Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2016 i Australian Photography

It probably passed by with little more than a blip to most, but photographer Fan Ho's death in June this year was a particularly sad day for lovers of street photography. Born in Shanghai in 1931, Fan Ho first delved into photography at the age of 14 when his father gifted him a Rolleiflex twin-lens camera. After moving to Hong Kong in 1949, he began taking photographs of the city’s streets and alleys, focusing on intriguing scenes and people that characterised the booming metropolis. Studio photography was far more common at the time, and Ho, walking the street with his Rolleiflex, was definitely an oddity. “With a knife in his hand, a pig butcher said he would chop me,” the 83-year-old recounted during an interview with the South China Morning…

When the moon hits your eye... Q I find the moon one of the hardest subjects to photograph, especially if I try to include the surrounding background, like clouds. I tried the other night to photograph a full moon, in a sky of quite dramatic dark clouds. However, if I used a setting that showed the clouds, the moon appeared as a brilliant shining white light, obliterating any detail. On the other hand, if I used a setting that showed the surface of the moon, the clouds disappeared into inky blackness. Is the only solution to use Photoshop and combine two images? For my photographs I used a Pentax K-30 DSLR, hand held, with a prime 200mm f/2.8 lens. Michael Coper, Farrer, ACT. A Photographing the moon is a real…

Neutral density filters are basically dark glass or resin which allow a photographer to lengthen the shutter speed in order to achieve an effect that is not reproducible in post processing alone. The duration of the shutter speed will depend on how dark the filter is The degree of ‘light blocking’ is often referred to with regard to the ‘stops of light’ it blocks. An alternate terminology uses exponential values of the number two to reflect this principle. For instance an ND filter blocking 2 stops of light can be called ND4 (2^2), and a denser filter blocking 10 stops of light can be called ND1024 (2^10). With the terminology out of the way, let’s move on to some questions you should ask yourself to help achieve the best when…

Recently I was an advisor and judge for the Central Australian Show Society photography section on behalf of the Australian Photographic Society. During the three days of the event, more than 2,500 people visited the exhibition of over 400 photographs. Some spent 30 seconds while others spent 15 minutes studying the images. The attendees were from all walks of life and it crossed my mind to wonder what they get from looking at the photographs. Admittedly people who go to look at “solo” exhibitions in a professional gallery look at photographs from a different perspective to others. I asked a few viewers why they came. Some told me they "just like looking at photographs”, or “I like to see good quality photographs”, “I want to see how other people photograph…

The term ‘dodging and burning’ goes back to the early days of darkroom print processing. It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book and has stuck around for a good reason. Traditionally used with pieces of thick cardboard attached to thin wire, we now use brushes in the digital world to do just the same thing. Dodging is a way of drawing attention to an area of an image by boosting up the exposure, to give highlights more contrast. Burning, as you can imagine, does the exact opposite, by darkening the shadows to add depth and drama. Used in conjunction with dodging, this powerful combination can inject atmosphere into an image that may have otherwise been missing. Luckily for us, programs such as Adobe Lightroom still make dodging and…

Zahn Pithers’ Australia Street book to be released Renowned photographer Zahn Pithers lives on Australia Street, which runs from Newtown to Camperdown in Sydney’s inner west. The street has inspired Pithers’ latest photographic project, “Australia Street – Portraits from the Inner West”, a culmination of two years’ work. Commercially, Pithers has photographed celebrities such as Dame Edna/Barry Humphries, Mel B from the Spice Girls and recently shot a campaign for the Cancer Council featuring elite Australian athletes. The subjects of his latest project are a “part of the ebb and flow of Australia Street itself”, and feature a variety of people from the famous, such as Julian Hamilton from band the Presets, to the local Australia Street fire station master Matt Murphy. Importantly, Pithers has included a culturally diverse range…

I discovered photography pretty much by chance about seven years ago. I would usually ride my bike into Adelaide for the ANZAC march and take my little Pentax pocket camera along with me. I managed to take a photo of an old Digger with all his medals pinned to his chest, looking ever so proud. Of course when I got home it was out of focus; I was so disappointed. My husband suggested, “Why don’t you join a camera club and learn how to take decent photos?” Nervously one night I went to the Port Adelaide Camera Club and joined up. A few weeks later I also joined the Adelaide Camera Club and was instantly hooked. My favourite subject is macro photography and I have practised and practised to hone…

Image Doctor Online Now there’s another way to get feedback on your images. We’re now offering an online version of Image Doctor at www.australianphotography.com, moderated by professional photographer Anthony McKee. Submit an image and find out what you’re doing right, what you’re doing wrong and, most importantly, what you can do to improve your photos. To upload an image go to www.australianphotography.com and click the ‘image doctor’ tab on the home page. THIS MONTH’S WINNER! Texture and detail Graham Bowden wrote: “This was shot handheld in the morning at Angkor Wat in Cambodia.   My eye was caught by the position of the monk and his bright robes within the setting of the temple.   I am not totally sure of the crop though, whether it should be narrower or…