While in Tasmania earlier this year, we visited Cradle Mountain, and walked around Dove Lake. The Tasmanian temperate rainforest is a damp place, with almost every surface covered in moss and greenery.
This photo was taken during the walk around Dove Lake in an area called the Ballroom Forest, and brings back great memories of the Tasmanian rainforest.

moss-covered tree

Cradle Mountain, Tasmania
Canon EOS 350D, 10-22mm @12mm, 1/25 sec, f/4, ISO400

Until recently, my primary camera was a Canon 350D, which uses a 2.5mm stereo socket (E3) for connecting a shutter release. I built a homebrew shutter release for it, which worked very effectively.

Having recently upgraded to a Canon 50D, I can no longer use my homebrew shutter release, as the 50D has an N3 socket, rather than an E3 socket (2.5mm stereo socket). Rather than purchase a complete shutter release for the 50D, I did some research, to see if I could source an N3 connector, so I could modify my shutter release, and add an N3 connector to it.



Canon's low-end DSLR cameras (300D/350D/400D/450D) use an E3 socket for connecting remote shutter releases to the camera. An E3 socket is just a 2.5mm stereo socket. If you want to build your own shutter release, suitable 2.5mm stereo plugs can easily be purchased from most electronics stores.
However, the mid-to-high end Canon DSLR cameras (10D/20D/30D/40D/50D/5D/1D) all use Canon's proprietary N3 connector.

This post provides more details on the N3 connector, including pinout details, and information on sourcing an N3 connector.



The images below show the N3 socket on a Canon 50D body (with the protective rubber cover lifted out of the way), and an N3 plug on a third-party shutter release.

Canon N3 socket on 50D body (top connector is a PC-sync socket)

Canon N3 plug (on a third-party remote shutter release)

I have been tagged by Nick, so here's my responses to "The Five Things Meme":


5 Things I Was Doing 10 Years Ago

1. enjoying the first few weeks of having our first child
2. working at a power station in Dampier
3. working on a minesite in Collie
4. working in a client's office in Brisbane
5. attending a training course in Sydney

(As you can see, I was away from home a lot during October / November 10 years ago. Of the 10 weeks after my son was born, I was away from home for 5 of those weeks.)


5 Things On My To-Do List Today

1. lots of things to do at work
2. debug some issues with my blog, caused by an upgrade I did last night
3. respond to some emails
4. finish this blog post
5. get to bed on-time, as I have an early start tomorrow morning

5 Snacks I Like

1. chocolate
2. mixed nuts
3. dried banana
4. fruit
5. dutch licorice

5 Things I Would Do If I Was A Millionaire

1. donate to our church
2. pay off my debt
3. invest
4. travel overseas with my wife and kids
5. travel interstate with my wife and kids

5 Places I Have Lived (For Various Lengths Of Time)

1. Launceston
2. Brisbane
3. Perth
4. hotels in various locations while travelling for work
5. dongas on various mine sites

5 Jobs I Have Had

1. roof carpenter's assistant
2. trade's assistant for electrical contracting company
3. project engineer
4. applications specialist
5. consultant

5 People I Tag

1. Adrian
2. Alex
3. Bert
4. Neil
5. Shawn

Yesterday I upgraded my blogging software, and did some tweaks to the RSS feed. However, this had the side effect of making FeedBurner think all posts were new, so apologies to those of you who use an RSS reader to track updates to this blog, and saw some posts come through twice.

I've also added some FeedFlares to the bottom of each post in the RSS feed, to allow you to more easily share content that you find useful.

FeedFlairs under each post in the RSS feed

If you've never used actions in Photoshop before, they're a great way to automate repetitive tasks by automating the application of various filters / layers / etc. These free actions allow you to easily apply various post-processing techniques to your photos quickly and easily in Photoshop.
Note that some actions will also work in Photoshop Elements - but not all actions, so check the details on each website if you want to use them in Photoshop Elements.

DesignReviver has a comprehensive list of 400+ Time Saving Photoshop Actions.

CoffeeShop Photography also has a comprehensive collection of free Photoshop actions.

I also like Mulletgod's Photoshop Actions - another great set of free actions.



Rich Legg provides a great suggestion about putting an ID tag on your camera.

Are you one of those people who is always checking the lens front element for dust? Do you have a good idea just how visible dust and scratchs on the front element will actually be in your photos? A lens rental company posted some photos to demonstratethe real impact of scratches on a lens front element.

Here's a list of 10 neat camera hacks, including an interesting rig for hanging a camera from a kite, a cable camera, and others.



In my web travels, occasionally I'll come across a collection of photos that are particularly appealing, and need to be shared. Here's some I've come across recently.
Enjoy these collections!

• DPS: 13 High Speed Photography Images
• The Big Picture: Hurricanes, As Seen From Orbit
• The Big Picture: The short - but eventful - life of Hurricane Ike
• The Big Picture: Earth From Above
• Masters of disguise: Stunning pictures of the tricks used by creatures to camouflage themselves
• The Big Picture: Peering into the micro world
• Beautiful High Speed Water Photography

I recently received an email from a photo researcher, on behalf of her client, a book publishing company, requesting use of one of my photos ("Numbat" - shown below) for inclusion in a college textbook.

