Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2021 i Australian Photography

What makes for a great cover image? It’s something I get asked a lot – perhaps more than any other question by photographers – and yet even after editing this magazine for the last five years, it’s still something I struggle to quite put my finger on. I think this is because an image has to tick so many boxes to work on a magazine cover. From a technical perspective it’s got to be pretty much faultless in every regard – sharp, perfectly exposed, tastefully edited and with a composition that works for coverlines. And then from a creative perspective it needs to be something that you don’t see every day. Sure, the subject matter plays a part, but the best images have something else that makes them great –…

It was another cold and early wakeup call - one of many on our month-long trip in Japan back in 2018. Thankfully our sunrise shoot location (Matsumoto Castle) was only a 3-minute walk from our hostel. It’s always a bonus when you can book your Airbnb right next to your shoot location. Before I arrived in Japan, I had researched Matsumoto castle on Google and Instagram and found many picture-perfect photos of the castle in a pure wintery white setting. Unlike most castles in Japan, Matsuomoto has a dark and contrasting exterior, and a shot of it was high up on my trip’s shot list. From the hostel, we walked through the cold and sleepy town and arrived before sunrise. Travelling with other photographers is nice because we all knew…

A cold environment presents a number of challenges for the outdoor photographer – an unfamiliar landscape, the weather and of course the low temperature can all make capturing something unique quite difficult. I’ve been fortunate to experience trips to the polar regions as well as some of the higher points on the globe, and over time have learned a few things about photographing where the subject at hand is set within a scene of ice and snow. Successfully getting the shot in a cold environment requires control over three aspects of the photographic process. The first is personal preparation, which means maximising your ability to function in an extreme environment. Secondly, it’s ensuring your camera can perform as it’s meant to in an environment it’s not really optimised for. And…

Expand your creativity with these unique photography ideas. As photographers, we’re always searching for that next picture-perfect moment to cherish and share with the world, but if we just shoot the same subjects over-and-over again, photography has a funny habit of becoming repetitious. I find the best way to avoid this is to mix things up by trying different techniques both in-camera and in post-production. The best part is a lot of these techniques won’t cost you a cent - just some time and your imagination. So, let’s take a look at a few. 1 GAIN GRAIN Sometimes ‘rules’ are made to be broken, and on the subject of noise, clean noise-free images aren’t always better. So why not embrace the beauty of grain and use it to create more…

Have you ever photographed the perfect subject, but wanted to tweak just one colour in the image? Or have you ever wanted to edit just the out of focus areas in one of your images, leaving the in-focus parts alone? In Photoshop, there’s a selection of tools that can perform these actions, along with all sorts of others, quickly and easily. Better yet, once you’ve learned them, they will become a useful tool in your editing toolkit, especially so as they are incredibly accurate. So, let’s dive right in, with the first, making a Colour Range based selection. 1. COLOR RANGE BASED SELECTION Color Range is a selection tool that allows you to select parts of an image based on its colour. This makes it easy to select a specific…

IN ANSEL’S BACKYARD On a visit to Yosemite, John Egan wanted to catch the beautiful orange/yellow effect that sunset can have on the high points from the valley floor. He scouted the area the morning before and found a still pond which reflected well. He wrote: “At the time of sunset, the pool was a mirror!” This view looks to be of Half Dome, which captures amazing light and colour in other images I have seen, and is spectacular in black-and-white and colour, summer and winter. The black-and-white images by iconic American photographer Ansel Adams of Half Dome are now considered fine art. But back to your image! It looks a little light and pale in that sky area, and the simplest fix is to darken it and balance the…

DR ANDREW PEACOCK Dr. Andrew Peacock works as an ER doctor in Queensland and is a regular finalist in the Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year awards. In the pre-Covid era he was a guide and photo instructor. See more at footloosefotography.com KATIE MENDL Katie Mendl has been a professional photographer for 10 years, dabbling in portraiture, editorial, fashion and wedding photography before finding her way back to her first love, horses. See more at calicopony.bigcartel.com DREW HOPPER Drew Hopper is an Australian freelance documentary photographer exploring ecological themes, landscape and place. See more of his work at drewhopper.com SHREYAS YADAV Shreyas Yadav is an engineer and wildlife and nature photographer from India. He is also a writer and lifelong adventure explorer. See more of his work at shreyas-yadav.com…

YELLOW Based on the sheer number of entries we received this month, it’s fair to say simple colour themes like this one are pretty popular! From dozens of great entries, here were our favourite shots that stood out and wowed us this time around. DIANNE MACHEN Number 2 HOW I DID IT I took this photo while we were on holidays in Sydney, and this yellow door caught my eye as it really stood out against the brown wall. It was one of those really quick shots as you are hurrying along the footpath. TECHNICAL DETAILS Nikon D7100, Nikon 24-70mm lens. 1/200s @ f5.6, ISO 100. THIS MONTH’S WINNER SALEENA ELLIOTT Yellow wall EDITOR’S COMMENT Saleena Elliott’s fantastic image Yellow Wall was inspired by the work of Australian painter Jeffrey…

