Alfred Nicholas Gardens are usually visited by photographers when Fall comes, and that’s what I wanted to do. However this year I arrived a little early and everything was still green. But it didn’t stop me from taking a few photos. Enjoy!
Tag Archives: travel photography
Rice Terraces, Nepal – Free Wallpaper Download
Olinda Falls, Victoria, Australia
This weekend I took my family to a nice place in Dandenong Ranges here in Victoria – Olinda Falls. Thinking of it I love everything about the Dandenong Ranges forest, it is just beautiful. Having a creek with a few nice little falls is just a bonus. In short, it is a short trek leading from the car park through the forest to the Olinda creek and its falls.
We arrived there at rather late afternoon, sun was getting lower in the sky, there was humidity in the air as the creek was nearby. This perfect combination led to the photo below.
Near Olinda Falls, Victoria, Australia
When you arrive at the creek, you have two options – the obvious one would be to use the stairs to reach either the upper viewing platform or the lower one. The less obvious option is to dump the stairs and come closer to the creek. There is a narrow and steep footpath that you can use to scramble up or down along the creek.
Olinda Falls 1, Victoria, Australia
Olinda Falls 2, Victoria, Australia
Olinda Falls 3, Victoria, Australia
Olinda Falls 4, Victoria, Australia
Olinda Falls 5, Victoria, Australia
Weekend stroll at Coolart Historic Area
Coolart historic area is located near Somers, a small town approximately 72 km south-east of Melbourne, Victoria, located in the south-eastern corner of the Mornington peninsula. The area includes Coolart historic homestead, nice gardens, and lengthy walks around swamps, inhabited by various birds species.
Last weekend all three of us took a walk there, and it was a great way to spend time! I won’t go into historic details, I just want to show it to you through my lens.
Walking through the wetlands, depending on time of the day and the year you can see many different bird species. Here is what we saw.
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We also had nice views of the wetlands and surrounding areas.
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The Coolart Mansion looks very interesting. Parks Victoria have done a good job preserving it.
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Both from outside and inside.
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Here are some more interior details. I had a feeling that b&w suits them.
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And finally a view of the mansion from the gardens surrounding it.
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I hope you enjoyed this little virtual trip and will be happy to hear about it in the comments section below 🙂
Old Cars Show in Mornington
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A couple of weeks ago Ira and I visited a collectible cars show at the Mornington’s racecourse. There were lots of beautiful old cars and we had lots of fun.There were also quite a few photographers taking shots of these beauties. But from my photographic perspective, I didn’t want to simply photograph the cars as I am sure there are already many photos of each model that was showcased there. |
| So instead I tried to look at the event not as “this is a car show, so I am going to photograph cars” but more as “this is a social event featuring nice cars, so there will be people interacting with them, and I want to capture this interaction”. And even when I photographed only the cars I tried to convey how I see them. For example when shooting the b&w Jaguar in the photo above I tried to show the “facial expression” of that car which was kind of “right in your face” 🙂 |  |
| We spent about one and a half hours at the show, and just when I thought that I’m done photographing, the car owners began starting up their cars and drive away – it was the end of that day. During the show the cars were standing unattended, while their owners were sitting somewhere in the shadow chatting and drinking coffee, so now it was a great opportunity for me to capture the cars together with their owners, and I tried to make the most of it. |
| From the technical side the biggest problem was the harsh sunlight, which created deep shadows and sharp transitions from light to shadow, so it was difficult to capture both the car and its surroundings and the driver sitting inside the car in the shadow. My solution to that problem was to shoot in RAW and slightly overexpose my photographs. This way in post processing I could lighten up the shadows and darken the highlights (the RAW format gives you a bit of freedom in correcting your exposure). |
| Hope you enjoyed the photos, and as always – you’re welcome to leave your “creative responses in the comment section below” (© Equals Three) 🙂 |
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Portfolio Updated
Hi everyone,
Just a quick note – I updated my portfolio with more photos from Nepal.
You can check them out HERE
Nepal In Photographs – Part 2 (Portraits)
This is my second post, in which I write about my photographic experience in Nepal. You can read the first part here. While in the first part I showed you Nepali landscapes, now I’d like to show a few portraits of Nepali people.
Interestingly in some cases people would not let me to take their photographs at first. In that case I would nod in agreement (like, hey I won’t take your photo if you don’t want me to) , point my camera at other subjects, and take a few photos here and there. This would get them interested. Then I would approach them and show them the photos I just made on the back screen. Next thing you know they are posing in front of the camera and running back to me to see the picture. I wished I had a portable printer with me so I could print out and give them their photos.
The photo below was taken on Helambu trek. We were passing a settlement in the hills of Kathmandu valley and made a short break in a nice spot overlooking rice terraces. These women were passing by, and seeing us smoke asked for a cigarette. In return we asked to take their photos 🙂
1/200sec at f3.5, 28mm | Click on the photo to enlarge.
One of the settlements on Helambu trek is Golphu Banyang. It has only one main “street” and not many tourists are staying there overnight, trying to reach the next village of Khutumsang. But it so happened that we did stay there, and I had the whole evening to photograph local kids. Once I showed them a photo on my camera they wouldn’t stop posing, only downside being late time of the day and, as a result, very dim light.
1/500sec at f2.8, 100mm | Click on the photo to enlarge.
The photo below was also made at Golphu Banyang on the following morning when we were leaving the village. The evening before I saw this old man in the same pose, doing the same thing, but it was too dark to make a good photo. In the morning though, there was this beautiful ray of light, lighting perfectly his face and hand. The result you can see below.
1/160sec at f3.2, 28mm | Click on the photo to enlarge.
On our way to Gosainkund Pass we stopped at one of the two lodges in Phedi. The lodge was run by a Sherpa couple. While woman was preparing our dinner, we were chatting to the man. Well at least we tried. Even though he seemed to be speaking English fluently, I realized that we hardly understand each other. In any case the conversation turned out to be very interesting and we learned a lot about local animals… or at least we think we did 🙂
I took the following shot of this man in the lodge’s dining room in very poor light, hence the f1.8 and 1/30sec. This is one of several shots I made trying to get his eyes to be sharp, which was difficult with f1.8 and his constant movement.
1/30sec at f1.8, 28mm | Click on the photo to enlarge.
Continuing from Phedi up to the Gosainkund Pass we reached a lonely lodge standing in a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains above and the valley below. Ram Sherpa, the owner of the lodge kindly agreed to be photographed. Ram was fixing holes made by some rodents in his rice bags when we reached his lodge. I liked the window lighting on him, which created definitive shadows on his face.
1/200 at f3.2, 28mm | Click on the photo to enlarge.
The man below is a Tibetan refugee living now in Nepal, in a village named Melamchi Gyang. He has a Dalai Lama badge on his hat, and he runs a small tourist lodge in the village. He asked me to take his picture and said I should bring him the photo when I come visit again… I wonder if there are any postal services to this village.
1/100sec at f8, 28mm | Click on the photo to enlarge.
In one of our final days in Nepal we went to an ancient city of Bhaktapur. It is about 30 minutes drive from the touristy Thamel, and it well worth a visit! One of my future posts on Nepal will probably consist solely of Bhaktapur’s photos. Bhaktapur is the third largest city in Kathmandu valley, and was once the capital of Nepal during the great Malla Kingdom until the second half of the 15th century. It is also listed as a world heritage site by UNESCO for its rich culture, temples, and wood, metal and stone artwork ((C) Wikipedia).
In addition to all the heritage sites, there are many shops for tourists. Walking around I saw a large Mandala shop and a woman drawing Mandalas for sale right there. If you saw mandalas you know that it is a very laborious task, which requires concentration and devotion. And look, she also holds the canvas by herself!
1/500 at f4.5, 20mm | Click on the photo to enlarge.
All in all I can say that people in Nepal are open and friendly to tourists, which doesn’t deny them to try and make as much money as they can from them.
As always your comments are highly appreciated!
