Oelnasi sunset

Homestay, Oelnasi, East Nusa Tenggara (West Timor), Indonesia
Canon EOS 50D, 24-105mm f/4L IS @24mm, 1/15 sec, f/4, ISO2500

While in West Timor in September, we stayed in a home-stay up on the hill above Kupang, and were treated to some fantastic sunsets. This is the sunset from our first evening in West Timor - little did I know that almost every sunset would be as colourful as this! The dead tree provides an interesting silhouette against the great sunset colours in the sky.

This is one of the photos we printed and mounted for the Wings To Work Photo Exhibition last month, and is available for purchase (along with plenty of other photos) via redbubble.
Funds raised from the sale of photos from our West Timor trip will go to Phase 2 of the Elpida School development.

a dead cockroach

My dad buys and sells all sorts of things, and occasionally will buy some camera gear, even though he has no idea of its value. He recently bought some lenses, and asked me to take a look at them, to see what they were worth.

This particular collection of old lenses included a couple of Hanimex lenses, a Makinon lens, and a Sigma lens. The lenses were pretty old, didn't have lens caps, and were pretty banged up.
Some research indicated they weren't worth much - but the thing that intrigued me was a dead cockroach inside one of the Hanimex lenses, so I took a few photos of the lens and the cockroach inside it, to share on my blog.

taking a closer look - the front legs have become detached, with one near top right, and one near top left

Bunky

Echo Beach, Bali, Indonesia
Canon EOS 50D, 24-105mm f/4L IS @88mm, 1/250 sec, f/4, ISO400

A portrait of Bunky, shot in natural light, during a very brief stay in Bali on our way back from West Timor in September. Bunky was one of the members of our Wings To Work team, and provided us with a lot of laughs!
I love the way the light shows a lot of depth in his beard, and the catchlights in his eyes are from the sunlight reflecting of the swimming pool that is to his right.

Bunky spent many hours editing video footage shot by himself and other Wings To Work team members, and put together a short video showing some of the highlights of our time in West Timor. The video is embedded below.

visitors viewing the photos

Last night we had a photo exhibition and dinner for New Hope West Timor, show-casing photos taken by myself and Alex, both members of the Wings To Work 2014 team who travelled to West Timor in September. During this trip, we spent time at the New Hope Orphanage in Kupang, West Timor, and at the nearby Elpida school.

We selected about 30 photos for display, and had them printed as A4 prints and mounted on gator board by the photo lab I use and recommend, Fitzgeralds Photo Imaging.
We were also selling some small photo books, printed through Blurb (I have previously written about lessons learnt from printing a Blurb photo book), containing a selection of photos from the Wings To Work trip, as well as some information about the New Hope Orphanage.

Noelbaki street kids

Noelbaki, East Nusa Tenggara (West Timor), Indonesia
Canon EOS 50D, 24-105mm f/4L IS @47mm, 1/800 sec, f/4, ISO320

Some children that we encountered sitting on the side of the road while doing a walkathon with the school children from Elpida School around the Noelbaki area near Kupang, in West Timor.

Zoe closeup

Canon EOS 50D, 24-105mm f/4L IS @105mm, 1/200 sec, f/5.6, ISO100

A closeup portrait of Zoe, shot several months ago while shooting her newborn twin siblings.

For the strobists reading this, I had a Phottix Mitros+ shooting into a reflective umbrella over one of my shoulders, and a Phottix Mitros on a Phottix Odin receiver shooting into a reflective umbrella over the other shoulder, both triggered by a Phottix Odin TCU on my camera.

The KAP community have been sending a large banner around the world, allowing KAP enthusiasts to take photos incorporating the banner. People are then expected to add their name and location to the banner, and then send it on to the next participant.

I received the banner in the mail a number of weeks ago, but due to a lot of travel and other committments, and non-ideal weather conditions for kite flying, I was not able to get a kite in the air until yesterday.

Take note of the dark clouds in the background in these first few photos!

