Editing colours of flowers

I just wanted to do a quick post to demonstrate to you the difference between editing JPEGs and RAW photos.

I have trouble sometimes with the colours of RAW because there is just so much information that I can never quite replicate the colours taken with the JPEG that my camera puts out. So I edited both the JPEG and the RAW image of this photo to see just what the difference was and was astounded but also delighted to find that despite its trickyness, the RAW one still came out way ahead of the JPEG.

Yes, it is more mulla mulla. The edited JPEG is first, the RAW second.

I like how the JPEG captures the glow of the light, but you can correct the white balance in the RAW - notice how the first image is slightly green? Not true colour - we are in the Pilbara remember!

Collecting Shells

My mother lives in QLD, I am in WA. As you can imagine, she is not too pleased with where we have decided to settle but she puts on a brave face.

I miss having coffee with my mum on a regular basis but I still think of her and think she is a champion. She loves shells, collecting shells. She has an amazing eye - can always see the best ones. That's the best lesson she taught me in life - always look for the best in people and love them as Jesus loves them. Her heart of compassion and love rivals no ones - she is the ultimate in unconditional love and I can only hope to have a heart that is as loving of all people.

So whenever I go to the beach I look for shells - not for me but for my mum.

Traditional Beach Colours

We used to rent a lot of beach houses growing up. This was how we spent our holidays - renting houses, filling them with sand and laughter.

You soon realised that many beach houses employ the use of 'beach colours'. These traditional beach colours of turquoise, yellow sand, white, grey, blue appear in almost every beach house adorned with shells. These photos, hopefully show you why this is so.

Favourite Experiment

Yes I edit most of my photos. Lately I have been experimenting with editing with colours and hues for dramatic effect. I was inspired by Instagram - during this trip I took a number of photos that turned out surprisingly well with filters and colours changed a little so I tried to replicate that feeling when editing some of my photos in RAW.

I love this photo. Yes, it's edited for dramatic effect but I love it. I love the ripples, the fact that it has people in it shows the scale and adds elements of a story of walking on the beach, I love the colours and the contrast.

A happy experiment that paid off.

Again, you are crazy for not visiting the West if you have never been here.

His Eye is on You Everywhere

My favourite part about Broome was exploring the cliffs. My husband and his Dad went well ahead of my mother in law and I, we spent far too long looking into every nook and cranny. I only had to change my memory card once.

Do do this walk, you need to do it at low tide so you can get past all the cliffs and rocks. We happened to time low tide perfectly - in the late afternoon when there is the best sun (rivaled only by the morning sun which I don't see terribly often).

We found this window, this eye. I love these features in nature, that remind you of God who created all things and watches all things.

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, and you right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night," Even the darkness is not dark to You, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to you." Psalm 139: 7-12.

Cliffs, Mini Bungles and Beach

If you spend all your time on the East Coast and never get your butt over to the West, this is what you are missing. That is all.

Pilbara Waterways

The Pilbara, although not desert, is arid. It's dry and dusty and harsh. I miss water and green - even in the driest times in Queensland you could still head into the rainforest, the green, and see waterfalls and tranquility. I miss our day trips to the Sunshine Coast Hinterland, the Bunya Mountains and just driving around the South East in general - playing in dams and rivers and waterways.

The stunning landscape of the Pilbara is that - stunning. But it's not green and there is often not much water. If it is green, it's not the soft green of grass, but the harsh green of spinafex - you know that rolling around in the rocky hills is going to be painful between the rocks and the spinafex even if it is green.

So, when water presents itself in the Pilbara, you have to take advantage - capture the moment to prove it to the naysayers who say its not true. In the previous post I described how my husband encouraged me strongly to get out and take a photo this day - I was sick and hungry and wanted to go home, but there was water in the Pilbara and it was sunset!

We pulled off the road and to be honest I was happy as soon as I was out of the car! I took about a hundred photos I think.

