Top Images 2018

Di Gage  – Edge Malpas Award – Sunset Lake – Album Prints

During a short camping trip to Port Vincent on the Yorke Peninsula with some friends, I decided to go off one evening on my own to do some exploring for some photo opportunities. Not far out of Port Vincent I stubbed upon Sunset lake. It was nearly dusk so knew that sunset should give me some great colours and light. I set my Nikon D750 up on the tripod and tried several settings. The image attached was taken at 1/30sec at f13, ISO 500 using a Nikon 70-200 lens 2.8f at 90mm.

Some post processing was achieved in Lightroom by way of some dodge and burn and a bit of colour correction.

This image stands out to me as I feel it shows a sense of isolation and hi-lights the colours of the changing light.

The minimalism of this image is what I love and of coarse the colour.

Bev Langley  – Fotoswift Award –  Honey eater – Colour Prints

Judy Sara  – Hutt St Photos Award  – Golden morning – Projected Images

It’s all about the light! This is a common photographer’s quote and it was the light that grabbed my attention for this image. I rarely encounter mist and the sun was shining through this mist making it golden. We were in the first of four cars travelling to the start of a Heysen Trail walk in the southern Flinders Ranges when I stopped the convoy to get out and shoot this image.

I wanted to capture the sun’s rays which were showing though in the mist so I set the aperture to F16 with the ISO at the lowest setting for this camera, 200. I was using the 12-100mm telephoto lens set on 47mm.The great thing about my Olympus OM-EM1 camera is that it has an electronic view finder. I always have my histogram showing so I reduced the exposure by 2 stops and that resulted in a speed of 1/1250s. Even with this adjustment the highlights and shadows were still both clipped.

I chose to crop the image as a square as there was not much of interest in the left-hand side of the image and your eyes are pulled to the bright sun at the right. Lightroom enabled me to reduce the highlights and increase the detail in the shadows so that the clipping in these areas was removed. I decided not to remove the noise in the sky as that gave it a slightly gritty feel and emphasized the mist.

I really like minimalist landscapes. Reflecting on this image I acknowledge the influence Bruce Perry. He is the most minimalist of photographers that I follow and I am intrigued with what he does with tonal relationships.

Judy Sara  -I’ve Been Framed Award  – Olive Grove – Monochrome Prints

This image was taken during a walk around the city parklands with Greg in January. I felt that the lines of olive trees needed a point of focus so I asked Greg to walk along the path towards me.

My 12-100 lens set at 29mm was attached to an Olympus OM EM1 Mark 11 camera. I was using Aperture priority at F10 and ISO was 200. I adjusted the shutter speed the so that the highlights in the histogram were not clipped (0.7EV); 1/100s

This was one of the images I kept from a burst of about 8 images. I developed the image in Lightroom by pulling down the highlights to get the details of the grass and pulling up the shadows and blacks to show details in the bark. To get more details in the leaves, I increased clarity and finished by dehazing a little. It was an OK image, nothing special.

I recently bought the updated version of Nik software from DxO and was looking for images to practice using Silver Effects Pro. I thought the contrast in light and dark areas in this image would make it a good candidate for converting to mono.  I loved how using the High Structure (harsh) filter then using global adjustment to increase brightness, contrast and structure made this image pop.

To develop my understanding of Mono I shot all my images for 31 Days of December 2017 challenge in that format. Comments by Chris Shultz encouraged me to keep going in mono and during this year have been using Silver Effect Pro much more

Di Gage  – 2nd equal –  Sydney Harbour – Monochrome Prints

During a trip to Sydney which was included in an itinerary I put together to show a friend from the UK around some of the sights of Australia, we did a lunch cruise of the Harbour.

Camera details: Nikon D750 Nikon lens 24-120 taken at 32mm at f9, 1/2500sec ISO640

Post Processing: converted the image to black and white using Silver Efex Pro 2 and some further processing in lightroom.

I felt the buildings located under the bridge lent themselves to a black and white image as they had a old fashion look to them.

Ray Goulter  – 2nd  – Alignment V2 – Projected Images

1. Where was it taken? In my shed.
2. Were there any technical difficulties? Not really. The subject was stationary. It’s actually a portion of the track-focussing mechanism of a big Kodak enlarger from the early 1920’s. I actually took the photo to record where the splines had to be aligned during a dismantling, reconstruction and cleaning up of the enlarger, then saw the result and realised I had serendipitously captured an image I could use in competitions, due mainly to the patina of old discoloured grease. It’s all nice and clean now so no chance of more such images.
3. What brand of  camera and what settings did you use? Nikon D300, 18-200 @ 80mm f/5.6 1/60sec, manual aperture and focus.
4. Was there any post processing?  If so – what and how was this done. Some sharpening and removal of extraneous sides of the original photo in order to enforce focus on the mechanism as the main subject.
5. What made this image stand out for you? Strong composition with good detail and good “base” to the image with the black painted metal at the bottom of the image.