Samantha

Bob Blackburn Reserve, Seville Grove, Western Australia
GoPro HD Hero2 (suspended from a kite)

Another installment in the "Faces of Timor" series - here are a selection of photos of some of the children from the Elpida School in Kupang, West Timor. I have no idea why the student in the photo above gave me such a sad-looking face when I pointed the camera at him, but it made for a nice photo.

During our time in West Timor, we spent quite a bit of time at the Elpida School, with some of our team working in the classrooms, while the rest of us were working outside on a concrete floor for a soccer pitch. I enjoyed capturing portraits of many of the children during this time, and they were normally all happy to pose for my camera.

Continuing the "Faces of Timor" series, here are some photos of some of the children living in the New Hope Orphanage, in Kupang, West Timor. The Orphanage has about 40 children - some are orphans, others have specific family situations that means they can't live with their families, and other kids are from remote villages and and live at the Orphanage so they can attend school and study.

Even though I know almost zero Indonesian, and the children don't know much English, we still had a lot of fun with the children at the Orphanage - and they were happy to pose for my camera.

Some more photos from a recent trip to West Timor - these are some neighbourhood children that were playing near the Elpida school when we came past to have a look at the school facilities on a Saturday. The children were all happy to pose for me, although some were initially a bit shy. Showing the resulting photos on the back of my camera definitely helped them to overcome the shyness.

This is the youngest child staying in Harapan Baru - the New Hope Orphanage in Kupang, West Timor. I recently returned from a two week trip to West Timor, as part of a Wings To Work trip to spend some time at the New Hope Home, and the nearby Elpida school. It was a fantastic trip, and it was great to spend time with the children at the home and at the school, attend church with the locals, and visit some nearby mission posts.

reflections on Wedge Pond

Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada
Canon EOS 50D, 10-22mm @10mm, 1/60 sec, f/7.1, ISO100

When I visited Wedge Pond, in Kananaskis, earlier this month, I was hoping for some wind, so I could so I could do some kite aerial photography. There was very little wind, and people were making the most of the lovely summer weather, fishing and swimming in the lakes. The lack of wind allowed me to capture this reflection in the water, with a fly fisherman slowly moving across the lake in his kayak.

As an Aussie, I had no intention to go swimming, as the ambient temperature was only about 25 degrees, and the water was cold (~35 degrees is more like swimming weather for me). The locals thought otherwise - probably because the summer in Alberta is very short, so the make the most of the summer weather while it lasts!

On my last weekend in Canada earlier this month, I visited Heritage Park Historical Village in Calgary. One of the things that attracted me to visit the park is the rodeo that was scheduled that particular Saturday. This was the first rodeo held at Heritage Park, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the park. I hadn't been to a rodeo for many years, and decided to visit the park, and check out the rodeo.

As some readers of this blog have indicated they like blog posts with multiple photos telling a story, I have decided to include a range of photos of the bull riding from the rodeo. Enjoy the photos below!

blacksmith shaping hot metal

Heritage Park, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Canon EOS 50D, 24-105mm f/4L IS @24mm, 1/80 sec, f/10, ISO2500

Yesterday I returned from a hectic three-week business trip to Calgary, Canada. I managed to get out and do some sightseeing on the weekends, and last weekend I visited Heritage Park Historical Village - a very large museum site spread across 127 acres. In one of the historical villages, they had an operational blacksmith shop, with two gentlemen dressed in period clothing, and using period tools and techniques. (Their safety glasses were more modern...) I watched the blacksmith working, and the smell in the blacksmith shop reminded me of a steel mill that I had visited a couple weeks earlier - on the other side of the globe.

blacksmith and striker working together

Heritage Park, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Canon EOS 50D, 24-105mm f/4L IS @28mm, 1/50 sec, f/10, ISO2500/div>

blacksmith shaping hot metal

Heritage Park, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Canon EOS 50D, 24-105mm f/4L IS @45mm, 1/60 sec, f/10, ISO2500

Here is a selection of photos from a shoot I did last month of recently-born twins. I've selected some black and white photos, as I have been enjoying post-processing in black and white recently. I have colour versions of all of these photos, and will be providing colour and black and white versions to the parents.

