Top Image 2019

1. Album Prints

Helen Whitford-Greet the Morning

27-Album Prints-1st – Edge Malpas Award

Di Gage-Picking Flowers

26-Album Prints-2nd

Hi James

Here is my imagine judged 2nd in the album prints and below here is the story of that image:

During my recent trip this year to the UK including 4 1/2 weeks in Scotland, which I was fortunate to be able to share the fantastic experience with my UK friend in her motor home.

On the day this picture was taken we had set off on a boat trip from Tobermoray, Isle of Mull to the Islands of Lunga and Staffa. Up until then we had had no rain to speak of but that was about to change as a front came in and we were drenched on our way out to the islands.

The normal itinerary was to visit the Puffins on Lunga then go to Staffa but because of the inclement weather, the captain decided to switch this around as he could see from the forecast that the rain front would be moving away in an hour.

His strategy paid off, and so our Puffin visit to Lunga was in much improved conditions with no rain and just overcast with some occasional sun peeping through the clouds.

To get to the cliff face to where the birds were we had to clamber over many rocks and boulders and up a fairly short but steep cliff face. But Oh boy was it worth it!

There were thousand upon thousand of Puffins and many other sea birds.  It was nesting season, so they didn’t seem to care about the hoards of people invading their nesting areas.  They just went about their business of courting and building their nests.

I sat on the ground in absolute awe of these creatures and laughed at their funny antics and all along the camera worked overtime to catch that elusive shot of these beautiful creatures.

Brand of camera 

Nikon D500 Nikon 70-200mm lens

Settings: 1/2500 shutter, F5.6, ISO 800 @ 120mm

Post processing was done in Lightroom with some cropping and basic adjustments.

This image was the stand out image from the thousands I took on this day because of the actions this Puffin was engaged in obviously intent at making sure his/her nest was going to be just right.

It was a day that will stay with me forever.

Helen Whitford-Hey Baby!

24-Album Prints-3rd

2. Colour Prints

Helen Whitford-Wipe your beak

29-Colour Prints-1st – Fotoswift award

Helen Whitford-Got any more Mum?

29-Colour Prints-2nd

Judy  Sara-Caught You

24-Colour Prints-3rd

Caught You

This photo was taken in our garden at Park Holme. In September I set myself a personal project to take and post on Facebook, at least one photograph from our garden each day. It was amazing to discover what lives in our garden!

When Greg showed me this jumping spider with the fly, I raced inside to collect my Olympus E-M1 Mark11 camera with the 60mm F2.8 macro lens. As the spider was focused on the fly it did not scurry away when I started taking photos. I took individual photos and focus bracketed sets of 9 images. After importing the photos into the computer I realised that I had lost a lot of detail because the ISO was 2,500. I normally shoot at auto ISO and was so intrigued by what I was watching that I forgot to check the ISO! The spider was still on the leaf so I decided to have another go. This time I set up a tripod and added more light using a powerful LED torch. This enabled me to get the ISO down to 250 at F7.1 with a shutter-speed of 1/125s.

I took about 200 photos, including many focus bracketed stacks. I sent 9 images from Lightroom to Photoshop as layers. The layers were then auto-aligned. Photoshop then auto-blended by creating a layer mask for each layer that allowed the sharpest areas to remain visible. These layers were then merged into a tif file which was sent back to Lightroom. I cropped the tif, increased the exposure a little and added texture, clarity and a vignette. The vein had a few spots on it so I also healed those.

The photo I entered was not my favourite photo of the series, but it was the best technically. Macro lenses have a very shallow depth of field but the photo stacking process produced fine details throughout the image.

To see a predator devouring its prey in my garden was something special.

Helen Whitford-Que?

24-Colour Prints-Merit

Hi James,

Much as I like “Wipe Your Beak” I’d prefer to showcase “Que?” as I’m more attached to the subject and therefore the photo.

“Que?” is a portrait of my 3 year old Indian Ringneck parrot, Indy, looking very quizzical. I called it”Que?” because it looks like he’s going “What?” and although I haven’t taught him Spanish he makes a sound like “Ke” at appropriate times which sounds like he’s asking the question. (Also, I’ve previously titled another image “What?”) He does speak many phrases in English – often in appropriate context!

It’s not as easy as some may think getting great photos of one’s own pet birds. I can’t take them out in the open to get great natural backgrounds, there’s no-where with good light and backgrounds inside the house and in their outdoor aviary, where this was taken, I have to get rid of bars and shadows of bars and place a backdrop appropriately while trying to get them to do something interesting in the right place with the right light.

I love this shot for the character in his expression and I feel I got exposure, focus and depth of field right for what I wanted to achieve. I used my 40mm prime macro lens. I can use that with Indy because he doesn’t mind cameras, in fact he’s been known to take selfies on the phone. Sunshine hates cameras so I usually need to be further back to get her. The only post processing was cropping and sharpening.

I’m not really into any particular photographer and don’t try to emulate anyone’s style. I pretty much do what I want to do!

