Holidays! (Blog won't be updated for a while)

Travel Essentials

After what seems like ages, we are finally heading off on holiday. We leave for Europe in a couple of days and needless to say we are really looking forward to it. Apart from a new circular polariser and an extra 8GB memory card, I've not bought any new equipment for the trip. I've got an extensive shot list and if I manage to get half the shots I'm after, I'll be happy.

Unfortunately while I'm away I will not be able to update the blog. I will get back to it as soon as I return. Last time I was away I got back with around 70GB of images. I have a feeling I'll exceed that this time and as a result have a whole heap more to share here.

Read on for lighting information for the shot above.

The lighting for the shot was actually pretty straight forward. I fired a Canon 430 EX, gelled with a full CTO, from just behind the camera at 1/8th. It was fired into a white foam core board placed just out of frame on the left hand side of the image. The entire shot was lit with light bounced off the foam core board.

If I was to take this shot again, I would use a reflector (probably a piece of white A4 paper!)  to light the area below the lens. I think that part of the image is a bit too dark. I'd have to place the piece of paper just out of the frame on the bottom right hand corner of the frame. The area would still be relatively dark but more detail will be visible.

Scrabble

Scrabble board lit with a single light from three angles

This is a technique which I've used on a number of occasions when I need to light something from multiple angles with a single strobe. I've covered it in an article for digital photography school sometime ago. The post is still available online at http://digital-photography-school.com/making-the-most-of-one-flash-case-study . More info after the jump.

The first step of the process is to capture the "base" image. As seen below, the base image is evenly lit (in this case by bouncing the flash off the ceiling). Whatever appears in shadow in  this image, will be in shadow in the final image as well.

Base exposure used to produce the final image above

The "key light" images have to be captured next. In these images, a strobe is used to emphasise certain areas of the image. Typically a snoot or gobo will be used to control the direction of the light. The first key light image was captured to emphasise the tiles. A snoot was used to control the spill light here.

Key light image used to emphasise the tiles

The second key light image was captured to light up the area under the bag. Again, a snooted strobe was used to control the spill.

Key light used to emphasise the area below the bag

Once the image have been captured, I used a star trail action to merge the images. The end result is the image at the top of the post.

A tripod has to be used to make sure the camera doesn't move between shots. This ensures you avoid problems with merging the images during post processing.

This technique can only be used to photograph stationary objects.

Rose Ringed Parakeet

A Rose ringed Parakeet photographed in Colombo, Sri Lanka

Of all the parakeets found in Sri Lanka, the Rose ringed Parakeet is by far the most common in the lowlands. A flock of about ten birds visit our garden twice a day to feed on the fruit trees and whatever is left out on the bird tray. More images and info after the jump.

A Rose ringed Parakeet photographed in Colombo, Sri Lanka

Interestingly, this bird is one of the few birds that are not protected. They are actually considered to be an agricultural pest (more info on this here). They have been able to establish feral populations in a number of European cities as well as South Africa and India. Most of these populations have been established by introduced birds as well as escaped pets. Unfortunately these birds are still popular as pets in Sri Lanka.

A Rose ringed Parakeet photographed in Colombo, Sri Lanka

All the images in this post were captured with a Canon 7D and the 100-400mm lens. I didn't have to zoom in to 400mm to capture these images as the birds let me get quite close to them.

A Rose ringed Parakeet photographed in Colombo, Sri Lanka

More info and images of this bird at

• http://devwijewardane.blogspot.com/2009/10/rose-ringed-parakeet.html

Somersby Falls - Part II

The Main Waterfall - Somersby Falls, Australia

The Somersby Falls picnic area in the Brisbane Waters national park, on the central coast of New South Wales, is the starting point of a short walk along Mooney Mooney Creek. A number of decent sized waterfalls are within a ten or twenty minute walk from the picnic area. The first, and most impressive, of these is the waterfall pictured above. More images and info after the jump.

A Closeup of the main waterfall - Somersby Falls, Australia

One of the most interesting compositional elements of the main waterfall, in my opinion, is the branch which extends across the water fall from the left of the frame (shown in the image above). I think it helps convey a sense of depth in the  images of the waterfall.

A section of the lower falls - Somersby Falls, Australia

The drop of the second fall is not as big as the main waterfall but the rocks, moss and leaves make for some interesting compositions. I didn't have any ND filters on this trip and had to rely on an aperture of f22 to get  a suitable shutter speed required to capture the silky feel of flowing water. We got there quite early in the morning and fortunately the sun wasn't too harsh at the time.

The main waterfall - Somersby Falls, Australia

The wet moss and ferns growing on the rocks along the creek add a lot of colour and interest to the images of the creek. The fact that the area is very rocky allows photographers to capture interesting compositions of small sections of the falls themselves.

A section of the main waterfall - Somersby Falls, Australia

Somersby Falls is only around an hours drive on the F3 from our place in Sydney. I've been up there on three occasions already and will definitely head up there again. It's probably best to visit in late July or early August as the winter rain would ensure a decent amount of water flowing through the creek.

A section of the main waterfall - Somersby Falls, Australia

All images on this post were captured using a Canon 7D and the 24-105mm lens. The aperture was set to f22 and the ISO of 100 for all the images on this post.