clasp and staple

Invermay House, Launceston, Tasmania
Samsung Galaxy S II

Old buildings, old hardware, and textures appeal to me, and these photos were taken while staying at an old house in Invermay, Launceston, Tasmania. The old shed in the back yard had seen better days, and I took some photos of to capture the details of the old hardware on the door, and the textures of the peeling paint.

old hinge

Invermay House, Launceston, Tasmania
Canon EOS 50D, 35mm f/2 @35mm, 1/125 sec, f/5, ISO100

scaffolding

Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Canon EOS 50D, 24-105mm f/4L IS @24mm, 1/400 sec, f/5, ISO320

Construction techniques in India involve a lot more manual labour - one of the effects of being in a less-developed country where labour is cheap. Scaffolding on building sites typically consists of bamboo or wooden poles tied together, as shown in this photo, where wooden scaffolding adorns a multi-storey construction site.

fruit markets

Canon EOS 50D, 24-105mm f/4L IS @24mm, 1/1250 sec, f/6.3, ISO400

Here is a set of street scenes from Bangalore, photographed a few weeks ago. I found black and white post-processing worked quite well on these photos.

The streets of Bangalore are so different from what I'm used to in Western Australia - with the lack of regard for road rules, constant honking of horns, auto-rickshaws, and many more motorbikes than what I'm used to. Crossing the road was always a bit tricky, but there was always plenty to see on the roads and on the sides of the roads.

This collection of photos was taken on a weekend, near some markets in the Jayanagar area, just south of the Bangalore city centre, in Karnataka, India.

a young boy plays with a motorbike helmet

Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Canon EOS 50D, 24-105mm f/4L IS @93mm, 1/50 sec, f/4, ISO320

I recently spent a couple of weeks in Bangalore, India, on a business trip. On the weekend, I spent a lot of time walking around on the streets, enjoying the sights. This young boy was with his mother and older sister, who were selling trinkets on the street, and I took this photo of him as he was playing with a motorbike helmet.

Several years ago, I read an article that described how to transfer photo prints onto wood. The idea intrigued me, and I bought some gel medium on ebay. After laser-printing some mirrored photos, I followed the process described. After some bit of trial and error and some lack-lustre results, I was able to achieve pretty consistent results that I was happy with.

completed wood print on a 280x190mm piece of pine timber
boat on the Keizersgracht passing under a bridge

Kwinana Beach

Kwinana Beach, Western Australia
GoPro HD Hero2 (suspended from a kite, tilt-shift effect simulated digitally)

I revisited some aerial photos that I took with my GoPro camera suspended from a kite at Kwinana Beach a couple of years ago, and applied a tilt-shift effect to make it look like a miniaturised model.

I have previously published a tilt shift tutorial, describing how to achieve this effect in Photoshop.

Kwinana Beach

Kwinana Beach, Western Australia
GoPro HD Hero2 (suspended from a kite, tilt-shift effect simulated digitally)

A few weeks ago, I shot some family photos and maternity photos for friends, who were 30 weeks pregnant with twins at the time of the shoot. We had a great afternoon, shooting in a local park.
A couple of weeks ago, I posted some sunset silhouette maternity photos from this same shoot, taken later in the evening. Here are some more photos from the photography shoot.

boat on the Keizersgracht passing under a bridge

Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, The Netherlands

It is worthwhile to browse through your old photos occasionally, as it can allow you to find photos to post-process that you previously didn't think were worthwhile. Similarly, it can allow you to find photos that you might want to have another go at post-processing.

This photo is an example of the latter - I originally post-processed it as a black and white photo and posted it in this blog post. However, I was never really happy with it. When I saw it again recently, I noticed how I had managed to blow out the sky and the water behind the boat. As a result, I decided to run it through Adobe Camera Raw again, and used the Silver Efex Pro 2 plugin for Adobe Photoshop from Google's Nik Collection.

