Author: Craig

Just One More Fork in the Road (we’re on)…

November 7, 2015
FaunaGoals
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Well now that I’ve launched my Online Store this blog will probably take a little bit of a different focus from now on and although it will still be updated with photos regularly, some will also go in the shop too. However there will still be photos on here that I don’t think will sell for one reason or another, so they won’t be available to see via the Online Store. So there will still be a reason to visit this site too for those only interested in seeing the photos, and not really interested in technical discussions.

Over the next couple of weeks the organisation of this site might change a bit, not greatly, but enough to reflect the different flavour the site will take on.

There’ll be more discussion on techniques, or the exploration of a theme and some series I will be beginning to work on shortly.

Photography Online Shop going up Soon…

August 31, 2015
Close-upFloraGoals
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Well this evening I’ve upgraded my Paypal to a business account, and purchased a WordPress theme that I can host for my own online store complete with e-commerce integration. Obviously this is for the Photography not I.T. Should get it up and running this week. This saves me the hassle of having to code and fit’s within my existing System Architecture. I can host it myself or host it anywhere.

This is a demo: Darkroom 2 theme for Photocrati. These are obviously not my photographs. But you can click through to get an idea how the site will function.

When it’s up, http://shardsofarcadia.com/ will no longer redirect to Idyllic Moments in Time: Shards of Arcadia | How I’d like it to be… but be it’s own entity and allow e-business via Paypal & Credit Card.

Beautiful But Deadly If You’re an Insect…

August 17, 2015
Close-upFloraMacro
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Yesterday afternoon I spent a couple of hours shooting Sundew that I have growing (natively) up the back of the yard. I’ve always been fascinated by Carnivorous Plants, and although Sundew aren’t as “notorious” as Venus Flytraps, or Pitcher Plants, they’re just as interesting. I think I’m very lucky to have these fascinating plants growing in my backyard “as is” mostly all year around. Not sure I’ve noticed them flowering every year though, but I guess they must.

These ones seem to have only a single flower at a time or possibly one only each time they flower (currently not sure). I believe this one to be Drosera Rosulata “giant” ( white flowers ), and I’m fairly certain the critters around the Stamen are Mites.

These were a good opportunity for the “Stacking” technique I’m using at times, as they are extremely low to the ground, so tend not to move even in a mild breeze. Of course there’s always the chance that the lighting levels can change drastically and quickly at this time of years, but I hoped to get around that by a higher number of shots with more overlap of DoF. That allowed me to drop several if I needed to because the light wasn’t consistent.

Although this shot had preliminary work in Lightroom (Ver. 6) it was then exported and worked on in Helicon Focus before being finally finished off in DXO (just to make you happy Stefan) which I’ve not used much yet. I think it’s come up quite well.

Let’s Lose Some Weight…

August 14, 2015
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I’ve scraped enough extra cash up to invest in a carbon fibre legged tripod & Three Axis Head for the trekking while outdoor and wildlife shooting. The gear is mounting up in the weight department over the last year and makes 15km or more walks, or all day walking and carrying quite an effort physically.

In fact I managed to buy from an Australian Company for $100 cheaper than I could get it from any of my usual overseas “grey market” suppliers. A pleasant surprise, and as I’ve said before, happy to support Australian Photographic Gear Suppliers as long as the prices are not unreasonably different. I do always look at my preferred Australian Suppliers first, but it’s not often they’re willing to be competative. When they are I’m willing to give them my support in return.

I opted for another Manfrotto Tripod. I’ve been happy with the previous metal legged model I have, but just need to trim some weight. Tripods are well known culprits. It’s a tricky balance between sturdiness and stability; compactness & weight being the counterbalance.

Of course not only do you have to contend with the overall stability, but the flexibility of directional control provided by the tripod head. I had two choices of head available without going out on my own special choice. I opted for the X Pro 3 way head as against the alternative 496RC2. I’ve tried a couple of friend’s “Ball Heads”, and confess to not finding them my preferred mode. It is probably me, but I find it easier to deal along each axis individually, than wrestle with the weight of the camera & Lens while trying to position a “Ball Head”. Either of course has the same Rectangular Quick Release Plate as my other tripods, so I have streamlined changes of camera out in the field.

I’ve yet to take it on a trek out, only having received it today, but since posts have been scarce for a month and a half, it seemed a good opportunity to get back into posting action. Life outside of Photography has been rather busy and full of change.

‘Tis the Time of Fungi…

June 21, 2015
Close-upFloraMacro
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A few hours walking along the side of a road not far from home offers a range of Fungi different from the Chalet de Darriwell. Quite a few I’ve not seen before.

Armed with my new CamRanger, the trusty Nikon Micro 200mm F4, D600, mini tripod and iPad, I took a jaunt up Fisken’s Road on the suggestion of a Neighbour. I wasn’t disappointed (see Flora), I can easily spend another trip there just as enjoyably. I was treated to a variety of new Fungi, most of it Mushrooms. Late Autumn and early Winter can be just as “fruitful” as Summer.

Ode to Fungi…

June 18, 2015
Close-upFloraFurbagsMacroSoftware
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Here’s a couple of shots done using the Focus Stacking technique not by hand, but rather using the Camranger & it’s associated software for the iPad. Click on each to see a better resolution for the photo.

