Wildlife Portraits Project – Persian Leopard

News and Updates, Photographs, Uncategorized, Wildlife Photographs

I have been doing a bit of wildlife photography lately as a sort of personal side project – some of it stalking real wild animals and some of it in zoos and wildlife parks with more exotic animals. Its a sort of precursor to a possible African photographic trip next year and I thought it might be a good idea to see just what sort of wildlife photographs I can make before embarking on such a trip. I plan to post a new Wildlife Portraits Project photograph once a week or so before I leave for Iceland in July. At which time I should have compiled a small wildlife portrait portfolio to reflect on.

Zoo and Nature Park photography has some fairly unique challenges that set it well apart from photographing animals in the wild; but ultimately, one needs lots of patience and a little bit of luck for both types of animal photography. I have written briefly on this subject before in a previous post – Wild Times with the Lions.

This second photograph in my Wildlife Portraits Project is of a one-eyed Persian Leopard. I just happened by sheer coincidence to be walking past the exhibit as the keeper was preparing the Leopard’s dinner. I used the Canon 300mm F2.L IS lens wide open at F2.8 to throw the bars completely out of focus and make them effectively invisible. It was just starting to rain and light levels were quite low so even at ISO400 I could only get a shutter speed of 1/200th of a second (handheld with the help of the inbuilt image stabilisation); but its still tack sharp where it counts.

'One Eye' Persian Leopard

Forget the JPEG – Its All About the Print

Equipment, News and Updates, Photographs, Uncategorized

I was quietly reminded yesterday after visiting Nick Brandt’s current ‘A Shadow Falls’ African Wildlife exhibition at Source Photographica in Melbourne (which is truly stunning by the way and not to be missed) of how the Fine Art Photographic Print is most definitely the ultimate medium for photography. And that online representations are a poor facsimile by comparison; a concept I think the casual online viewer may well fail to grasp in this digital age – or perhaps to be fair it just may not occur to them.

Those beautiful tones that can be so expertly and exquisitely crafted and captured on the printed page are all to often lost in the back lit screen of an LCD monitor. With so many photographers displaying their work on the internet it seems almost the defacto standard for judging the quality of ones work; when the real yard stick is in fact the print. It is the printed page that is the key to unlocking the full tonal range, textures, colours and subtleties of a photograph – It is the online compressed jpeg that is the brochure for the final print. Its the catalogue from which a potential viewer or purchaser can choose. It is most definitely not a tool by which to measure the quality of the final print.

After all, you really cant appreciate the bullets a photographer has sweated to get just the right tones or just the right color and depth to an image in an online jpeg. But in the print… the constraints are removed and the image can truly shine. Visiting an exhibition of beautifully crafted prints such as ‘A Shadow Falls’ is a timely reminder to both the visiting photographer and casual viewer that the true magic is most definitely in the final print and not the online jpeg.

Iceland – What to Take? And More Importantly What Not to Take…

Equipment, Iceland, News and Updates, Travel Photography, Uncategorized

Its only a couple of months now till I leave for Iceland for three weeks dedicated landscape and nature photography (that is if the erupting volcano doesn’t screw up my well laid travel plans) and its time to start thinking about what equipment to take with me for the trip. I learned the hard way on my South Island New Zealand trip last year that excess baggage can prove quite expensive – “Thanks Jetstar… I really appreciated being slugged an extra $300 for the privilege of being able to take my camera gear on my photography trip“. So as the old adage says once bitten, twice shy. So this time I will try to leave the kitchen sink at home and only pack the gear I think I will actually need; which on first blush seems like quite a lot.

My initial check list as follows:

Canon 1DSMK3 Camera Body (going to serve as my primary DSLR Camera workhorse for the trip)
Two Spare Batteries and Battery Charger (should be heaps – I get over 1000 frames out of a single charge)
Canon S90 Point and Shoot (Going to serve as a back-up in the unlikely event the 1DSMK3 falls over – and for shooting some video for my blog during the trip)
Canon 17mm TSE Lens (my widest lens for the trip – with TSE a Bonus!)
Canon 24mm F1.4L MKII Lens (My Favourite Landscape Lens – sharper than Ockham’s Razor)
Canon 50mm F1.2L
Canon 70-200mm F2.8L IS
Canon 1.4x Tele-Extender
Canon Macro Tube
Cable Release and Bubble Level
An assortment of LEE Hard and Soft Graduated Neutral Density Filters / Filter Holder
The LEE Big Stopper 10 Stop ND Filter
A couple of Circular Polarisers
A Slew of Compact Flash and Mini SD cards – totalling around 100 Gigabytes
My Mac Book Pro / accessories and Back Up LACIE rugged hard drive
Arctic Butterfly (for Sensor Cleaning)
Gitzo Tripod and Really Right Stuff Ball Head
My much loved shooting vest
Lowe Pro Nature Trekker II Camera Bag (which will hold pretty much all of the above except the tripod and shooting vest)

The above equipment list pretty much covers me for all the major focal lengths – except 35mm. I have been hanging off purchasing a new 35mm lens as Canon’s 35mm F1.4L is overdue for update (so the rumours go). However, if a replacement 35mm lens is not announced soon I may just have to purchase a pre-loved 35mm to tide me over for this trip. I can’t see going on an expedition like this missing one of the key focal lengths for landscape photography. Before anyone comments – NO, the 16-35mm F2.8L is not an acceptable option (I used to own one and sold it because its about as sharp as a bowl of mushy peas on a 21.1 mega pixel full frame sensor – ick).