This re-visited edit is much more pleasing to me - as much more of the tonal range has been preserved, and the sky and river are not blown out. I have also cropped the image a little tighter, removing some of the water from the bottom of the frame, and some of the trees from the left of the frame.

What about you?
Do you prefer this edit? Or do you prefer the original edit?
Do you occasionally go through your old photos and find some previously-missed gems, or photos worth re-editing?

Eternal Flame

Kings Park, Perth, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 24-105mm f/4L IS @45mm, 1/320 sec, f/4, ISO100

Today is Anzac Day, an Australian national day of remembrance, commemorating all Australians and New Zealanders who have served and died in wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations.

This year is the 99th anniversary of the ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) campaign at the Gallipoli Penninsula, which took place on 25 April 1915, where the allies suffered heavy casualties.

morning joggers

Kings Park, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 24-105mm f/4L IS @40mm, 1/1000 sec, f/6.3, ISO100

On Saturday, I met up with several fellow photographers at Kings Park, to shoot the sunrise. Here's something I shot once the sun was above the horizon. I used the top of one of the palm trees to block the direct sun, and waited for the two joggers to enter the frame from the right hand side.

Matt and Roz

Byford, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 24-105mm f/4L IS @35mm, 1/800 sec, f/4, ISO100

Yesterday I did my first maternity shoot - for a friend who is pregnant with twins. The sun was setting as we were driving to another location, and when I saw an appropriate paddock with long grass, we stopped, climbed the fence, and took some photos in the long grass.
It was a great sunset, and these photos are virtually straight out of the camera, with the only post-processing being a bit of cropping and sharpening.

Roz

Byford, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 24-105mm f/4L IS @35mm, 1/640 sec, f/4, ISO100

Roz

Byford, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 24-105mm f/4L IS @35mm, 1/640 sec, f/4, ISO100

preening pelican

Woodmans Point, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 70-200mm f/4L @200mm, 1/8000 sec, f/4, ISO100

I captured these silhouettes of a pelican perched on a pole at Woodmans Point a week ago. As I was shooting almost directly into the sun, there is very little colour in these photos.

pelican stretching its wings

Woodmans Point, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 70-200mm f/4L @200mm, 1/8000 sec, f/4, ISO100

This is the twelfth article in a series on "understanding your camera" that I am writing as I teach camera basics and camera operation to my children.



A 35mm film camera uses a film roll where each exposure is 36mm wide and 24mm high. A full frame digital camera body mimics this exposure size, and has a digital sensor that is the same size as the 35mm exposure. This allows lenses designed for 35mm film cameras to be used on a full frame digital camera and still provide the same field of view as on a 35mm film camera.

A crop body is a digital camera which has a smaller sensor, which only "sees" a portion of the field of view, making it look like you are closer to the subject being photographed. That means for a given distance between the camera and the subject being photographed, a crop body has a smaller field of view and a smaller angle of view than a full frame camera body.

full frame sensor vs smaller sensor and the impact on field of view (top view)

The smaller sensor in a crop body has an impact on the field of view, with an apparent magnification of the focal length. This causes the effective focal length of a lens to be longer than the actual focal length, ie, the effective focal length of a given lens on a crop body is longer than the same lens is on a full frame body.

The minimum focus distance of a lens is not impacted by the size of a camera's sensor.

The aperture of a lens is not affected, but the depth of field for a given aperture is shallower on a full frame sensor than on a crop sensor. This is because with equivalent fields of view, a crop camera has a shorter distance to the subject than a full frame camera, and the distance between camera and subject is one of the factors affecting depth of field.

Coogee Beach from the air

Coogee Beach, Western Australia
GoPro HD Hero2 (suspended from a kite)

Today was a public holiday in Western Australia, and we headed out to Coogee Beach for a breakfast BBQ with some other families from our church. The weather was fantastic, and after a quiet start, the wind picked up a bit, providing great kite flying conditions.
After breakfast, I launched my Delta kite, and got my camera into the air for some aerial photography.

