David James Photography

Dawn 01/01/2012

2011-12-31T19:15:00.001-08:00

Dawn 01/01/2012, a photo by greenplasticdave on Flickr.

Pt. Cartwright

2011-09-28T01:30:00.001-07:00

Pt. Cartwright, a photo by greenplasticdave on Flickr.

It was a very high tide on this morning. I was standing right up by the cliff and still had water coming up over my feet.

Single RAW file processed in DPHDR and a curve layer in photoshop.

Canon EOS 5d MkII, 17-40mm EF lens, 0.9 Lee hard grad

Good ol' Dicky

2011-09-28T01:29:00.001-07:00

Good ol' Dicky, a photo by greenplasticdave on Flickr.

Done a lot but I love visiting here whenever I am on the Sunshine Coast.

single RAW exposure ran through DPHDR for some colour then a multiply curve layer in PS for some contrast :)

Canon EOS 5D MkII, 17-40mm EF lens, Lee 0.9 hard grad

Cesar and Natalie Engagement shoot

2011-07-30T17:09:00.000-07:00

Natalie and Cesar chose to do their engagement shoot in the area where the eventual wedding photos would be done. These photos were taken in Maleny on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. Natalie and Cesar were a joy to work with at all times. Full of energy which makes my job a lot easier :)

Glass House Trails

2011-07-18T05:23:00.001-07:00

Glass House Trails, a photo by greenplasticdave on Flickr.

I picked up an intervalometer off of eBay and got to try it out up at Maleny last week. This is 20, 4 minute exposures at f/4, ISO-200. It was frickin' freezin'!

Canon EOS 5D MkII, 17-40mm EF L Lens

First sunrise as an Aussie. Thank you, Australia

2011-06-04T20:01:00.001-07:00

First sunrise as an Aussie. Thank you, Australia, a photo by greenplasticdave on Flickr.

I took the Citizenship pledge yesterday and officially became an Australian Citizen. I haven't revoked my British Citizenship but now have dual :)

This was shot this morning out at Nudgee Beach, a great place at low tide with plenty of reflections to be had.

Stitched in CS5 from three vertically oriented shots.

Canon EOS 40D, Sigma 10-20mm lens, Lee 0.9 hard grad.

buy it, use it, break it, fix it, trash it, change it, mail, upgrade it

2011-05-28T19:04:00.001-07:00

buy it, use it, break it, fix it, trash it, change it, mail, upgrade it, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

My imagination has come up short for ANOTHER title for a Shorncliffe shot so thid title comes from the song I was listening to as I processed it.

Three shot RAW HDR -2 0 +2 imported into ACR for white balance tweaking and other editing then combined using Adobe's HDR function in CS5. Some layer adjustments to bring out the colour a bit stronger.

Canon EOS 40D, Sigma 10-20mm lens.

Westminster Cathedral

2011-05-20T04:17:00.001-07:00

Westminster Cathedral, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Buachaille Etive Mor

2011-05-19T02:59:00.001-07:00

Buachaille Etive Mor, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Falls of Falloch

2011-05-14T03:37:00.001-07:00

Falls of Falloch, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

A shot from a few years ago during a trip to my home country, Scotland. The Falls of Falloch is well worth a visit if you're driving from Loch Lomond to Fort William and is only a short 500m walk from the car park.

Canon EOS 40D, Sigma 10-20mm.

Flash!

2011-05-08T05:09:00.001-07:00

Flash!, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

I used a flash here held off to my left fired a few times during the exposure to light up the railings :)

Canon EOS 40D, Sigma 10-20mm lens, Lee 0.9 hard grad, 450EXII

Moreton stars

2011-04-24T16:58:00.001-07:00

Moreton stars, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Being out on Moreton Island the skies were subject to less light polution than the mainland so I tried a quick 30 minute star trail.

Stacked 30 second esposures.

Canon EOS 40D, Sigma 10-20mm

Wrecked!

2011-04-20T02:15:00.001-07:00

Wrecked!, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

The remains of the Kallatina, scuttled at Bulwer on Moreton Island in 1931.

Canon EOS 40D, Sigma 10-20mm, Lee 0.9 hard grad

Stick with it

2011-04-20T02:14:00.001-07:00

Stick with it, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Comboyuro Point, Moreton Island.

Canon EOS 40D, Sigma 10-20mm lens, Lee 0.9 hard grad

Comboyuro Point, Moreton Island

2011-04-16T06:14:00.001-07:00

Comboyuro Point, Moreton Island, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

I've spent the last four days on the beautiful Moreton Island for work ( It's a hard life I know) I was treated to spectacular sunrise/sunsets most days. This was taken near the north end of the island looking back over towards the mainland. If you look at it large you can see the Glass house Mountains just right of the setting sun.

Canon EOS 40D, Sigma 10-20mm, 0.9 hard grad.

Buderim Forest Park

2011-03-31T03:31:00.001-07:00

Buderim Forest Park, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

I'm torn on this one. I like the lead-in with the underwater hollows, rock then waterfall but a part of me dislikes the blurryness of the foreground due to the fact it's under the water's surface. What do you think?

Canon EOS 40D, Sigma 10-20mm

Flinders' Street Station, Melbourne

2011-03-30T01:59:00.001-07:00

Flinders' Street Station, Melbourne, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

We visited Melbourne over the weekend, not for the Grand Prix (I didn't even know it was on) but because we got some cheap return fares :) It was my first time visiting there and must say I did enjoy all the decadent foodie places :) I would like to have gotten to this spot a little earlier before the sky became completely black...ah well :)

Buderim Forest Park

2011-01-23T03:06:00.001-08:00

Buderim Forest Park, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

The day Nudgee Beach said "Right. Lets do this!"

