Not only is this my weekly landscape 52 shot it is also my entry for the Strobist boot camp III, Assignment 3 competition. HMQS Gayundah was a flat-iron gunboat operated by the Queensland Maritime Defence Force and later the Royal Australian Navy (as HMAS Gayundah). She entered service in 1884 and was decommissioned and sold in 1921 where it was used as a sand and gravel barge and was later run aground at Woody Point, Redcliffe to serve as a break-wall in 1958.

I had arrived at 4:45am so I had plenty of time to setup the gear and try a few compositions. I ended up using 2 Cactus KF36 stobes set at full power and positioned down the side on the ship.  These were fired with Cactus V2 remotes. It took a little time to position the lights so that there was an even distribution of light.  I started with capturing the correct flash exposure for the wreck and I then dialed in a longer shutter speed to bring in the ambient sunrise.

To really appreciate the size of the wreck and get an understanding of the light setup I have put together a small video. I would love to hear your comments and critique on both the shot and the video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This weeks image was captured on our trip through regional NSW. I have driven past these cattle ramps hundreds of times, but until now I had not thought of stopping and creating something different in comparison to my usual landscape image. The location had the setting sun bathing the hills, trees and farm fences with an amazing orange light.

I tried a bunch of different angles before being rather happy with my initial image (located below). I love the natural lines in the image and the effect of the setting sun, but before hitting the road again I wanted to try something completely different. That’s when this weeks image was born.

The setting sun was dropping rapidly and I had about 10 minutes to capture the last intense rays of light for the day. I positioned my camera to face directly at the sun, but to create the effect I was after I placed the centre of the sun behind the ramp of the cattle dips side planks. There was no way I would be able to capture the image in just 1 shot so I set-up the camera to bracket 5 shots of +2, +1, 0, -1, -2. This was then processed into a HDR image with Photomatix. One of the issues with shooting directly into the sun is that it shows each and every dust or mark on your lens or filters. Hence I need to spend a good 15 minutes in Photoshop removing the marks with the healing brush and clone tools.

So next time your out shooting  why not capture your safety image and then experiment. Sure you wont get a winner every time but in the digital world you’ve lost nothing giving it a go.

After the year of disasters Queensland has had this year, with the massive floods and cyclones, I wanted to shoot something that stood for the great work done by Queenslanders to clean up and move forward.

XXXX Gold is brewed about 10km from where I live. It is the most iconic beer of Qld here in Australia. They put some great advertisements out congratulating Queenslanders on their great fighting spirit after the disasters. What’s more Australian than a good Aussie Beer?

And as usual here is my set up image. The white paper behind the bottles made a massive difference to the colour of the bottles. Such a simple addition but so key to the final image.

I have also put together a short behind the scenes (BTS) video of the shoot explaining my lighting and set up. You can expect many more of this in the next few months as product photography is really appealing to me. So keep your eyes out and feel free to submit ideas of things you would like to learn how to light and shoot.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Canon 40D @10mm, f4, ISO1600, 40sec exposure

It was my first visit to Currumbin and I was amazed by the size of the flat rock point with the iconic Currumbin Rock sitting so predominant. I had a good 30 minutes until sunrise and after the previous weeks star trail I wanted to try my camera out at ISO 1600. Whilst I was worried the noise would be devastating to the final image I was pleasantly surprised by the result. You can just make out some of my fellow photographers and a few brave fishermen.

The meet-up was organised by Samual via the Australian Photographers Flickr Group. The idea was to rock up around 5am to shoot the early morning and see what we could capture of the sunrise. Whilst I’m not so happy with the images I came away with I certainly left with much more than I had arrived with in terms of knowledge. Meet-ups like this let you discuss gear and techniques with like minded photographers and also get the inside scoop on other locations. I even got talked into buying the Lee filter holder system. Thanks for that Maria.

And now looking at what the other guys captured its amazing how very different all of our images are. I recommend checking out the other guys flickr streams @ accesser, Beth Wode, itsgottabered, John Finnan, Kush, Lockie Cooke, lovephotos10, maSnap & Photography by Sue.