A few months ago we added a few more yellow-breasted waxbill finches to our aviary, and here is one of the males, posing on a twig. The waxbills are currently building nests, so we are hopeful of seeing some baby waxbills in the future!

Our aviary runs along the side of the house, between the neighbour's garage wall and the side of our house, with just the windows between us and the birds. I find I can shoot the birds quite effectively from inside the house, through the glass, as the birds are used to our presence. Taking a camera into the aviary tends to unsettle the birds, and they hide down the other end of the aviary.

adult male Yellow-Breasted Waxbill Finch

back yard at home, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 70-200mm f/4L @200mm, 1/320 sec, f/4, ISO500

I have previously reviewed some of Ed Verosky's ebooks on photography, and found them to be very easy to understand, and very useful. I have had affiliate links for these ebooks on my blog since then, as I am only prepared to link to affiliate products that I believe in, and that I feel are worth recommending.

However, these ebooks will no longer be available for purchase after the end of February, as Ed has indicated he will be porting those ebooks to his blog as premium content

You can read my reviews of some of Ed's ebooks here:

• 100% Reliable Flash Photography
• Taking Your Portraiture To The Next Level
• Taking Your Portraiture To The Next Level II

Here's a screenshot showing some pages from the "100% Reliable Flash Photography" ebook, to give you an indication of the detailed diagrams, sample photos and other content the ebooks.

sample pages from the "100% Reliable Flash Photography" ebook

As well as the ebooks that I have reviewed, Ed Verosky also has several other ebooks available for purchase.

If you are interested in buying any of these ebooks, grab them before the end of February, because they won't be available for direct purchase after then.


Update (April 2014): The books are still available for individual purchase for USD$15 each at Ed Verosky eBook Library. Alternatively, you can buy all Ed's ebooks for USD$99.

steel wool spinning in the old WWII bunkers

King Point, Albany, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 10-22mm @11mm, 2 sec, f/8, ISO100

After photographing some steel wool spinning in the abandoned lighthouse keeper's house at King Point, we detoured via some World War II bunkers on the way back to the cars.

The bunkers provided an interesting location for steel wool spinning, as the walls provide a surface for the sparks to bounce off.

steel wool spinning in the old WWII bunkers

King Point, Albany, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 10-22mm @10mm, 1 sec, f/8, ISO100

steel wool spinning in the lighthouse keeper's house

King Point, Albany, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 10-22mm @11mm, 8 sec, f/8, ISO100

The old lighthouse keeper's house at King Point has been empty for many years, and is located on the rocks at the water's edge near the entrance to Princess Royal Harbour in Albany. Apparently the lighthouse was first lit in 1858.
We recently visited King Point to photograph the sunset, and once it was dark, we photographed some steel wool spinning in the house, as shown in the photo above.

lighthouse keeper's house

King Point, Albany, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 24-105mm f/4L IS @24mm, 1/80 sec, f/4, ISO100

The Sigma USB Dock (UD-01) is a lens mount that allows you to connect some Sigma lenses to your computer via USB, to update the lens firmware, and customise some of the lens functions.

In other words, you can configure focus micro-adjustments in the lens itself, rather than in the camera body. For prime lenses, you can configure focus-adjustment settings at four different focus distances, and for zoom lenses, you can configure focus-adjustment settings at multiple focal lengths too.
On some Sigma lenses, you can also customise other settings, including auto-focus speed settings, focus distance limiter, optical stabilisation, and more.



For now, the Sigma USB dock is only compatible with Sigma's new Contemporary, Art and Sports lines of lenses. At the time of writing, the USB dock can be used with the following lenses:

• Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM
• Sigma 24-105mm f/4 DG OS HSM
• Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM
• Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM
• Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC HSM
• Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 DC HSM

For all the lenses listed above, the dock can be used to do the following:

• update the lens firmware
• adjust focus settings at 4 focus distances

For compatible zoom lenses (currently only the 120-300mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM lens), in addition to updating the lens firmware and adjusting focus settings, the dock can also:

• adjust focus settings at 4 focal lengths (at each of 4 focus distances, so a total of 16 focus settings)
• adjust optical stabilisation (OS) settings
• adjust auto-focus speed
• customise focus limits
• configure custom settings selectable via a switch on the lens barrel

There are rumours that Sigma will be providing a firmware update for the USB dock to allow it to be used with older Sigma lenses.