Nepal In Photographs Part 1
As I promised, in the next posts I will write about my photographic experience in Nepal. To get everyone up to date – recently I took a rather long vacation of almost one month and went with my life partner Ira and one good friend to a trekking trip in Nepal. As always my camera was with me, but since we didn’t hire a porter (or a guide) I couldn’t take just any photo equipment that I wanted.
I was facing a hard decision – which lenses can I take with me and not add too much weight to my already heavy backpack? And here’s the list of the photo equipment that I took:
- Canon 40D body. This wasn’t really a choice since this is the my only DSLR.
- Canon EF-S 10-22mm
- Canon EF 100mm f2.8 macro
- Sigma 28mm f1.8
- 4 Spare batteries, 2 circular polarizers (different diameters), lightweight SLIK tripod
Let me explain my choice of lenses. Even though I have two Canon L-series lenses (70-200 f4 and 24-70 f2.8) I didn’t take them with me for one simple reason – they weigh too much. Instead I decided to go mostly with prime lenses, which are much smaller and lighter but still produce very good quality photographs even though they are not from L-series. Canon 100mm f2.8 macro lens is known for its superb quality, and after shooting with Sigma 28mm f1.8 for a while I saw that it is also a very good lens though it has some minor issues with lens flare. In addition I took the Canon EF-S 10-22mm, which is known for its good quality-to-price ratio. In this case I didn’t have much of a choice since it is the only wide angle lens I have, and you can’t go trekking in Himalayas without a wide angle lens, can you?
The only thing I could’ve taken less of were the batteries. I found out that for a nine day trek I only need two batteries. But I must say that I didn’t use the live view, which is known for its ability to drain power quickly.
Our first trek was the famous Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) trek. In order to get to its beginning, we had to fly from Kathmandu to Pokhara (second largest city in Nepal) and then take taxi (~1h drive) to Phedi. Phedi is a small village, in which ABC trek starts with a long climb via stone stairs.
Before setting off to the ABC trek we had a rest day in Pokhara. One of the main attractions of this town is Pokhara Lake. For 300 Nepalese rupees you can take one of the boats below for a 1-hour sail. Add 50 more rupees and you’ll also get a boats-man.
1/60sec at f5.6, 28mm | Click on the photo to enlarge.
The next photo happened almost by accident. It was raining all morning that day, and we got completely wet, walking carefully not to slip on wet rocks. The heavy backpacks made it that much harder to keep balance, and we seldom shifted our eyes from the ground. It was a hard climb, and while we were getting near its ending, the skies suddenly cleared, and then we reached this house. I saw the mountain and the dog, which was laying calmly. My hand instinctively reached for the camera, suddenly a man appeared from the house adding final touch to this photo.
1/200sec at f9, 28mm | Click on the photo to enlarge.
On our ABC trek, as a general rule the weather was at its best early in the morning, 5 – 6am, sometimes until 8, then gradually clouds came in and covered everything. And then again weather would improve at about 4 – 5pm. Of course it was only usually like that, and different variations were possible, but our most certain bet would be to get up as early as we could. If we wanted to have clear view of the peaks that is. And as you can imagine – I really, and I mean REALLY wanted to see the peaks!
The next shot was taken early in the morning and the mountain peak that you can see on the right called “Fish Tail”. Locals call it Machapuchare, and revere it as very sacred to the god Shiva. This makes Fish Tail forbidden for climbing.
Click on the photo to enlarge.
Unfortunately, good colorful sunsets were rare because at sunset time the skies were usually covered with clouds, and the next photo is one of the very few I made during sunset time. But that particular sunset was marvelous! The orange colors changed hues constantly, and I made a dozen photos trying to capture them. I only wish there would be slightly less clouds so that more of the snowed mountains were visible.
Click on the photo to enlarge.
While two photos above were taken looking up at the mountain peaks, they are not the only attraction in Himalayas. When you are at high altitude, looking down can take your breath away as easily as looking up. The next photo was taken in the morning looking down on the “small” hills of Annapurna National Park. Some of these hills are higher than the highest mountains in Europe (let alone Australia), but they still look tiny in this vast landscape.
Click on the photo to enlarge.
This is it for my first post in the Nepali series, and I hope you enjoyed it.
Let me know what you think, and what photographs and information would you like to see in my next posts on Nepal. This is what the comments are for!
Interview With Yan Zhang
I first saw Yan Zhang’s photos on 1x.com and I loved them. Then I followed the link to his own website. Needless to say – I wasn’t disappointed. Yan is a very talented and passionate nature photographer. Luckily for me and you, my readers, he kindly agreed to an interview for Photopathway.
Ladies and gentlemen please welcome Yan Zhang !
Click on the photo to enlarge.
Tell a little about yourself. What do you do for a living?
I am a computer scientist, currently working as a professor in University of Western Sydney. I have been in academia in last 16 years.
How did you get involved with photography?
Well, this is an interesting question. I had a manual SLR camera before 2007, but only used it when I travelled. In 2007 I noticed that digital SLR cameras had become more and more popular, and I decided to buy one as well. I just went to a camera shop and asked which camera was good. The shop owner showed me Canon 400D, and said this was the best camera so far. So I bought it :).
Since I had my Canon 400D, I started to shoot around and during traveling. Sometime around 2008, I developed a deep interest in landscape photography, and since then, landscape photography has become my unique focus in photography.
Photo by Yan Zhang. Click on the photo to enlarge.
Your landscapes are magnificent. How do you choose your locations?
I think locations for landscape photography are not as hard to find as people usually think, except for those extreme places. In fact, some of my landscape photos were taken just around my home or my work place. For instance, the following photo (Reeds) was the first photo I sold since I had my first digital SLR camera in 2007 and it was taken at an unnamed small pond near my home. The next photo (The Touch) was taken in my university campus this July.
Photos by Yan Zhang. Click on the photo to enlarge.
In general, I always pay special attention to subjects that have certain characteristics. Once I found something attracting me, I then imagine whether it would look interesting under suitable light and weather conditions. Photograph “The Touch” was made this way: In order to capture the best light and sky, I went to this location more than 30 times within 3 months.
Since I am living in Sydney, I think I am very lucky to have the access to beautiful coast areas near Sydney. The following images were made on the East Coast of Sydney this year:
Photos by Yan Zhang. Click on the photo to enlarge.
Nevertheless, most landscape photographers believe that travelling to those unique places probably is essential to make original and stunning photographs. In recent years, I have travelled a lot to several places overseas to make photographs. China and New Zealand are the two special countries that I go for my landscape photography, because these two countries have many unique landscape locations and are relatively easy for me to travel to.
When you are planning your trip abroad, to the place you’ve never been before, how do you decide on your photographic locations?
This is a hard task indeed. Usually, I do a lot of research before I go. Looking at other photographers’ works on those candidate locations is very helpful. Traveller’s guide is also another information source. However, sometimes I think it is more important to discover some places that haven’t been considered by other photographers. In that case, it takes me a lot of time to find such interesting places abroad. However, once I found one, I would come back again and again to make good photographs.
Photo by Yan Zhang. Click on the photo to enlarge.
Where do you draw your inspiration? What motivates you?
I have a deep passion for the nature, which always motivates me to experience such a pure beauty only existing in the nature’s wilderness. For a very long time, I knew that I was so passionate about the nature, but somehow I did not know how to express that until I started landscape photography in 2007. For me, I think photography probably is the most effective way to get close to the nature.
Do you hike and photograph alone, or you have a partner?
Most of the time, I travel only with my camera and make photographs alone. However, since I’m living relatively close to Blue Mountains area of Sydney, almost every weekend, my wife and I spend one day hiking in the Blue Mountains. Sometimes I take my camera gear with me on our hike.
What photographic equipment do you use?
As I mentioned earlier, I started with Canon 400D, then in 2008 I bought my Canon 5D Mark II full frame digital SLR camera. Now I am still using it. Since I only focus on landscape photography, filters are critical to my photography. I use both Lee and Singh Ray graduated ND (Neutral Density) reserve and graduated ND filters. I also use CPL (Circular Polarizer) filter sometimes for certain subjects such as waterfalls.
