This last few weeks have been really disappointing photography wise for me. After promising myself to 'upskill' from a Point-and-shoot-with-a-fancy-DSLR-and-hope-for-the-best photographer, to one with slightly more technical skills, I have been quite lazy in the getting out and taking photos department. January was a complete write off. February I have had a few chances, but after only one month, I am starting to get bored with the same scenes, and longing for something other than red rocks!
I had a terrific opportunity this week, that was sadly missed. I was at home cooking dinner, my husband went for a pushbike ride right on sunset. I went outside when the Shepherd's pie went into the oven to discover a gorgeous sunset. Our house is a fairly well boxed in townhouse, which means it is very secure, but also provides zero opportunity for shooting sunsets. I toyed with the idea of climbing the hill and decided, I better not because I had the oven on and was the only one home. I went inside, and five minutes later, lightning begins to flash. It was minor at first, but you know something is seriously cracking when you have the blinds closed, lights on and you can still see an electric blue light illuminating your kitchen.
So I go to the laundry door to discover a rainbow is visible. As I am gazing at the gorgeous colours, thunderbolts start cracking through the sky and seemingly touching down on the other side of town (I later found out they were not far from it). I rush to get my camera, excited for the opportunity to shoot both lightning and a rainbow at once, and I just have it set up and lo and behold the rain comes. I am paranoid about getting my gear wet and don't believe in shooting through either wet glass or wet plastic (unless underwater) so I reluctantly gaze out the window at the most magnificent lightning show I have ever seen. The show continues for a good half hour.
My husband arrives home, shortly after the rain stops and there is still an enormous amount of electricity in the air. Unfortunately I didn't have the bright idea I had the next day of going out then when there was no rain, as I had a sopping, hungry husband to take care of! But in hindsight, I should have jumped in the car, driven to…anywhere in town you could see the horizon… and set my camera up for the show.
Words cannot explain how gutted I was…especially when photos like this started popping up on social media….
I did manage to venture into the world of editing RAW photos for the first time. Here are some of my first attempts – it is a lot more complicated than the books make out!
Rosella at the Bunya Mountains. Playing with the colours was a little more tricky, and I do think this one is a touch overdone, but not bad for a very first attempt.
First attempt at a HDR. It's a little grainy. I used three JPEGS from the one RAW file. I am quickly learning that while this is valuable for the exact photo composition, lightening the dark areas is not as high quality as an original capture. More on this next.
No comments:
Post a Comment