2011-01-12T04:10:00.001-08:00

The day Nudgee Beach said "Right. Lets do this!", originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Still plumbing the depths of my archive of shots from last year. When I originally posted shots from this shoot I put up a pano but now I think I prefer this single frame image.

Canon EOS 40D, Sigma 10-20mm. HDR [-2,0,+2] processed in DPHDR.

Place of ducks

2011-01-08T20:33:00.001-08:00

Place of ducks, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Nudgee Beach. I'm fascinated by the swarms of little blue crabs around here at low tide, they avoid people incredibly well. If you get too close they burrow under the sand :)

I read today that the word 'Nudgee' is a corruption of the Aboriginal word meaning 'place of ducks'.

Canon EOS 40D, Sigma 10-20mm, Lee 0.9 hard grad, Gorillapod.

On the down-low

2010-12-29T18:32:00.001-08:00

On the down-low, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

It feels like ages since I've been out to do a sunrise shoot and since there was a forecast break in the poor weather we've been having I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get out there.

I can't attach my camera to the tripod without the centre column inserted so there is a limit to how low to the ground I can get using it. I wanted to get REALLY low here so whipped out the trusty gorillapod so I could get a few cms off the ground. Had to kneel with my elbows in the sand and everything :)

Canon EOS 40D, Sigma 10-20mm, Lee 0.9 hard grad.

Processed in DPHDR from a single RAW file.

Magic Kingdom

2010-12-23T20:26:00.001-08:00

Magic Kingdom, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

I used a ND filter and an aperture of f/22 so I could leave the shutter open longer and capture more explosions :)

Canon EOS 40D, Sigma 10-20mm lens, Lee 0.9ND filter.

Burleigh heads

2010-11-12T02:58:00.001-08:00

Burleigh heads, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Damn, those boulders make settling the tripod a challenge.

Canon EOS 40D, Sigma 10-20mm, Lee 0.9 hard grad

I've just opened this photo in IE using my work laptop and it looks terrible. Oversaturated and bands of colour in the sky. Let me know if you experience similar.

Arthur the Squirrel

2010-10-04T00:48:00.001-07:00

Arthur the Squirrel, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

A classic shot :)

Disneyland 17/09/2010

2010-09-27T18:44:00.001-07:00

Disneyland 17/09/2010, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

After seeing how pointless it was to arrive late on Friday night I endeavored to get to this spot in plenty of time yesterday night. As soon as the parade was over I pounced on my spot and defended it for three hours. I was quite surprised (annoyed) that although the area in front of the castle is out of bounds for safety reasons, people can still walk past between that area and where everyone was waiting patiently for the fireworks to begin. Consequently I have a LOT of shots with ghostly looking people wandering across the image.

My final image here is a manual blend of two shots. One taken during the display and the other for the foreground that I took AFTER the show when I was able to get a bit closer and avoid all the passersby.

Canon EOS 40D, Sigma 10-20mm.

The engagement of Lauren and Jeff

2010-08-14T22:03:00.001-07:00

First strobist upload, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

I did some engagement photos for a friend at work.

Canon EOS 40D, Sigma 10-20mm lens.

Strobist: Canon 430EX II camera left, half power. Triggered with Cactus remote.

J.C. Slaughter Falls

2010-08-13T16:12:00.001-07:00

J.C. Slaughter Falls, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

After all the rain last night and this morning I headed up to Mt Coot Tha (as I have the day off) for some waterfall shooting :)

Canon EOS 40D, sigma 10-20mm lens, el-cheapo polarizer.

Whoooosh!

2010-07-29T02:27:00.000-07:00

I had a client shoot on King's Beach today on Queensland's Sunshine Coast so I decided to drive up early for a chance to shoot a sunrise at Dicky Beach.

It was a high-ish tide, though still not coming in over the whole wreck, only the lower half and It's a shame the sunrise didn't put on a better display for me but still, I'm quite happy with the streaky wave action. These streaks are actually from a receding wave and you can see the next wave starting to come in at the tip of the old iron hull. I recently made the leap to Lee filters and am really glad I did. The holder has a great build quality and the filters themselves offer beautiful clarity to your image.

After a good hour here I still had two hours until the client shoot so I trekked off to Buderim Forest Park to grab some shots of Serenity Falls. The overcast sky would be perfect for some waterfall photography. I don't have a neutral density filter to fit my Lee holder yet (or a polarizer ) but I could slide my grad all the way over the lens to give the same effect. When I moved under this rock overhang I slid the grad back out partway and turned it on its side to darken the right side of the frame. A soft grad would have been better but the hard grad has worked well enough :)

I would have liked to spend more time at the falls but it started to rain and I had to get back to the beach for the shoot.

Taken with a Canon EOS 40D, Sigma 10-20mm lens and Lee 0.9 hard grad.

www.davidjamesweddings.com
http://www.redbubble.com/people/davidburrows/art/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32491696@N00/

Firey skies

2010-06-28T20:50:00.001-07:00

Firey skies, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Very low tide this morning. Taken on a Canon EOS 40D and Sigma 10-20mm. HDR [-2,0,+2]

To answer any post processing questions, here's what I do. I've gathered this workflow after reading what other do and trying some things of my own.

1 - Open one of the three bracketed exposures in Canon DPP and adjust for white balance. I usually bring the contrast right down as well, sharpen and apply the landscape preset.

2 - Copy that 'recipe' then apply it to the other two bracketed images then run a batch process to output three TIFF files.

