I need to hang up now

A phone box with shattered glass is a rare sight in this sleepy town, fortunately. It does make for interesting patterns though.

My air guitar is broken

The fetch

Shape and shadow

Test driving some new black and white software. I think I’m in love.

Photographing a dog

Photographing animals can be hard work. Especially if your subject is a 10-month-old border collie x smithfield cross dog. That’s a working farm dog crossed with a working farm dog. That equals pure energy. At least two walks a day are required for young Benny. Plus a good session of backyard throw-the-ball (or stick, or rope) game.

Benny didn’t want his photo taken. He wanted me to throw the rope. I managed a few shots before he started to throw the rope in the air and try to catch it himself. It was then I knew it was time to put the camera down and play. Thanks for your patience Benny.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Inside

It’s been a place of mystery since early childhood when I was told never to go near it. Especially with a knife. Today I went near it and looked inside. This is what I saw.

 

So that’s what holds the bread in the toaster. There you go. While I didn’t have a knife, I did have my camera with my current favourite lens thrown open to f1.2.

Endless possibilities

Endless possibilities.

Endless possibilities

Time flies. It’s been some time since my last post. No excuses really, it’s just life getting in the way of blogging.

Rest assured the camera hasn’t been lying idle all this time. I have been out and about taking photographs when and where I can. I had a great weekend at Freycinet National Park with Luke O’Brien, a Hobart-based landscape photographer. You can view some of his stunning images here. I also attended a digital photography course run by Steve Lovegrove and learnt a huge amount about my camera and photography in general. All good stuff!

Some of the photographs I’ve taken over the last six months will be the subject of future blogs. But for today I’m posting a photo I took for the ABC’s Photo Finish photography competition. Photo Finish is a TV program that features a wide range of photography genres. The competition called for creative photos that featured a camera lens somewhere in the photo. I was inspired by Gotye’s Making Mirrors album and an optical illusion book my daughter brought home from the school library. I had a whole lot of fun shooting this photograph and the photograph is pretty much straight out of my camera. Just some minor adjustment to exposure and brightness using computer editing software.

So, that’s my photo. If you like it and it is not yet August 5, 2012, you are most welcome to vote for it in the Photo Finish competition. You can vote for it here. It literally takes 2 seconds. Thanks so much.

Wordless expression

 

 

Simply too hot for words today. I’m going to rely on sign language instead.

What I’m trying to say is…

Up close and personal

What you get when first attempting the 'reverse lens' technique to get closer to the subject. Jane McLoughlin©

This morning I took myself off to a little workshop on close-up & macro photography. The workshop was run by ABC Open as part of their Up Close photography project. Now, I already have entered the competition (see my entry here. Feel free to comment, I can handle criticism!). But I quite like the idea of looking closely at the world around me and taking a look at small details that by themselves, tell a story. So while I wistfully gaze at the macro lens on display at the local camera shop and saving my pennies, I make do with the lenses I have at my disposal. But I know there’s so much more to learn, so I jumped at the opportunity to attend the workshop.

The workshop touched on a range of subject matter. Developing one’s ‘photographer’s eye’, composition, depth of field and focal point were all discussed. The most interesting discussion was the inexpensive and relatively easy-to-use gear to allow the camera to get closer to the action. The first was the use of extension tubes to allow a standard lens to mimic a macro lens. Unfortunately there were no extension tubes at the workshop for me to have a play with. That may have to wait for another day, if I can lay my hands on an inexpensive one. 

Using a magnifying glass in front of my 35mm f1.8 lens. Jane McLoughlin©

What was available at the workshop was a magnifying glass and a loupe to place in front of the lens to give greater magnification. The loupe, in particular, produced spectacular results when workshop participants placed it in front of a compact digital camera lens. I also had fun using it over the camera in my mobile phone. It was too small for the SLR lens unfortunately. The ‘reverse lens’ technique was also discussed at the workshop. An old Pentax 35-70mm zoom was looking lonely and forlorn on the table so I grabbed it for a ‘rough and ready’ attempt of reversing the lens. The result was the shot seen up top (the ‘telescope’ look at a flower style). Clearly I have a way to go to getting a handle on this technique! If nothing else, I like the colours.

The workshop finished up with a 15 minute shoot outside the building with the idea of capturing images ‘close up’. The loupe, magnifying glass, etc. were utilized by others so I concentrated on ‘close up’ rather than ‘macro’.     

A closer look at some clever engineering. Jane McLoughlin ©