Pretty soon the roadside wasn't enough, I had to climb down the rocks to go to the waters' side. I was busy taking photos of dead trees and wildflowers when I heard the husband call out that there were swans on the lake! Swans, colours, sunset Pilbara would equal AWESOME photo so I ran.

I got maybe ten steps when my offroad boots sank into mud. Sticky mud. My boots are ankle high and the mud was above both of them! Neither my husband or my mother in law wanted to venture out into the mud themselves to save me, so I had to squish and squelch my way out. What's the point of offroad boots if they don't save you from mud? I may as well have been in bare feet as in other adventures!

Of course, by the time I got out the swans were far away so my photos of them were inconsequential. But I did get this panorama of dead trees.

The opportunities presented by dead trees

Dead trees have character. Have you ever thought about these things - here stands something that once was living, but now its glory has gone, it is a shadow of what it once was, and yet it holds its own beauty and character.

This photo was taken thanks, once again to my husband. He is a good egg who looks out for me and encourages me not to take the easy road out when I'm feeling lazy.

We were driving home from another Pilbara adventure with parents (his parents). The sun was fading. I had warned my husband that if we came across a field of mulla mulla lit up by the dying sun we would be stopping.

We didn't come accross that field (well, we did but it was shadowed by a Pilbara hill) but we did come across a waterway lit up with magical sunset colours - the behind the sunset colours (looking behind yourself at sunset). A magical waterway. My husband asked if I wanted to stop - I hesitated. I actually was not well that day with a massive headache and cold so of course I hesitated. I was hungry and wanted to be home.

But, a conversation ensued - a 'it's not very often we are here, you should take advantage of the opportunity' conversation. So I did. I'd love to paint you a picture of someone who is always happy, always keen and enthusiastic but the truth is sometimes I need a little push. I think we all do. I snapped a couple of Pilbara sunsets. So yes, my husband and I are a team and I am so grateful I have him to encourage me and cajole me into taking photos at times.

Silhouettes at Sunset

A classic sunset technique seen everywhere are silhouettes. An outline of a black object with the colours behind to make them pop. These next photos were taken well after the sun went down, and all I had to work with were the last remaining rays from the sun making their way above the horizon I could see from my vantage point at Cape Range National Park.

A new Pathway to the Moon

When I first heard of the staircase to the moon, I thought it sounded awesome - a moonlit path to the moon over the sand, how exciting! I had visions of glittering moonlight dancing off the sand with stars speckled behind, a rough, rickety staircase meandering up to the moon, telling a story of adventure and cold beauty.

Boy was I disappointed.

Not that staircase to the moon isn't beautiful - it is - just not what I was expecting. To be honest, when you have your cynical hat on, it's just a line of light...A beautiful line, but a line nonetheless.

So while at Cape Range, we would watch the sunset over the ocean and the moon would be rising behind us (no staircase to the moon there). I got so many sunset photos of the water and the colours (just wait, they are coming...) I decided to run around the sand dunes taking photos of the moon. It's one of my mottos actually. Number one is to not take photos of things that move because its too hard (which I break all the time for obvious reasons) and the other is to ALWAYS look BEHIND yourself at sunset - the colours are completely different, the light is different and you can get some amazing photos.

This day, I must have looked like a crazy sand hill lady. Running, yes running, with my camera and then slamming into the sand dunes on my stomach, twisting and turning trying to get the best composition for the moon with all sorts of things.

I had been reading the Understanding Exposure book on the beach to pass away the time of peace and restfulness, in which they talk a bit about wide angle lenses and how they are built to be able to 'fill up the foreground'. They push the details to the back so you have to consciously fill up the foreground. This is what I have been trying to do. So I present to you a NEW pathway to the moon.

These are a few of my favourite things

Growing up my favourite animal was the black swan. This was before I realised how vicious they were when they were after bread, and the hideous noise they make when calling out to each other (I was taken aback at just how un-graceful that sound is!).

