The Photo Journey

Last week I shot, processed and delivered my first ever maternity shoot. It was partly due to a friend recommending me and the other part a kick in the bum from Zack Arias and his recent post – Call to Action. Zack has been inspiring us photographers that have been sitting on the dock to make the jump and push ourselves photographically.

Our friends Jayne and Simon are expecting the birth of their first child this Friday, September 11th 2009.  And before its a little too late we headed out for a maternity shoot.  Not only was it my first maternity shoot but it was also my first non family shoot and well my first ever outdoor strobist attempt.

Zack Arias has challenged us to Serve someone with our cameras, in such a way that we as photographers will break free from our self criticism of “ I’m not good enough yet.” Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 17-85mm, 70-200mm, Botanic Gardens, Joe McNally, lighting, Maternity, monopod, strobist, Vivitar, Zack Arias

We headed off to Tamborine Mountain here is Queensland for a wine and distillery tour about 2 weeks ago. We sampled plenty and bought a fair share also. But before I let Anna open these bottles I wanted to get some photos of them.

This is the International Award Winning Wattle Toffee Liqueur. The bottle is hand painted by the owner of the  Tamborine Mountain Distillery Alla.

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Tags: 70-200mm, flash, lighting, Product, setup, strobist, umbrella, Vivitar

In the last week I have had a few people ask me how I photography and process my smoke photography. So I have recorded a tutorial on how I process the images. Some of the audio is a little messy in parts, its the first time I have tried the software and will be working on better results next time.

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Tags: 17-85mm, Photoshop, setup, Smoke, strobist, Tutorial, Video, Vivitar

One of my favorite photography forums Ausphotography is currently running a Star Wars themed competition in the lead up to Star Wars Day. Obviously held on May the 4th (May the force). Being the massive Star Wars fan that I am I just had to try a few things.

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There is no data for this image.Tags: 70-200mm 17-85mm, Canon, lighting, Photoshop, setup, strobist, Toy, Vivitar

Its amazing how many times you can take a photo and in your minds eye compose what the final processing will deliver. This certainly wasn’t my initial idea but I quite like it.

The setup for this shot was rather easy.

• Lens choice was my Canon 50mm f1.8 mkII.
• Tripod for stability during manual focus
• Vivitar 285 flash -1/16th power
• 2 White foam core boards for fill light
• Table with black fabric draped over it
• Clear plastic board under Coke can
• Coke can (obvious I guess)
• Remote trigger
• Spray bottle

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Tags: 50mm, Canon, Coke, lighting, Photoshop, Replace color, strobist, Tutorial, Vivitar, Warhol

Well I have seen plenty of self portraits of people in their bathrooms (Clothed thankfully) on flickr in the past. Mainly used for Avatars but also a way of finally getting their mug out there. So I decided to give it a go after doing some product photography the other night.

I wanted to have a photo that displayed the camera as the core subject and me as merely the driver. So a nice amount of DOF was required. The lens choice was easy, as for a greater DOF I needed a larger aperture setting. So out came my Canon 50mm f1.8 II.

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Tags: 50mm, DOF, mirror, Photoshop, self portrait, strobist, Tutorial, Vivitar