3 - Open these TIFF files in Dynamic Photo HDR and play around with the settings to get something I like. On this one I used the 'eyecatching' preset and fiddled around with the options a bit there. Be careful to avoid the 'haloing' effect common to HDR (unless you are aiming for that) by being easy on the radius/light strength options. Save to a TIFF file.

4 - Open the new TIFF file in Photohsop. I'm using CS2 at the moment. I apply an s-curve layer set to 'multiply', 'soft' or 'hard' and then I adjust the opacity till I get something I like. Flatten image.

5 - If parts of the image are still not dark or light or saturated enough I open another layer and adjust the levels accordingly then apply a layer mask to reveal the adjusted sections. Flatten image.

6 - Noise Ninja if necessary. Sharpen. Save to JPEG.

I'm no Photoshop expert. There may be redundant steps. This is what works for me at my stage of learning.

Cheers

-Dave-

Nudgee Pan

2010-06-26T18:46:00.001-07:00

Nudgee Pan, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Six shot, HDR panorama [-2,0,+2] taken at Nudgee this morning.

Canon EOS 40D, Sigma 10-20mm.

Grill'd

2010-06-25T19:22:00.001-07:00

Grill'd, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

This morning out at Shorncliffe. The clouds looked a lot more promising when I arrived but grew thicker and thicker till the sun rose. I thought that if I waited till the sun had risen high enough then some light would peek through and illuminate these clouds here. The wait paid off :)

Taken with a Canon EOS 40D, Sigma 10-20mm and a 0.9 hard grad.

Point Arkwright

2010-06-17T02:28:00.001-07:00

Point Arkwright, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Taken at a mini-meetup with Camocarzi and Adam Randell. There was a chill wind blowing but it was a fun shoot, with a bit of dashing done on my behalf to get the 'good' sky. On either side of this colourful patch were thick grey clouds and a drab emptyness. T'was fun to find a nice comp as colour drained from the sky :P

Canon EOS 40D, Sigma 10-20mm and a 0.9 hard grad that really needs replacing :)

"The skyline was beautiful on fire..."

2010-06-04T16:19:00.001-07:00

"The skyline was beautiful on fire...", originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Some nice layered clouds formed in the sky this afternoon. As I left work I just knew I had to get out and shoot something. This was taken at a little pond in the 'Albany Creek Memorial Gardens and Cemetery'.

Shot with a Canon EOS 40D, Sigma 10-20mm and 0.9 hard grad.

The title is a quote from "The Dead Flag Bues" by Godspeed You Black Emperor!

Lake Windemere B&W

2010-05-21T19:28:00.001-07:00

Lake Windemere B&W, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Taken during our trip to the UK last year.

Shot with a Canon EOS 40D and Sigma 10-20mm lens. Straightened and cropped slightly. B&W conversion done with Silvereffex.

Clam up!

2010-05-18T00:07:00.001-07:00

Clam up!, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

I borrowed this huge shell that belonged to my wife's great grandfather and lugged it out to Nudgee Beach to use as foreground interest. Let me tell you, that thing is HEAVY. Must be about 10Kg easily.

Taken on a Canon EOS 40D, Sigma 10-20mm lens and a 0.9 hard grad. 30", f/11.

After the sun rose

2010-05-02T22:38:00.001-07:00

After the sun rose, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

There's something about that tree at Nudgee Beach that works so well :)

Three shot panorama taken on an Olympus C-7070 with a 0.9 hard grad.

Shorncliffe at high tide

2010-04-23T19:49:00.001-07:00

Shorncliffe at high tide, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

It was a very high tide this morning so I took advantage of this and explored the rocky shore beyond the pier at Shorncliffe.

Olympus C-7070, 0.9 hard grad.

Tangalooma

2010-04-19T04:26:00.001-07:00

Tangalooma, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Sometimes I love my job :)

6 shot pano of the beach and wrecks at Tangalooma on Moreton Island. On our final day on the island we drove back down the coast from Comboyuro Beach at almost high tide. The soft sand higher up the beach was tricky to navigate and sometimes we had no choice but to drive through the surf for a moment.

Shot on an Olympus C-7070 with a 0.9 hard grad.

Moreton Island

2010-04-17T05:25:00.001-07:00

Moreton Island, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

I got to spend 4 days on Moreton Island last week. It was my first time there and also my first experience driving on sand.

This shot was taken on an Olympus C-7070 with a 0.9 hard grad. There were lots of Blue Bottle jellyfish in the surf which I thought would have been a real problem but they weren't any trouble at all thankfully. The high wind was also a problem throwing sand and sea spray onto the camera.

High tide at Nudgee Beach

2010-04-10T02:37:00.001-07:00

High tide at Nudgee Beach, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Three shot panorama taken on an Olympus C-7070 with a 0.9 hard grad. Each exposure was 40 seconds long at f/8. Stitched in PTGui.

To take this I had to wade out pretty far into the water, almost waist high. I wanted to get the base of the trees as close to the horizon as possible so I needed to get the camera as low as it would go. Using the tripod I had the camera JUST above the water line. This was only possible due to the extremely gentle waves lapping at the tripod.

Dicky Beach

2010-04-05T05:19:00.001-07:00

Dicky Beach, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

We spent four days up on the Sunshine Coast for Easter. Heaps of photo-ops :)

6 shot pano taken on Friday morning. Taken using an Olympus C-7070 and 0.9 hard grad. Stitched using PTGui.

Point Cartwright

2010-03-31T03:39:00.001-07:00

Point Cartwright, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Another image from Saturday's sunrise shoot at Point Cartwright. I really love this location and can't wait to go back again. I wish I lived closer :)

Taken on an Olympus C-7070 using a 0.9 hard grad. Tone mapped in DPHDR from a single RAW file.