Total weight of all this stuff…..?

*GULP*

More than 25 kilos. Which, in combination with a bag of clothes and other must haves is going to again put me squarely in the excess baggage department. I am fortunately flying business class to London; which gives me a few precious extra kilo’s; but the flight from London to Reykjavik is cattle class and I will be subject to the normal 20 kilogram limit. At this point in time I really cant see thinning down this list of gear. I just couldn’t bare setting up for a shot and not having the lens I wanted. I know in many ways this flies against the current trend of many photographers to travel as light as possible; typically packing only a zoom lens or two to ease the travel discomfort. But, I am approaching it from a different angle and am prepared to wear the travel discomfort and to some extent the excess baggage for flexibility and maximum quality when in the field. Since I wont be doing any serious hiking and will have a 4WD for the trip moving all this around shouldn’t to bothersome.

Whats not coming at this stage?

Canon 85mm F1.2L (I can cover this focal range with the 70-200mm F2.8L IS)
Canon 300mm F2.8L IS (Its just too bloody heavy and takes up to much space)
Canon 580 EX Flash (I just don’t think I am going to need it)
Canon 5D Camera Body (I want to take this… my heart says yes… my head and wallet say NO!)

You know the funny thing about looking at this check list now I have written it out is that my two of my three favourite lens’s are staying at home – the 85mm F1.2L and the 300mm F2.8L IS. The 85mm F1.2L is my favourite lens for portraiture (bar none), but I can justify leaving it at home as this is a landscape expedition and the opportunities for serious portrait work are likely to be limited in the areas I will be travelling to. The 300mm F2.8L IS is another story and is actually very useful for landscape work (although I primarily use it for wildlife) and it is only its excessive weight and bulk that makes me reluctant to take it with me. Were it not for the thought of being fleeced by the airlines for having so much heavy equipment this lens would most definately be riding shotgun to Iceland with me. I can pretty much cover the 300mm focal length with the 70-200mm F2.8L IS in combination with the 1.4 Tele extender, but it just isn’t the same. It sort of like saying the Ford Falcon will get you there.. but why ride in the Ford when you have a Ferrari in the garage. This one is probably going to cause me a few sleepless nights…

Wildlife Portraits Project – An Aussie Icon at Healsville

Australia, News and Updates, Photographs, Travel Photography, Uncategorized, Wildlife Photographs

I am used to seeing wildlife along the Yarra River when I am out riding my mountain bike through the bush at dusk. Its usually Kangaroos and Tiger snakes (in the summer months), with the occasional Echidna and the usual assortment of native birds such as Kookaburras. I almost never have my camera with me unfortunately, so am unable to photograph them (mountain biking with a 300mm lens strapped to my back doesn’t sound like fun!) . This time however I left the bike at home and went out specifically to photograph wildlife at Healesville. This very co-operative baby Koala proceeded to pose for me whilst I rattled off a dozen or so frames. Light levels were quite low so I had to punch up the ISO to 800 to get a 1/200th of a second shutter speed at f3.2 handheld with the 300mm F2.8L IS.

Aussie Icon

Photoshop CS5 – Advanced Masking Demo

Equipment, News and Updates, Uncategorized

Martin Evening – Co-Author with Jeff Schewe of the most excellent book ‘Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers, The Ultimate Workshop‘ has posted a really good video example of the new masking tools available in Photoshop CS5. I rarely do this kind of high level post production work to my photographs – both because it has been somewhat time consuming without a dedicated plugin and because its generally just not my style. However, this video shows just how easy it has become to achieve really high quality professional masking results in CS5. Most impressive.

I cant embed the video as WordPress does not support the format – but here is the direct link to the Video.

Cape Woolamai – The Pinnacles : The Odd One Out

Australia, Landscape Photographs, News and Updates, Photographs, Travel Photography, Uncategorized

This is the third and final photograph I am going to post from the recent trip to the Pinnacles at Cape Woolamai in Victoria. I rarely do black and white images; I just see the world in colour and its colour that usually catches my eye and appeals to me in a photograph. It’s not that I don’t appreciate a really good black and white image – because I certainly do; and I am very glad there are photographers out there who specialise in this classic medium (and very glad of publications such as LensWork). That said, I new this image would be black and white before I even released the shutter. I was clambering over the boulders waiting for the light to improve when I spied one boulder that was much lighter in colour than all of those around it – the odd one out. It just screamed black and white to me and as I have learned it is usually best to go with my first instinct for a photograph. So, I framed it, shot it and converted it to greyscale in Lightroom and set about some minimal dodging and burning. I have also applied a very subtle tint to the final photograph. The shot works in colour as well, but its the black and white tones that simplify and enhance this photograph for me.