1. SAFETY FIRST, FOR YOU AND YOUR SUBJECT I know, I know…such a great way to start an article with everyone’s favourite topic, health and safety! In all seriousness though, you need to understand that protecting yourself and the horse needs to be your top priority. Photographing horses is not just a matter of jumping the paddock fence and pressing the shutter button. As beautiful as they are, horses can be very unpredictable. They have big, slightly stained teeth at the front, and two very hard, round missiles (aka hooves) at the back. Before entering a paddock or barn, make sure you get some experience around horses without a camera in your hand. Horses have an acute ability to sense emotions, so if you feel afraid, it’s likely the horse…

SanDisk’s newest and fastest portable SSD may look a lot like its predecessors, but that’s just about where the comparisons end. Under the hood it offers serious performance for photographers, video editors and data hoarders who need the fastest possible USB 3.2 standard to move big files quickly. But this comes with a caveat - to really take advantage of its capabilities you’ll need to have the latest transfer tech at hand. ON THE OUTSIDE Visually at least, the SanDisk Extreme design is largely unchanged from what we’ve seen before: it keeps the ruggedised rubber outer with orange carabiner/keyring clip, and in the hand it’s still nice to hold. It’s a compact unit too, with our 1TB review model measuring up at 11.2 x 5.8 x 1.15cm. The drive is…

To visit Japan is an immersive experience quite unlike travelling in any other country. And as a photographer, you can interpret the experience in a myriad of ways – there’s opportunities for beautiful landscapes, bustling street images and tranquil travel shots. But what makes a visit to Japan even more special is the friendliness, helpfulness and generosity of everyday people you meet in the street. Our day visit to the Sandankyo Gorge, near Hiroshima, was such an experience. We were able to visit in Autumn just before it was closed for the winter. It is a very beautiful area, and unexpectedly it began to snow. As we walked along the path above the waterfalls, we met a couple of local people walking towards us. As we didn’t have a common…

SIGMA LAUNCHES FP L 61MP FULL-FRAME CAMERA SIGMA has announced a 61 Megapixel high-resolution version of its full-frame fp camera, called the fp L. As well as the new sensor, the fp L gets a new hybrid autofocus system, an optional electronic viewfinder that screws onto the side of the camera, 24p video capture and support for USB Power Delivery. Physiacally, the fp L is pretty much unchanged over its predecessor and it remains the smallest full frame camera on the market at 113 x 70 x 45mm, weighing in at just 427g with battery and memory card installed. Beyond the sensor, which is almost certainly the same as that in the Sony A7R IV, the most interesting new addition is the bolt-on electronic viewfinder, which has 3.68 million dots…

UPCOMING COMPETITION THEMES AUGUST ISSUE SPORT May 31, 2021 SEPTEMBER ISSUE BLACK AND WHITE June 30, 2021 OCTOBER ISSUE DETAIL July 31, 2021 NOVEMBER ISSUE PETS August 31, 2021 DECEMBER ISSUE SEASONS September 30, 2021 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. a max5. Email file size must not exceed 7MB.6. Please include the following information…

A thin merino wool layer top and bottom against my skin and a toasty warm ¾ zip neck long sleeve top and close fitting stretch polypro fleece tights on the bottom are my all important base layers. If I’m leading a Zodiac cruise, where I’m not very active, I’ll add a down jacket, and for all activities I need robust waterproof and windproof outer layers. For my feet (with thick wool socks) I pack a super warm and waterproof pair of tall Arctic Muck Boots. I have yet to find a perfect glove system for photography in the cold so I’ll pack a variety of thin and thick options to give me as much flexibility as possible for both wet and dry cold conditions.…

My average natural light shoot typically starts approximately an hour before sunset. Once I’ve arrived, here’s how I work: • Canon 5DSR body with my Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L lens• My camera on Aperture priority. If shooting a backlit scene, then it’s onto manual, with a quick switch to get the correct exposure• My aperture will change depending on the shot, however usually remains somewhere between f3.2 and f8• My ISO changes as the light changes. If I need a faster shutter speed, I’ll pop the ISO up however if it gets too noisy, I will usually widen the aperture and lose a little depth of field rather than raise the ISO too high• I rarely go under a shutter speed of 1/1000s, but that’s just me. Sometimes I’ll pull a…

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The photos we take tell the stories of our lives. Stories of travels, achievements, of our homes, of people still with us and of those long gone. Because photos are potent reminders of who we are and what we have done, I believe they deserve special consideration of where they are used after we have pressed the shutter. Here are three ways of displaying our photos: inside a book on the shelf, as a private exhibition on the wall, or as an AV (audio visual) on the screen. Firstly, as a writer, I like to capture stories inside of photobooks and display them prominently on my bookshelf. At times when I have guests over, they’ll pick them up, with the carefully designed covers grabbing their attention. The image above shows…