My mate and 10 bucks

My mate
Originally uploaded by norbography.

There is a bit of a story to go with this photo.

The night before, Andree and I were sitting at the Can Cafe (70c 435ml bottles of beer) having a cool drink and a feed, when these 3 little kids came up and saw the camera. They asked me to take their photos. Fair enough. Click, click. 2 complete duds (it may have been the beer, but I am blaming the dark) As usual, they then put the grubby mitts out for some money. I gave them what was about the equivalent of AU$1. Well, they laughed and took off and we could still here them laughing a while later. I said to Andree, "I am going to give someone ten bucks, just to see the look on their faces". Those who know me know, Im not usually the one to be splashing cash around, but hey, I wanted to see what happened, and they needed it more than me.

Next morning, I was up at 4am to go to the markets and see how the real people lived, with no tourists around. I headed off and had a ball.

I originally saw this old bloke walking across the bridge towards me when I was taking a shot of the bridge in the sunrise.



He then approached me and posed for a photo. Right, snapped a couple of quick shots and put the camera down. He nodded and walked off. I motioned for him to stop, then grabbed 100,000 Dong (very roughly, about 10 dollars) and put it in his hand as I shook it. He looked in his hand and his face lit up. He then grabbed me by the arm and dragged me off. I was trying to put my wallet away, secure the camera and not tread on the hordes of tiny Vietnamese minding their own business.

He dragged me through the markets and into an alleyway. There were about 6 old blokes playing Mahjong and eating breakfast. He spoke to jis friends and showed them the 100000 Dong. They all laughed and I thought it was going to cost me a fortune to get out of there. But no, they sat me down and all started chatting away and laughing and eating. They then handed me a plate of food (I still dont know what it was I ate, but it was very tasty) and some steaming tea and I ate breakfast with them. It was a highlight of the trip. They were all nattering away and I didnt have a clue what was being said, but they seemed happy enough and loved the fact that I ate with them. I was a bit apprehensive to begin with, but it was one of those rare occasions that only happen once in your life. And I am glad i met them all and had the experience.

So, to my unknown mate, thank you to you and all your friends. You made my day.

Footnote: I realise some people will frown on giving people money for a photo, but it created a fantastic opportunity and made me just as happy as them. So please, no more emails about how poor my morals are.

Under a train

Under a train
Originally uploaded by norbography.

Yes, thats right, it is the under side of a flatbed train carriage. I have been driving past some railyards at Lilyfield in Sydney for years and years. When ever I drive past, I always have a quick look and think, "That would make some terrific photo opportunities in there". So last night, I took a stoll through there.

I ended up wandering around for over 2 hours, trying to get good angles and exploring different areas. You can walk from Victoria Road at the Eastern end, all the way to Balmain Rd (about 1.6km), and maybe further. Access is very easy. But you do need some rather sturdy shoes. My feet were killing me by the time I got home.

At one point, I had just crawled underneath the carriage you see in the picture above, and was setting the tripod up. You have to realise, it is pretty cramped under there, and I am not a hobbit. I had a backpack on my back, camera on tripod and I was under a train carriage. I used the torch on my mobile phone to light the axle and wheels and did a longish exposure. I had just taken the photo, and was thinking about another from a slightly different angle, when the noise of carriages clunking and moving gave me a rather scary moment. I didn't realise right away, but the line of carrigaes, next to where I was, had just been shunted by a loco further up the yard. I dived out, quickly reached around and grabbed the camera and tripod and then realised it wasn't the train I was under. Oh boy, nothing like a bit of adrenalin coursing around your system to make you feel alive.

That little fright aside, I had a ball. It is pretty dark and have to say, I was a bit spooked a couple of times, but I hope the photos show it was a worthwhile trip.

More can be found on my Flickr site.

Flying flags

Flying flags
Originally uploaded by norbography.