1. What style do you think best describes this image?
2. Can you name a photographer that has influenced you, or to whom you aspire to emulate. Ansel Adams – my photography hero. This image, though, reminds me of the Wolfgang Sievers’ image “Gears for the Mining Industry” but on a rather smaller scale!

Anthony Kernich  – 2nd equal  – Metro – Monochrome Prints

Glenn Langley  – 2nd  – Swallow – Album Prints

Judy Sara  – 2nd equal  – Huli Wigmen – Colour Prints

Helen Whitford  – 2nd equal  – Hello Sunshine! – Colour Prints

“Hello Sunshine!” was taken in my aviary in my back yard. Sunshine and her mate Indy are my Indian Ringnecks – my babies! I hung a blue velvet cloth as a background to avoid having cage bars in the image and I like the way her yellow colour pops against the blue. (Two out of three judges during the year have greatly disliked the unnatural blue background in my bird images but I love it!) Sunshine actually hates the camera (and phone) and I had to photograph Indy for half an hour before Sunshine was brave enough to come to the swing in front of the cloth and let me photograph her.
I waited for a bright but overcast day to get the giant softbox effect and photographed in natural light using my Nikon D7200 at ISO 1250 1/250 f10 with a prime 40mm lens. The only processing was cropping and slight sharpening. The gum flowers had four uses – to entice her to the swing, to give her something to do because animal shots are always more interesting if they’re doing something, to make her happy and to add more red which contrasts beautifully with the yellow and blue and emphasises the red of her beak.
This is one of my favourite shots this year. I love the look on her face (which I think demonstrates my connection with her) and her posture and the way it all came together.
I don’t know how to describe the style because I really don’t think about “style” in my photography – I guess it’s just MY style because I’m pretty naive/ignorant when it comes to other photographers and don’t seek to emulate anyone else. I was happy that this was my most successful image in this year’s Annual!

Di  Gage  – 3rd  – Madagascan Male Magpie Robin – Album Prints

This image was taken in the wilds of a rain forest in Madagascar during my African/Madagascar trip in May 2016. This trip was primarily a photography trip with Trekabout Photography Tours run by Mark Rayner and Michael Snedic.

We had a fantastic local guide who took us to some terrific locations throughout the island which showcased the unique animals and culture of Madagascar.

Camera details: Nikon D750 Nikon 70-200 340mm, 1/200sec at f4.8, ISO 800.

Post processing: Most processing done in lightroom with a small amount of cloning on the background in Photoshop to tone down some hi-light areas.

This image stands out for me as I remember how difficult the location was due to it being in a dense rain forest and trying to achieve a satisfactory background with no distraction which I feel I have pulled this off ( a fluke maybe).

Ray  Goulter  – Peregrine – Equal 3rd Projected Images

1. Where was it taken? Taken at Warrawong Nature Reserve in the Adelaide Hills. It’s actually an injured bird going through recovery but may never be able to hunt naturally again.
2. Were there any technical difficulties? Like most birds, it didn’t stay still for long so it was a case of taking every opportunity to get a shot while it remained still. Having a pigeon meal meant it wasn’t moving as much as normal. I was lucky to get a good close shot.
3. What brand of  camera and what settings did you use? Nikon D300,18-200mm lens @ 200, f/9, 1/320.
4. Was there any post processing?  If so – what and how was this done. Some sharpening and selection from the original image to get square format which suited the subject better.
5. What made this image stand out for you? Close subject made for good bird portrait with nice catchlight in the eye, as well as the pieces of pigeon flesh giving a story that the bird had just eaten.

1. What style do you think best describes this image? No specific style unless it’s “nature” (birds).
2. Can you name a photographer that has influenced you, or to whom you aspire to emulate. Not that it would show in this image: Ansel Adams. I wish I could produce landscapes like him!