From one side trying to pickup the back curl.

 

Saffron Milk Cup

From another side trying to follow the curve along the gills.

OrangeMushroomAlternate

 

Unfortunately for this mushroom, seconds after I finished shooting, it was broken in half by two furbags, one in hot pursuit of the other. All in fun, but not fun for the poor old fungi!

Calibrated and On Course…

June 17, 2015
FloraMacroSoftware
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Well at some point when printing photographs you become concerned about the differences in printed media to the scene as edited on the screen. To that end I’ve bought a device for calibrating the monitor. To be able to see the difference I went and had a few recent shots printed at my usual Photography Store, and brought them back to compare again before calibrating. Upon doing so I must say I was concerned that in particular these shots looked considerably less vibrant than I expected.

Interestingly after calibration there was little difference between what I’d had printed and what I saw on the screen. In summary that means I will have to re-edit most prints that I’ve marked for printing or have up for sale. But enough talk, let’s look at examples.

Here is the first print. After the Calibration there was a definite correlation between the screen and the physical print from my photography store print.

Puffball

Then follows the same photo, re-edited after calibration to be about what it appeared on screen to me BEFORE calibration. There’s considerable difference, and although I’ve yet to have this printed, I am fairly confident now that the physical print will match much more closely from now on.

Puffball Pre Calibrated Monitor to Printer

I’m looking forward to reprinting some of my favourites! And, I’m actually glad I’ve yet to make a sale so far from the business, because now I’m much more confident in the quality of the print that someone will be buying. I know now that they will be getting my best.

Stacking It On…

May 23, 2015
FloraMacro
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More practise with the Focus Stacking technique in mind this afternoon. Had Stefan drop over and while he was experimenting with his new Fisheye lens, I was crawling on the ground with the 200mm Micro and mini tripod while lying on a blanket to keep the dampness off myself. The toughest parts so far are making sure to overlap the DoF outer range, and getting the shots done in a quick enough time so lighting and other exposure factors in the environment don’t change too noticeably.

So for a couple of hours shooting this afternoon, which admittedly was pleasurable in itself, I really only came out with 5 shots overall that I’m happy about the end result.

Cold Autumn Afternoon

May 22, 2015
FloraMacroSoftwareUncategorized
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Cold Autumn afternoons are still full of opportunities if only one can muster the effort to get out there with the Camera and seek the beauty that’s present even in such weather. So while I’m out shooting in the backyard, the Furbags come out for some exercise instead of getting fat lying on the slab in the study!

This afternoon I had my first real session of practising shooting with Focus Stacking in mind for the shots later. This is a technique I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. Today I took shots with that technique in mind for the post processing. I have to say that my first impressions have left me in awe of the opportunities this opens for my Macro shots in the future.

This first shot

is around about what I’d normally at F8 using the Nikkor Micro 200mm fairly close to the subject.

This next shot is a “composite” of six shots with slightly different focal points and all exposure factors the same.

Of course there’s a nifty bit of software involved to make this happen, called Helicon Focus, not cheap but works damn well. The above is not necessarily a great shot or perfect image, but it’s enough to demonstrate the technique. Over time I’ll become more practised and the shots will become better. But still a good afternoon’s work was done. I’ve some others to work on later, this was just the first to confirm how to make it work.

Maintenance Time…

May 16, 2015
Close-upFaunaFurbags
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Well I was up serious about an early morning shoot to get back into the swing of things with a tryout of the Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8 lens. But after a 5 minute wander outside at 05:30 I decided my cold infested lungs that felt like I had razor blades & ball bearings in the bottom of them were not up to the challenge. I’d stay inside and come up with something else. So I decided to do what I’d been intending to do all week since the arrival of said addition to the kit. This was create a new car kit, and review everything since I’d originally put it together as quite a few things have changed.

Gone is the D3100 that was tucked in there, I gave that away to a friend a couple of months ago after getting the D810. The D7000 now becomes the all reliable “yes you have a camera in the car”! It’s had a sensor clean, and I’ve given it the small backpack I was using as I’ve recently purchased a new manfrotto pack with more room for the larger lenses I’ve gained over recent times. So it was a shuffle of camera, lenses, cards, batteries, flash, remotes, and other peripheral gear between small pack, vest for other gear, and some for the larger back.

The D600 got a sensor clean, it’s needed one for a while, but finding quality cleaning gear cheaply is not easy. However it came up magnificently again, and is shooting as it did when I bought it. Those who know about the D600 know it was notorious very quickly for a defect where lubricant collected on the sensor. I had hoped I’d bought from a batch where the problem had been “silently” fixed as Nikon seems to be somewhat fond of doing in recent times. But in the last couple of months it seemed not so at some point it was going to require regular cleaning. I’ll see how it goes, it’s still a great camera despite this manufacturing defect. I took a chance, I was aware of the issue, and it seemed like as time went on your chances of getting one that didn’t have the issue seemed better. But that’s the crumbling cookie as they say. Anyway after the clean I had just enough light to run a quick test of the Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8 and see what I was paying for in a big way.

And the attached Tiggakat is a nice start.