Friday, April 30, 2010

More Main Range Waterfalls


More Main Range Waterfalls
Originally uploaded by jezza323
I can't remember the name of this waterfall. There is a lookout to view it on the downhill run from Queen Mary Falls to Kilarney.

This is just a CPL filter shot this time, but closed the aperture right down, turned Shake Reduction (IS/VR/OS whatever your manufacturer of choice calls it) and snapped away about 7 handheld shots at 0.5s exposure. This was the sharpest, and i think its pretty damn good!

Taken with Pentax K200D, Pentax SMC DA 18-55 AL II lens and Kenko CPL filter.

Processed in Lightroom 2.5, minor adjustments only.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Queen Mary Falls


Queen Mary Falls
Originally uploaded by jezza323
This is Queen Mary Falls itself, in the Main Range National Park (at the very southern end).

Its a 2km loop walk to the bottom of the falls from the carpark and back, little steep at the beginning going down, but not too bad. I wandered down with my camera gear and tripod.

This is the very first shot i ever took with the Hoya NDX400 filter (once I had worked out the exposure). I have found with my body I need to set exposure compensation to +2.0 just to get the correct exposure when using the NDX400 filter. This isnt a real problem as generally I will be wanting to use exposures longer than 30 secs anyway, which means ill be into bulb mode territory.

This was shot using the Pentax K200D, Pentax SMC DA 18-55 AL II kit lens, Hoya NDX400 filter and Slik 500DX Pro tripod. It was processed in Lightroom 2.5 but I can't quite remember what I did with it...

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Hillside Sunset


Hillside Sunset
Originally uploaded by jezza323
This is the 2nd shot processed from my camping weekend. It is a Hoya R72 infrared shot on my K200D body, with the kit 18-55 lens.

I took this from our campsite, looking over the neighbouring paddock as the sun set. I first took a couple of shots with a 30 sec shutter speed to get the exposure correct. I then adjusted the aperture and calculated the shutter speed that would be required to maintain the same exposure level, set the camera on bulb and took the shot.

This shot was a 134 sec exposure time, i was aiming for around 2 mins, but i lost count near the end, but it still came out fine. It was shot at f13.0, ISO 100.

It was processed in Lightroom 2.5, cropped to 16x9 and straightened slightly (i used the trees as a guide for where up is), white balance adjustment, converted to greyscale and had a contrast adjustment.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Hoya NDX400 (ND400) filter

I have finally given in and bought myself a good quality ND filter. I went with the Hoya NDX400 (9-stop) filter. I bought this filter as the only 2 filters I am confident of the quality with are this, and the B+W 110 (10-stop) filter, but the B+W in the 52mm size required for my kit lens is quite a bit more expensive than the Hoya. I bought the filter from Citiwide on ebay. They are a Hong Kong based ebay store, and the service was excellent. The filter was shipped the very next day after payment was made. It did take a little while to get here from Hong Kong, but I expected that.

I took the filter out for its first real use on the weekend when I went camping at Queen Mary Falls, not far from Killarney on the Darling Downs in Queensland. I took a few shots of the falls, starting off without the filter, then with the filter for a comparison. I will post up the results tomorrow. Its a beautiful area, and I will be posting a number of shots from around there over the next week or so, the previous photo of the Condamine River Head Waters is the first posted shot from the NDX400 filter, so I will post it again, just to make sure.


This filter certainly puts the cheap one I had previously to shame :) The colours are only slightly warmer than usual, but this might just be a white balance detection problem with the filter on more than colours themselves.

Condamine River Head Waters


Condamine River Head Waters
Originally uploaded by jezza323
This is the head waters of the Condamine River, from here its nearly 3000 km journey to the sea, which it flows into near Adelaide in South Australia.

Taken with Pentax K200D, Pentax SMC DA 18-55 AL II, Hoya NDX400 filter and Slik 500DX Pro tripod. The shot was taken under a slightly cloudy sky around 10am, so it was not all that dark, with the NDX400 filter, ISO 100 and using an aperture of f-9.0 I was able to use a shutter speed of 30 secs to get a nice exposure. It took me a few goes to get the exposure spot on.

Processed in Lightroom 2.5, cropped, minor adjustments to levels.

I hope someone is noticing my obsession with 16x9 crops atm, loving them!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Sun on the Rocks and Trees


Sun on the Rocks and Trees
Originally uploaded by jezza323
3rd of the infrared shots from Sundays photo trip. This is with the sun to my back, coming up over the hill behind me. Looking out at the dead trees across Lake Moogerah. It took me about 3 goes to get the exposure right on this but it was worth it, although i was getting a bit worried the sun would come over the top of the hill and ruin it before i got it

This is probably the best shot of the day, at least i think so!

I took this with the Pentax K200D, Pentax SMC DA 18-55 AL II kit lens, Slik 500DX Pro tripod, remote cable release and of course the Hoya R72 infrared filter.

Processed in Lightroom 2.5, cropped, white balance adjustment and greyscale conversion. Also a slight bump in contrast.

A Roll In A Field


A Roll In A Field
Originally uploaded by jezza323
My friend and i spotted this paddock of hay bales on the side of the highway on the way back from our early morning shoot at Lake Moogerah. I've always wanted to shoot something like this, so it was great to get the opportunity.

Taken with the Pentax K200D, Pentax SMC DA 18-55 AL II lens, Hoya R72 filter and Slik 500DX Pro tripod. I handheld the shutter on this bulb, almost 3 mins!

Processed in Lightroom 2.5, adjusted white balanced, converted to greyscale, and minor contrast adjustment.

Monday, April 19, 2010

The Sun is Coming


The Sun is Coming
Originally uploaded by jezza323
The first of many shots I will be posting from my Sunday morning trip to Lake Moogerah for sunrise. This was a 71 sec exposure, taken pre-sunrise, using the Pentax K200D, Pentax SMC DA 18-55 AL II, Hoya R72 infrared filter and Slik 500DX Pro tripod.

It was shot in RAW (PEF) and I processed it using Lightroom 2.5, changed white balance (need to for infrared shots), and converted to greyscale, that was about all!

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Suncorp Building, Ann St Brisbane



Originally uploaded by jezza323
This is a quick one I took at lunchtime yesterday from Ann St. Taken with the Pentax K200D body, and Pentacon 30mm f3.5 M42 lens @ f9.5.

Processed with Lightroom 2.5, converted to greyscale and bumped contrast and clarity.

Lake Moogerah Sunrise in IR


Lake Moogerah Sunrise R72
Originally uploaded by jezza323
Here is another case of using my Hoya R72 infrared filter for a daytime long exposure black and white shot. This was shortly after sunrise during my camping trip to Lake Moogerah a few weeks back.

The long exposure gives the clouds the nice blanket effect, and the patch of sunlight gives a nice IR effect, but the lack of light on the hills/mountains means they do appear a bit flat.