Point Arkwright

2010-03-30T03:24:00.001-07:00

Point Arkwright, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

During the night some thieves pinched our esky from the campsite :( We found it near the beach with its contents strewn about the bush and all the Caramello Koalas gone :( Two good sunrises in a row made up for it though. This was taken on Sunday morning near the southern carpark at Point Arkwright. Another great location and one I'll be keen to return to again.

Taken on an Olympus C-7070 using a 0.9 hard grad. 4 shot panorama stitched in PTGui.

Point Cartwright

2010-03-28T04:06:00.001-07:00

Point Cartwright, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

I really enjoyed my first visit to Point Cartwright, there's so much potential with all the rocks, waves and reflections.

Three shot panorama taken on an Olympus C-7070 using a .9 hard grad. Stitched in PTGui.

Nudgee Beach

2010-03-19T22:58:00.001-07:00

Nudgee Beach, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

A bit too cloudy for some really nice colour in the skies this morning but I got some nice streaky cloud action :)

4 shot panorama taken on an Olympus C7070. I had to use a polariser, two ND filters and a 0.9 grad to get enough cloud movement. Stitched in PTGui. Tone mapped in DPHDR.

And not a mozzie in sight :P

Just before the heavens opened

2010-03-14T03:52:00.001-07:00

Just before the heaven's opened, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Lake Samsonvale this evening just a few minutes before the sun went down. The weather had been changing dramatically all day and I was hoping for a nice sunset but it was not to be. Seconds after I took this shot a torrential downpour rolled in. I was only 20m from the car but I still got soaked :P

Three shot pano taken on an Olympus C7070. I used a Hoya ND filter, 0.9 and 0.6 grad to get a long enough shutter speed to smooth out the water. I tone mapped the images in DPHDR before stitching them in PTGui.

Lake Samsonvale

2010-03-11T00:09:00.001-08:00

Lake Samsonvale, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

I took a drive to Lake Samsonvale yesterday afternoon to catch the sunset.

This is a three shot pano shot in RAW format. I tone mapped each in DPHDR before stitching in PTGui.

Stormy Shorncliffe

2010-02-27T18:18:00.001-08:00

Stormy Shorncliffe, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Not long after this shot the clouds got really serious but there was just enough of a gap left to squeeze a little bit of sunlight through. I wanted to get really close to the old metal bars here so I resorted to my mini tripod and rested it as close as possible to the edge of the stone shelf. Seconds after this shot all the colour was gone and the rain appeared. Walking back to the shore I met a man walking his dog though to be more accurate he was 'swimming' his dog really. He walked along the pier and the dog SWAM along side, deeper and deeper into the water. I commented on his dogs determination. I doff my hat to you doggy swimmer :)

Taken on a Canon EOS 40D, Sigma 10-20mm and a 0.9 hard grad.

Pseudo HDR from one RAW file tone mapped in DPHDR.

Visit my Redbubble page

Cloudy Shorncliffe

2010-02-27T00:53:00.001-08:00

Cloudy Shorncliffe, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

The clouds this morning switched intermittently between thickly overcast and more like this before a storm rolled in right after the sun came up.

Taken on a Canon EOS 40D and Sigma 10-20mm lens. 0.9 hard grad used. 41 second exposure.

Chalahn Falls

2010-02-26T01:20:00.001-08:00

Chalahn Falls, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Another from last weekend's trek through the rainforest. I was getting pretty sick of walking by this point and turned back to the campsite after taking this shot. Further down the trail though is Toolona falls which
I've visited before thoguh isn't as photogenic as Chalahn :)

Taken on a Canon EOS 40D and Sigma 10-20mm lens.

Elabana Falls

2010-02-22T02:31:00.001-08:00

Elabana Falls, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Camped up at O'Reilly's at the weelend. Outvoted on a trip to Mudkimba Beach which was going to be 'too wet' pah! We got rained on both days :(

Anyway after braving the 3k walk and leeches we made it to the falls. There was more water around the lower rocks than I'd seen here before (not pictured here) It made climbing up to the falls a little trickier than usual but I managed it and got a few shots while trying to keep the camera dry from the persistent drizzle.

Anyway...

Taken on a Canon EOS 40D and Sigma 10-20mm lens.

HDR from three shots [-2,0,+2]

Mosquitos-1, Me-1

2010-02-13T19:39:00.001-08:00

Mosquitos-1, Me-1, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Taken down at the old pier, Shorncliffe. I clambered down the rocks to water level to grab this shot. Taken with a Canon EOS 40D, 0.9 hard grad and a Sigma 10-20mm lens.

Wellington Point

2010-02-06T01:04:00.001-08:00

Wellington Point, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

After I arrived here this morning it started to rain lightly so I sheltered in my car for a while to see if it'd go off. It only started to get heavier. Sunrise was 5:22 and the rain didn't quit till 5:17. I JUST made it out in time to grab some colour in the clouds :)

Taken with a Canon EOS 40D and Sigma 10-20mm lens. 0.9 hard grad. Pseudo HDR from a single RAW image.

Nudgee Beach

2010-01-30T19:05:00.001-08:00

Nudgee Beach, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

There must have been some sort of meet-up arranged here this morning. When I turned up there were about ten other photogs there.

Taken on a Canon EOS 40D and Sigma 10-20mm lens. 0.9 Hard grad.

Ran it through DPHDR too for some pseudo HDR toning.

I really must try to get a different composition from Nudgee Beach :)

York Minster Chapter House

2010-01-27T03:55:00.001-08:00

York Minster Chapter House, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

The excellent Chapter House at York Minster. Taken on a Canon EOS 40D and Sigma 10-20mm lens using a Panosaurus tripod head. I used Hugin to stitch this and Dynamic Photo HDR for the dynamic range processing.

