One Chance

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Continuing on theme of midday seascapes and long exposures! I was perched up on the headland (seen in the top left of the image) watching a paraglider glide on the updrafts from the old quarry cliffs, he certinaly had more balls than me! There was not that much breeze about and it reminded me of those fake skydiving rigs you can go on, you know,.. the ones where you get in a vertical wind tunnel and balance on the updraft only to roll off it and come crashing down… – anyway he did no crash downt, which was good 🙂
However, back to the original point, as I was up there watching him, I spied this thumping great big log..no, more correctly..a complete tree, roots and all washed up on the beach, i thought 'there's no way I was gonna leave that un-photographed' 🙂 I was however running on borrowed time hence I made the decision to take a single shot, no second chances, one shot, forcing myself to actually stop and think about the shot (which i rarely do 🙂 ), plus it took me 15 minutes to get to the darn thing.
So, the result, I could not get the whole tree in it was that big, hence I ran with misty leading lines of the main trunk, partially buried by the sand.

Single frame
Exif/setup data:
D7000 coupled with Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 @11mm Aperture: f/16 and Shutter Speed: 182.5s
out front – LEE bigstopper and screw in circular polariser and… a big tree in the middle of the beach.. who would have though 🙂

As always, I welcome any suggestions, comments and improvements to my photography, they are always warmly welcomed

Tunnel of death

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view large

maybe this is the river to the other side? how cool would it be to setup a shot here with a boat and have a dude on board with a rusty old lamp, very spooky, anyone got a old row boat they wanna to lend me?

Techie love:
4 frame panorama (bracketed)
Exif/setup data:
D7000 coupled with a Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 @16mm Aperture: f/8 ISO 100 and Shutter Speed: 1/10s (neutral frame)
Out front: Circular Polariser, water and tunnel of death

Life on the edge

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Defiance against time

Whilst struggling back to the car with my shoes full of sand I noticed this small little tree standing proudly against the stiff breeze, standing only 4 or so foot high I was nearly laying on the sand to get some perspective on it.

And there you have it, 3 minutes in the life of a little tree perched on the edge of dune.

Single frame
Exif/setup data:
D7000 coupled with Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 @11mm Aperture: f/16 and Shutter Speed: 182.5s
out front – LEE graduated filter 0.9, LEE bigstopper and screw in circular polariser

As always, I welcome any suggestions, comments and improvements to my photography, they are always warmly welcomed

Turbulent inrush

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This is the ocean saying to Gerry, ''dance skinny white boy or your gonna get wet ' 🙂

……… and i danced..and still got wet, might need to improve the dance skillz methinks.

Exif/setup data:
D7000 coupled with Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 @11mm Aperture: f/19 and Shutter Speed: 1/2s
out front – a wet LEE graduated filter 0.9 and screw in circular polariser

As always, I welcome any suggestions, comments and improvements to my photography, they are always warmly welcomed.

Shelf Life

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burning time

Carrying on the theme of midday seascapes and attempting to shoot something half decent when all the light is well.. just flat and pretty wrong, this was a quick long exposure while trying to un-snag my fishing rod…. again, by the way I caught absolutely zilch, methinks fishign and photography kinda go together, you have to do them at ridiculous times of the day to nail one 🙂

The chaps out there fishing where kind enough to hang five while the 3 minute exposure finished off, there was some post work to sharpen them up a bit since there was some blur there, however all in all it was ok.

I really loved the green stuff in the foreground but wanted to get close to use that line of the rock to lead my image right up to the fisherman, however in the interest of safety and not needing to get wet, I elected to include the green slippery stuff for my foreground. If there was a stick out there to hang off, +Kitten KaboodleInc i would have done it 🙂

Single shot
Techie data:
D7000 with Nikkor 17-55mm f2.8 @ 19mm – Aperture: f/19 and Shutter Speed: 182.5 seconds
out front – Hoya CPL and B+W bigstopper.

I welcome any suggestions, comments and improvements to my photography, they are always warmly welcomed and I always appreciate the time people take to have a look, plus and/or comment.

Ghosts in Heaven

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RIP for the Rock fisherman who lost his life at North Curl Curl over the weekend.

After a interesting discussion on +Dylan Toh post regarding heavy ND filters, I thought I would get my B+W filter out again which has been very infrequently used since buying the LEE slide in option.

I really love the warm (i would say natural) tones this filters gives in comparison to the LEE bigstopper.

2 shot Panorama
Techie data:
D7000 with Nikkor 17-55mm f2.8 @ 55mm – Aperture: f/19 and Shutter Speed: 167 seconds
out front – +HoyaFilters CPL and B+W bigstopper.

As always, I welcome any suggestions, comments and improvements to my photography, they are always warmly welcomed.

Silver-eye

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no really, its called a "silver-eye" 🙂
and they love these wild tobacco plants with the fruit on them, however I did wonder whether they were going for the fruit or the insects that lived around them.

In any case, I was lucky to get this little guy, they move so very fast and are very wary of a unco bloke clumping around the bush 😉

I have much respect for birder's – the sheer time and patience you need to get a good shot is often mind boggling, then to try and get one with the light in the right angle, clear of branches..blah blah…hard work man!

Single frame
Exif/setup data:
D7000 coupled with 300mm Nikkor f4 @300mm and a Nikkor 1.4X teleconverter which equals 630mm (1.5*1.4*300) on a crop sensor camera.
Aperture: f/6.7 and Shutter Speed: 1/750s
ISO 1100

I welcome any suggestions, comments and improvements to my photography, they are always warmly welcomed and I always appreciate the time people take to have a look, plus and/or comment.

