Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2020 i Australian Photography

Here’s a question for you: what do you think makes for a good photo? Your answer might be something along the lines of an interesting subject captured in an unusual way, or an image taken in great light, or a shot with a dynamic composition. Intuitively, we probably “know” what separates a good photo from an average one, but very rarely do we sit down and analyse what those particular things are. I’m guessing even fewer of us spend any time doing this with our own work. I know I’ve always been reluctant to critique my images. This all changed last year when I spoke to photographer Julieanne Kost (you can read my interview with her in the April issue of AP and online) and she told me that at…

UPCOMING COMPETITION THEMES YOUR ENTRY 1. Email your entry to yourbestshot@australianphotography.com with the name of the competition theme in the email subject line. For example: Weather, Abstract, Landscape, etc.2. The image file must be the same as your name. For example: Jane Smith.jpg. If you enter multiple images, each new image file name should be appended with a unique number, eg Jane Smith2.jpg3. A maximum of three images can be entered per person.4. Images must be in JPEG format.5. Email file size must not exceed 7MB.6. Please include the following information about your entry in the body of your email: name, image title and up to 200 words explaining how you captured your image. Please also include technical details including camera, lens, focal length, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, tripod (if…

Many bird enthusiasts take up photography so they have a record of what they see, and on the flip side many photographers enjoy the challenge of photographing and become bird enthusiasts. I have always loved birds, but had a small knowledge of their species and behaviours when I started to photograph them. I am by no means an expert, but my knowledge has grown over the years and now I can identify many birds by sound, flight patterns and other behaviour, and I have refined my skills at capturing them. In this article I’ll share some of the steps I use to capture great bird images. THE GEAR Having the right equipment is important. You don't need to spend a small fortune on gear but there is no doubt you…

At some time in our lives we have all walked down a windswept beach and as the waves crashed and wind blew, we found ourselves sidestepping myriad of bluebottles washed onto the beach. Some of us have even been tempted to pop one or two of these nasty stingers. But they present a wonderful opportunity to snap an image or three, and if you look carefully there may also be other less obvious sea creatures around. One such inconspicuous creature is a nudibranch – Glaucus atlanticus – also known as the blue dragon. This little fellow is about the size of your thumb and can be easily missed. It is a vibrant blue, and floats upside down, moving in the ocean at the whim of the winds and currents before…

Thanks to Fujifilm, Alan Coligado has won a brilliant Fujifilm Finepix XP140 camera valued at $299. The first XP Series model capable of recording 4K video, the XP140’s High-Speed Video recording function also allows you to record HD video for smooth slow-motion, even for fast-moving subjects. Inside, the camera features a 16.4 megapixel 1/2.3-inch BSI-CMOS sensor and it is waterproof to 25m, freezeproof to -10°C, and shockproof to withstand drops from 1.8m. The widest setting of 28mm on the Fujinon 5x optical zoom lens is perfectly suited to close-up action shots, while clear portraits are easy using the 5x optical zoom and 10x Intelligent Digital Zoom. There’s also a large 3-inch high-definition 920K-dot LCD and Bluetooth connectivity. Find out more at fujifilm.com.au HOW TO SUBMIT AN IMAGE • Email entries…

With the outbreak of COVID-19 and the subsequent implementation of social distancing and isolation, the world of photography has been thrown a curveball. For the first time in living memory, the world’s population has been forced to retreat to their homes, with streets emptied and the subject matter for a whole spectrum of photographers evaporating right before our eyes. While the likes of Trent Parke, Christopher Anderson, Phillip Toledano and Larry Towell have proven that one needn’t leave their home to make timeless photographs, for most people the frustration of taking pictures under socially restrictive laws is palpable. One such victim was Sydney-based photographer Jim A. Barker. Having made a brave career switch from public relations to photography just months before the global COVID-19 pandemic hit, what could have been…

As a child, back when televisions had cathode ray tubes, our parents were forever telling us to sit away from the screen. Nowadays, with 60-inch TVs common in many living rooms, sitting too close is not so much a problem as actually sitting far enough back to see the entire screen. In recent weeks, I’ve had this conundrum with the new BenQ SW321C, a professional level 32-inch 4K monitor designed specifically for photographers and videographers. The screen has 67 per cent more image area than my usual 24-inch monitor and it had me sitting back from my desk enjoying the view. THE DISPLAY Professional imaging monitors such as the BenQ SW321C differ from most consumer-level computer screens in that they use an In-Plane Switching (IPS) display panel. Although more expensive,…

A little over a year ago I started a journey which is now coming to a close. My first submission in the APS Conceptual Art Photography Award (CAPA) program is now nearing its completion and is ready for assessment. CAPA was first initiated in 2015 by the Australian Photographic Society. The CAPA program is not a very fast process to work through and can be frustrating and challenging at times. I have found my concept has changed greatly during the course of the program. So you may ask what is conceptual art photography? In simple terms, it is photography that communicates and expresses ideas to relate a story to the viewer, drawing on the viewer’s feelings and emotions. Two important elements to consider in conceptual photography are metaphor and symbolism,…

Jellyfish are many things to many people. To fishermen, they can be a costly impact on business. To swimmers, they can be a source of fear and pain. To entrepreneurs, they can be a surprising source of income. To the curious, they are hypnotic and fascinating. To photographers, they challenge and inspire. As an underwater photographer, I find them completely intriguing, and recognise that the challenge in photographing them lies in capturing the decisive moment that portrays them in all their grace and beauty, as opposed to a gelatinous blob. They move with the psychedelic ebb and flow of a lava lamp, their luminous body mass akin to the embryo stage of a life cycle, not quite fully formed into the final creature. The final stage in their life cycle…

PETS KYM DOUGLAS Siamese Fighting Fish EDITOR’S COMMENT: There’s something incredibly relaxing about watching fish swimming in a tank, which might be one of the reasons we were so drawn to this image. Photographer Kym Douglas says this Dumbo halfmoon (Dumbo meaning his side pectoral fins resemble elephant ears and halfmoon being the shape of his tail) is a composite photo as two males should never be kept in the same tank due to their aggressive, fighting nature. To capture the image, Kym has had to be quite creative, using flash heads bounced off some white card to turn the background to black. She is this month’s winner, which is a fair reward for the effort to capture her subject so gracefully. TECHNICAL DETAILS Canon 5d Mark III, EF100mm f/2.8L…

Three years is a long time in the world of technology – just look at the gap between 2016’s A6500 and 2019’s A6600. When the A6500 launched, it was packed with innovative features such as 4K 30 fps video, 11fps shooting speed, in-body stabilisation, and face and eye tracking. At the time these specs were truly class-leading, but now, well, times have changed. Today there’s a bunch of excellent APS-C cameras on the market – the Fujifilm X-T3 (and more recently, the X-T4), Canon’s impressive EOS M6 Mark II, and Nikon’s Z 50. Where once Sony’s flagship stood alone, today it’s a crowded marketplace and the margins are tighter than ever, especially when it comes to price. Let’s take a look. BODY The first thing you’ll notice when you pick…

LOCALISE! Alan Coligado says: “This is one of my fledgling attempts at multiple exposures through layering in Photoshop. It is a composite image of a mural and a discarded mattress I found while exploring street art in Sydney’s Inner West last January. My intention was to blur the boundaries between what one can see physically and what one can only imagine or ‘visualise’.” This is an interesting image and is reminiscent of the pre-digital technique of sandwiching a texture screen with a negative. Today, it can be done digitally, but the concept is the same. Here, I think the mattress texture and lines are a little too dominant and reduce the impact of the head. One way to change this is to make use of the eraser tool – at…