But I have to say, on a side note, my older brother ruined it for 6 year old me - he used to pretend to point out dead swans to me just to get a rise. I would inform him that there were none there, and proceed to get quite cranky at his stirring. This is also the person whose pet name for me was 'mozzie'. Thankfully, we are now older and wiser, and the one thing (among other things) my brother and I have in common these days is photography. I love to chat with him about photos he has been taking and tell him why Canon is better than Nikon (Nikon aren't bad...but they aren't Canon) and look enviously at his photos from Europe...

Anyway, back to the swans. The very ALIVE swans.

I still love them - I love how they move in pairs, mate for life, are graceful, peaceful and calm. The picture of tranquility (provided they don't make a noise...or you have ear muffs). These guys were on a waterhole we went by on a 4WD trek. We were the lead car at that stage of a convoy of three. I'd tried capturing some swans (on camera) earlier that day but they flew away. This happens a lot with me and birds. And animals. And people. They just don't do as they told!

So of course, when I saw a bevy (yes a bevy - Wikipedia says so and it sounds better than flock or herd) of swans cruising placidly down the river, I could not resist. I stopped the car, which thus stopped the convoy, and ran out in my thongs on the stony riverbed to capture the swans. I didn't hold out much hope for this photo, as it was taken in a rush, but was pleasantly surprised. I love it when you have the right lens on a the right time for that quick moment! (we just won't talk about the Jabiru we saw later in the day that I promptly scared away by slamming the car door shut in my haste to get my camera...rookie mistake...)

I have two favourite things about this photo - one, the stunning light. Everything is exposed correctly except a couple of overexposed feathers. Two the fact that it seamlessly stitched together (two landscape photos) despite the movement of the swans.

This one is for my brother. The Alive Swans. Hope he likes it.

That rare moment known as sunrise...

I never get up in time to see the sun. It's rather silly. But when camping in a swag on a hard rocky ground, you are kind of eager to get up as soon as possible.

In this case, I was roused out of the swag from my husband, urging me to take a photo of the sunrise. You couldn't see much from our campsite, but the colours were pretty fantastic. So I went with silhouettes.

Thanks to my husband once again for waking the morning zombie for the sunrise.

Hancock Gorge - #6

This is the last one from Hancock I promise!

But, I did save my favourite till last.

This baby is three photos taken with my wide angle stitched together for a panorama. The top is a little dark, and I have not yet mastered HDR photography, but I do love the lines, the water and the colours in this photo. It has everything you like, and the darkness at the top gives it a nice frame, or space for something to be written.

All in all, I call it a successful trip down Hancock Gorge.

Sparkles

Where did the concept of sparkles come from?

This is something I have often wondered. Was it the reflection of the waves as the sun rises and sets? Was it small pieces of metalic rocks and gems that shone in the light that caught our eye?

Or perhaps, it was a more common occurrence across all lands, oceans and nations. How water droplets catch the sunlight after rain. Much akin to the rainbow.

When packing up to go on a camping trip after a night of rain, I decided to take the macro out and take some photos of water droplets on the  magnolia out the front of our house.

I tried two things - first, I tried to take a photo of a leaf through a water droplet. This didn't appear to be working at all, when I noticed the early morning sunlight catching on the side of the droplet. I wonder if I can flare that, I thought?

I made the aperture small and the shutter as slow as I could - in this case only 100mm as I was hand holding my camera. The small opening allows less light through, while the slow shutter captures the movement of the light.

It took a lot of experimenting but I finally caught. And caught it in focus none-the-less! What was really cool however, was that while viewing on my laptop, I noticed a leaf was visible in the droplet! Love it when that happens!

Finally, what I love about these photos is that they are unedited. These are as taken. The lesson? I should make the most of early morning light more often!

What was cooler again about this, was that I was able to capture the sparkle in not one but three different colours! How amazing is light? While looking through the camera, the light bouncing into my lens was whole and therefore, white as above. But at other times it was broken, so that it became blue, green, orange and red.

Again, none of these are post-edited.

