Innholdsfortegnelse for December-January 2024 i Australian Photography

This year, all the talk in the photography world has been about Artificial Intelligence, and it’s not hard to understand why. From AI images sneaking their way in and winning photo competitions, to AI enhancements hitting the mainstream with new one-click tools in products like Adobe Photoshop, it’s been hard to escape the rise of AI in 2023. But what’s remarkable is how quickly it has moved into the conversation at all. Camera tech developments like AI autofocus took years of iterations to reach the point where they became the indispensable tools we use today, and yet the advancements in AI since just the start of the year have been eye-opening to follow. Almost monthly there was another quantum leap in the emerging technology, and for a period we were…

THE finalists in the annual Nikon Walkley Awards have been announced, alongside two category winners, in the annual celebration of Australia’s best photojournalism. The 2023 Nikon Photo of the Year Prize was awarded to Quinn Rooney for his image Matilda Joy. Rooney is an Australia-based staff photographer with Getty Images, and his image shows the Matildas celebrating after goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold stopped one of France’s penalty shots in the Quarter Final match. The Walkley judges used the term “jubo” – a newsroom abbreviation for the images of jubilation that editors look for after a sporting victory. “It’s a moment that encapsulates the spirit of the country. The eyes on it, the emotion we have invested into it. It’s the peak of action, a global moment. Of all the Matildas’ celebration…

NIGHT Our modern cameras make it easy to take photos when light levels are low, but the fundamentals of good photography still apply. You need a great subject, great composition, and great lighting – regardless of how little you have to work with. Here are our picks this issue. DANI MAVER Supermood EDITOR’S COMMENT Dani Maver’s image Supermood may be a blend of two images, August’s super blue moon seen from Melbourne, and a crow on the roof through foliage, but they come together to make a very moody, atmospheric image that has a real cinematic vibe to it. Your processing of the final image is also great, preserving the noise to add a bit of grit – something we probably don’t see enough of in an era of pin-sharp…

For many of us, our knowledge of police photography extends as far as what we see on TV. Shows like CSI, and gritty courtroom dramas, where photographic evidence turns a case on a dime, have given us a view of the profession that suggests this work is as simple as turning up to a location and photographing the aftermath of crime. And while this is a part of the job, the reality for the forensic photographers from the AFP’s Forensic Search and Imagery team is that no two days are ever the same. The role can cover anything from assisting police in foreign countries with identifying the dead, to scanning plane wreckage, and photographing people for biometric comparisons. Simone Reynolds, Team Leader at the AFP’s Canberra HQ describes her team…

WHAT SPARKED YOUR INTEREST IN PHOTOGRAPHY? My interest in photography was gradual, so I can’t pinpoint one moment. I remember, with fondness, a cheap, throw-away camera that my parents bought me when I was about five or six years old. This experience probably planted the initial seed within me to want to be a photographer. Also, I have an older cousin who is a talented photographer whose work I admired when I was about 11. And so, when I was 12, I used the money I had raised from my newspaper route to buy myself a used Canon EOS Rebel T2i from a local hock shop (pawnbroker). At first, I took pictures of anything and everything, such as cobwebs with raindrops on them, flowers, and my cats. However, I remember…

After a considerable wait, the successor to the well-received, but getting on a bit, DJI Air 2S has finally touched down. It’s called the DJI Air 3, and it draws inspiration from the Mavic 3 Pro by integrating a dual-camera system to make for a more versatile shooting package while retaining a compact size. The Air 3 is available in two variants -the Air 3 with standard DJI RC-N2 controller, which will set you back $1,699 in its cheapest form, and the Air 3 with the DJI RC 2 controller, which retails for around $2,349 as a combo. BUILD QUALITY The Air 3 seamlessly folds into a compact package for travel, just as you would expect for DJI’s mid-compact series. It features all-around obstacle sensors, a standard microSD slot, 8GB…

As an enthusiast photographer for almost 73 years, my interests and approaches have changed and evolved. Nowadays I mostly seek to create contemporary works, but there are still times when I capture traditional imagery. Menindee Lakes comprises nine large, but relatively shallow, lakes located in south-west New South Wales on the Darling (Barka) River. The town of Menindee is close by. There are four main lakes, including Pamamaroo. One afternoon during the 2023 APS MeetUp at Broken Hill, participants set off by coach heading there to shoot the sunset. The drive from the Hill to Pamamaroo should take about 70 minutes. The plan was to arrive in time to set up cameras, tripods, and whatever other gear we each wished to use, then eat dinner at the spot before photographing…

DOUG GIMESY Doug is a professional conservation and wildlife photojournalist. See more of his work at gimesy.com DARRAN LEAL Darran has been a professional photo tour operator for more than 30 years. See more of his work at worldphotoadventures.com.au TIM ROBINSON Tim is the producer of Snap Happy TV and a keen bird photographer. Find out more at worldviewproductions.com.au STEVE THOMAS Steve has been racing, shooting and writing about bikes and adventure travel for most of his life. See more of his work at stevethomasimages.com DREW HOPPER Drew Hopper is an Australian photographer and visual storyteller committed to documenting social, cultural, and environmental stories. See more at drewhopper.com…

Ballesta’s image shows a tri-spine horseshoe crab accompanied by a trio of golden trevallies. The tri-spine horseshoe crab has survived for more than 100 million years but now faces habitat destruction and overfishing for food and for its blue blood, used in the development of vaccines. But, in the protected waters of Pangatalan Island in the Philippines, there is hope for its survival. Chair of the jury and editor, Kathy Moran says, ‘To see a horseshoe crab so vibrantly alive in its natural habitat, in such a hauntingly beautiful way, was astonishing. We are looking at an ancient species, highly endangered, and also critical to human health. This photo is luminescent.’ Laurent becomes only the second photographer in the competition’s fifty-nine-year history to be awarded the Grand Title award twice.…