Cheers
Helen

James Allan-Reed Warbler

23-Colour Prints-Merit

Glenn Langley-Scoop

23-Colour Prints-Merit

Scoop- Glenn.  Frigate bird from Christmas Island.

These birds spend much of their day soaring and stealing food from other birds whilst on the wing. To drink they scoop water from ponds whilst flying. Camera- Nikon 7000. Fast shutter speed and plenty of panning practice to get this shot.

Meredith Retallack-Straw Flower-23-Colour Prints

Beverley Langley-Storms-a-brewing

19-Colour Prints

Hi,  Storms a brewing

Taken at Brighton on the Esplanade in high winds!!! The sun was setting and the light changing constantly with black clouds approaching. I used my mobile phone on its side laying along the balustrade to keep it still in the wind gusts. I love the dramatic colours and emotions elicited by the image. It was only cropped in processing.

wish everyone a Merry Christmas from us please.  Many thanks.

Sincerely,     Bev. Langley

Jenny Pedlar-Waiting-18-Colour Prints

Waiting By Jenny Pedlar

Artist’s Statement:-        During a holiday in the UK, notably Cornwall, I came across many solitary people using their mobile phones.  They were seemingly passing the time whilst waiting for something more important to happen.  I was particularly interested in the two-storey building with stairs going up to the front door. The entrance door and hallway leading in to the second storey seemingly hovered over the back yard.  I could imagine in the past, all sorts of illegal pirate activities happening; with carts disappearing into the back yard and people creeping up the stairs to take refuge in the house.  Being influenced by Darren Siwes, I took an image of a young man on his mobile phone and placed him on the stairs outside the front door of the house.  There he was waiting for someone and I could possibly feel the ghosts from long ago.

Camera Nikon Coolpix S7000,  Aperture F3.4, Focal length 4.4mm (25mm in 35mm terms), Post Processing – Levels and saturation in Photoshop CS5., Addition of figure at top of stairs – opacity reduced to give ghostly effect.

Sheila Gatehouse-Have you got my best side-17-Colour Prints

3. Monochrome Prints

Helen Whitford-Red Throat

27-Monochrome Prints-1st – I’ve been Framed award

Helen Whitford-Curious Macaque

26-Monochrome Prints-2nd

Duart McLean-Iceberg Swirls

23-Monochrome Prints-3rd

Hi James

Thanks for the opportunity to contribute in the Camera Clips

This image was taken on a beach in Southern Iceland on what is called Diamond Beach. This is so called because of the icebergs which break of from the Glacier inland and float out to sea and then are washed back onto the beach by the tide – at a somewhat smaller than the original size

The icebergs on the black beach look like diamonds sitting on a black background – hence the name.

The time of year was early  September last year ( 2018) and was taken in the late afternoon.

We were on a Photographic tour of Southern Iceland and our guide ( who is a professional photographer) suggested we try experimenting taking shots of the waves breaking on the icebergs and particularly concentrate when the wave is receding as this could provide some interesting patterns. The joys of being on  a photographic tour as you do learn many new techniques along the way.

The trick is to put the camera on continuous shooting as the wave approaches and keep shooting  until the wave recedes. I set up with a tripod as  the shutter speed was going to be around 0.5sec to be able to capture the movement ie did not want to totally freeze the shot .

I would have taken around 100 photos to achieve the one I presented as the patterns varied each time – and tried several different icebergs. I had half a dozen photos which were good , but this one stood out with the fan movement around the iceberg.

I used a Canon 600D camera set at ISO 800, 5.6f, exposure 0.6sec,focal length  20mm

Post processing in Lightroom involved primarily cropping to highlight the icebergs and the fan pattern, increasing texture and clarity and changing to monotone to enhance the patterns.

I liked the way the water movement as the wave receded produced a distinctive fanning pattern seemingly to emanate from the iceberg. The black and white image certainly enhanced the texture of the water pattern and the iceberg.

I like to think of this photo as an artistic style of Photo ( is that a correct term?) I enjoy the opportunity to capture water movement as an unlimited varieties of patterns are available using exposures 0.5 to 1 sec.

The professional photographer who was our guide for the Iceland tour was my inspiration and I learnt a lot around landscape photography from him – his name is Pall Jokull Pétursson and has been taking photos in and around Iceland for many year – he is an Icelandic local whose family has a long history in Iceland.

Best wishes  Duart

James Allan-Redbanks

23-Monochrome Prints-Merit

Paul Hughes-Snowstorm at Snowshill, Gloucestershire

22-Monochrome Prints-Merit

Judy  Sara-Gelada

22-Monochrome Prints-Merit

Mark Pedlar-Hard Yakka

21-Monochrome Prints

Hark Yakka by Mark Pedlar

Artist’s statement:-         This was shot just south of Queen’s Jubilee Drive in the Belair National Park where I was part of a group of volunteers removing feral species such as Sollya and Boneseed.  I was attracted to the sharp features of the Yakkas in the foreground contrasted with the misty soft nature of the early morning light in the background. I’m not sure that this moody landscape is influenced by any photographer in particular.  However, I’d be happy to produce result similar to those achieved by Ansell Adams.