I would just like to once again marvel at how light works, how it has been created to create all colours imaginable. You cannot imagine a new colour, it's all there in the light, waiting to be reflected, refracted and absorbed to bounce back to provide a huge gamut of colour that is amazing. No camera could capture that.

Wrestling with Wrens - Part 1

Where we were camped was a beautiful spot. One of those places where it doesn't really matter if it's run by bogans, the beauty makes up for it. Our campsite was graced most mornings by a family of splendid fairy wrens. I didn't even know these beauties existed. I have always loved blue wrens, but these wrens were something spectacular.

Capturing then with a camera  though - now that's a different story. Those beggars are fast! They hop around, flit, flap and then gone! Many occasions did we chase them - quite often we would see them in the morning and my husband would keep an eye on them while I went to grab my camera...

I soon learnt that a fast shutter speed was critical - but even so, having the bird in focus was a constant challenge due to the constant movement. I never actually grabbed a shot I was tremendously happy with....but here are a few to give you an idea...

And yes...they really are that colour....

Baby blue - baby male splendid fairy wren

Macro Bucket List

Upon purchasing a macro lens, there are a number of things I have wanted to take a photo of - predominantly insects and other creepy crawlies. The top of the creepy crawly list was a bee. At Gregories Gorge, I had that opportunity. Small amount of wind, bright sun and a hungry bee made for one happy shutterbug!

Canon EOS 50D, f/5, 1/500, ISO 100, 100mm Macro 

This image is cropped and edited in Photoshop, but I must say I do like the composition. I had to keep trimming before I was 100% happy, it was a rather awkward one as there were continually highlights on the edges, but when removed the bee wasn't prominent. As it is he is a little stuck in the corner. It helps that purple and green is my favourite colour combination at the moment. This is the best angle of the bee that I captured. Not perfectly ideal, but not bad for a first attempt I would say!

Rising with the Sunset

"When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him?" - Psalm 8:3-4

The amazing thing about the moon is that it does not have any light of its own, it reflects the sun. It's incredible to the think that when it is full, it gives just enough light to see by, to light your path, yet it is not produced by the moon, it is given by the sun. This is how our relationship with God works in this world. None of our good works, our love, is our own, but a reflection of God and his great love for us.

This evening of the picture was particularly beautiful. It was a staircase to the moon evening, which normally entails watching a full moon rise over mudflats creating a visual effect of a staircase leading to the moon. On this night however, the Moon rose as the sun set. This created a beautiful golden orb shrouded in a coat of colour.

Canon EOS 50D f/6.3, 1/250, ISO 1000, 100mm (Macro lens)

So, the photo quality is not great due to the high ISO creating noise, but it's a start. I had hoped to capture the colours more than anything - there were too many people froliking to do anything to serious. Or at least, that's what I keep telling myself when I experience the photography dread that occurs when you return home to eagerly look at your photos on the laptop only to discover Betsy's LCD had lead me into a false sense of security regarding the quality of the photos! The lesson here - never trust the LCD, and never use an ISO over 800 until you know what you are doing!

I do want to share a (relatively) successful experiment I had on this fine evening. This was the split filter experiment. Would you believe it is only the second time I have used it, only this time I held them against my lens rather than mount them, as I don't have an adapter ring for my Macro yet. Check out the differences:

Without filter

With Filter

Ok, so maybe I didn't quite master the whole "keep the filter still" technique, but you can see the effect of the neutral density quite nicely. Definitely something to continue investigating...

All in all, regardless of the photo quality I wouldn't trade that view for the best photo in the world. It has left an indelible impression on my soul. As a famous Christian band once said: "I want to be the moon, because it reflects the sun. Don't want to be the star that shines on everyone. I want to be with you, because you're the only one...who heals my lonely soul."

"Praise Him, sun and moon,
             Praise Him all you shining Stars!
Praise him, you highest heavens
             and you water above the heavens"

      - Psalm 148:3-4

My Sister's Garden - Part 2

Still on the flowers in the garden camera rampage, I set myself the challenge of the crucifix orchid. These are small flowers that grow in a round bunch. By focusing on one, and in particular one head, I was able to have some success. I did need to play with the in Photoshop a little to get the colours right.

