Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2017 i Australian Photography

Peter Dombrovskis, Ice and Alpenglow, Cradle Mountain, Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, Tasmania 1979. Dombrovskis’ work continues to inspire a new generation of photographers. About two months ago I received a copy of the book Journeys into the wild: the photography of Peter Dombrovskis. I’ve written about Dombrovskis before, as his images of Tasmania were partly my inspiration for a trip to Tasmania’s Western Arthur range, Southwest National Park, in January this year. Unfortunately we had five straight days of rain and my dream of replicating his image from above Lake Oberon was thwarted by low-cloud and gale force winds. As my partner and I huddled in our tent eating our last packet of cheese and crackers, it was a reminder, if ever we needed one, of Dombrovskis’ sheer…

We are in an era where we can shoot so many images, and the question: “How many images did you shoot last week?” seems to have more status for many photographers rather than the quality of imagery shot. I have never been a “machine gun shooter”, but have worked with some that are. From well known photographers to beginners who discover the motor drive on their camera – they blaze away thinking that more images will equate to better images. As we enter an era where mirrorless cameras can shoot at over 20 frames per second – do you need all that? For some, yes, as it makes a difference to their professional work or for an unusual subject. For most, no would be the answer. In the field, for…

“PHOTOGRAPHY IS, QUITE SIMPLY, A MEANS OF COMMUNICATING MY CONCERN FOR THE BEAUTY OF THE EARTH.” - PETER DOMBROVSKIS, 1984. If you’re a photographer, having one of your images credited for helping change the course of history highlights how powerful the medium can be. Such is the case of a photograph shot by the late Tasmanian photographer Peter Dombrovskis, whose evocative landscape images revealed to the world the unique wild beauty of Australia’s island state. Morning Mist, Rock Island Bend, Franklin River, shot around 1980 by Dombrovskis, has been largely credited for playing a significant role in helping secure victory for Bob Hawke in the 1983 federal election and providing momentum for the ultimately successful No Dams campaign. The famous image [see page 26] features a picturesque section of the…

Look how far we’ve come! The modern smartphone camera is an incredibly powerful tool, and they’re getting better seemingly on a monthly basis. Bigger sensors, better dynamic range and better low light ability – the current generation of smartphones are worlds away from that Nokia with its week-long battery life sitting unused in your top drawer. Nowadays most of us use smartphones and carry them with us all the time, which means we have a camera ready to capture those priceless moments that seem to always surprise us, but are easily missed if we faff around pulling out a big camera. It’s really as simple as picking up the phone in your pocket and switching your thinking from it being ‘just a smartphone’, to being as valuable to your photography…

“What to do?” That was what I was wondering six years ago when I decided I’d had enough of business life and planned an early retirement. Yes, life is too short, but it would seem awfully long and boring without a challenging pastime. Then the boom in digital photography caught my interest. Since then it seems I haven’t had a chance to catch my breath! Beauty, colour, light and shade is all around us and capturing a scene through your lens as you see it in the mind, is both exhilarating and fun. Only a fellow photographer would think it perfectly reasonable to get out of bed at 4am on a cold frosty morning, drive an hour in the dark, and then trudge through wet grass in the hope of…

THIS MONTH'S WINNER HOT SHOT According to Alan Branch: “This match exploding into flame was shot outside around 8 a.m. relying on the rising sun as the backlighting which balanced the brightness of the flame. The match was suspended in front of a black background and heat applied to the match head until it exploded producing the large flash and phosphorescent smoke, which is a very different colour to that given off from the burning wood of the match a few seconds later.” This is excellent and ticks a few boxes: it is unusual and there is detail in that match burning as well as good colour and lovely contours in the smoke. A couple of ways to improve this shot would be to get it pin sharp and with…

SAM EDMONDS Sam is a photographer, writer and guide focusing on issues of ecology and conservation. His work has been published in National Geographic and the Huffington Post. See more at samedmondsphoto.com STEVE AND ANN TOON Ann & Steve Toon are a UK-based, husband and wife team of award-winning, professional photographers with an interest in southern Africa. See more of their work at toonphoto.com. DREW HOPPER Drew Hopper is a travel and landscape photographer based in Australia, specialising in the Asia Pacific region. See more of his images at drewhopperphotography.com. DYLAN GIANNAKOUPOULOS Melbourne photographer Dylan Giannakoupoulos has set out to capture all that inspires him. See more at dylangiannaphotogrpahy.com.au.…