For landscape photography, I think that having a complete filter system and mastering it in practice are very critical to achieve high standard landscape photographs. A stable tripod is also essential.
Photo by Yan Zhang. Click on the photo to enlarge.
How do you post process your photos? What software do you use, and what are the main adjustments that you perform?
I believe in the principle of “getting it right in camera in the first place” in my photography practice. During the process, I always put great efforts in the field to make proper shots. Nevertheless, post process is an unavoidable procedure in current digital photography. I always shoot in RAW format and process in Photoshop CS 5.
Generally speaking, my approach to photo adjustments in CS 5 is quite standard: first open raw file in Adobe Camera Raw, perform necessary adjustments there, then load it to CS 5 to perform further adjustments, such as using layer masks, curves, contrast, etc., to adjust the photo to meet my vision.
However, from time to time, I apply a specific Photoshop technique to do a certain adjustment. It is called Tony Kuper (TK) Luminosity Mask technique (http://goodlight.us). It is a very powerful technique allowing you to do some very subtle adjustments on certain pixels to increase/decrease their brightness, and so on.
Photo by Yan Zhang. Click on the photo to enlarge.
Do you have any specific goals that you want to achieve in or with your photographs?
I said earlier that I started my digital landscape photography in 2007, and I sold my first landscape photo in the same year. Since then, each year I would sell some of my photographs through various art exhibitions in my area. In September 2010, I established my own photography website. Recently I sold several large prints. As an amateur photographer, I feel I am very lucky to be selling photos.
Having said that, I should stress that my photography goal is not just to make my works to be of some commercial value. More importantly, I wish my works to be recognised by the professional photography community. This was the main motivation that brought me to get involved in 1x.com photography website’s activities.
Photo by Yan Zhang. Click on the photo to enlarge.
This one is a selfish question, but I had to ask it :). In my photographic portfolio, landscapes section, did you see a photo that you particularly liked? And if you did, what did you like about it?
Yes. I like this shot:
because this image presents a nice mood with mist in the forest. The vertical trees in the mist create a good depth of field, which makes me try to explore this wilderness.
And finally, my traditional question. If you had only two advices to give to a beginning photographer, what would they be?
My two advices for beginning photographers who are dedicated to landscape photography would be:
(1) Originality – I believe that originality is the key to make photographs that differ yourself from other photographers;
(2) Persistence – to make outstanding photographs you have to be persistent, to stick to the idea you have in mind and then try every effort to fulfil this idea or adjust it in the field.
Photos by Yan Zhang. Click on the photo to enlarge.
Yan, thank you very much for this interview, and good luck in your future artistic endeavors!
You can see more of Yan’s beautiful photographs on his website:
http://yanzhangphotography.com
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Sunrise Walk
Lately Ira and I adopted a new habit – we get up early in the morning and go out for a walk in the neighborhood before work. It is winter in Australia so we have late sunrises and early sunsets, therefore we often start our walk before the sunrise, and have the joy of witnessing it to the fullest.
From photographer’s point of view not just any sunrise, as well as sunset, is perfect for landscape photography. Of course it all depends – whether there are too many or too few clouds in the sky, if it was raining at night (if it was, there is a good chance of having crystal clear atmosphere with bright colors), if there is morning mist. It is also depends on your subject obviously, and on how you intend to photograph it – for example what quality of light do you need.
Anyway, I am talking about simple walk here, with no specific intentions. In this case good sunrise colors and interesting cloud formations can help a lot in creating interesting photographs.
Here, see for yourself:
Click on the photo to enlarge.
I liked the sunrise-lit sky very much, and decided to make it the main subject of the photo above. I only had to find a decent framing for it.
I decided to call the photo below “Absense”… can you think why? If you have an idea please write it in the comments section below.
Click on the photo to enlarge.
Next photo shows a location that I’ve photographed many times, but under this light, I think it looks the best. I am bothered a little bit with the foreground, but I still like this photo very much. Many things come together here – as I already mentioned the light is beautiful, the depth is depicted nicely by the three planes – the foreground, the “middleground” with the white houses and the background plane is emphasized by the piece of land sticking out. The winding road takes the viewer’s eye smoothly through the planes, and the lonely car in the middle-left adds to the overall mood of the photograph.
Click on the photo to enlarge.
I took the photo below because of two main reasons – one, to show the beautiful cloud shapes and sky colors colors, and two, to emphasize the pure graphic nature of the tree branches, which are very eloquent when depicted as silhouettes. I think that the plain poles in the middle add nice perceptual contrast to the intricate shapes of the trees.
Click on the photo to enlarge.
Next photo is simply here for you to enjoy.
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I call the next photo “The victory of Light over Darkness”. Again the main interest in it is the sky, but without having interesting shapes of houses on the foreground I wouldn’t take it.
Click on the photo to enlarge.
Here’s couple more photos from the same walk taken after the sunrise, when the sky wasn’t so interesting anymore and I had to concentrate on other things 🙂
Click on the photo to enlarge.
Feel free to leave your thoughts, suggestions, and other comments in the section below.
I’m off to take some photos, be back soon!
An Evening In June
From time to time I get a chance to catch a nice sunset, and my regular readers are already used to my “sunset” posts, like the one from February 2011. I use the term “sunset photos” loosely as for me these are also photos made some time after the sunset, and sun is not present in the frame.
This is one of such posts but with a twist that this time I started photographing at sunset and the session seamlessly (for me) continued into night photography.
All the photos in this post were taken on the same evening and will be presented chronologically so you can get a faint feel of how the light changed.
It all started, as usual, with our daily evening walk on the beach. It was raining earlier this day, and I know from experience that usually, after rain, the sunset light is beautiful, so I took a tripod with me just in case. No need to mention that my camera comes with me all the time.
I’ve also noticed that the best time to photograph sunset on the beach (at least in my area) is during the low tide – there are these “ponds” of water left by the retreating ocean, the water is calm, and there is more room on the beach to choose location.
Click on the photo to enlarge.
In the 10 months I live in Australia I already took hundreds of pictures of the Frankston pier. This time I thought to make it a bit more interesting, and having a tripod made the following photo possible. It took us several takes to get it right, as the light was low and thus exposure was long, so we had to be pretty steady. I converted the initial result to black and white and dramatically increased the contrast, to make Ira and me into silhouettes.
Click on the photo to enlarge.
The following photos were made long after the sunset and it was getting darker by the minute, but tiny fraction of light was still remaining to light up the sky just enough.
I liked the reflection of the bridge as if it was completing a circle. It was also a bit unusual point of view as this bridge is usually photographed facing the ocean, while I was looking at it from the opposite direction.
Click on the photo to enlarge.
I like the simplicity of the next photograph as all the interesting details in it are concentrated in the narrow strip located in upper third. The shapes of the clouds are beautiful, and so is the light, which seems to come from the city lights. I think this photo can make for a great wallpaper.
Click on the photo to enlarge.
The last photo was made when there was no sunlight left, making the reflections of the light vividly visible. I liked the straight lines of the pier, the shore, and the light poles in contrast with the slightly distorted reflections in the water.
Click on the photo to enlarge.
What are your experiences with sunset / night photography?
Feel free to post your experiences and links to your photos in the comment section below.
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Walk Around Sassafras
Sassafras is a small village located in Dandenong Ranges. The area was named Sassafras Gully, after the trees which grew in the area. Sassafras is a tourist destination with some antique shops, boutiques, and nurseries.
While most of the tourists visit Sassafras on their way driving the Dandenong Tourist Road through to other destinations, Ira and I came here specifically. We wanted to visit the “Tea Leaves” store, which has over 300 teas and herbs. But then again, we are not tourists – we live within 40 minutes drive from here.