This one is definitely worth viewing in the interactive panorama.

Shorncliffe sunrise

2010-01-23T19:45:00.001-08:00

Shorncliffe sunrise, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Welcome back to Australia. My first sunrise since arriving back in the land down under :) I tried to get something a little different this time.

Taken on a Canon EOS 40D and Sigma 10-20mm lens (Love this lens BTW) 0.9 Hard drad. Pseudo HDR toning applied in DPHDR.

Saltwick Bay, Yorkshire.

2010-01-12T11:06:00.001-08:00

Saltwick Bay, Yorkshire., originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

A very cold and windy morning at Saltwick Bay in Yorkshire.

I got up at 7am to try and find this spot yesterday and after driving up and down Hawsker road three times I decided to head toward the holiday park and lo' there was the cliff overlooking the bay. I opened the car door and nearly had it wrenched from my hand by the wind. Leaving my camera bag in the car, I walked over to the cliff edge and looked down into the bay. This was the correct spot alright but how do I get down? I noticed off to my right a VERY narrow dirt track winding down the hill. Ah ha! So I grabbed my bag from the car and made for the start of the track to be greeted by a very comforting sign:

"This path is not maintained by the holiday park. Use at own risk. Path in a dangerous condition"

I love those signs. They remind me of the equally welcomingl:

"Road maintained by public donation"

...signs that I see in Australia.

Anyway, I took the path but decided to turn back after a few metres because the wind was INSANE!!! and I didn't fancy being BLOWN down to the bay.

With no photos taken that morning I was a little disappointed but resolved to go back the next day which is when I took the shot you see here. The conditions were a little better though the path was still a bit tricky and muddy. Tomorrow there will be some sunshine. Hear me, weather?

Taken on a Canon EOS 40D and Sigma 10-20mm lens.

HDR [-2,0+2]

Rushing in

2010-01-09T01:00:00.001-08:00

Rushing in, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

The problem with these shots is having to clean water off the filter(s) every few shots as the camera was only just above the water as it rushed in. This was taken just down on the shore at Largs, Scotland and using an itty bitty mini tripod to get REALLY low :)

Canon EOS 40D and Sigma 10-20mm.

Largs beach

2010-01-05T15:17:00.001-08:00

Largs beach, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Sunrise yesterday down at the beach in Largs, Scotland. The front of the lens was mere inches from the foreground rocks here so to maintain sharp focus to the background I shot each of my bracketed images at three different focal planes and put them together in CombineZM before running through DPHDR.

Taken on a Canon EOS 40D and Sigma 10-20mm lens.

Hogmanay fireworks, Edinburgh 2009

2010-01-02T05:41:00.001-08:00

Hogmanay fireworks, Edinburgh 2009, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Happy New Year everyone! :D :D

We had a great night yesterday starting with drinks at the hotel followed by a sumptuous dinner at The Witchery.

We left the Witchery at 11:45pm to find that the Royal Mile had been closed due to a gas leak. Now I had discovered earlier that I would not be allowed to stand and take photos at the top of the Mile directly infront of the Castle as that area was reserved for a private function inside. A friendly policeman told us that we would infact be able to stand there due to the inconvenience of the gas leak closing off most parts of the street. I was really excited at this news but when I rushed up to the spot some guards there informed our helpful policeman that we STILL were not allowed there. This left me with about 10 minutes to find a spot. My wife shouted at me "David, GO!" so I raced off down a flight of icy steps to the next street and raced along that to find this spot here in the photo. The Castle lighting was TURNED OFF when the fireworks started throwing the near side into darkness so to get this shot I've layered two different exposures, one where the Castle was illuminated by numerous bursts from above.

Taken on a Canon EOS 40D and Sigma 10-20mm lens.

Sunrise over River Clyde

2009-12-30T04:35:00.001-08:00

Sunrise over River Clyde, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Taken down at the shore, Wemyss Bay, Scotland.

Pseudo HDR from one RAW file. Processed in DPHDR. 0.9 Grad used for some movement in the water. The waves here were caused by the passing ferry enroute to the Isle of Bute. I waited on it passing three times to get a nice wave in the right place :)

Shot on a Canon EOS 40D and Sigma 10-20mm lens.

Kelburn Waterfall Pool

2009-12-28T05:29:00.001-08:00

Kelburn Waterfall Pool, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Christmas Eve at Kelburn Country Park, Scotland. Everything was closed but I was still able to get to this nice spot, icicles and all :)

HDR [-2,0,+2] Shot on a Canon EOS 40D and Sigma 10-20mm lens.

River Clyde

2009-12-26T08:40:00.001-08:00

River Clyde, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

We're on tour in Scotland right now and this shot was taken in the village of Wemyss Bay in Inverclyde. I had to get really low down and ended up sitting on the rocks as the waves rushed up near my feet.

Pseudo HDR from one RAW file. Taken on a Canon EOS 40D and Sigma 10-20mm lens.

Christchurch Cathedral, Oxford University

2009-12-18T11:23:00.001-08:00

Christchurch Cathedral, Oxford University, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

A 360 pano taken in Christchurch Cathedral at Oxfrod University.

The interactive version can be seen here

Big ol' cloud

2009-12-07T03:48:00.001-08:00

Big ol' cloud, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

This monster cloud/storm rolled in over Caloundra on Sunday while I was at a family bbq. I nipped out to Dicky Beach to see what opportunities there were.

HDR [-2,0,+2] panorama stitched with PTGui. HDR in DPHDR.

