last of the winter light

An attempt to capture the delicacy of late afternoon winter light (and shadows, to give stronger composition)

More wallpapers

You are free to download these wallpapers for private use, just click on any image above. That takes you to my wallpaper area on flickr, use the All Sizes option to see a larger image, and use Set Wallpaper option in your browser on the displayed image or download it to your computer. If the image size is not correct for your screen, you can use the Stretch option, which will enlarge or shrink the wallpaper to fit.

lunar eclipse :: as it happens

Maybe this a bad ideas, beacuse it is a very cloudy start, but i'll try it anyway. I'll be updated this post as the eclipse happens. But remember the most recent pictures will be at the top, so read the sequence from bottom right and backwards up to top right.

PS I was a bit stressed trying to do this and keep watching for breaks in the clouds, but I think it worked out in the end.

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly

Last night was not promising for good eclipse photography tonight, whilst it was beautofull all day it clouded over at sunset. GOOD for a sunset photo, but the moon was hidden and hazy. Setting my camera to all automatic was definitely BAD, even after i switched to MF (manual focus, to stop the lens processing backwards and forwards unable to make up its mind how tho focus, the light metter obviously got fooled by the strong contrast and the bright light flared out. The best I got at 8:35PM was still UGLY (I have better shoots of the detail on the moon, the haziness here is probably atmospheric moisture). I found switched back to manual and low ISO (200 is as low as I can get) with the fstop at f8 and 1/250, and a tripod! I'm expecting to have to change the length to maybe 5 minutes plus during totality

The MrEclipse web site, mentioned in the pre-quel post, scroll two posts down, is still the best reference with hints on photographing the lunar elcipse I have found. Its Table 3, an exposure guide may be very useful for those judging how to change manual settings during the eclipse

Unfinished

for photo friday :: Unfinished

It is one of my homebrews, strawbery blonde, and I am actually finishing it as I post this.

Pre-quel :: lunar eclipse, techniques & hints

MrEclipse.com has a good summary of techniques and hints for lunar eclipse photography, along with some excellent examples. The eclipse takes a while and a big advantage of having a digital camera is you will have plenty of time to review your photos and perhaps make some adjustments, or why not get out tonight and try a few of the techniques discussed in the link above.

Even if you don't plan to photograph it, it is an event your should make an effort to get outside and watch.

Photo Opportunity, lunar eclipse

Want to know what an eclipse of the moon has to do with chickens nibblies and Christopher Columbus? Listen to the latest science show podcast, and find out why it will turn red. In any event the full eclipse, visible across eastern Australia, should be a photographers delight, The eclipse will last from 5:52pm to 11:22pm Eastern Australian Standard Time, 28th August 2007. With the most interesting red phase at 8:37pm. I hope to get a decent 15 minute apart sequence, so I'm hoping it won't be cloudy. (Remember the tripod)

Ten to 8 Tuesday night till about 9:20pm will be the best time to view the lunar eclipse from the east coast of Australia.

There is a fact sheet about the lunar eclipse on the Astronomical Society of Australia wesite

Massive photomosaic panoramas

I am still continuing to push the limits of just how many photos I can stich together. The top photo is just from 8 photos, but the botom photo is a composite of 20 photos. It would seem that autostitch is only limited by available memory, but large images stitching does take time, still the detail is worth it.

lyrebird walk

lyrebird walk, originally uploaded by imageo.

Multiphoto panoramas can be constructed for close subjects. In fact the modified perspective view they give can be charming. This is the photo of a straight section of creek passing under the log I am standing on, to take the photo, yet in the image the creek cuts a sweeping curve. The main difficulties in close up panorama sticking relates to parallax problems (see the broken stump on the left hand side of this image, the image merge has had trouble because adjacent photos can see behind it)

late winter forest floor

a glimpse of sunshine

the dunny

the dunny, originally uploaded by imageo.

Eat your heart out kenny

Recycled for PhotoFriday's topic primative

a momentary redness

PhotoProject :: Doh!

Web-sites that let you upload and have fun with your photos are great, but few and far between. There should be more! I get a technews from the melbourne age (via email) one of the links was called make fun of yourself, which covers a few fun places to enhance your portrait photos. I liked the simpsonize yourself site, but I'm not sure very much actual face recognition software was used in my portrait. If you are keen, there is also a virtual makeover. Both are just a cleverly different way to advertise but still they are fun!

Photo Friday :: Wet

The short life of a foam bubble on wet sand


This is a series of photos "spliced" together with autostitch. They record a bubble from surf foam and froth being blown along the beach. I have used the stitching of images to capture birds in flight but it works particularly well with this bubble as it slips and slides in the wind.

For PhotoFriday's topic Wet

The tea tree flowering myth

There was a myth when I was a boy growing up in beaumaris (just south of melbourne) that the snapper would start biting as sson as the tea tree started to flower. All the boats boobing around out on the bay suggested to me it may just be a truthful bit of folk lore. This weekend I saw the first tea tree bloom of this year and the beach was packed with fisherman. The myth must work for the salmon running as well.

Getting up close

Macro photography was for a long time a very specialised field, but most digital cameras will let you get within 20-30cm and still be in focus. Often these "up close" photos will bring out a strange composition and view that grabs everyones interest. Often you will have a button (or menu selection) that looks like a tulip (or some kind of flower) to set your digital camera into macro mode. In anycase it is probably worth having a look in your camera manual under the topic macro photography