Ok, something that has been bothering me for a while now. Night time focussing. How the hell do people do it. I reckon 90% of my night time photos are all out of focus. Is there a secret to getting the focus pin sharp at night time?

BTW, this was one of the all too rare in focus night shots. (Yeah, yeah, there was plenty of light, but it was still dark :) )

Rungs to no where

Rungs to no where
Originally uploaded by norbography.

Well it isn't often I get home and download my photos and see one that came out exactly how I had planned it. But today, I struck it.

Whilst wandering around the northen end of Pyrmont, I came across these weird, but terrific, sculptures. They are located in Pyrmont Point Park. You are probably wondering why I called them sculptures. Well, I am just going off a sign I saw that said "Don't climb on sculptures". They are actually moving structures that are powered by the waves/tide and wind. The black part you see holding the ladder is cantilevered off the wharf and has a large float at the other end. When the waves hit it, it move up and down. The ladders have 2 panels in them at the top. You can see them in the photo. The wind hits them and pushes them over. I would love to be there in a southerly buster with a huge sea.

I was pleased with this shot, as I took quiet a bit of time setting it up. I wanted to get exactly in the middle of the ladder. I wanted it to be in a position where it looked like you could climb into the clouds. And the thing that took the longest, was waiting for the clouds to give me a gradual light to dark look in the background. It took some time, but I reckon it was worth the wait.

Security guards.

Lights n Lines
Originally uploaded by norbography.

Last night, I had to pick my girlfriend up from the airport, so I ventured out about 15 minutes early to see what I could find. As part of my "Learn a lense" trips, I only had the 70-200mm f4L lense with me. I have tried this a few times, forcing me to learn how best to use my gear.

So, there I am, driving around the back of the airport, when a find a terrific spot, near the control tower, where you can get reasonably close to the domestic planes taxiing out. Out of the car and try as I might, it was just too damned dark to get any good clear photos. It seems with shutter speeds longer than about 1/20th second, I just don't have steady enough hands. Whilst I was there, a car with Protective Services stops, and I see him looking towards me. I was done, so I wandered over to see if I was being a naughty photographer. The bloke was great. He told me my car was bit bit close to an access lane and would I please move it. No problems, I am off any way.

I drive over to the domestic terminal and wait for my girlfriend. Hmm, she is taking a while. Might just jump out and grab a few snaps around the terminal. I noticed the luggage trolleys all lined up, so fired of a couple of shots of them, one whilst laying flat on the ground. Then I noticed the lights and the line on the road across from where I had stopped. Check for traffic, nothing. Wander across the road to get the shots. Just as I finished, I notice a woman with traffic control on her vest signalling me to get off the road. I crossed the road to tell her I was just getting aphoto and she launched into me. "You are not allowed to take photos!" "This is private property!" "Delete the photos!" "Why are you taking photos?" She had lost me at delete the photos, so I told her in a not so courteous manner to piss off. I then walked back to my car.

I was having a look at the photos when bugger me, not 2 mins later, 3 Protective services cars appear and approach me. It seems miss bossy boots has been on the blower. Luckily for me, the same guy that asked me to move my car was there and he handled the whole thing. Basically telling me that I should stay off the road, and in the current climate, wandering around late at night with a rather large camera and lense might not be the best hobby in the world. He took some details and gave me a few places that I could take photos in peace. Overall, a top bloke, just doing his job.

Now, the point of this rather long winded rambling is this. The real guys looking after security, that is, a branch of the federal police, were great to deal with. Why is it that a traffic control person and last weekend, some security monkeys are the ones with the attitudes? I say good on the Protective services fellows, they were professional and explained the situation. The other knuckle heads need to wake up and realise there are better ways to deal with situations than to heavy people.

The more the merrier.

Sails
Originally uploaded by norbography.