Taken on a Canon EOS 40D and Sigma 10-20mm.

my website
my blog
facebook
redbubble
twitter
imagekind

Beachmere swamp

2009-12-06T04:18:00.001-08:00

Beachmere swamp, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Does it classify as a swamp? I dunno it smelled pretty rank anyway. Taken during the recent S.E. Qld meetup at Beachmere.

HDR pano from three exposures [-2,0,+2] stitched in PTGui. HDR was done in DPHDR.

Taken on a Canon EOS 40D and Sigma 10-20mm.

my blog
facebook
redbubble
twitter
imagekind

Buachaille Etive Mor, Highlands of Scotland.

2009-12-02T21:32:00.001-08:00

Buachaille Etive Mor, Highlands of Scotland., originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Two shot HDR using Photomatix. This is a re-edit of a much older shot taken when I was using an Olympus C7070-WZ. I decided to revisit it to apply some of the things I've learned recently. Curves layer set to 'soft-light' applied in Photoshop. USM.

Please visit my links below. Redbubble and Imagekind are storefronts where you can purchase my original artwork. If you like my photos do consider making a purchase :)

my website
my blog
facebook
redbubble
twitter
imagekind

Sunrise down by the pond

2009-12-01T02:01:00.001-08:00

Sunrise down by the pond, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Sunday morning's sunrise down at the pond

HDR [-2,0,+2] panorama shot with a Canon EOS 40D and Sigma 10-20mm.

Stitched in PTGui, HDR with DPHDR.

St. John's Cathedral 360 pano

2009-11-30T17:31:00.001-08:00

St. John's Cathedral 360 pano, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

St. John's Cathedral 360 pano

I'll be visiting the UK in a few weeks and plan to visit many old Cathedrals while I'm there and give them the 360 treatment.

I've been tweaking my panosaurus this week for use with the Sigma 10-20mm and I think I got spot on now.

St John's is one of my favourite buildings in Brisbane. I can test the pano head at home but these surroundings are much nicer :)

HDR [-2,0,+2] in DPHDR and stitched in PTGui.

Taken on a Canon EOS 40D and Sigma 10-20mm.

Gold Coast star trails

2009-11-29T01:06:00.001-08:00

Gold Coast star trails, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Taken from the balcony of my hotel room at the Royal Pines Resort.

147 shots stacked in Photoshop. Each image was a 30 second exposure, f/8 ISO-200.

This was my wife's idea and I'm glad she mentioned it. I had thought very few stars at all would be visible over Surfer's Paradise but the results suggest otherwise :)

Taken on a Canon EOS 40D with a 17-85mm EFs lens.

Nudgee Beach Sunrise

2009-11-28T01:59:00.001-08:00

Nudgee Beach Sunrise, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Three shot HDR pano taken at Nudgee Beach. A particularly lovely sunrise and straight after this I had to go to work.

Taken with a Canon EOS 40D and 17-85mm EFS lens.

HDR in Photomatix, stitching in PTGui.

Editing in Photoshop involved cropping and layering in some of my single exposure layers to get rid of some annoying HDR artifacts. Finally added a curves layer set to 'multiply' at about 40% and applied some sharpening.

Sunset behind the cemetery

2009-11-27T04:20:00.001-08:00

Sunset behind the cemetery, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

I took a trip out to my new spot two days ago and discovered that it actually sits at the end of a cemetery.

The location I shot from previously gave me limited spots to shoot from but knowing how to get in to the cemetery it was really easy to drive round the other side where one can easily walk round the whole pond.

HDR [-2,0,+2] pano stitched in PTGui. HDR with DPHDR.

Shot on a Canon EOS 40D and Sigma 10-20mm.

Sunset behind the cemetery

2009-11-27T04:16:00.001-08:00

Sunset behind the cemetery, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Wellington Point

2009-11-25T03:49:00.001-08:00

Wellington Point, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Pre dawn glow at Wellington Point last weekend.

Taken on a Canon EOS 40D using a Sigma 10-20mm lens.

HDR from three exposures [-2,0,+2] combined in DPHDR. slight curves layer added in PS.

Wellington Point

2009-11-16T02:32:00.001-08:00

Wellington Point, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Taken at the same shoot as my last post. Still can't resist a good pano :)

HDR [-2,0,+2] 4 shots stitched in PTGui, DPHDR for the HDR work.

Taken on a Canon EOS 40D and a Sigma 10-20mm lens.

That fella there is gtierney, a fellow Scotsman I met that morning.

Wellington Point

2009-11-14T21:58:00.001-08:00

Wellington Point, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

I took my first visit to Wellington Point on Saturday for a sunrise shoot. I was quite pleased with the display :)

Taken on a Canon EOS 40D using a Sigma 10-20mm lens.

HDR from three exposures [-2,0,+2] combined in DPHDR. Curves soft light-layer added in Photoshop.

my website
my blog
facebook
redbubble
twitter

Playing with smoke

2009-11-12T03:58:00.001-08:00

Playing with smoke, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

I got a Cactus V4 flash trigger today so had a play around with some smoke trails.

Taken with a Canon EOS 40D, 17-85mm EFS lens.

One 430EXII to camera right at 1/16 power triggered with a Cactus V4.

my website
my blog
facebook
redbubble
twitter

Sigma 10-20mm

2009-11-11T03:36:00.000-08:00

Sigma 10-20mm, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

I just joined the Sigma 10-20mm club :) The lens arrived on Monday but I didn't get to play with it till yesterday.

This is my current 'emergency sunset spot' it's only 10 minutes from the house so I can get to it if favourable conditions present themselves at the last minute :)

Canon EOS 40D and Sigma 10-20mm.