As you probably guessed I wouldn’t write this post if I didn’t have some photographs to share along with it. The tea store was really nice, but it was too small and crowded to photograph. After we finished our tea-shopping, we decided to explore the surroundings.
I always liked the Australian Magpies. I think that they are very interesting birds, and I also like their singing – Australian Magpies are considered to be among Australia’s most accomplished songbirds. There were plenty of these birds in Sassafras, so I could take a few photos, and here is one.
Click on the photo to enlarge.
Dandenong Ranges is a beautiful place, and Sassafras is surrounded with eucalyptus and fern-tree forests with kilometres of walking trails. Ira and I came across one of the trails and went into the woods. It was such a beautiful walk! I can still feel the cold fresh air filled with smells of nature…
Click on the photo to enlarge.
The forest was magical. It was around three o’clock in the afternoon, and the sun was already setting (the sunset time is currently around five o’clock) so the light was beautiful. I was fascinated with the rays of light breaking through the foliage.
The biggest problem when photographing forests is to find distinction. What I mean is when you walk in the forest and you simply like what you see and take a picture, most of the chances that the resulting photo won’t be interesting. It will be very cluttered with leaves, tree trunks, and branches. One of the keys here is to find some kind of order in the forest and reflect it in your photograph.
The photo above is a bit too cluttered to my taste, but I still like it – I found an opening in the forest, saw this fern lit by the sun, and decided to make it a main point of interest in the photograph. Rays of light in the background add another dimension to the photo making it… airy?
Click on the photo to enlarge.
Walking down the trail we came across wooden stairs, and saw this “unreal” ray of light shining through. I just couldn’t pass the opportunity ☺. Though I am bothered a little by the wooden rail on the foreground right, overall I like this photo. The stairs lead the eye into the photo, and them being not straight enhances the feel of space, while ray of light helps creating magical forest atmosphere.
Click on the photo to enlarge.
At one point I saw a huge eucalyptus and just stood there admiring this nature creation, then Ira said – “look! There are lots of tiny mushrooms growing from the trunk of this tree!” And only then I saw them. The tree trunk was so big, and the mushrooms were so tiny that I didn’t notice them even though there were so many. I really liked this “crowd” and spent a good 15 minutes trying to find an interesting angle.
Click on the photo to enlarge.
As in most of my walks in the nature, I couldn’t resist taking a few macro shots. I didn’t have a tripod with me (what a rookie mistake! ), so this photo might not be tack sharp, but it is sharp enough to show all the diversity of the water drops. I really like the tenderness and fragility in this photograph… one careless move and this beauty will disappear.
And finally I’d like to present my best photo from that walk in Dandenong Ranges.
Click on the photo to enlarge.
I feel that in this photo I succeeded to create order from the forest’s chaos. I found a pattern made by the standing ferns, and a space in between, and the light was just right. I tend to think that in nature photography great photo is created when two factors come together – pure luck (the light, weather conditions) and the photographer’s vision. Sure, if there is no vision, there won’t be any great photos, but when you have the vision you still need the nature to play along with it.
I hope that you enjoyed this journey into the Dandenong ranges, a beautiful place in Australia, and I’ll see you next time right here, on my photo pathway.
As always your comments are most welcome!
Alfred Nicholas Memorial Gardens
Alfred Nicholas Gardens are located in the Dandenong Ranges, Victoria. The place is pretty well known among Australian photographers for its scenic lake and beautiful trees. Most of the photos that you’ll find on the web usually made in late Autumn (which is April/May in Australia), when the trees turn yellow, red and orange. And it is indeed a really beautiful sight!
But I had the chance to visit the gardens in late Summer, when everything was still green, and I didn’t want to miss an opportunity to take a few photos, which I’d like to share.
There is a tiny waterfall flowing down into the lake, and even though when you look at the whole waterfall, it is not really photogenic, I found a fragment of it that I liked. I also wanted to create the “smooth water” effect. As you may know it is achieved by using long exposure. The loner the exposure, the smoother the water will be. But I had a problem – there was too much light, and I didn’t have any ND filters (Neutral Density) with me. My solution was to use a polarizing filter. In addition to “directing” the light, polarizing filter also reduces the amount of light by about 1.5 stop.
Click on the photo to enlarge.
The whole lake was covered with fallen leafs from the surrounding trees. Even though everything was still green, it was beautiful! I love the way the reflections can still be seen in the gaps between the leafs.
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Eventually I decided to concentrate on fragments, rather than the “global” scenery. These leafs are showing the closeness of the Autumn and I also liked their shapes. The lone red leaf at the back adds a point of focus to this somewhat chaotic composition.
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At one point I decided to take a break and settled on this bench. When I got up I noticed how nice my hat looks lying on the bench close to these beautiful flowers. The only touch that I added to the photo was the yellow leaf on the hat. Looking at this photo I would like to change the leaf’s location a little… but what’s done is done 🙂
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I really enjoyed this place and I hope you enjoy my photos.
As always any comments are appreciated.
Cheers,
Greg.
Phillip Island
Phillip Island is located approximately 140km south-southeast from Melbourne. From my home it is about two hours drive. It was named after the first governor of New South Wales, Arthur Phillip. Phillip Island is pretty small: it has 9 kilometers at its widest, and is 26 km long, but it has about 97 kilometers of coastline, which allows for many photographic opportunities.
Recently I took a three day trip to Phillip island. As always I had my camera with me, and I’d like to share my experience with you my dedicated readers! 🙂
One of the first places I visited were “the Nobbies”. This area has spectacular coastal views, which you can experience from the boardwalks and lookout points set amongst natural sea bird gardens.
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The views were so magnificent that I couldn’t stop photographing. When I later saw my photos on the computer screen, the grass was so vividly green, as if I greatly increased the saturation. I even had to reduce saturation a little so the grass would look more natural! I really wanted to photograph this place on sunset, but the whole area closes before the sunset time due to wildlife activity in the twilight.
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My next stop was the Swan Lake, the only permanent freshwater lake on the island. I didn’t see too many birds out there, but there still were a few, and I liked the “layered” view, which you can see in the photo below.
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There was a boardwalk leading around the lake with small hideouts along the route for watching birds without disturbing them. The shot below was made from one of the hideouts. I am not sure if swans sleep with their eyes open, or he noticed my presence despite the hideout.
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On my second day on Phillip Island, on late afternoo, I found this beach. It is very close to the bridge that connects the Island with mainland. The photo below was made on this beach, and somehow it reminds me of ancient Greek amphitheaters. I also decided to come back to this beach on the next day’s sunrise…
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and then I drove to another beach to photograph Sunset… why? you ask me. The answer is pretty simple – the sun was setting on the other side of the island! So the next photo was taken from Surf Beach, which is located on the way to Cape Woolamai.
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And we are back again, now at dawn to the same beach with the “amphitheater”. The land that you see in the distance is the mainland with small town of San Remo on it. Formed as a fishing village, San Remo’s economy nowadays mostly based around tourism.
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I think I already mentioned that Phillip Island is connected to the mainland by bridge. It is a 640 meter concrete bridge, which I found to be rather nice looking in sunrise colors.
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Unfortunately I have no idea what is the name of these birds but I find them very beautiful against the sunrise-pink colored water. For the shot below I used my Canon 70-200 f4 L lens and tripod.
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During the sunrise the clouds were moving pretty quickly so I was lucky enough to catch some pretty darn nice shots :), as you can see below
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And finally I went to San Remo’s jetty to watch pelican feeding. Unfortunately that day feeding didn’t occur but, I snapped the photo below. Look, they are twins!
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That’s it for my photographic reportage from Phillip Island. I hope you liked my photographs, and
As always your thoughts and comments are welcome!
Till the next time, take care!
Cheers,
Greg.
Wilson Promontory, Australia
Wilson Prom is a peninsula, which is the southernmost point of the Australian mainland. Its coastline is about 130km in length and it is framed by granite headlands, mountains, forests and fern gullies.