Well, the last couple of days I have spent with my mate Macca, taking photos all around Sydney Harbour. I must say, it is so much more enjoyable taking photos with other people. You get to chat about setting up a shot, watch what they are doing and learn along the way. Its amazing seeing someone else frame a shot you completely missed or thought looked rubbish. Macca , like me is still learning about this dSLR malarky, but it was great fun chatting and bouncing ideas around. Check out some of his ripper photos here.

Where does photography stop.......

Really? (PSD)
Originally uploaded by norbography.

....... and digital art begin?

I ask this question mainly to start a bit of discussion. The picture to the right has had a fair bit of contrast enhancement done on it, but it is pretty true to the original as far as composition, colour and sharpness. But, I would say this may have over stepped that rather blurry line between what I consider a photograph, and what I consider digital art.

I have looked at many photos on Flickr, and 12 months ago I would have marvelled at how rich the colours were, or how amazingly sharp the image was. But now, I know better. Alot of ordinary photos, can be turned into extraordinary images by some digital shenanigans. Thus the (PSD) on some of my photos. That is a sign that I have given it a bit more than an Auto-Levels and Auto-Colours treatment.

I have heard the arguement regarding people not doing anything that you couldn't have done in the photo lab, but really, how many of the people could have?

Now I know I am sounding like your typical luddite, but I do have some concerns about this, mainly because alot of people don't know this is happening.

Is it right or wrong, I suggest most people don't care, but it certainly matters to me. I don't know where that blurry line is, but I would love to hear other peoples reactions.

norbs

Pinkle

Pinkle
Originally uploaded by norbography.

Another shot with the 50mm f2.5 lense. I love using this little lense. Not a really great macro lense, but plenty for what I want it for.

My 1st prime lense, and apparently a good lense for portrait photography.

Green

Green
Originally uploaded by norbography.

One of my 1st photos with my macro lense. A Canon 50mm f/2.5 macro. Boy, f/2.5 at full macro is a bloody shallow depth of field. Its going to take a hell of a lot of practise to get used to using this sucker.

The picture you can see is of a rather large leaf being backlit by the sun. If viewed large, you can see a hell of a lot of detail in the leaf.

Mooning the bridge

Mooning the bridge
Originally uploaded by norbography.

A forum I am a member of has a monthly photo comp, and this month the topic is bridges. So off I went to try and capture the ANZAC bridge from a new angle at night with a wide angle lense.

It proved to be a bit more difficult than I imagined. Firstly, I was standing in mud the whole time. The tripod kept moving and getting it level was a chore. But I wanted it to be where it was so as I could get the moon reflected in the puddle just in front of the camera.

Once I had the camera set up, it was quite difficult to try and get the exposure right and as you can see by the bridge, I didnt acheive it at all.

One thing I am finding I am having alot of trouble with, is focusiing at night. Auto focus is bloody hopeless, and to be honest, I am not much better.

Whether I will actually enter this shot or not in this months comp is still undecided. I might have another crack at it, but I wont have the moon as full as it was on this night.

More on DOF.

Well after a lot of positive emails about the previous post, I thought I would post another link to a very good explanation of Depth of Field. This one is a little more dtailed, naturally, but just as good a read.

www.cambridgeincolour.com

Remember, DOF can greatly affect a photo. It helps to put the attention on a particular point. Also, it isn't just things in the background that you can throw out of focus. Things in the foreground OOF can help a photo too. Here are a couple of examples.

This is a perfect example of the background thrown out of focus. I only wanted the sugar container in focus on that photo, so I set a low F stop, f/5.6, and focussed on the container itself.

You can still see the other sugar containers in the background, but they aren't the focus of attention.

In this example, I have again gone for an f/4.5 and focussed on the musician on the right and the one to the left is out of focus (OOF)





I hope that helps. I know when I realised you could actually control this sort of thing, my photos started to look better.

How I figured out DOF.

Ok, before we go any further, let me just point out, I am no genius when it comes to photography. I learn by doing things. So if you are like me and need to go and do things to learn, this little BLOG entry maybe of some help to you too.