So get onto flickr and find your local group or if you can’t find one start one. Start by just heading out with a buddy and build it up from there. Its a great learning experience and when the sunrise is a shocker at least you can share the disappointment with a few others.

To finish up this week I want to share with you a time lapse taken on my iPhone from inside my car. I set it up before heading off into the darkness to shoot. I don’t think I could have positioned it much better with the loads of surfers warming up and checking the breaks as if I had placed them according to the rule of thirds. Pity about the bird poo on the screen. Ahh well it was a learning experience so expect more time lapse footage soon.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Canon 40D @10mm, f5.6, ISO800, 45 minutes of 30sec exposures stacked with StarStax

I have taken about 4 other star trails but still hadn’t been happy with the finished images. Heading out I knew I wanted to make sure I pumped my ISO up to at least 800 and that I wanted a fairly clear landscape. Ballow view offered the best bet with some amazing trees that had been ring-barked over 50 years ago.

This week I want to share with you some quick tips on shooting star trails but I will be concentrating on how I process my star trails with photoshop and a great new free program I use called StarStax. I will have a video post latter this year on the technical side of star trails from the field.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I couldn’t be much happier with the way the image turned out. My gamble on the rotation of the stars was spot on and I have a few more tricks up my sleeve for the next star trail adventure. Here are a few more shots taken the following day just down from my location the previous night.

Canon 40D @85mm, f5.6, ISO800, 180sec

Canon 40D @17mm, f4, ISO800, 250sec

]]> http://www.thephotojourney.com/2011/06/24/star-trails-ballow-view/feed/ 2 http://www.thephotojourney.com/2011/06/03/self-sportraits/ http://www.thephotojourney.com/2011/06/03/self-sportraits/#comments Fri, 03 Jun 2011 01:35:40 +0000 Scott http://www.thephotojourney.com/?p=1822 After weeks of organising, designing and shooting I have completed my first ever body of work. My Self Sportraits. Since my first ever Self Sportrait back in July of 2009 the series has received many questions and compliments. Today I want to share with you my journey and a few behind the scenes moments.

It has been a personal project inspired by two of my most idolised photographers, Chase Jarvis and Zack Arias. Chase and Zack have always been advocates for setting yourself personal projects to help develop your creative skills and to extend your portfolio. Chase is also a great believer in sharing your knowledge. This prompted me to create my BTS video which after just over 1 year has been viewed over  21,000 times and I really have to thank one of my favorite bloggers Udi Tirosh who featured the video on his blog diyphotography.net. His website is a great inspiration to make the most of your gear and budget.

Seamless White Background @ Home Tutorial from Scott Bourke on Vimeo.

I have had loads of emails asking for more BTS from the series. So I have decided to put together a timelapse video from my rugby shot. I’m really getting into the timelapse stuff of late.

So thanks to everyone that lent me gear or gave my words of encouragement. Whilst it is my first ever body of work I still plan on adding to it over time so stay tuned for plenty more shots, who knows ping-pong may be on its way.

To finish off here are a few of my recent setup shots you guys seem to crave.

After putting my skateboard shot off for long enough due to the fact I had no idea how to execute my idea, I finally gave it a crack and it came out better than expected. I think this could be one of my best ever Self Sportraits.

After the success of my Tennis Sportrait int he stairwell I decided to give it another go with a few modifications for my AFL shot. These setups take much longer to position the camera angle and lights and even more time to get an image I’m happy with. The shadow has been dropped-in in post.

This week I have put together an in-depth (28min) post processing tutorial where I take you through Photomatix, Lightroom 2 and Photoshop. Because it is a little long I have also created a 1 min fast forward so you can get a quick glimpse of what I will cover to gauge if the tutorial will be of interest to you.

Many people have been inquiring how I manage to keep my HDR images looking so natural and fairly noise free. These tips are shared in the full length video plus a few other tricks.

Here is the 1 min fast forward teaser.

