Month: August 2015

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
GoalsTripod
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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.