During my visit there it was very windy. Winds reached speeds of 65 km/h, which made it pretty difficult to photograph the place, but the ever-changing clouds created a very moody atmosphere.
This photo was taken on the beach. I liked this small water canal and the ripples on it. If you look closely the rock on the left resembles head of a dolphin. Actually I didn’t notice that until my father saw this photo and pointed it out.
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The river in the next photos named Tidal River. It is the main river in Wilson Promontory. It runs into Norman Bay and swells with the tide (hence the name). The river has a very interesting color, a purple-yellow. This is due to the large amount of tea trees in the area, which stain the water with tannin giving it a tea-like appearance.
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Here I wanted to emphasize the texture of the boulders, and I also wanted a minimalist look. Lack of color achieved it in my opinion.
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This is the famous whale rock. As you can see it resembles whale’s head.
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In about 100 meters from here forward Tidal River meets the ocean. The next photo and the rest of them was made on my second day at Wilson Prom. The winds weakened, and the weather improved a little. As a result you can see people swimming in the river.
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The photo below was pretty heavy processed. I shot it into into the sun, which made the lower part very under exposed, and I had to increase fill light to a horrible 87 percent in Lightroom! I must really start thinking of purchasing ND Grads… Nevertheless I really like the composition and feel of this photograph.
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I always loved to photograph the ocean. As you can see Tidal River gives its color to the ocean making it look very unusual but also very beautiful to me. Clouds add the final touch, and below you can see the result.
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I’m convinced that photographers don’t give seagulls enough attention, and I’ve decided to fix that. In coastal Australia seagulls are everywhere, and they are not afraid of humans. On the contrary – they are always near, waiting for food. I found a nice location at one of the picnic areas, and took many shots of seagulls with the help of my 3 year old nephew who was throwing them food 🙂
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And last but not least two photos from the Squeaky Beach. The photo on the right is called “The Elephant Legs”. These rocks looked magnificent, and I want you, the viewers, to concentrate on their shapes and textures, hence the b&w.
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I used tripod for most of the photos you saw here. Just to give you an idea – I shot about 570 images in total, from them I deleted 520, and the photos you saw here were the chosen ten. If you liked these photos, you can see eight more on my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/photopathway
As always any comments are appreciated!
Till the next time, take care
Greg.
Monthly share of sunset photography
Those of you who frequently visit my blog probably know that I like shooting sunsets, so now I want to share some of my recent shots.
This one has strange colors, but I like it anyway. I was shooting sunset from the pier and suddenly in the far distance I saw this ship. I quickly changed to my telephoto lens, and made a few clicks. But something was missing… the photo was empty. Then a bird appeared in my viewfinder, and I got this shot.
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Here is one pretty simple photo. I like its simplicity, and I also like colors and reflections in this photo.
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I wish the girl on the boat would come closer, but this is the best I could do under the circumstances 🙂
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This shot was also taken with my telephoto lens because I wanted to isolate a small part of the shoreline.
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I call the photo below “classic sea sunset photograph” – setting sun, orange water, two silhouettes…
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This collection wouldn’t be complete without a little humor. I was shooting standing under the pier (you can see photo from that location in this post), when two boys came and sat on it. I quickly turned and had time to take only one photograph. After a few moments one of the boys ran away, and it wasn’t that interesting anymore.
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I hope you liked the photos. Feel free to comment on them!
Till the next time, take care!
Greg.
Seeing in Black and White
In one of my previous articles I wrote about shooting with intention for B&W (tip number 6), and not merely looking at your photos and trying to convert them to B&W to see if that looks good. Now I would like to add the concept “seeing in black and white”. It comes to you when you shoot a lot of b&w images – you then gain the ability to look at your composition and in your mind see how it would look in b&w. Sometimes, the weather is such that you don’t need this ability – the colors are simply black (dark gray) and white (light gray), but on other occasions the sky may be blue with white clouds and everything around you so colorful that imagining how it would look in b&w would be difficult. This is when the “seeing in black and white” skill comes handy.
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Sometimes the scene itself calls for b&w, as it was with this garden statue. This woman was standing in this garden for a long time and her skin turned from pearl white to muddy gray, the same happened to the color of the fence, and in any case the emphasis here is not on the color.
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Black and white in photography often helps to convey mood, and emphasize shapes and textures.
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Here is another example of emphasizing shapes by shooting in black ans white.
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Did I mention mood already? I just love it when the sky looks like it is going to rain any minute, and light is dim. These minutes before the rain are great for capturing photos such as this one. I wish there would be a bird sitting on the hanger at the foreground though…
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I hope you liked the photographs, and I’ll see you next time!
As always your comments, thoughts, and experiences are highly appreciated.
Cheers,
Greg.
Using Flash When Shooting Sunsets
You might think I’m going a little bit crazy here, but hey, don’t make any rushed judgments!
Yes, flash won’t help you to light the landscape but it can help you make your sunset photos a little bit different. Usually when you see sunset photos, the foreground elements of composition are silhouettes due to the high contrast between the backlight from the setting sun and the darkness of the foreground. Sometimes these silhouettes of objects or people look good in the photo, but sometimes adding a little foreground light can improve the final image.
In the following example you can see pretty much the same composition taken with (on the right) and without (on the left) the flash.
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While the silhouette in the left photo looks nice, using a little bit of light to show the cool red hair of the standing person adds a nice touch to the photograph. It also reveals a bit more detail in the foreground, though I’m not sure if it is a good thing in this case.
In the photo below I also used flash to light the foreground, and show the beautiful color and texture of the wood. Without flash this photo would have been too dark and much less interesting. Another way of achieving this result would be shooting several frames with different exposures and later combining them into an HDR image, but it would take much more time and possibly look less realistic.
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These are only a few examples of endless possibilities which open up when you start using flash in many situations where it is not normally used, not only during sunset. For example you can use flash when shooting in harsh daylight in order to soften the hard shadows that daylight produces.
Hopefully this post inspired you and gave you a starting point for your own creative ideas when and where to use that flash that has been lying in your photo bag for too long 🙂
If you have any original ideas or examples of unusual use of flash, please share them in the comments.
Cheers,
Greg.
Elements of Mood
If you think about it, in many landscape photographs there are these often small compositional elements that create the overall mood of the photograph. The whole photograph can show a magnificent landscape, but still what makes all the mood (or sometimes adds the final but vital touch) are these elements. And once you thought about this, you can try and consciously add them to your photographs. Just like I did.
This photo would be nice even without the bird, but it would be empty and lifeless. Having the bird in the photograph adds life, motion, and mood to it. Yes, the bird is not sharp ( due to the rather long exposure), and there are not many details of the bird visible, but it is not important. The most important thing is that it is there.
Click on the photo to enlarge.
Can you guess what is the “mood” element in the photo below? It is the moon. Without it the photo would still be nice, with the beautiful rays of sun reaching the sky from below the horizon, but moon adds a final touch to the composition. In my opinion photo wouldn’t be complete without it. And also, I think it is important that it is a young moon and not a full moon. It has to do with our stigmas and perceptions – full moon associates with dark night, bright moon light, and in my opinion would be inappropriate in this image, while the young moon associates with evening or morning sky and fairy-tales.
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As you can see in my two examples important mood elements are small in dimensions, compared to other parts of the image, but are very important and vital when composing the shot.
I hope that having this in mind will help you create more striking and meaningful images.
Here’s to your next photo! Go out there, and don’t forget to have fun!
Greg.
Leading Lines
One of the compositional tools that photographers use to draw the eye of the viewer into the photograph is lines, which lead the viewer through the photograph. And by lines I don’t mean pencil drawn lines or anything like that. These “lines” can be represented by various contours of elements in the image.
Here is an example of leading lines in the image:
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As you can see there are several such lines in this photo. One of them is the line of the wooden fence. The “line” can be broken and not straight, as is the case here, but nevertheless it still does the job. Another line is formed by tops of the bush, and finally the third imaginary line appears when your eye connects between the three tree tops.