Here is the full narrated tutorial.

Canon 40D @ 14mm, f16, 30sec exposure on ISO200 with Tiffen HT Circular Polarizer.

We setup on the edge of the South Bank walkway as low down as possible to the water. This allows for capturing the city reflections in all its glory. Brisbane’s river front buildings like the Treasury Casino (Green building)  have a great mixture of colours that make for a very interesting effect.

Continuing on from last weeks post about the Effects of white balance this weeks night cityscape has been improved by selecting the Tungsten WB setting as opposed to the Auto WB because who knows what it will select. This setting will also give an interesting effect to any white lights by turning then into more of a blue light.

Once again this week I have a quick Behind the scenes video explaining my setup and settings.

If you are enjoying the tips and tricks from the site please join the Facebook fan page here.

Canon 40D @ 14mm, f16, ISO200 with Tiffen HT Circular Polarizer. HDR +2, 0, -2 merged in Photomatix

After some rather poor weather I decided a mid week sunrise shoot was in order. So I headed out to Wellington Point about 30 minutes drive from Brisbanes CBD at 4:30am to see what would be on offer. Wellington point has some great subjects to shoot like its small jetty, rockpools(as seen in this weeks video) and who can forget the mangroves.

The on location video this week shows you how changing your white balance can boost your sunrises or sunset shots. It is also interesting to play with your WB when shooting cityscapes at night as settings like tungsten can really make your city jump off the night sky.

So this week try shooting the same location with differing WB settings as see how you go.

If you are enjoying the tips and tricks from the site please join the Facebook fan page here.

Canon 40D @14mm, f9.5, ISO200, 6 sec with Tiffen 0.9 ND Filter & Tiffen HT Circular Polarizer

This week Anna and I headed off to Bellbird Grove at the Brisbane Forest Park. We had not explored the area before so I was unsure of what I would be leaving with however I knew I wanted some running water. The rocks in the area are very interesting with some amazing patterns and grooves in them.

I have done a short BTS (Behind the scenes) Video on how to use a Circular Polarizer to cut out the glare on the water. I’d love to hear your comments and hope that you are finding these videos helpful. I plan to bring you more as the year goes on.

If your enjoying the website please join the Facebook fan page here.

Canon 40D @13mm, f22, Tiffen Circular Polarizer. HDR of +2,+1,0,-1,-2

This is the Sandy Beach Rock-pools after a massive low tide. The sunrise wasn’t really that special so I decided to experiment a little with a 5 bracket HDR of +2, +1, 0, -1, -2. I really wanted to make sure I captured the sea creatures  that call these rock pools home. You will see a few sea anemone & periwinkles in the foreground. (Yes there will be a blog post all about HDR’s in the coming weeks.)

To achieve a clear view into the foreground water I used my Tiffen Circular Polarizer to remove the reflections. A Polarizer is a great tool to have for landscape photography as it allows you to be creative with the reflections and it gives the clouds a little more pop.

This week I want to share with you one of the most important things to do after a landscape shoot – cleaning the sand and/or dirt out of the legs of your tripod. It will ensure continued ease of use of your tripod for future shoots, and maintaining it will also add  years to its life. After a camera your tripod is the most important tool in landscape photography so looking after it is a must.

Sorry for the poor audio volume. I’m working on a fix for the next video.

Once again is you have any questions or want me to blog about a particular aspect of landscape photography shoot me a message via the contact page.

Its not the most amazing subject to be shooting for the weeks image but it will have to do considering the devastating flood Queensland has been hit by. I haven’t had another chance to go out shooting this week with volunteering to cleanup some of the worst affected areas in Brisbane by pushing mud out of homes.

This is a 3 image stitch taken with my Canon 40D and a 50mm f1.8 prime lens. The real trick to a good stitched panorama is to make sure that there is at least a 25% overlap from 1 image to the next. All this and more is explained in my first of many video tutorials for the Landscape 52 Project.

If there is a post processing tutorial you would like me to do please drop me a line on the contacts page.

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