This whole dSLR business was completely new to me about 10 months ago, then I bought a second hand Canon EOS 300D and I had a rather steep learning curve to try and come to grips with. f stops, apertures, exposure, shutter speeds etc etc etc. Having only used an old IXUS II before, point and shoot had been my world.

One thing that always intrigued me as a photographic ignorama (that may not be a word) was how those slick photos with something in focus and the rest out of focus was done. So I asked a few stupid questions, Googled like a demon and found out the answer was Aperture settings. Ah, so off I go. Change to manual mode on the dSLR and everything is stuffed up. As I go for greater depth of field, every thing got dark and blurry. As it turns out, exposure is a VERY important thing in photography. Well I'll be buggered. More reading and it turns out that aperture and shutter speed have a relationship. One that I may venture into when I understand it better.

f5.6
Originally uploaded by norbography.

Ok, so set the camera to Aperture Priority and have another crack at it. Now you can see from the picture to my left, or your right, and you might have to click it and see the larger version to appreciate it, that I have focussed on the front of the formula 1 car (thats the red car at the front for the car racing ignorama). Notice the dark green car at the back is out of focus, or OOF if you are reading photographic forums. Ok, that was taken with an aperture setting of f/5.6.

f10
Originally uploaded by norbography. Ok, here we have one that was taken at f/10. Again you may need to click it to see it in its massive glory. You should be able to tell the differance pretty easily. Forget the stuff up in exposures, look at the sharpness on the next couple of cars back. They are slightly sharper.

f20
Originally uploaded by norbography

Now, this one was taken at F20. Note the sharpness of all the cars now. That, in a very, very basic form is how aperture settings effect depth of field.

Obviously, there is alot more to it than just that. For a much more in depth look at it, and better pictures too I must say, see this terrific site.

I hope that helps. Thanks to daisydingletoy at Flickr for the prompt to pull my finger out.

mmmrrrr mmmmrrrr mmmrrrrrrrrrrr

mmmrrrr mmmmrrrr mmmrrrrrrrrrrr
Originally uploaded by norbography.

These little buggers were behind glass, and moved around at a rather rapid rate.Yes, that is a grape in his mouth, which gives you some idea of his size.

I would reccomend the Mogo Zoo to anyone going near Batemans Bay, it is well worth the trip.

Narooma first light

Narooma first light
Originally uploaded by norbography.

Well, this was to be my last pre dawn get up of the trip, so I was glad to see the sky was clear and it looked like being a good day. Apart from the fact it was bloody freezing, it was a good morning with plenty of shots taken. This photo was one fo the better ones.

After grabbing about 120 photos, I headed off to Batemans Bay for lunch. Just 10kms south of Batemans Bay is a place called Mogo. And at that place they have a terrific little zoo. More on that in the next installment.

Here comes the sun.

Here comes the sun.
Originally uploaded by norbography.

Another early rise to try and capture a nice sunset. I was at Eden last night and because I arrived pretty late, I didnt get any pics or an idea where the sun would rise. So I took a bit of a punt and drove down a very dark driveway marked coastal patrol. As you can see from the photo it turned out to be a reasonable spot.

I set the tripod up and bolted on the wide angle lense and waited. I could smell rain and was worried that I would get wet. But, once again mother nature was a good old girl and the rain came once I was done. While I was snapping away, and things were getting brighter, I turned around whilst having a stretch and a yawn and spotted a ripper rainbow. I quickly spun around and grabbed a few shots of it. See them on my Flickr site.

I left Eden and drove to Bega and Tathra. The famous historic wharf at Tathra was being rebuilt and it was pretty much closed off. Bitter of a bugger. So after a quick breakky, it was off to Narooma.

I had heard a bit about Narooma, all good and it didn't dissapoint. Like Lakes Entrance, it is a photographers dream. Snapped off a load of shots this afternoon and got a few nice shots. Up early tomorrow and off to Mogo Zoo, Batemans Bay and Culburra Beach. Due to the fact that I don't have internet, this post will have to go up when I next get net access.