All three lines converge at the lower left part of the photograph leading the eye from right to left. However there is one more line, which “breaks” this pattern. It is the stripe of bright sky protruding through the clouds. While other lines are relatively easy to control because they are stationary , this line could be caught only during a short period.
Lines can be a very strong compositional element when used wisely and in place, for example you can use such lines leading the viewer’s eye to the main subject of your photograph.
What are your examples of leading lines? You can share your photos in the comment section to this post.
Till the next time, take care!
Cheers,
Greg.
Here and There
As I promised, here are some more photos from where I live now, which is Australia if you haven’t followed me until now.
There are so many beautiful flowers and trees here, that I can’t resist photographing them and in the last month I gathered quite a collection of flowers and trees photos. Everything blooming now, it is Spring here. Take this tree for example. Imagine how it would be to look out of your living room window and see this beautiful tree!
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In the next photo I couldn’t resist doing some Photoshop editing, and added a texture to the flower in addition to converting it to black and white (with dual toning). If you’d like to know how I did the conversion, you can read my post “Creative Conversion to B&W in Lightroom”. Thinking of it, I probably will also write a post about how to add textures to your photos.
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The photo below was taken at Frankston’s Sculpture Park. This sculpture of a lady standing there created a mystic mood, and I tried to capture it. Whether I succeeded or not is for you to decide.
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These are Pelicans that live on the small beach in Hastings (small town). They are waiting for the lady from fish shop, which is located nearby, to come out and give them some fish leftovers.
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This photo is from the same location.
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I am fascinated by the shapes of the gum trees that are so common in Australia. Here is one example, but there are so many different and magnificent tree shapes that I might just create a collection of them.
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This photo was taken in Sydney in the outdoor art exhibition “Art and About”. I liked how these two guys were looking at the huge photo.
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It was a pretty short post, but I hope you liked the photos.
Any comments are always welcome and,
Remember, you only have to enter your name to leave a comment!
Greg.
Interview With Scott Hotaling
Scott Hotaling loves nature and outdoor activities and photography was a natural extension of his passions. Scott’s love and appreciation for nature can be clearly seen in his beautiful photographs. I was lucky to get an interview with him, and without further adieu please welcome Scott Hotaling!
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Tell a little about yourself. What do you do for a living? How did you get involved with photography?
I’m a North Carolina native and I’ve spent a majority of my life exploring the southern Appalachian mountains. Despite a good bit of travel across North America and stints living elsewhere I still consider western North Carolina my home. Currently, I’m spending several months focusing solely on my landscape photography work but in January, I’ll be starting a doctoral graduate program in Lexington, Kentucky. So, for the time being, I’m working solely as a photographer for the first time in my career. As for getting started, it was simple cause-and-effect for me. I loved exploring new places but never managed to shoot photographs that translated the beauty I found to those around me. Most of the time I’m still trying to figure it out but every once in a while I luck into something good.
Photo by Scott Hotaling. Click on the photo to enlarge.
How do you pick your spots for taking pictures?
For me to do my best work I have to be physically drawn to a place. It’s not uncommon for me to visit a location ten or more times under a variety of seasons/conditions before I get the photo I’m after. The process can take years but it’s one I respect and enjoy. But despite frustrations and bumps along the way, at the core of it all, is a deep appreciation for a specific place and the desire to showcase it under optimal conditions. I carefully construct what the perfect conditions would be for a location in my head then do my best to capture them. In most cases, the right conditions include a certain season, landscape condition (fall color, fresh snow, etc.), time of day, cloud cover, and more.
Photo by Scott Hotaling. Click on the photo to enlarge.
What inspires you to take photos?
The natural world and the infinite combinations of light, dark, rock, plant, water, etc. that make every photograph different from the next. From a microscopic to global scale we live in an incredible place and I want to see as much of it as humanly possible, my camera simply comes along for the ride.
But, specifically, I’m particularly drawn to places with dramatic views – mountain summits, ridges, cliffs, etc. And, particularly those that aren’t easily accessed or less widely known. For example, a winter sunrise from a remote mountain summit is the best case photographic scenario I can envision.
Do you hike and photograph alone, with someone, or in a company?
Usually alone. More by necessity than choice, my schedule and plans dictate my hiking company more than my personal preference. But, I’ve been lucky to have a wide variety of wonderful people join me for adventures and that’s always much more fun.
Photo by Scott Hotaling. Click on the photo to enlarge.
What photographic equipment do you use and for which tasks?
I like my kit to be simple. I don’t need nor want a bunch of stuff to lug around. My workhorse camera is the Canon 5D. I don’t subscribe to manufacturer debates over which system is better – it’s all the same to me. My 5D has gained my respect over the years because I can’t seem to break it. It falls on icy glaciers, gets soaked in the rain, sees temperatures below 0° F regularly in the winter and despite plenty of other daily torment, it never misses a beat. When it does finally die, that’ll be fine, I’ll just get another one.
From a lens perspective, people are often surprised to find out that I only have two – a Canon 17-40 f/4 L and 70-200 f/4 L. Much like my camera bodies, my lenses take a good deal of abuse and don’t seem to mind.
The often unheralded piece of gear in my bag that truly does the dirty work are my HiTech neutral density filters. I carry five, four graduated and one non-graduated, and use them nearly every time I’m out. My sunrise and sunset photos would be impossible to capture in one exposure (I don’t use any HDR or similar techniques) if it weren’t for those filters. I highly recommend any beginning landscape photographer look into purchasing a set.
Photo by Scott Hotaling. Click on the photo to enlarge.
What is the average weight of your hiking backpack?
Average weight is a tricky subject. If I’m backpacking, my pack is probably in the 20-35 pound range depending on season and trip length. I try to stay as light as possible, despite carrying a tripod. If I’m only day hiking, I would venture a guess of 5-15 pounds.
I have this issue with tripods – I can’t find the perfect tripod for me. Which tripods do you use and why?
I’ve been using the same tripod for years. Many photographers would consider it too small, or too heavy, or too cheap but it works great for me. Both head and legs are made by Manfrotto – the head is a 466RC2 and the legs are model 3001BPRO.
Photo by Scott Hotaling. Click on the photo to enlarge.
Recently I wrote an article about using UV filters to protect lenses. What is your opinion on that issue? Do you use UV filters?
I don’t use UV filters at any time. The only use I see for one is protecting a lens when photographing in a place that has unavoidable, major hazards to the lens glass present. From a purely photographic standpoint, it doesn’t serve any purpose in my opinion.
Photo by Scott Hotaling. Click on the photo to enlarge.
Do you post process your photos? What software do you use, and what are the main adjustments that you perform?
I post-process all of my photos using Adobe Bridge for RAW conversions and Adobe Photoshop CS3 (or maybe 4?) for the rest. I avoid major processing work as much as possible – the tools I stick to are, in no particular order, spot removal, levels, contrast, color balance adjustments, and localized color tweaking. Dodging and burning is a major part of my processing as well and adds depth to the finished image.
Photo by Scott Hotaling. Click on the photo to enlarge.
If you had only two advices to give to a beginning landscape photographer, what would they be?
Get off the beaten path and shoot what you love.
Thank you Scott for this great interview. I hope to see more photos from you in the future.
If you liked Scott’s photographs, you can visit his website at
http://lightofthewild.smugmug.com/
First Impressions
I didn’t write here for over a month now and I have good reason for that. Me and my life partner Ira moved from Israel to Australia, and now we are living in Melbourne. It is a big change for us, and this month we were all busy with the move, and only recently had some time to explore our new surroundings.
Here are some of my first impressions of Australia (actually it is not my first time in Australia, but last time was three years ago).
I liked this house because of its unusual colours… it looked to me as if it was taken from some fairytale, especially under this beautiful blue sky with white clouds.
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I saw many pictures of piers from all over the world, and here is my contribution to the world’s collection. I am sure that it is not the last one from me. I will also go back to this pier to photograph it under different lighting and weather conditions.