Mysterious Fogalicious

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Step back, spread that browser to full width and click this pano open full size and see if you can see the pregnant lady laying down 😉 (ok thats a bit of stretch and ya gotta have some serious imagination.. but shes in there:) )

The surf was pumping this morning, even from way up in the dunes you could hear it crashing on the beach, but strangely, this layer of fog had settled on the bay meaning it was all sound and no visual!

Techie data:
8 shot panorama (each frame bracketed)
D7000 with Nikkor 85mm f1.4 @ 85mm – Aperture: f/13 and Shutter Speed: 1/8s 1/30s 1/3s (bracketed)
ISO 100
out front – no filters, just fogalicious

..

As always, I welcome any suggestions, comments and improvements to my photography, they are always warmly welcomed.

 

Mysterious Fogalicious

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Step back, spread that browser to full width and click this pano open full size and see if you can see the pregnant lady laying down 😉 (ok thats a bit of stretch and ya gotta have some serious imagination.. but shes in there:) )

The surf was pumping this morning, even from way up in the dunes you could hear it crashing on the beach, but strangely, this layer of fog had settled on the bay meaning it was all sound and no visual!

Techie data:
8 shot panorama (each frame bracketed)
D7000 with Nikkor 85mm f1.4 @ 85mm – Aperture: f/13 and Shutter Speed: 1/8s 1/30s 1/3s (bracketed)
ISO 100
out front – no filters, just fogalicious

..

As always, I welcome any suggestions, comments and improvements to my photography, they are always warmly welcomed.

Like sands through the hourglass

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These are the days of our lives
Life clings onto hope and preserves in even the harshest of conditions – and sometimes..just sometimes, like this little patch of succulents it just rip roars on thru, screw you sand dune, I am gonna grow on your ass 😉

I had to walk a fair way to find some virgin ripples, but i think it was worth it, just shame I was not here for sunrise, however I still like the contrast between the morning blue sky and the vegetation there… striking a blow for freedom!

Single frame
Exif/setup data:
D7000 coupled with Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 @11mm Aperture: f/11 and Shutter Speed: 1/10s
out front – Screw in +HoyaFilters circular polariser

As always, I welcome any suggestions, comments and improvements to my photography, they are always warmly welcomed

Sands of Time

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I have been burning to use that title for ages 🙂

Single frame
Exif/setup data:
D7000 coupled with Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 @11mm Aperture: f/11 and Shutter Speed: 30s
out front – LEE graduated filter 0.9 and screw in circular polariser

As always, I welcome any suggestions, comments and improvements to my photography, they are always warmly welcomed

The colourful knob

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In hindsight, I think a selfie with me out on the… rocky outcropping.. would have made for a cool shot, oh well, next time 🙂

But how neat are all these colours on the rock, from warm golds to fresh greens, top stuff nature, nicely done there and I'll be back for more 🙂

A nice little outcropping on the 'Little Gibber' – a strangely knob shaped out cropping in the otherwise bare smooth beach line..

Single frame
Exif/setup data:
D7000 coupled with Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 @11mm Aperture: f/11 and Shutter Speed: 182.5s
out front – LEE graduated filter 0.9, LEE bigstopper and screw in circular polariser

As always, I welcome any suggestions, comments and improvements to my photography, they are always warmly welcomed

Textured form of love

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big sky

Strangely enough one of my most complex images (bracketed panorama) but I am far from happy with the end result, I looked at this set of images (to become a panorama) on the back of the camera LCD and thought, yeah thats pretty sweet, but the processing and trying to get the final image to match my vision on the day proved impossible.

The scene actually has some brillant golden colours in the sky but I could not get it to work with the dark monotone of the foreground, finally I gave up and opted for a BW image, it retains and accentuates the main elements (texture and human forms) and that seemed like a pretty good starting point – I think it can hold its own without needing brilliant colour.

I welcome any suggestions, comments and thoughts about this image, ya gotta view large too btw.

Techie data:
4 shot panorama (each frame bracketed)
D7000 with Nikkor 85mm f1.4 @ 85mm – Aperture: f/8 and Shutter Speed: 1/125 seconds ISO 100
out front – a rauchy couple, some coffee and a camera.

Its a long way to the top

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if your a dinky little bit of Spinifex (or me for that matter, damn dunes are hard to climb)

I love this scene, there was such a contrast between the never ending dunes and the encroaching grass and succulent plant thingys. The way the clouds streaked across the frame mirroring the shadows on the ground from the glow of the sun (which had just lifted above the clouds to the right) just screamed, 'photograph me'.. so i did just that 🙂

now, I will also have ya's all know, dunes are very deceptive beings, the climb to the top looks easy enough from a distance, but once on the slope the calves are burning and your taking 4 steps to only go 1 step forward!
With that said, grab ya self a bit of cardboard, oddly enough I found one nearby discarded from some knobs who had left their beer carton there and put your bum on it and its a fast way to the bottom.. bit like life really.. hard slog to the top and one very fast fall from the top 😉

Techie love:
4 shot panorama
Exif/setup data:
D7000 coupled with a Tokina (no sand in this baby anymore; nor any extra sand from this dune 11-16mm) f2.8 @11mm Aperture: f/11 ISO 100 and Shutter Speed: 1/10s
Out front: +HoyaFilters Circular Polariser and plenty of sand