Canon EOS 50D, f/2.8, 1/640, ISO 100

Canon EOS 50D, Macro lens, f/2.8, 1/200, ISO 100 100mm

Two different styles are above - one within, one standing out from the bunch. Both have their merits. If it wasn't for the dead flower in the second one, I would prefer it because it has a little bit of light flowing in from the top left corner. But I do like the top one, within the bunch, with one flower in focus.

The next is bougainvillea. These guys are everywhere but that doesn't diminish their beauty. They are fascinating because their petals are very leaf like and  they have remarkable shapes. I did enjoy shooting them even if I had to work around them very carefully!

Canon EOS 50D, Macro, f/2.8, 1/250, ISO 100, 100mm

Canon EOS 50D, f/2.8, 1/200, ISO 100, 100mm

 The colours in these was really tricky to hande in photoshop and I think these came out a little, well, to use the technical term, splotchy. They were too dark - why are my photos always too dark? - so not enough detail was captured. Still, they are impressive pieces of nature. It just goes to show that me and my camera are no match for the creator!

Finally, there is this photo. I have included this to remind myself that beauty is not only found in flowers. Leaves are beautiful too!

Canon EOS 50D, Macro lens, f/2.8, 1/250, ISO 100, 100mm

The beach approaching mid day

One of the great things about living in the Pilbara is the lifestyle. This Easter weekend, my husband and I went kayaking again, once more to Conzinc Bay. Now, reaching your destination at 10:30 in the morning may not seem like such a big deal. But once you have a swim, a bit of a fish and a chill out on the beach, the next thing you know it's nearly midday and you haven't taken any photos!

I did however manage to test out the wide angle with the polarisor this time, so that was pretty nifty. Except  I discovered two things - one, that because of the extreme wide angle of 10mm and the high sun, it produced many flares in my lens. This was corrected in photoshop with a little bit of cloning, but still it's rather a pain. The second thing I noticed is that I have dust on my mirror, which I will need to fix somehow.

Any way, below are some of the photos taken that celebrate the glorious day and being alive!

I love the first image below because of the fish. One of the marvelous things about a polarisor is the reduction of glare in the water, so you can see things like these guys! They were fantastic though, every now and then they would be spooked and leap from the water in unison. Fantastic.

Canon EOS 50D f/10, 1/250, ISO 200 11mm

Of course, all of these photos have been edited in Adobe RAW in Photoshop. The white balance has been warmed, vibrance and saturation increased and some of the horizons corrected.

Canon EOS 50D f/6.3, 1/320 ISO 100 10mm

 The fish make an appearance below once more! This photo has actually been copped to remove a large clump of weed and its shadow that got in the way...

Canon EOS 50D f/10 1/250 11mm

 My conclusion? The wide angle is fantastic at the beach, even at midday. I always long for the day we can camp on the beach so as to utilize the sunrise and sunset. It would be magical.

Canon EOS 50D f/6.3 1/320 ISO 100 10mm

Native Flowers

So, I have been experimenting with my Macro lens, still getting to know it. I have also been purchasing more and more flowers, just to keep the place fresh.

I have noticed though, flowers don't last long in the Pilbara. The head wilts them, they soak up their water like a sponge, and well, they die. Quickly. (Unfortunately, so do my pot plants...).

So my solution was to buy some native flowers, in the hopes that they would withstand the conditions.

It turns out that these intricate flowers were also very fun to photograph with my macro.

Canon EOS 50D f/3.5 1/60 ISO 400 100mm (Macro)

I like this image for the swirl and the seeds and the pods. It may have been a little over edited, and I will need to find a way to deaden the flash I think, and also not to over saturate the colour in editing.

All in all though, I think it works. It is over saturated because I was playing with the contrast. More on that later...