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Here is a very common sight in Australia – gum trees and parrots. I especially liked this photo because of the curved tree on the foreground and the fact that parrot’s posture slightly resembles that tree.
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The following photo is a view from the boardwalk on the Mornington Peninsula. The water colours are beautiful…
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A few days ago we went to the tulips festival and I couldn’t resist shooting some flower photographs, here are the ones that I liked the most.
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The following two are obviously post processed. The reason for post processing was that I wanted the viewer to concentrate on the form of the flowers in the left photo and not being distracted by their bright and vivid colours, and in the right photo I wanted to create a mood “appropriate” for the broken flower.
By the way, I did not break that flower! It was already like that when I saw it.
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The sunsets here in Australia are magnificent, especially if they come at the time when sky clears a bit after rain. Here is a sunset that I photographed from my back yard.
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And last but not least a series of three photographs I took at sunset from that same pier that you saw before. In two of the photos you can see Ira posing for me.
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That’s it for my first impressions of Melbourne. I hope I will be able to write and photograph more from now on and also I hope that you liked my photos.
Your comments are always highly appreciated, and
Remember, you only have to enter your name to write a comment!
Till the next time,
Take care!
Greg.
Interview with Ilia Shalamaev
Before reading this interview I suggest reading my Introduction to Interviews with Photographers.
Ilia was born in Uzbekistan. When he was thirteen he moved to Israel with his parents. Ilia’s affair with Mother Nature started when he was a young boy and continues to this day. The breakthrough in his photography happened in the year of 2000 when he bought his first digital camera, and since then you can find Ilia’s photographs in many books and leading magazines such as National Geographic, Practical Photography, The Guardian, Daily Mail, Telegraph and many more.
Ilia also specializes in bird photography and has a large collection of magnificent birds photographs.
Ilia kindly agreed to this interview and made time in his busy schedule to answer my questions.
Please welcome Nature, Bird, and Wildlife photographer Ilia Shalamaev!
Click on the photo to enlarge.
How do you choose the locations to shoot your beautiful landscape images? I mean how do you know that from a certain location you’ll get a great image?
Choosing the right location is the most difficult part of the job. I try to look for right places before I actually bring the gear to the field. Second thing is to decide in what season and hour of the day the subject will look in its best. What left is to wait for the right moment to give it a shot.
Photo by Ilia Shalamaev. Click on the photo to enlarge.
The colors in your landscapes are absolutely magnificent. Is this due to post processing enhancements, good lenses, or just perfectly chosen weather conditions and time of the day?
Most of my landscapes I take in the magic light of sunrises or sunsets, the harsh light of midday, especially in our region leaves no chance for a decent image. In addition, the right use of polarizer and set of ND Grads (Neutral Density Graduated filters) really enhances the color saturation and dynamic range of the images I take.
Photo by Ilia Shalamaev. Click on the photo to enlarge.
I understand that in order to get some of your beautiful images you had to hike quite a distance outdoors. Could you share some of your tips regarding hiking with photographic equipment in the nature?
There are some must things for traveling in the wilderness: Good hiking boots, pro backpack for the gear, light tripod, a lot of water and a light thermal jacket with you. The backpack should be very comfortable and protected from rain. As to photo gear, try to take with you the minimum you need. Usually on a hike I don’t take more than two lenses with me .
Photo by Ilia Shalamaev. Click on the photo to enlarge.
In your image “The Charm of Light” you managed to beautifully capture sun rays spilling over the waterfall. How did you do it ?
In that case most of the credit should go to Mother Nature. Rays of sunshine on that warm morning melted the last remaining snow and filled the air with mist that joined millions tiny droplets of water, created by the 60 meters high waterfall. All these combined created this celebration of nature.
The gear I used for this shot is canon 5D, canon 17-40mm f/4 lens, 2 stops soft ND-Grad, tripod.
“The Charm of Light”. Photo by Ilia Shalamaev. Click on the photo to enlarge.
You are also a professional bird photographer, having a wonderful collection of high quality images.
What are the most important aspects of bird photography?
It is a bit difficult for me to pick just one so I will mention two of them:
a. Patience – you will need a lot of it, in order to success in this field of photography. Sitting for hours in a tiny hideout with 45 degrees Celsius inside, without moving or making a noise, is just one example of bird photographer’s reality.
b. Knowing your subject. Bird photographer should understand his subject and in many cases predict its behavior, in order to get intimate images of it.
Photo by Ilia Shalamaev. Click on the photo to enlarge.
I assume that technically to be able to create such shots you have to use some professional equipment. What equipment do you use specifically for your bird photography?
I use Canon gear. Canon 5dMKII body and canon 500mm f/4 IS L lens, Gitzo basalt fiber tripod. Occasionally canon EX 580 flash.
Photo by Ilia Shalamaev. Click on the photo to enlarge.
What photographic equipment do you use for everything else?
For my landscape photography I use the same
- 5D MKII body
- Canon 17-40mm f/4 L lens
- Canon 70-200mm f/4 L lens
- Sigma 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye lens
- BW, Marumy, Singh-Ray, Cokin, Hightech filters (polarizer, ND, ND-Grads)
- Slick Carbon fiber tripod with RRS ball head and L plate
There is no other camera body on the market that can compete with output quality of the 5D MKII in even close to its price range, due to 5D’s full frame, high resolution sensor and its reasonable price. So it’s obvious that this body is an ultimate tool for landscape photographer. Many will say that its focus system is not match for Nikon D700 FF camera and will be perfectly right, but I don’t even use automatic focus when shooting landscapes, so it’s not an issue for me.
Photo by Ilia Shalamaev. Click on the photo to enlarge.
You also conduct nature photography workshops in Israel. Tell us about your workshops. How can people sign up for your workshops?
I give master classes of landscapes and birds photography, mostly in association with “Galitz” school of photography. Next start date, for 5 meetings Landscapes photography workshop, is in 26 of September 2010.
It has become my tradition to ask this question – if you had only two advices to give to a beginning photographer, what would they be?
1. Watch and understand your subjects before thinking about taking pictures.
2. Do not choose the easiest target – find one that not many have photographed. Better choose subject that you have repeated access to, and concentrate on it. Eventually you will obtain the pictures you first imagined.
Photo by Ilia Shalamaev. Click on the photo to enlarge.
Ilia, thank you very much for your time, effort and knowledge, and keep up the great job that you are doing!
You can see more of Ilia’s work on his
Nature Photography Website
The Charm of Old Jaffa
Any photographer who lived in Israel, amateur or professional, must have visited for at least one photographic session the old Jaffa town. It is known for its beautiful alleys, old architecture, and historic heritage. The downsize of this is that it is difficult to create unique images of Jaffa since so many have photographed it before. But still I decided to give it a try.
One early morning Ira and I went to the Old Jaffa. Ira to take a walk there and me to try and create unique images of Jaffa. I would like to share some of those here.
In the photo below you can see the Sea Mosque. It is a small mosque (closed to visitors) standing near the Jaffa’s sea promenade.
Click on the photo to enlarge.
This is Wishing Bridge. On the bridge’s rails there are Zodiac signs. Ancient legend has it that if you stand on the bridge, touch your Zodiac sign, look at the sea, and make a wish, it will come true. I was standing near this bridge for some time thinking how I could photograph it differently, because I’ve seen so many photographs of this place. And then this little dog showed up, and just before stepping on to the bridge turned back to it’s owner for permission. I snapped the photo right that moment, and it looks like the dog invites the viewer to the bridge.
Click on the photo to enlarge.
In the next photo you can see The Faith Statue. Even though I shot several photos from much closer distance, I like this photo the most, because in my opinion the palm trees add a nice touch to the overall mood of the image.
Click on the photo to enlarge.
This one is just a closeup, but I like it. In order to create something like this you need to have the fluffs 🙂 which are in focus to be much closer to you than the rest of them. Otherwise the background won’t be blurry enough.
Click on the photo to enlarge.