PEAK DESIGN CAPTURE CLIP $139.95 Peak Design describe the Capture as the most secure, convenient, accessible way to carry your camera, period, and there’s definitely some truth to this bold statement. If you’ve never used one, it’s worth giving it a try as it really can speed up the act of getting your camera out and ready to shoot. The Capture system includes two components: a metal clip that clamps to any backpack strap, belt, or bag, and a tripod-compatible plate that screws into the bottom of your camera. Your camera smoothly locks into the clip, where it is held rigidly and securely. From there, it’s as simple as pressing the lockable quick-release button to remove. More info: peakdesign.com/products/capture POLAROID GO INSTANT CAMERA $169.95 Polaroid’s Go may be the instant…

Panasonic’s S5 from 2020 was a 24MP full-frame mirrorless camera built around the same sensor as the Panasonic Lumix S1, but in a smaller, more affordable body. It was a solid camera, but it had a weakness that has long been a bug bear for many Lumix users - like Panasonic’s GH series, it used a contrast-based depth-from-defocus autofocus system rather than a more reliable phase detection (PDAF) autofocus system. But that’s a thing of the past with the Lumix S5 II which, along with a more video-centric camera announced at the same time, the S5 II X, features a PDAF system for the first time. But that’s not all. Other features over its predecessor include a newly developed 24.2-megapixel sensor and new imaging engines, an increased buffer memory size…

Over the last 18 months, Sony has been updating its ‘holy trinity’ of professional lenses. First was the 70-200mm f/2.8 GM II, followed by its 24-70mm f/2.8 GM II. Now, more than six years after it was first released, Sony has finally updated its 16-35mm f/2.8, making the holy trinity update complete. So, what’s it like, was it worth the wait, and is it worth the price? BUILD At 112mm long (at 16mm) and weighing just 547gm, the Mark II is 10mm (10%) shorter and 130g (20%) lighter than its predecessor, making it currently the world’s lightest and smallest full frame AF 16-35mm f/2.8 lens. The lighter weight also means that when combined with the recently updated 24-70mm and 70-200mm, this ‘holy trinity’ only weighs 2287gm vs the previous weight…

We have bid farewell to the cool breezes and colour of spring and are now embracing the hot dry weather of the summer sun all over Australia. I love that as the temperature rises, nature begins to transform. Vibrant colours of spring give way to a more muted palette, with earthy tones and golden hues dominating the scenery. This shift provides a unique opportunity to capture the landscape in a new light, where warm, soft shades paint an enchanting canvas on those longer summer evenings. In my personal photography, this time of year is where I focus on the activities happening around me. I’ll watch for moments where the sunlight filters through the foliage on our farm, as fresh, green leaves create a mesmerising interplay of light and shadow. In…

SWEETEN IT UP “I am a Diploma of Photography student at Sydney’s Ultimo TAFE. My concept was to feature the human form interacting with liquids. I chose to use honey due to its viscosity, interesting random shapes and how it interacts with light. Honey has been a feature of many famous portraits in the past, and I was particularly influenced by Fabrizio Ferri’s photos of actress Monica Bellucci.” ANTHONY’S TIP: Hi Daniel, given you are studying photography (probably to go professional) I’m going to be a little more critical with my comments, even though you are the winner this month! If this image was being judged at a professional photography competition it would probably score about 65/100 - a “professional standard”. This is a simple one light set-up with a…

These days, our modern cameras all seem to fire away like machine guns, shutters roaring away while buffers and cards fill faster than you can blink. It means that most photographers now come back from adventures with hundreds or even thousands of images clogging up their cards or external drives. To give you an idea, if I am out on a morning street walk, I can come back with 80-100 images with my camera set to three frames per second (fps). If on a game safari, I could come back with 1000-2000 images! Some photographers shoot even more, with the camera blazing away constantly at 20-30 fps. It’s too easy to overshoot and fill those expensive memory cards, and worse yet, have piles of unsorted images clogging up your hard…

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Be it for photography or videography, having a multicoloured fill light in your pocket can prove invaluable in countless scenarios. Ulanzi are a Chinese brand known for making great value budget priced and decent quality products. I was intrigued by Ulanzi’s quirky and cheap VL120, a compact RGB LED video light, and at an RRP of just $39 USD ($60 AUD) I had to give it a shot – primarily as a fill light for tabletop and food photography. THE TECH Measuring 10.6cm x 6.6cm and being around 1cm thick and weighing in at 120g, the Ulanzi VL120 video/fill light is around the size of a smartphone. It’s made from durable plastic with a built in USB-C charged 3100MAH battery and diffuser, and it has an ¼ screw mount (with…

If you’ve never shot in the RAW file format before, quite simply you’ve been missing out. Relying on JPEG is fine for some situations, but for the vast majority of photography, RAW is definitely the way to go. As the name suggests, in this mode the camera captures RAW tonal data of your scene, rather than adding parameters such as contrast, saturation and sharpness, which is what happens when you shoot in JPEG. By shooting in RAW you delay any decision making until you’re back at the computer and edit RAW files in software such as Adobe Camera RAW or Lightroom, where you can fine-tune your edit or apply presets to create a certain look and feel to the frame. In this feature, we’ll not only explain what the RAW…