Our shadow

Our shadow
Originally uploaded by norbography.

Well as you can probably see, I had a ride in a light aircraft today. My very 1st actually. And it was great fun. I imagine it is what it would be like to have a massive kite strapped to your back in a gale force wind. It was a 4 seated Cessna (Cessna 172 I think it was) and it was cramped. I was up front and was asked not to touch the intruments or controls. Roger that.

Was an amazing experience and I would recommend it to all and sundry.

Have to thank the guys at http://www.eliteairways.info/ for the ride. Look them up if you are ever in Lakes Entrance.

More to come later tonight.

Desserted ship

Desserted ship
Originally uploaded by norbography.

Well I went back to St Kilda today armed with the wide angle 10-22mm Sigma lense. Had a crack at getting a few more photos fo the "ship wreck".

I find the wide angle a bugger of a lense to use, but when they work, they really work.

I am on a bit of a road trip and have taken a load of photos. Will try and update the site a bit more often over the next few days.

I have been to Canberra,


Wagga Wagga, Wodonga, Castlemaine and Melbourne.


Had a lot of rain up until 2 days ago so have had some catching up to do.

Boy vs Dog.

Boy vs Dog.
Originally uploaded by norbography.

Sometimes, and very rarely for me, you manage to click the shutter button at just the right time. This is one example. Although it isn't all that sharp, I am happy with it as I have only used this lense (Canon 70-200mm F4 L) a few times and am having a hard time coming to terms with it.

Im not sure who won this little battle, but there was a very loud thud when Ben got in Lexi's



way while she was running for the Frisbee. If I get time, I might even photoshop some horns on Lexi as she does look like a mini bull at Pamploma. :)

Tree backlit.

Tree backlit.
Originally uploaded by norbography.

This tree is just down the road from me and I love the way it looks some nights. Last night it was getting dark and overcast and the light behind it lit the tree so well.

It was also my first real go at shooting in RAW mode. I can appreciate the advantages, but I think until I am a bit more familiar with Post Processing, I will leave it alone.

And with the power of Google maps, here is the tree. Smack bang in the centre of the screen.

Fatso

Fatso
Originally uploaded by norbography.

This morning, by request, I made a detour on my way to work to get a photo of the hugely popular Fatso, the fat arsed wombat. Created by Roy And H.G. on the show "The Dream" broadcast in Australia for the 2000 Olympics, Fatso was loved by Australians and Australian athletes more than the official Olympic mascots Syd, Millie and Ollie.

It is quite hard to get a reasonable photo in the drizzle and overcast weather, so I may yet venture out for another crack at photographing this Aussie icon.

When Hydroponics go wrong.

When Hydroponics go wrong.
Originally uploaded by norbography.

I have been working for Telstra for a long time now, and been in and out of North Sydney exchange numerous times, but today was the 1st time I had the camera with me.

I love the way this tree just grows out of the roof. It was a windy day here in Sydney today, and I managed to get this shot off when the wind had died down a bit. A perfect blue sky with no clouds was a great background.

Photos from the 1st trip out.

Leaves
Originally uploaded by norbography.

Well I took my son and the dog for a trip up to the Blue Mountains today. A couple of reasons for that. To take the old 300D to its new owner and secondly, we all love bush walking.

Well the camera was great. It has quite a few differances to the 300D so I suppose I will have to risk the loss of my plums and take a look at the manual at some stage.

A few more shots here.

30D and stuff.

30D and stuff.
Originally uploaded by norbography.

Well today I replaced the 1st Digital SLR camera I owned with this nice shiney Canon 30D and a few lenses. The old 300D was a terrific camera to learn on and I am glad it is going to a good home.

I will be going out tomorrow to take some shots with it and see how it feels. I know already it is a lot heavier the the 300D.