HP’S NEW PCS OFFER AMAZING POWER HP’S new lineup of desktop workstations may just be the most powerful for image editing we’ve ever seen. The top-of-the-line model is the Z8, followed by the Z6 and Z4. All three run Windows 10 Pro 64-bit and are geared towards creatives, visual effects artists and those with a serious need for speed. The Z8, which HP calls “the world’s most powerful workstation”, contains 24 RAM slots that allow up to 3 terabytes of memory. This comes at a time when most people are working with 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB. With 3000GB at your disposal, we reckon the only thing slowing down your image editing will be the speed you can do it, not the PC. For storage, the Z8 can be upgraded with…

The launch of Sony’s A9 mirrorless camera earlier this year was arguably one of the most celebrated camera releases in recent times. Finally it seemed there was a mirrorless camera that could fully cater to professional photographers. With dual card slots, an incredibly complex autofocus system and a plethora of other innovative digital features, the (albeit quite expensive) camera seemed to attack several areas of complaint from professionals while also improving on several aspects of digital SLRs. But pre-A9, there have already been a number of pros that have embraced the mirrorless movement and as it became evident that Sony, Fuji and a few other camera brands were targeting serious photographers, slowly but surely professionals from a spectrum of genres have begun ditching their DSLRs. We took some time to…

As a nature photographer one of the keys to success is thoughtful planning. It allows you to have an awareness of the images that have come before, ensures you are well prepared for a given situation, and ensures you are ready to troubleshoot potential challenges. But occasionally when in the field, you just don’t have the opportunity to plan - you have to make the most of a situation that is totally unexpected. The latter was certainly the case when an aggregation of hundreds of giant spider crabs came marching across the shallows in the Mercury Passage, between Maria Island and mainland Tasmania, under pursuit by a predatory Maori octopus. The octopus seemed just as surprised as me to be presented with such an opportunity. Throughout the encounter—which lasted around…

LINE THIS MONTH'S WINNER LIANNE MANLEY Blurred lines EDITOR’S COMMENT: We must admit we’re real suckers for creative use of blur, and this shot by Lianne Manley really stood out for it’s subtle use of lines this month. It suggests just enough of her subject to provide some context, and there’s some lovely green and brown tones that have been captured here too. Lianne says of the shot: “I recently had the opportunity to venture out of Kuala Lumpur, whilst there on a holiday, to the new Bukit Selangor Nature Reserve. The reserve is in place to protect and restore the mangroves and wetlands. I loved the way the light played amongst the trees and did a vertical pan to get the streaked affect, a little post production in Lightroom…

Wildlife photography’s all about getting close and then closer still, right? Not so. Some of the most affecting images we’ve seen are those where wildlife subjects are captured at range; consciously positioned within jaw-dropping scenery like a perfect, tiny jewel in a rich setting. Instead of filling the frame with a subject, these shots deliberately dwarf them in a panoramic sweep of surrounding landscape or brooding sky. It’s a great way to confound a viewer’s expectations of the genre by turning this ‘closer is better’ school of thinking on its head and shooting wildlife miniatures instead. These are the sort of captures we’re increasingly searching out, relishing the challenge in successfully negotiating two photographic disciplines – wildlife and landscape. The hybrid ‘living landscapes’ or ‘animal-scapes’ that result can be incredibly…

I have been a professional photographer for over thirty years. With over 30,0000 images taking up about 6TB of data storage (and that’s not even including the video) you can see why I am very keen on using only the best storage hardware. I wanted a single unit that could replace an ever expanding collection of different hard drives and so make my data-wrangling a lot easier by getting better organised. I was looking for certain things: Must have a large capacity, and be scalable for future expansion. I don’t want to re-organise for many years! It must be reliable. It must offer some high speed data transfer options beyond a normal ethernet network because I need to edit 4K video. I settled on a QNAP TVS-1282T3 NAS which has…

Today in our changing world, photography has made me a little uneasy. I often find myself asking – Is this image real, or is it photoshopped? Fake images have become so sophisticated that most observers often can’t tell the difference between a fabricated photograph and a real photograph. And, like fake news stories, fake images have become ubiquitous online – there’s even a @FakeAstropics site on Twitter. I suppose in a way I am upset when fabricated images get attention because I know how much effort and skill it takes to shoot an image ‘for real’. But more importantly, when a fraud is exposed, it erodes the general public confidence in what’s seen in photographs. Fraudulent images desensitise viewers to fakes as well as to the truth. It also fosters…