Anthony Kernich – Up and down – Equal 3rd Projected Images

Judy Sara  – Merit –  Jaguar   -Colour Prints

Judy Sara  – Merit  – Seed Pod  – Monochrome Prints

Helen Whitford  -Merit –  Lighting up the Rain – Colour Prints

Helen Whitford  – Merit –  One Loose Cannon – Colour Prints

Helen Whitford  – Merit  – Sunset Through The Rain – Projected Images

Helen Whitford  – Merit  – Those Ears! – Projected Images

Helen Whitford  – Merit  – What? – Projected Images

Julie Goulter   – Possum – Projected Images

1. Where was it taken? In our backyard. It’s not unusual to see the possums in our trees.
2. Were there any technical difficulties? No. The possum stayed still long enough to get several images
3. What brand of  camera and what settings did you use? Nikon D330 / 18-55mm on auto. I didn’t have time to fiddle!
4. Was there any post processing?  If so – what and how was this done. Very little. Some minor sharpening using Apple Preview tools. Some extraneous areas around the outside of the original image were removed.
5. What made this image stand out for you? I love photographing native animals and he was in the right place at the right time.

1. What style do you think best describes this image? Nature.
2. Can you name a photographer that has influenced you, or to whom you aspire to emulate. Ray.

Kerry Malec   – Sturt’s Desert Peas – Mandala – Projected Images

Duart McLean   – Morning Icebergs – Colour Prints

Thanks for the opportunity to have my photo in the Camera Clicks Article

I took the photo during our recent trip to Iceland in early September this year.

The black beach is called Diamond beach in South Iceland. It is located near a Glacial Lagoon where icebergs break off from the glacier and  float out to sea. The icebergs are then brought back onto the black sandy beach by the incoming tide.

The sun was rising at a very suitable hour of around 6am – so we were able to take the opportunity to rise early and be in position before the sun rose.

Interesting is that the sun rise took quite a long time- a lot different in Australia where the sun rises in the sky  quite quickly.

One of the difficulties encountered was being able to take photo without people in the photo as there were quite a lot of keen photographers at the beach as such an early hour.

Took some time to obtain an optimum position ( often crouching down lower )  and to scouting the best location to have the sun shining through the icebergs.

A tripod was required to gain the long exposure to flatten the sea and to gain sufficient light for the photo

I used a Canon 600D camera using a 18 to 55 mm lens – this photo taken at 20mm focal length, ISO 100 , f18 and 1/5 second exposure.

I did some post processing although  not much  – just some lightening of the sky and side of the photo using graduated filters and reducing the glare of the sun  in Lightroom and cropping to highlight the main icebergs.

I really liked the way the sun was shining through the icebergs and shimmering on the pebbles on the black sand – the contrast of the transparent  icebergs against the black sand stood out to me as a pleasing picture.

Even as the sun rose in the sky, the light was still quite soft which gave a fascinating effect.

I think the this image falls into a Landscape style with a tranquil mood – the early morning sun shining through the icebergs with the Larger icebergs on the water silently floating past. ( How does that sound?)

We travelled with a Professional Photographer in Iceland ; Pall Jokull , who is  born and bred in Iceland with a long family history in the Country and knows the interesting paces to go to for landscape Photo shoots. – He encouraged both Josie ( my partner) and me  to expand how we view the landscape through the lens. Iceland is a fascinating country to visit and the photo opportunities are endless with graphic landscapes shaped by Volcanic activity and Glacial formation.

He has taken some fantastic photos which provided a challenge to at least partly emulate . You can view his photos on his website under ‘Landscape Photography Iceland’

We really enjoyed the  6 full days we had in Iceland and learnt a lot not only about photographing the Landscape but about the country and its people as well.

Jenny Pedlar   – Salcombe Boats – Colour Print

The camera was Nikon Coolpix 7000.  The Exif data indicated: Exposed 28/9/18 with the following settings F5.5 at 1/500 sec, .

There was some cropping and the shadow of a stray mast in the water was cloned out in hotoshop.  I used levels used to adjust contrast.

I really liked the simplicity of the two boats and their colours contrasted with the blue water.  No photographer really influenced this shot. The attractions were the colour contrasts and the simplicity.

Mark Pedlar   – Ghosts On Pultney – Monochrome Prints

Grey Ghosts – The camera was a Canon 700D with Tamron 18-270 Zoom.  The focal length was 18mm, ISO 200, Exposure 2 sec.  A tripod was used

Post production: I undertook a conversion to BW in NIK software.  There was some contrast alteration and minor cropping.

What stood out to me was– the ethereal nature of the people.  The surrounds are timeless and yet the people are not.  Sorry, I have no great thoughts about who influenced me.

M.

Howard Seaman   – Outback Dreaming – Colour Prints