Lovely [not only photo] shooting walk

Evening sun and deep blue sky with some wind-blown clouds – I will never get bored by shooting these scenes. The day on Pomeroy Rd, Goulburn in NSW was moderately warm, perfect for some more radical hills climbing.

Believe me or not, this green was not saturated in post-processing, From Goulburn 2011

Ciapek had to learn how to cross fences, From Goulburn 2011

It is autumn in Australia and in Ciapek’s puppiness From Goulburn 2011

Looks good in color, From Goulburn 2011

And in black and white, From Goulburn 2011

I have got heaps of “lonely tree” shots, From Goulburn 2011

I told you I have lots of “lonely tree” shots ? :)) From Goulburn 2011

Simple, From Goulburn 2011

Crossing this creek was a bit of a challenge, From Goulburn 2011

Ciapek went deaf for a day after this shot, From Goulburn 2011

From Goulburn 2011

I somehow like colors in this one, From Goulburn 2011

This reminds me Windows newspaper From Goulburn 2011

Frosty morning in Goulburn

It was around 6:15 when the alarm went off and I struggled to take my hand out from under a duna to snooze it. All the shutters were closed so I could not see if sunrise was over yet . I had to get up. I knew that part of me will regret if I didn’t.

So I managed and I did not come back to bed. I put all clothes I had and I left for a walk. A long walk. I was not alone though. I had my hunter and my faithful dog, both contributing to my photo session results if I wanted or not 🙂 Especially Ciapek wanted to be in every landscape photo.

Little stone cottage we stayed in, slept in a swag by the fireplace. From Goulburn 2011

Misty paddock, From Goulburn 2011

Fence to the sun, From Goulburn 20

Surveying the green

The conqueror of frost

Another day on a field

Don’t let these warm colors trick you, it was -3

Frozen dew

Very interesting landscape, a bit of everything over there, valleys , hills, rocks

Foggy and hazy in some spots

Ragged creeks

Something spotted. But actually no animal suffered that morning 🙂

I like geometric slopes

One day I will ruin my sensor, shooting towards the sun

Rough route on the way back

HDR – Careless lack of tripod can dissapoint

I was recently testing PS 4 “Merge to HDR Pro”. I had some hand held exposures – 3 shots in a raw. Unfortunately I always feel that my body shakes a little after two shots taken, third one is always delayed one second, I think either by memory card speed, or it is how it is with EOS 450d.

My worries has been confirmed when looking at the outcome. But let’s start from beginning. To start working with HDR you need to open CS 4 and open File menu.

 

 

 

Select all exposures in JPG files (choosing RAW works as well, but all tutorials say – convert to JPG first, without any touch ups)

 

 

This is out of the box look of my merged photos. It looks washed out and pale. Now when the fun really begins, But this post will not give you any instructions on how to move sliders to achieve surreal but nice HDR effect (not overdone) that we all adore but we are afraid to admit it. I basically have no idea about it so far.

I thought I will sort this out, but if you look closer – you know that this is not going to work…

My tree has split personality!!!!

After using Remove ghosts – my tree becomes Apple tree!

 

 

 

So this is definitely not going to be one of those outstanding photos unless hours of work involved  which is not worth a hassle – photo is not that good anyway. Better idea is to carry Tripod.

Canon EF-S 10-22mm – first date

So many times I was cursing myself for not having a decent wide angle lens while traveling West. So many times driving past vast landscapes with dramatic skies and blooming multicolor grasses (thanks to the end of the drought) I was dreaming of being able to frame and capture natural beauty of the land.

I needed this sort of optics badly. After months of feeling guilty thinking of this new purchase finally one evening when I had to do some additional work, decided that I am definitely not doing it without little prize. God bless online shopping 🙂

My opportunity to try this baby came on the very next weekend when we had to attend Jacob’ and Charmaine’s engagement party in Dubbo, NSW (which turned out to be a wedding but this is not subject of this post 🙂

I think that was right decision – 10-22mm on my old chap 450D gives decent wide angle, finally opens up the sky. It is fast enough for most landscape daytime scenarios, at dusk you would use tripod anyway.

An added value for me is that it is not heavy, it has handsome hood (at additional cost). It really suits 450D with a grip. It is definitely sort of lens you can take traveling.

From Weekend in Dubbo

Gii, Ciapek seeks fame on many good shots

I like distortion and I am not afraid to say it 🙂

That is when we started getting a little suspicious (looks like prelude to wedding ceremony!)

See more photos here
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