HDR from three exposures [-2,0,+2] using DPHDR.

my website
my blog
facebook
redbubble
twitter

Rashoodz Photoshoot

2009-11-02T23:57:00.000-08:00

Here's a short slideshow of the new range of Rashoodz (www.rashoodz.com.au) soon to be available. Shot on location at Kings Beach, Caloundra

my website
my blog
facebook
redbubble
twitter

Infrared tree

2009-10-30T05:01:00.001-07:00

Infrared tree, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

Taken on a Canon EOS 40D and 50mm lens using a Hoya R72 filter.

This was taken at the Royal Pines Resort golf course. 6 shots stitched together in PTGui.

The golf course was peppered with signs telling people to keep off the course unless golfing. No mention of photographers though. As if I could seriously pass up a good photo-op though. I mean come on!

my website
my blog
facebook
redbubble
twitter

Mt. Nebo Sunset

2009-10-28T04:14:00.001-07:00

Mt. Nebo Sunset, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

I saw some interesting clouds forming on Saturday afternoon and it turned out to be a little storm rolling in. I nipped up to Mt. Nebo and was able to get some shots at Westridge lookout during a break in the rain. You can see the clouds in the distance here emptying onto the hills.

Three shot HDR [-2,0,+2] panorama. Stitched in PTGui. HDR with DPHDR.

Taken on a Canon EOS 40D with a 17-85mm EFS lens.

A close up pano taken at the 66mm can be seen here

Currumbin rocks sunrise

2009-10-22T04:04:00.001-07:00

Currumbin rocks sunrise, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

This was my first visit to Currumbin and I left feeling quite pleased with the shots I'd got. I was even happier after finally getting time to process them and see how they looked.

I tried a mixture of HDR and grads individually then eventually a combination of both. I really wanted to get some movement from the waves in the bracketed exposures so I needed the 0.9 grad to force a longer exposure.

I did get some spray picked up by the sun on the grad but I was able to clone that out later on. Thank goodness :)

This was taken on a Canon EOS 40D with a 17-85mm EFS lens and a Hitec 0.9 hard grad.

HDR was from three exposures [-2,0,+2]. Processed in DPHDR.

Oh yeah and of course it's a pano too from three shots, stitched in PTGui.

Getting out to the rocks was interesting, I thought they were really sharp and jagged looking, certainly not a place one would want to fall over. It was pitch black when I arrived at about 4am and even then a fisherman beat me too it.

Definitely a spot I'll be returning too again.

my website
my blog
facebook
redbubble
twitter

Natural Bridge

2009-10-21T05:15:00.001-07:00

Natural Bridge, originally uploaded by greenplasticdave.

This is the amazing Natural Bridge/Arch in the Gold Coast Hinterland of Australia. It's normally really hard to expose properly but I was lucky this time. The sun was in just the right spot to get some light reflecting nicely on the roof of the cave.

Two shot HDR panorama [-2,0,+2] stitched in PTGui. HDR in DPHDR.

Taken on a Canon EOS 40D with a 17-85mm EFS lens.

Fingal Head

2009-10-18T04:46:00.000-07:00

Just back from a nice if somewhat sleep deprived weekend on the Gold Coast.

This shot was taken at sunrise on Saturday (17th) morning after getting up at 3:30am, driving for 40 minutes then trekking through the bush in the dark (with torch) to get there it was an enjoyable jaunt even if just to watch the fishermen scrambling over the rocks :P

This is a three shot panorama taken with the camera in landscape orientation and using a 0.9 Hard grad to bring the sky down.

I had the luxury of being able to wait for nice looking waves, capturing them at each pano position and then stitching ones I liked later on. This enabled me to make a pano with nice waves entering AND leaving the little channel. The chaotic pattern of the water makes any stitching errors invisible :P

Taken on a Canon EOS 40D with a 17-85mm lens.

my website
my blog
facebook
redbubble
twitter

Shorncliffe sunset

2009-10-13T01:42:00.000-07:00

I saw this nice little pond on the way home from sunrise and thought it'd make a good sunset spot. I trekked out again on Sunday to get some shots and came away with this.

HDR pano from three exposures [-2,0,+2] combined in PTGui and Dynamic Photo HDR.

Taken on a Canon EOS 40D and 17-85mm EFS lens.

flickr
my blog
facebook
redbubble
twitter

Wallangarra

2009-10-10T22:23:00.000-07:00

Still going with the processing of last weekend's images.

Just behind this building which I think was a post office is apparently Queensland's first pub.

HDR from three exposures [-2,0,+2] combined in Dynamic Photo HDR.

Taken on a Canon EOS 40D.

Wallangarra station, NSW/QLD

2009-10-08T04:03:00.000-07:00

HDR panorama taken on the NSW/QLD border at the old Wallangarra Station.

Three exposures [-2,0,+2] taken on a Canon EOS 40D.

I got so many shots over this camping weekend that I filled up all my memory cards (13GB total) and had to dump some images on my laptop to be able to keep shooting. It was a great holiday with some great shooting opportunities.

This sunrise shoot started out quite differently with not a cloud in the sky. I was beneath the verandah shooting a 360 pano when I saw some clouds forming and raced back out to shoot this one :)

Girraween Star Trails

2009-10-07T03:23:00.000-07:00

Got up at 2:30am for this one. I wanted to wait till the moon was out of the way :)

This is 64, 30-second exposures f/5.6 ISO-500 stacked in Photoshop.

