Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2017 i Australian Photography

It’s easy to think of photography as a solo pursuit, like reading or writing. But as creatives, we are all naturally drawn to others who share our love of creativity. Subconsciously, it may be one of the reasons you picked up this magazine – to see what others are producing, and in turn, find inspiration for your own work. This idea of seeking out our peers can be a powerful tool for improving our skills as photographers. The importance of working like this isn’t lost on many pros either. Daniel Linnet, one of our best commercial photographers, has spoken of how he schedules regular time with his team just to create – not work to a set brief, but simply to try new things. This approach has led to some…

As photographers, we always need to be conscious of morals and our values, and when it comes to photographing and experiencing subjects, from people and lands to animals, there’s much to consider. With nature photography, for many years it was a rare luxury to shoot unique subjects. This has changed with a new generation buying high-end digital camera gear and shooting images that, not long ago, most full time professional nature photographers (of which there were only a handful in the world) had great difficulty making. It’s different now. With the flood of travellers and cheaper gear we now find ourselves in a situation where the opportunities to take unique images have never been greater. For me, photography is about capturing a unique moment. How about shooting a bird on…

Finding yourself in a creative rut is a common occurrence among all creatives. But just like there’s help for people suffering from addiction, there’s always help out there. First, you just need to admit you have a problem, and then you can work to fix it! One of the most effective ways to do this is starting a photography challenge. These challenges are simple to follow with no set guidelines to abide by, which is also what makes them so effective. Some may take a day or two; others might stretch out over a few weeks, months or even years. It all depends on the complexity and what it is you are trying to express through your photography. The purpose of starting any personal challenge is to keep your mind…

The first thing you’ll notice about ASUS’ new PA329Q PROART series monitor is its size. I have a 32’’ TV at home and to think you can now get a 4K ultra HD monitor the same size for around $2,000 is remarkable considering just how expensive technology like this was only a few years ago. ASUS’ flagship-monitor is aimed at professional users working in graphic design photo and video editing, and although you may not necessarily fit this demographic, its relatively easy to get used to working with such a powerful tool. As you would expect, viewing with a native 4K resolution of 3840 x 2160, means images retain amazing detail, helped by the fact the PA329Q displays 99.5% of Adobe RGB and 100% of sRGB. If you need to…

PRESENTED BY Panasonic The first thing you have to ask yourself when entering a competition like Photographer of the Year, is “What am I going to submit?” This can, in itself, cause lots of angst. We all know how hard it can be to be critical of our own images and, after all, image selection is one of the major elements you are being judged on. I have been editing images for exhibitions, portfolios and websites for 20 years now, and have spent much of that time judging competitions. I know how hard it can be, so I am hoping by reading these few tips, I can help guide you through how best to prepare and then enter a photography competition like Photographer of the Year. READ THE T’S AND…

Photographers are always keen to spend money on new cameras, lenses and travel for the sake of mak-ing great photos, but few ever give thought to the latent value of their photographs, and how they will store and protect those valuable images for the future. Many photographers simply download photos to their computer’s hard drive, but hard drives are prone to failure. And storing your photos in a “cloud” is an option, but what happens if that cloud should ever evaporate? It is for these reasons that many photographers store their photographs on Network Attached Storage (NAS), intelli-gent storage devices that connect directly to your home or office ethernet network and allow you to build your own private cloud. Most NAS systems have two or more bays that let you…

The name Polaroid is synonymous with the pre-digital age. What set early Polaroid cameras apart was their (what it seemed at the time) magic ability to develop an image right before your eyes. While the quality and soft look of the resulting images was initially criticised, the instant cameras went on to gather a worldwide following and became entrenched in cultures and vocabularies. And even though the original cameras are now long out of production, the Polaroid photo look has survived on social media platforms like Instagram. Fast forward to the present day and the Polaroid camera is back, albeit in a morphed digital print form via the Snap and the recently released Snap Touch. The latter follows on from the first generation Snap with several added features. It has…

If you want to get better at photography, there’s so many great ways to do it. One of the best ways is through attending workshops. Recently I attended the Adobe MakeIt event in Sydney, and in June I was a participant at the Canon events centered around the Vivid light festival. I regularly attend events like these designed for photographers and find it interesting just how many people are keen to participate and learn more about their photography. The two events were quite different. The MakeIt event was all about post production, with a host of guest speakers covering all topics including workflow, post production, timelapse photography and wildlife. Vivid festival was all about taking images and we were taken to great vantage points and given advice on using cameras…

I was leading my July winter photography workshop in the stunning South Island of New Zealand, and this was the location on the final morning before we made our way back to the airport. I love to go out with a bang and leave my clients happy, and on this day the weather and conditions turned it on for my group. The times I have experienced light this superb are few and far between and we just couldn’t wait to get out there. We pulled the van up and noted the promising glow in the high cloud and the perfectly positioned gap on the horizon. Excitement began to build. But this was the middle of winter and the temperature was not far off freezing, perhaps somewhere around five or six…

THIS MONTH’S WINNER THERESA LEE Rain drops EDITOR’S COMMENTS: You know that thing we said about lots of insects in this month’s competition? It doesn’t quite apply with our winning shot this month! “Parked under a palm tree during a heavy downpour, I was fascinated by the movement of the raindrops sliding across the glass of my car’s sunroof,” says Theresa Lee. “I like how this image encapsulates the palm tree inside each rain bubble.” We really like the repetitive patterns and the contrast between light and dark and reflected and non-reflected areas in your shot - it’s very soothing to look at. TECHNICAL DETAILS Sony A7II, Sony Zeiss 24-70mm f4, 1/160s @ f13, ISO 1600. HIGHLY COMMENDER LYN FORBES Ladybeetle in red EDITOR’S COMMENTS: “I just love this photo…

Photoshop is the gold standard when it comes to image editing. Sure, there are plenty of other programs on the market that can produce great quality results, but that is like searching using Bing instead of Google. It’s simply the best image editing software and if I can’t achieve what I want in Photoshop, it’s because I haven’t learnt how to do it yet, not because Photoshop can’t do it! But it is this limitlessness and complexity that seems to deter photographers from giving it a go. They fumble around clicking all sorts of things and creating horrible messes of work, leading to failed results that ultimately turn them away from ever using the program again. Here’s a little test for all those people that don’t want to use Photoshop…

Iam from Guangzhou, China and have lived in Sydney for 30 years. In 2012 I started learning photography with a Nikon D90. It all started with joining the local photography club where I learnt many basic skills, which I further improved through YouTube and books. Previously in the film era, photos merely recorded the event, but I think in the digital age, photos reflect art. In a sense, the ability to edit and change your photos gives an opportunity for the photographer to express their creativity. For example, landscape and macro photographers can use different depths of field or exposure to combine images and create one masterpiece. I am inspired by everything around me so my photographs range from landscapes to nature to portraits. I am also the Vice President…