes after sunset (click the image to view a larger version).

dusk at North Beach

North Beach, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 24-70mm f/2.8L @24mm, 20 sec, f/16, ISO100

The Department of Environment and Conservation are using one of my photos (with permission) on a new sign at the Mangrove Bay bird-hide in the Cape Range National Park, near Exmouth, in the north-west of Western Australia.

The photo being used is a white-faced heron that I photographed at Sepentine Falls a few years ago.

If you're ever Mangrove Bay, be sure to check out the sign!

left half of the sign

right half of the sign

sign detail

Photos of the sign provided by the Department of Environment and Conservation, and used here with permission.

Here's an overview of all the photos that I blogged during 2009.
Click the thumbnail to go directly to the corresponding blog post.

Happy new year!

Here's the most visited tutorials, hacks, reviews and gear-related posts during 2009 (based on the number of page views between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2009, as reported by Google Analytics):

1. Faking Tilt-Shift - a Tutorial for Realistic Miniaturised Photos
2. Tag Your Camera
3. Review: Phottix Cleon II Wire/Wireless Remote Control Set
4. Review: Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Lens
5. A Cheap Clamp for Holding a Remote Flash
6. Review: Phottix Hero LiveView Wireless Remote
7. Review: Phottix Nikos Digital Timer Remote (TC-501)
8. Review: Phottix Plato 2.4GHz Wireless Remote
9. Canon 50D Remote Shutter Release
10. Yongnuo Remote Shutter Release - cheap but not too nasty
11. Canon N3 Connector Pinout and Wiring
12. Review: Phottix Tetra Wireless Flash Trigger (PT-04 II)
13. More on Tagging Your Camera
14. Making Bookmarks With Your Photos
15. Review: Phottix Cleon Wire/Wireless Remote Control Set
16. An Improved Clamp for Holding a Remote Flash
17. New Toy - Cokin Z-Pro ND Grad Filter Kit
18. Selling Photos For Publication - How Much Should You Charge?
19. Canon 50D - First Impressions
20. Canon 7D Announced