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Park Beach – Seascape Long Exposure (Includes Before/After)

Park Beach, Tasmania

A photograph from my recent trip home to Tasmania for Christmas. This long exposure photograph was captured at Park Beach, Tasmania just after sunset. This is one of my favourite coastlines to photograph in the Hobart area even if it is quite limited on sunset. Unfortunately you’re limited to shooting in this direction if you wish to capture any colour in the sky, ignoring all the interesting rock formation that faces the opposite direction.

This is a 10 minute long exposure that was captured with a Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 17-40, B+W 110 and tripod.

Before and After

And for something different, this is the before and after images from Lightroom. The image is around a stop over exposed which was both good and bad. The reason for it being good is that it brought out a lot of detail in the dark area of the rocks which can easily be lost in a regular exposure due to the area having strong shadows. But on the other hand, I also lost a lot of sky straight out of camera. Fortunately the Canon 5D Mark II retains a lot of detail and I was able to save the sky.

The edit was actually quick and probably only took around 2 minutes. In Lightroom I dropped the exposure considerably which brought back the sky but darkened the rocks. Rather than keep the rocks under exposed, I used the adjustment brush with a +1.00 exposure to bring the rocks back out.  After that I adjusted the temperature of the image (cooling it) and selectively adjusting the saturation points of parts of the image until happy. Finally sharpening the image in Photoshop with the unsharpen mask.

Update 10/06/2012 – I’ve since created a tutorial video on how I went about editing this photograph. Granted the final image doesn’t come out exactly the same as the image used in this post but it should give you a good idea of how the I went from the before shot above to the final image. The key things to note is the graduated filter and adjustment brush make all the difference and allow you to make the majority of your edits without needing to open up Photoshop. Be careful though. It’s easy to over do the editing when using these tools and I think the final image is starting to reach that.

Direct link to this Adobe Lightroom Tutorial Clip

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2010 Retrospective

All year I’ve felt like I haven’t taken as many photographs as I’d like. Looking back now maybe it wasn’t as quiet as I first thought. Here are a selection of images from 2010.

The year started off with a trip up Mt. Wellington with Carl Ashley.

I planned to revisit an old jetty that I had shot in 2009 however it had unfortunately been pulled down.

Desperate for new seascape locations, I began exploring Kingston for photographs.

But it was soon back to my favourite location, Clifton Beach even if without my tripod.

Walking along Howrah Beach, I noticed the water coming off these rocks nicely and had to stop for a photo.

My obsession with long exposure photography grew during 2010. This is one from Tranmere, Tasmania

Busy with uni, my camera spent a lot of time in the cupboard over winter. On my way home from uni I noticed this scene so made a quick dash home to grab the camera.

With the deciduous beech coming into season mid year. I was keen to get up to the Tarn Shelf to take a photo of this beautiful scene. Constantly looking for new locations to take photos of, I tried Blackman’s Bay for a change.

With amazing clouds rolling in one afternoon, I made the decision to skip class in the hope of the clouds putting on a nice sunset. I was lucky even if I did get drenched.

Not long after, I made my way to Park Beach for sunset photos.

I love winter and its fog. This is captured underneath the Tasman Bridge on a chilly early morning.

Probably my favourite find and photo of the year. Constantly looking for new locations to take photos of, I made my way to O’Possum Bay but left a little disappointed.

Next on the list is a drive to Remarkable Caves which was amazing and wild.

With large swells in Hobart, this meant otherwise quiet locations had swell for a change.

My obsession with long exposures continued.

Always looking for new locations, I came across this lovely stream on a drive.

More playing around with long exposures. Even looking at this photo now I’m still unsure about it. The moving jetty creates an interesting effect but whether it works is another question.

With heavy rain forecasted, I made my way up to the North West Bay River for some shots.

It was then off to Melbourne for some jumping on beds, catching up with friends and eating tasty food.

But before I could go to Melbourne. I had to shave my exam growth. Personally, I think the half half look could have worked but my Mum disagreed.

Finally I got around to meeting up with Mitch Pearson-Goff and taking some photos with him. This was from a trip to Snug Falls.

Visiting my favourite part of Tasmania, The Gardens I was greeted with terrible weather. I still managed to get a couple of shots in.

Having bought some Alienbee lights, it was time to use them by dropping tea bags into my lovely bodum cup.

Still wanting to play with my new lights more, I decided to bake some muffins. They look vile but were tasty and didn’t last long.

My cat decided to look cute for Christmas day.

Last shot to finish up the year. A self portrait from South Arm, Tasmania.

Hope you all had a great 2010 and thanks for your continual support 🙂

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Daily Carry (52 images)

As much as I love seascape photography, I sometimes worry of becoming repetitive. Lately I’ve been making an effort to carry my camera with me more when I go out to mix things up a little.  I’m not chasing brilliant photographs but just capturing things that interest me in my day to day travels. Photographing for me without much care for what anyone else thinks.

This is a selection of seascape, street, portrait and other random photography from Hobart and Melbourne. All are shot with a Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 17-40, Canon 24-70, Canon 50 1.4 and on ocacsion a B+W 110 neutral density filter and alienbee lights for some portrait shots.

Sorry about the image overload 😉

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37 Inspiring Photographers

As more and more photographers post their shots online, it becomes harder to find emerging talented photographers worth watching.  I’ve compiled a list of some of my favourite photographers who inspire me with their amazing work. All images are linked to the rest of the photographers gallery.

Continue reading 37 Inspiring Photographers

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2009

It’s fair to say 2009 was the year of the long exposures for me. I’ve had a lot of fun with the Canon 5D Mark II and B+W 110 filter over the year and looking back am surprised how many photographs I actually took.

I hope 2009 was a good year for your photography!