Camera Canon 700D, Lens Tamron 18-270 zoom set at 18mm, Aperture F3.5, Speed 1/100 sec. ISO 400, Post Processing – some minor cropping in CS5, contrast adjusted with Levels. Original colour file shot in RAW converted to monochrome with NIK Collection.

Sheila Gatehouse-Lost in Thought-17-Monochrome Prints

4. Projected Images

Helen Whitford-Oyster Catcher Treasure Hunt

28-Projected Images-1st – Hutt Street Photo Award

Helen Whitford-Preening Tern

28-Projected Images-2nd

James Allan-Breakaways

26-Projected Images-3rd – WEA Landscape Trophy

Hi, this is my highest scoring image.  I am honoured that it won the WEA Landscape trophy, a first for me.  This picture is a panorama of the Kanku-breakaways, a collection of mesa hills and earthen cliff faces just north of Coober Pedy and location for movies like Mad Max beyond Thunderdome, Priscilla Queen of the desert and Pitch Black (SciFi).  We took a route East of Coober Pedy, along the dog fence and then approaching the breakaways from the plain, cutting up through a gully and eventually looking down on the formation from the cliff top.

The sun was setting and we wanted a good location to catch the sunset. People were milling around the viewing areas at the cliff top.  We however decided to drive back to one of the formations and took a variety of shots (including this panorama) as the shadows lengthened and the sun disappeared over the horizon behind us.  Surprisingly we were the only people at this formation.

I liked the asymmetrical composition, with the ridge lines to the left leading up to the summit on the right.  There is an amazing patchwork of browns and white clays.  The gravel strewn across the ground gives wonderful texture and the evening sun bathes the formation in golden light.  It was tricky taking a shot without including your own shadow.  

In the computer I stitched 3 photos in Adobe photoshop.  Sometimes the transitions from stitching can be seen in the sky and this required careful touchup. The contrast was enhanced with the curves tool, which also provides a mild boost to the saturation.  Total time on the computer was less than 10 minutes.

I have always been inspired by the panoramas of Ken Duncan who seems to have a natural feel for how to compose a landscape image.

Kerry Malec-Angle of the Sun

26-Projected Images-Merit

Suzie Smith-Insignificant

26-Projected Images-Merit

Here are my notes on my image Insignificant.

I felt very privileged for my image “Insignificant” to be chosen for a merit award at my first BPC Annual. It was taken in a small stand of sequoias in the Otway National Park in Victoria. I had taken a quick little trip on The Great Ocean Road in May 2017 for a photographic week in my holidays with my old camera a Nikon D600. This shot was taken with a Sigma 50mm 1.4 lens for 2.0 seconds at f16, ISO100 in a RAW format

I chose those settings as it was quite dark in the forest even though taken about midday on an overcast but bright day. I wanted to get as much of the forest in focus as I could but probably could have gotten away with a larger aperture than I used. My old Nikon wasn’t that great at producing clean images so kept to a low ISO

If you hadn’t already noticed it was a self portrait, so mounted on a tripod using the self timer. This small stand of trees was overwhelming with beauty and I was trying to evoke the feeling of how tiny and insignificant my passing through the forest on this day was in the life of these trees.

The image was very lightly processed in LR, increasing shadows, clarity and surprisingly, reducing the temperature by 1.2K. I felt the original image was slightly too warm (or yellow) so I “cooled” it a bit.

My only technical difficulty was that I was on my own and I really needed someone in the shot to achieve what I was trying to show. Hence the selfie, plus I had to stand very still with a two second exposure

Have a good Christmas. Thank you  Suzie Smith

Paul Hughes-Primary Colours

22-Projected Images

Bruce Nankivell – Changing Coastline

22-Projected Images

In May my wife, Isabel and I walked the Great South West Walk which is a trail that begins and ends in Portland, Victoria. It’s a fabulous walk that has four sections to it: 1. Forest (Cobboboonee) 2. River (Glenelg River) 3. Beaches (Southern Ocean) 4. Capes & Bays. It’s a 14 day walk and covers 250km.

As with all our walks we take lots of photos to be used in creating a photo book of our adventure which is something we enjoy doing and then referring to from time to time to remind ourselves of how good it all was.

I always carry my camera on a camera strap attached to the back pack so I’m at the ready. No such luxury as a tripod (it’s all about weight) so hand held was the only option. The shot was taken with my now quite well travelled Olympus OM-D E-M1 with Olympus M. Zuiko 14-150mm f4.0-5.6 lens. (f9, 25mm, 1/250, ISO 200). In Photoshop I adjusted highlights and shadows, fiddled with blacks and whites, contrast and clarity and then a bit of dehazing to get it where I thought it was a true reflection of what I saw. The shot was taken on the Capes and Bays section which was very spectacular.

I like the image because it’s just stunning scenery and with the interesting clouds and sea spray blowing across the sand hills it seemed complete to me.