Gethin Hill .net - Random Ramblings

In preparation for my upcoming trip to Nepal and Thailand in about a week’s time, i needed to get LOTS of storage space for photos. There’s a lot of different options out there, and i think i looked at them all. Options including Compact Flash Cards, Portable Storage Devices, External Hard Drives and USB bridges. Also, to make things more difficult, i wanted to be able to have not just 1 backup, but 2 for peace of mind.. And, no, i didn’t want to lug a laptop with me.

I ended up getting the Vosonic 8860 and the Nexto 2700 Portable Storage Devices.

Nexto 2700 and Vosonic 8860

Vosonic 8860 and Nexto 2700

If you want to know why i got these particular models, and how i came to that decision, then keep on reading!!

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I’ve finally gotten around to sorting some of my images and uploading them to my gallery.
These were from a visit to Lone Pine Koala (and other wildlife) Sanctuary. Not too much processing was done before upload. Basic cropping if needed, sharpening and resizing generally. A fantastic place to visit for a day if you’ve never been and are around the Brisbane area.

You can see more in the full post or check out the Photo Gallery.

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Well i’ve decided to do a quick write-up for one of the new toys for my camera i recently bought. It’s the Phottix dSLR Timer Remote.

The Phottix Timer Remote

This remote control allows you to do time-lapse photography, and also allows you easier and more precise control with long exposures (bulb).  It also functions as a basic remote if you want to keep your hands off the camera while shooting from a tripod.

There is an official Canon Timer Remote, the TC-80N3, however it costs a lot more and the input plug would need to be modified to fit with my EOS 400d/Rebel XTi,  so i decided to try this 3rd party one out. I scored it from Ebay for about $55AU including postage. I’m pretty sure there are versions available for other non-Canon users too.

My initial impressions out of the box were that it was quite large, larger than i expected (see photo with it in hand further in post), however this really doesn’t bother me as it’s a comfortable size to hold, and not easy to lose.  It’s made out of plastic but seems to be quite well built and solid, but not overly heavy, even with batteries inside. Also, it wasn’t long before i realised there’s no way to turn off the device! A strange feature exclusion i thought, but ah well, not a major hassle by any means.

But enough about how it looks, how does it work and how does it perform i hear you asking..  Well keep reading..

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just a quick note about an upcoming game that i heard about a little while back.

It’s called Afrika and is a safari game where you are a photographer and are given various missions to go and capture specific shots throughout the wide open land of ‘Afrika’. It will take advantage of the PS3’s sixaxis motion controlled controller, where if you aren’t holding it steady, it will show in the photo results, just like in real life.  Better photo’s will earn better cash, allowing you to upgrade your camera equipment.

Sony’s camera division have worked closely with Rhino Studios (the makers of the game) to incorporate the Sony Alpha series of dSLR cameras into the game in detail, down to shutter sound and lens operation.

National Geographic have also been involved in the project, with editors of the magazine supervising the in-game animal antics such as behavior and animations, and also allowing use of their videos and photos for the in-game animal encyclopedia.

This is one game I’m definitely looking forward to checking out.. Should be great for those video gaming photographers stuck indoors when the weathers bad.. and who hasn’t wanted to go on an African safari!

it’s released on the 28th of this month (August) in Japan, not sure about when for the rest of the world. here’s a video with the trailers.

Last Friday night, the 17th of July was the annual Battle City break battles, held in Brisvegas. The talent on display from the b-boy’s and b-girl’s was out of this world. My mind was blown..
It was a fantastic night of crazy dance moves, in ya face attitudes, and a lot of fun!! These guys and girls are amazing athletes.

I took this display of awesome moves as an opportunity to attempt some low light action photography and see if i could capture any of the impressive dance moves. Unfortunately, my current equipment struggles under these difficult conditions, but i did what i could, eventually needing to work my way through to the front to get some decent shots.

Before next years Battle City, i’ll definately be purchasing a better lens for these types of conditions.. most likely the Canon 50mm f1.8 mkII which is one of the cheaper priced Canon lenses available.
Tip: The key to photography in these kinds of conditions is being able to let as much ambient light into the lens quickly as possible so you can use a faster shutter speed to freeze the action. A couple of ways to do this is by using a low aperture, ie f1.8 or by raising the ISO, ie ISO 800 or so.)

I experimented with various setting until i found some that seemed to be working as well as my equipment allowed. I ended up with ISO 800, daylight white balance, and using shutter priority of about 1/50th of a second to allow me to hopefully freeze the action and get a clear, relatively non-blurry shot while still letting in enough light to show up in these dark conditions. (more…)

I went for a walk one early morning during the week, with camera ready, to see what was out and about to photograph. I walked along the bike-track near where i live, one of my favorite local spots to walk and photograph birds.. conveniently close is always nice.
Tip: Always try and find time to explore your local area.. you might be suprised at what you find to photograph, and may not need to venture too far for good photo subjects.

This particular area near me is a mix of grasslands and wetlands, with a creek/inlet/outlet running out to the sea (Moreton Bay).. this makes for an interesting mix of birds from all sorts of different habitats to be seen, and if i’m lucky, photograph. See attached photo below for a pic of the landscape.

(Post-process method - photoshopped out a couple of annoying lamp posts using healing brush, slight saturation adjustment, slight blue gradient to sky, sharpened, resized)

I saw several species of birds while walking… this is usually the case at this location, especially if you have some patience and hang around long enough.
Tip: If theres not a lot of wildlife action around to photograph, sometimes being patient and waiting for the wildlife to come to you can be just as rewarding as walking in search, not to mention a lot less tiring.

Some i managed to photograph are attached in the rest of the post. Keep reading if you want to see them.. (more…)

I’ve got a lot of sorting and post-processing that i’ve been slack with, so i thought i’d better get onto some of it and see what i’ve got that might be ok to add to my slow growing gallery.

I’ve found a couple that i took a month ago, on the 13th of June, on a day trip out to where i grew up for a couple of years during my childhood, Shornecliffe and Sandgate

For these shots, i thought i’d try a couple of new post-processing techniques that i’ve never used before.

The shot of the pier was turned into a High Dynamic Range Image (HDRI) from a single RAW file. I’ve never done this before.. not with any success anyway, however, i didn’t mind how it came out with this Sangate Pier photo.

The second image was turned into a High Dynamic Range Image (HDRI) in my most common way.. via 3 different exposures combined together.  However, what i did differently with this image, that i’ve never tried before, was attempt to simulate a blue gradient filter in the sky, digitally using Photoshop.

I’ll explain my techniques and the software i use in more detail some time soon.