I took 105 images in total but some clouds rolled in spoiling it a little. That particular image (with 105 shots) turned out ok but there was a big cloudy smudge obscuring some stars. In the end I preferred this one :)

Taken on a Canon EOS 40D with a 17-85mm EFS lens. Foreground lit by a 430 EXII fired manually to the left and right.

my website
my blog
facebook
redbubble
twitter

S.S. Dicky

2009-09-28T00:38:00.001-07:00

Taken during the Brisbane Flickr meetup at Dicky Beach, Caloundra.

Taken on a Canon EOS 40D and 17-85mm lens.

A number of things were difficult about this shoot.

1 - Focusing in the dark
2 - Resorting to a large aperture
3 - Using a higher ISO than usual
4 - Sea spray in the air

It's all a learning process though :)

This was one of the last shots I took after playing around with a flash to camera left.

I started the exposure then ran off to the side and fired the flash. For this shot I held a pink lens cloth in front of the flash to give a red-ish colouring :)

flickr
my blog
facebook
redbubble
twitter

Brisbane Dust Storm

2009-09-24T19:20:00.000-07:00

The dust storm that rolled in yesterday. I saw the orange light coming through the windows of the house so I dashed off to Mt Coot Tha to see what was what and well THIS is what was what.

Ripples in the sand

2009-09-22T03:06:00.000-07:00

I had spent a while taking this shot and hadn't noticed the clouds forming in the east. I clambered over the old pier and it felt like climbing a huge mountain to be greeted by a grand view from the top. Seeing this as I crested the summit was like receiving a little gift from God :)

Taken with a Canon EOS 40D and 17-85mm EFS lens. HDR stitched panorma of 12 shots three exposures each. Stitched in PTGui to output three exposure planes [-2,0,+2] HDR was carried out in Dynamic photo HDR.

I've been looking at Ken Duncan's panographs and how he uses sand ripples as a foreground feature. I particularly like in this shot that the sand ripples curve around to 'mirror' the fanning out of the clouds

View On Black

flickr
my blog
facebook
redbubble
twitter

Shorncliffe sunrise

2009-09-20T18:15:00.000-07:00

HDR [-2,0,+2] Taken on a Canon EOS 40D and 17-85mm EFS lens.

The tide was the furthest out I've ever seen it at Shorncliffe this morning and with my wellies (gum boots) on I was able to wade out to this spot. The tide was coming in though and I did manage to get some water inside one boot though, oh well :) As Billy would say "If it wisnae fae yer wellies where wid ye be?"

flickr
my blog
facebook
redbubble
twitter

Point Halloran

2009-09-19T02:51:00.000-07:00

HDR panorama [-2,0,+2] taken this morning at Point Halloran. Bit disappointing with nary a cloud to be seen though there was a thick fog hanging over the horizon defining the sun as a nice disc when it rose.

Taken with a Canon EOS 40D and 17-85mm EFS lens. Stitched using PTGui. HDR in Dynamic Photo HDR.

my website
my blog
facebook
redbubble
twitter

2009-09-18T03:17:00.000-07:00

This is a 360 panorama taken using a Panosaurus on a Canon EOS 40D with the 50mm f/1.8 lens. Yes that's right I used the 50mm lens instead of the 17-85mm. Those of you in the know will understand the smaller field of view this gives and therefore how long it would take to do a full 360 degrees in just one plane never mind tilting up and down and doing a further 360.

I stood in the cathedral for two hours doing this, went for lunch, came back and set up in the exact same spot and took the rest of the pics for another hour and a half.

I wanted to see how it looked with the 50mm lens as it's such a nice sharp little thing :) I'm not just a glutton for punishment :P

Processing this thing took FOUR DAYS in Hugin. It's an HDR panorama as you can probably tell, I love the tones in stone with HDR. Hugin balked when I threw all of the exposures at it so I put them through Photomatix first and then went back to Hugin having divided the image count I was giving it by three. It chugged away happily for the next few days and presented me with this fine image :)

The original image is over 133 Megapixels in size :P Yum!

my website

Flickr
facebook
redbubble
twitter

2009-09-14T04:16:00.000-07:00

Taken on my recent sunrise shoot at Nudgee Beach. This is a three shot panorama taken with the camera oriented vertically. Each of the three stitched shots was comprised of three exposures combined for HDR in "Dynamic Photo HDR".

Taken with a Canon EOS 40D and 17-85mm EFS lens.

Check out my links:

my website

Flickr
facebook
redbubble
twitter

Riverfire 2009

2009-09-12T22:19:00.000-07:00

Myself and several other photographers from the Brisbane Flickr group met up at 7am yesterday morning to secure a prime location to photograph the Riverfire festival. All had a great time and got some spectacular shots.

A 5 row panorama taken on a Canon EOS 40D and 17-85mm lens.

Nudgee Beach Dawn

2009-09-10T18:55:00.001-07:00

A visit to Nudgee Beach at the weekend delivered a stunning sunrise. This is an HDR panorama taken on a Canon EOS 40D with a 17-85mm lens. Three exposures [-2,0,+2] shot in portrait orientation then stitched together in PTGui.

Beach shop

2009-08-27T04:18:00.000-07:00

Old Beach shop at Wynnum, Queensland. This was a three shot HDR converted to B&W in Photoshop. I really love the textures that HDR brings out in old building materials.

Point Halloran

2009-08-26T03:11:00.001-07:00

No HDR on this one. 5 shots stiched together in PTGui.

Shorncliffe Pier. Brisbane, Australia

2009-08-25T04:19:00.000-07:00

I took a trip out to one of my favourite sunrise locations a few days ago. This shot was stitched together in PTGui from two landscape oriented shots. HDR from three exposures [-2, 0, +2] generated in Photomatix Pro.