The Sigma USB dock is available in three flavours - for Sigma-mount lenses, for Canon-mount lenses, and for Nikon-mount lenses. Each dock is specific to that mount - ie, you need a USB dock for Canon mount to be able to connect a Sigma lens with a Canon mount, and similarly for the Sigma mount and Nikon mount lenses.



In the box you get the USB dock, a USB cable with a UC-E6 proprietary (non-USB) connector, and some assorted paperwork.
The dock itself looks like an extra-thick rear lens cap, with a locking lever, an indicator LED in the centre, and a USB socket. Also included is a body cap, used for protecting the contacts on the USB dock when not in use.

USB cable (UC-E6 connector) and the USB Dock

USB Dock and cap

Nicholas

Point Peron, Rockingham, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 24-105mm f/4L IS @60mm, 1/20 sec, f/4, ISO1600

While on a sunset shoot back in December, as the sun was dropping towards the horizon, I made the most of the golden light, and took some portraits of my youngest son, Nicholas, posing in the old WWII Observation Post.

I love the soft light that characterises the golden hour, and wish I could use it more often for portraits. As the only light in the observation post was coming through the gap in the wall (on the left in both these photo), so both are shot with the ISO raised to 1600. The Canon 50D's high ISO performance means that the level of noise at ISO1600 is perfectly acceptable.

Nicholas

Point Peron, Rockingham, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 24-105mm f/4L IS @50mm, 1/50 sec, f/4, ISO1600

sparkler love

King Point, Albany, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 10-22mm @10mm, 11 sec, f/8, ISO100

A long exposure captures my oldest daughter writing the word "love" using a sparkler.
We were out in a remote location, after shooting the sunset and doing some steel wool spinning, and the kids wanted to have some fun with sparklers.

Observation Post silhouette

Point Peron, Rockingham, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 24-105mm f/4L IS @24mm, 3.2 sec, f/8, ISO100

On Christmas Eve, I headed out to Point Peron with a friend and my two boys, to shoot the sunset. Rather than shoot the sunset from the beach or rocks (as we have done several times previously - see here and here), we decided to climb the hill to the old Observation Post from WWII.

The Observation Post provided an interesting silhouette in front of the sunset colours in the sky.

sunset, as seen from inside the Observation Post

Point Peron, Rockingham, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 24-105mm f/4L IS @24mm, 1/50 sec, f/6.3, ISO400

As it got darker, we experimented with some light painting. The photo below shows my attempt at using a torch to light-paint some of the graffiti on the right hand side of the building.

graffiti on the Observation Post

Point Peron, Rockingham, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 10-22mm @22mm, 25 sec, f/9, ISO100

The photo below is from a little earlier in the evening. A random stranger was on top of the Observation Post, and provided an interesting silhouette as the sun got closer to the horizon.

silhouetted stranger on the Observation Post

Point Peron, Rockingham, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 24-105mm f/4L IS @24mm, 1/500 sec, f/7.1, ISO200

getting the camera rig into the air

Sandpatch, Albany, Western Australia
GoPro HD Hero2 (suspended from a kite)

While holidaying in Albany recently, I tried out my new 9' Levitation Delta kite at the Sandpatch, near the Albany Wind Farm. Not surprisingly, the winds were pretty good for kiting (that's exactly why there is a wind farm there), and I got my GoPro camera airborne for some aerial photos.

I am definitely enjoying the Delta kite. Although it doesn't pack down as small as the FlowForm 16' that I have been using for the last few years, the Delta provides a much steeper line angle, flies in a wider range of wind, doesn't require as much wind, and is easier to launch and retrieve.

Albany Wind Farm

Sandpatch, Albany, Western Australia
GoPro HD Hero2 (suspended from a kite)