The email included some details on how the image would be used (1/4 page), the size of the print run (40,000 copies), and the distribution of the book (US and Canada), and requested details of my reproduction rights for the photo, indicating that if they were approved, I could then submit an invoice.

As I've had similar requests in the past, I responded with details of the reproduction rights, as well as a price for the use of the requested photo.

The conditions I specified, including the price, were considered acceptable, the photo researcher then requested an invoice, payment was arranged, and I provided a high-resolution copy of the photo.

I suspect the photo researcher found my photo in my photo gallery while searching the internet for suitable photos.



Selling photos in this way can be as easy as described above. You just need to publish your photos on the web, either on any of the many photo-sharing websites, a social networking site, or in your own photo gallery on your website. Tagged each image with appropriate keywords, and an appropriate description, to ensure search engines will know the context of the photo, and can direct appropriate visitors to your photos.

It's important to point out that you need to make sure your contact details are easy to find, else a prospective buyer will not be able to contact you to purchase a photo!

Early on Friday morning, a few keen souls met near the Old Swan Brewery to get some sunrise photos.
Once the sun was up, we then made our way up the river to the Crawley Edge Boatshed. This iconic boatshed must feature in a lot of photos, and on weekends, you can often see wedding parties being photographed on the jetty that leads to this boatshed.

Geoff shooting the 'shed

Crawley Edge Boatshed

Crawley, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 10-22mm @22mm, 1/500 sec, f/6.3, ISO100

When taking landscape photos, including something in the foreground of the photo will often improve the composition of the photo.
In this photo, taken at a recent shoot in South Perth, the rocks and pebbles on the shore provide the foreground interest, with the Perth city skyline and its reflection in the Swan River filling the rest of the frame.

Perth City Skyline in duotone

South Perth, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 24-70mm f/2.8L @24mm, 1/80 sec, f/7.1, ISO400

Today is Remembrance Day, where we commemorate the sacrifices of members in the armed forces and civilians during war, particularly the First World War.

Remembrance Day is observed by many countries in the Commonwealth, and is celebrated on the 11th of November, because that's the date in 1918 when the First World War ended.

Roll of Honour at the State War Memorial

Kings Park, Perth, Western Australia
Canon EOS 350D, 17-85mm IS @33mm, 1/160 sec, f/4.5, ISO100

We normally try to observe a minute of silence at 11am, but in Australia, Remembrance Day is not a holiday. This morning, I was in the middle of a teleconference with a client at 11am, and didn't have an opportunity to observe the minute of silence (the client was in another timezone, and also didn't consider the fact that it was 11am).

Remembrance Day is known as Armistice Day in Europe, and Veterans Day in the United States.

Some good friends wanted some family photos, so they came around for a cuppa, and we spent a few minutes in our back yard with the camera.

Here's a photo of their son, Michael. Even though he is in the full sun, the background is suitably darkened to ensure it's not too distracting, and the fill flash helps to reduce the harsh shadows from the bright sun. A duo-tone conversion on this photo, as well as some vignetting, provides a result that draws the viewer's eyes to his face.

Michael

back yard, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 24-70mm f/2.8L @32mm, 1/400 sec, f/6.3, ISO100

I was shooting in aperture priority, with exposure compensation adjusted down 2/3 of a stop to under-expose the background. To provide some fill light, I had a Canon 430EX flash on the camera, with the flash in TTL mode, also adjusted down 2/3 of a stop.
With the shutter speed being faster than the maximum flash sync speed of 1/250, I had to put the flash into high-speed sync mode.

Inspired by Todd's photos created by hanging his camera out the car window while driving at speed on a gravel road (recent attempt here, and an earlier attempt here), I had to try something similar when I encountered a gravel road recently.

leaving dust in my wake

Yandin Lookout, Cataby, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 24-70mm f/2.8L @24mm, 1/100 sec, f/6.3, ISO125

Here's another one from the Red Bull Air Race qualifying in Perth. This is Kirby Chambliss in his Edge 540, banking hard after passing through the start/finish gate.

Kirby Chambliss

Red Bull Air Race qualifying

Perth, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 70-200mm f/4L @280mm (1.4x teleconverter), 1/200 sec, f/14, ISO100

The Red Bull Air Race took place in Perth last weekend. I spent some time on the river bank in South Perth on Saturday, shooting the action during the qualifying rounds.

I hired a 1.4x teleconverter for the day, to give me a longer reach, and definitely found it useful. At only $15 per day, the cost of hiring the teleconverter was definitely worthwhile!

The planes are great to watch, hurtling at over 300 km/h just a few metres above the river.

Here's a couple of my photos from Saturday.

Nicolas Ivanoff executing a half-cuban turn

Red Bull Air Race qualifying

Perth, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 70-200mm f/4L @280mm (1.4x teleconverter), 1/200 sec, f/13, ISO100

Nicolas Ivanoff

Red Bull Air Race qualifying

Perth, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 70-200mm f/4L @280mm (1.4x teleconverter), 1/200 sec, f/8, ISO100