Now this is very famous Suspended Orange Tree of Jaffa. When we came there the sun was getting pretty high and I was looking for ways to use it in my photograph. Instead of shooting with the sun behind me, I decided to try and include the sun in the frame. Since I shot RAW I could later brighten the shadowed foreground (I did it in Lightroom by increasing the fill light). After shooting the photo on the left, I started thinking of ways to give this composition a more surreal look. Suspended tree itself is somewhat surreal, and so I wanted to enhance it. While I was wandering around the tree and thinking, I suddenly saw Ira standing behind it… actually I saw only her legs and it looked interesting to me and I photographed her standing behind the suspended tree so it looked like the tree had legs to stand on the ground. As I was getting ready to wrap it up and go somewhere else, this woman showed up from one of the alleys, and Ira was still standing behind the tree. I quickly snapped another shot and ended up liking it the most.
Click on the photo to enlarge.
Many artists live in old Jaffa. In the photos below you can see a typical alley and an entrance to artist’s home. The paintings that are hanged on the walls help create the unique Jaffa atmosphere of art, ancient age, beauty, and relaxation.
Click on the photo to enlarge.
But not only artists live in old Jaffa town. There are also many half ruined buildings occupied by homeless people, and one can strongly feel the presence of poverty. I saw this man sitting on the plastic chair right there on one of the Jaffa’s streets. He had such a wise-proud look that I couldn’t resist and snapped a photo of him.
Click on the photo to enlarge.
That concludes my photographic reportage of Old Jaffa town in Israel.
As always comments are highly appreciated, and
Remember, you only have to enter your name to leave a comment!
Greg.
Prague Photographic Trip Report – Continued
During our vacation in Prague me and Ira also visited a small town near Prague named Kutná Hora. At first I didn’t think of writing second chapter about my trip, but when I finally had time to browse through my photos from that town, I saw that I had a few very nice photos from there (if I won’t compliment myself on my photographs, then who will ? 🙂 ), so I decided to write a short post on our day in that sweet little town.
Kutna Hora is about an hour train ride from Prague, and if you, like me, don’t like organized trips, you can just buy a train ticket in Prague and visit it by yourself. The old town centre is about 20 minutes walk from the train station, and I think there is even a bus going from the station to town. Anyway we didn’t use any kind of transportation but our feet.
Alley leading to St. Barbara Church. Photograph by Greg Brave. Click on the photo to enlarge.
There are quite a few tourist attractions in Kutna Hora, such as St. Barbara Church, which is one of the most famous Gothic churches in central Europe. It is also a UNESCO world heritage site. By the way St. Barbara is the patron saint of miners, and this town was mostly based on silver mines in the past. Another attraction of the town is the Sedlec Ossuary. It is a small Roman Catholic chapel. Its’ main feature is that inside it is artistically “decorated” by many real human bones. It is estimated to contain the skeletons of between 40,000 to 70,000 people.
In addition it is pure pleasure just to walk the streets of the old town centre in Kutna Hora. This is what we did the most – just walking on the narrow streets between old buildings and taking photos, of course! When we got there it was rainy-misty weather. It was pretty dark for photographing, but I had my tripod with me, and all the photos that you see here were shot from tripod. Yes, even the dog in the last photograph!
St. Barbara Church Photograph by Greg Brave. Click on the photo to enlarge.
Actually I was surprised that I could use my tripod just about anywhere. Nobody told me that I couldn’t, which was strange because I am used from other places in Europe (Greece for example) that in most touristy places they don’t let you use the tripod. Shooting in mist I tried to convey this darkish and melancholic atmosphere. But it was not the case with these rose hips. Here I aimed at showing the “freshness” of the branch and the “coolness” of the air. I was captivated by the color of the hips!
Rose hips in the rain. Photograph by Greg Brave. Click on the photo to enlarge.
When photographing tourist attractions such as Sedlec Ossuary (which you can see below), I wanted my photos to be different from what most tourist were shooting (which is just straight-forward showing of what eye sees). So I tried to include elements that would add mood, which in my opinion was appropriate. In case of the Ossuary I went around it several times until I found this spot where the tree branches looked like they were reaching towards the building and blending nicely into the seamless gray sky.
Sedlec Ossuary. Photograph by Greg Brave. Click on the photo to enlarge.
During our visit, there were not many people on the streets. Here and there we met tourists, but I was looking for local people to “put” in my frame, to make my photos more authentic. In the left photo below I succeeded, while in the right one I waited and waited for someone to pass by, but with no luck, and finally shot the scene without anyone. It is a shame, I would really like to have there a person or two.
Kutna Hora old town streets. Photographs by Greg Brave. Click on the photo to enlarge.
On our way back to the train station, we were walking on a narrow sidewalk when I spotted this dog watching us from behind a window. Even though we had little time left till the train I couldn’t just pass by this photo opportunity. The thing is that it was getting dark already, and even high ISO wouldn’t help me out here. So even for this shot I had to take out my tripod. The doggy was watching intensely all my actions and at some point I thought, that’s it now it will start barking… but everything was just fine – I took a few shots and we took off to catch our train.
I hope you liked the photographs, and as always – comments and critiques are welcome!
The Doggy 🙂 . Photograph by Greg Brave. Click on the photo to enlarge.
Prague Photographic Trip Report
Good day everyone!
So, here I am, a week after that me and Ira got back from our vacation in Prague. We had a great time there. All the holidays mood, and the celebration of the new year really lifted our spirits. But in addition to sight-seeing I also photographed quite a lot. I brought tripod because I knew that I wanted to get night and early morning shots of Prague, and especially the Vltava, the big river flowing through the city. It turned out that tripod helped me a lot on different occasions since the weather in Prague during our visit wasn’t sunny, and sometimes, even during daytime when I wanted to shoot with small apertures (f8 – f16) I really needed it. I got to shoot landscapes both in rain and in snow, and during that weather Ira had to work hard and hold an umbrella above me, my camera and tripod while I was having fun composing and shooting pictures.
Thanks to the rain, I got the luck to shoot St. Vitt Cathedral with a real wet-floor effect! I mean that the whole area in front of the cathedral was wet and cathedral reflected beautifully. Of course without a tripod such shots would be practically impossible. We also got up pretty early (not too early, since the sunrise was at about eight o’clock) and went shooting on Vltava. It was a great experience for me as I tried to shoot panoramas, encountered some problems, and solved them. I probably will talk about it in another post.
For those of you who never had the chance to shoot in cold weather, my best advice is – wear gloves! You know, the gloves that cover your fingers halfway so you can still operate the camera.
A few words about the equipment that I took with me. I didn’t have a good telephoto lens, so I took only two lenses – Canon 10-22mm and Canon 24-70mm f2.8, which are my best lenses. I wish I had a good telephoto lens such as canon 70-200 f4L, but I didn’t, therefore in my photos you won’t see many closeups. And, of course I took my camera, Canon 40D. By the way I also had polarizing filters, but since most of the time the weather was really cloudy I didn’t use them even once. It is a good thing that I took spare batteries. If you didn’t know, in live-view mode batteries get eaten very quickly, and I mean VERY quickly! And I use live-view mode pretty often, especially when I shoot from awkward angles that make it difficult to look through the viewfinder.
And finally if you would like to see more of my trip results photography-wise, you can see it in the slide-show that I made. Here is how I suggest to watch this slide-show:
Click on the link below to go to the slide-show, then click on the lower right button in the slideshow to go to full screen mode, then turn on your speakers, and finally click on the play button. The whole slideshow takes about seven minutes (depending on your internet connection speed).
I really hope that it worth your time, and feel free to comment on the photos!
Prague Slideshow by Greg Brave
Flying to Prague for Silvester
Me and Ira are flying to Prague to celebrate Silvester, and of course I am taking my camera with me. So hopefully I will have some nice photos to show here in a few days. Now We are sitting in the Dan lounge of Ben Gurion airport and here is a photo of what the airport looks like from our viewing window.