More images of Somersby Falls

• http://devwijewardane.blogspot.com/2010/08/somersby-falls-part-i.html
• http://devwijewardane.blogspot.com/2009/09/somersby-falls.html

Somersby Falls - Part I

Somersby Falls - Brisbane Waters National Park

I've visited Somersby falls on two previous occasions and spent a fair bit of time photographing the three waterfalls. I went up there again last Sunday with Dean Toh and spent a couple of hours wondering around, photographing the different sections of the falls. The panorama above was one of the highlights of the day.  More info on this shot after the jump.

*The panorama was created using ten images.

In order to create a panorama which is made up of multiple images, a tripod is essential. Ideally the images would be shot in "manual" mode so that each of them are captured with identical settings. When capturing the images it is also important to ensure that there is a substantial overlap between adjacent images. This makes it easier to identify control points between them. These control points are used during the stitching processes.

During post processing I double check all the settings paying particular attention to the colour balance, fill light and blacks. All settings have to be identical across all images to ensure the final panorama is smooth. Stitching the images together is straightforward process and can be completed in any image processing software.

This image has to be viewed large for the details to really stand out. The final image was jpeg file which was over 10MB in size.

The images were captured using a Canon 7D and a Canon 24-105mm lens.

Other Shots of Somersby Falls

• http://devwijewardane.blogspot.com/2009/09/somersby-falls.html
• http://devwijewardane.blogspot.com/2010/08/somersby-falls-part-ii.html

Cherries - A second take

Cherries!

We picked up some fresh Cherries during the weekly grocery run and I decided to get a few images of them before they disappeared. I've been playing around with off camera flash for sometime and took the opportunity to experiment a bit more. I photographed some cherries a while ago and really liked the rich   shades of red on the fruit. I was hoping to light them in a way which accentuates the colour and texture of the cherries and I'm pretty happy with the results. Read on for more info and the setup shot.

The lighting setup for the image above

I used a Canon 430EXII as the main light source for this shot and fired it into a reflective umbrella at 1/32. I used a reflective umbrella as I wanted to light a section of the image evenly and didn't want too much light to spill onto the glass. The umbrella was half closed to control the spill. If I fired the strobe directly onto the Cherries, the light would have been too harsh. In order to get warm light I used a Full CTO gel on the flash. In hindsight (which is always a bit of a bitch...) I should have used a 1/2 CTO gel instead.

A sheet of glass was placed under the Cherries to create a reflection. 

The pile of Cherries to the left were about 4 - 6 inches behind the main subject so that they would be out of focus but add a layer of interest to the image and give it some context. I used a few tea light holders (which were around a foot behind the subject) to create some "home made bokeh" and balance out the composition.

The shot was captured at a shutter speed of 1/30th of a second and an aperture of f/2.5. I used a slow shutter speed to allow the ambient to burn in a little and light the image a bit more evenly. If I wanted to use a faster shutter speed, I could have used a reflector on the right of the subject to achieve the same result.

This shot was captured with a Canon 7D and the Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens.

Asian Openbill

An Asian Openbill photographed in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

According to "Birds of Sri Lanka" the Asian Openbill is the commonest widespread stork throughout the lowlands. It can often be seen in marshes, tanks (man made lakes) and paddy fields. The image above was captured on the banks of the Tissa wewa in Anuradhapura.  More info after the jump.

The gap in the birds mandibles, which give rise to its name, are not obvious to the naked eye unless the bird is side on (as in the image above). Although the bird is almost always found in small flocks, I only saw this single Openbill when I photographed it. The adult Openbill in breeding plumage (black and pure white) bears quite a resemblance to the White Stork, but its black tail and brownish-black bill can be used to identify it. Interestingly the White Stork and the Asian Openbill have identical underwing patterns. Non breeding adults and juveniles are grey in colour.

The Asian Openbill is a soaring bird which relies on moving between thermals of hot air for sustained flight. Like most Storks, it flies with its neck outstretched. it is said to feed on frogs, large insects and molluscs.  Its range extends through South and Southeast Asia.

I managed to capture a number of images of the bird in flight but unfortunately they were taken at midday and the sky was over exposed. There's always next time I guess.

These images were captured with a Canon 7D and the Canon 100-400mm lens. 

Kiwi Fruit

Back lit Kiwi Fruit

I was playing around with the flash over the weekend when I composed this image. I wanted to capture an image of backlit slices of Kiwi fruit on a black background to highlight the "furry" exterior of the fruit while capturing its green insides. Read on for lighting information.

I placed the slices of Kiwi fruit on a piece of glass which was suspended across two chairs. I lit it with a Canon 430EX shot at 1/64 from under the piece of glass (not directly under, it was just out of the bottom of the frame in the shot above). The differences in the shade of green on the slices was caused by the thickness of the slices themselves.

I could have shot the flash through a sheet of white A4 paper to make the light source appear larger and create a white background but I wanted to go for the black background and back light the fuzzy exterior of the fruit.

I'm not sure about this image to be honest. what do you guys think?

It was shot with a canon 24-105mm lens mounted on a Canon 7D. No Tripod was used.