The Odd One Out

Site Changes and Maintainence

News and Updates, Uncategorized

My Blog is undergoing some site changes, revisions and maintenance over the next few days to bring the overall look and feel of the blog more in line with my primary gallery website at www.jholko.com. There may be some older posts that require some re-formatting and/or other parts of the site that don’t look or work quite right during this period. Apologies in advance for any such problems – they should be rectified shortly. A big thank you to Luke Hall who has undertaken the development of the custom CSS for the Blog. Luke your print will soon be in the mail!

Camera Raw 6 and Lightroom 3 Lens Correction Features

Equipment, News and Updates, Uncategorized

Adobe Lightroom’s Product Manager Tom Hogarty has very kindly posted a You Tube video of some of the new Lens Correction features in Adobe’s Camera RAW 6 and the yet to be released full version of Lightroom 3. These new capabilities are very exciting and I am eagerly looking forward to Lightroom 3.0’s official release. Unfortunately there is still no word on wether Soft-proofing will be included in Lightroom 3 (But I have my fingers crossed!)

Yarra Valley in Autumn and the Big Stopper

Australia, Equipment, Landscape Photographs, News and Updates, Photographs, Reviews, Travel Photography, Uncategorized

I had a chance today with the Anzac day public holiday to get out and do some photography. I had been itching to try out the new LEE ‘Big Stopper‘ 10 stop Neutral Density filter I purchased a few days ago and today was my first opportunity. I set my alarm for 5:00am, crawled out of bed, grabbed my gear and headed out to the Yarra Valley in the hopes of a good sunrise and some Autumn/Fall colour. The golden colours in the leaves are just starting to peak in certain parts of the Yarra Valley at the moment (in particular in the many vineyards) and I was hoping to be able to capture a little bit of it.

There was a thick fog as dawn broke and unfortunately no sign of colour in the sky. Normally, I get quite excited when we have a fog as the photographic opportunities are usually wonderful. However, this time the fog was thick and was obscuring the colour I was looking for. I have not been able to crack a really good Autumn sunrise recently despite several attempts (I will just have to keep trying, and it gives me a reason to go back). Thankfully, the dawn fog quickly burned off in the morning sun whilst I enjoyed a cafe lat’e in one of the many Yarra Glenn Cafe’s. With the fog gone the morning had developed into a glorious sunny day with some lovely high cloud that was very photogenic.

These two photographs were shot about an hour and a half after sunrise at the Yarrawood winery (actually its the same photograph with a different crop as I could not decide which I prefer?). I scouted this location more than a year ago and had kept it in the back of my mind for its beautiful lake with the old rowing boat set against the vine yards. I used my 24mm lens in combination with the LEE Big Stopper to give me a 13.0 second exposure in bright sunlight at F8/ ISO 100. Contrary to how it might appear I did not use a polariser. The long exposure has captured the clouds streaking across the sky and has added a good deal of drama to the image. Metering with this new filter is quite easy in the field. Just meter the scene as normal without the Big Stopper in place, then slide the filter into place and consult the handy LEE exposure chart to determine the corrected exposure. Switch the camera to Manual or Bulb, set the exposure accordingly and the exposure will be correct. Its a little more fiddly than just pressing the shutter, but after a half dozen frames or so I pretty much had it nailed and could do it quite quickly. The soft mount system of the Big Stopper is very effective in keeping out extraneous light and the fit is firm and feels good in the filter holder.

Cloud Warp

One of the first tests I did with the new filter was to shoot exactly the same scene with and without the Big Stopper in place so that I could compare them side by side in Lightroom for any noticeable flaws such as a colour cast. I am happy to report as expected that there is no noticeable colour cast with this filter in place (as is the case with all of LEE’s ND and Grad ND filters). Overall I am very pleased with this new ‘Big Stopper’ filter. It provides the ability to keep shooting long after sunrise and still create dramatic photographs in the right conditions. This filter is now a permanent addition to my photographic kit and I suspect will see quite a bit of use in shoots to come.

iPad Reads RAW Files

Equipment, News and Updates, Uncategorized

It appears the iPad may have more use as an ‘in the field’ photography tool than I first thought. With the use of a USB SD card reader adapter the iPad can read all the normal RAW files that Mac OSX, iPhoto and Aperture can handle. This makes it potentially an extremely useful tool for reviewing work in the field. The large iPad screen would be a welcome review tool in the field compared to the cameras small LCD display and is a far better alternative to luging around a full size laptop. A demonstration of the process for ingesting RAW files into the iPad is in the You Tube Video below. Although you can inport photos directly from the card into the iPad the usefuleness as an editor for me personally is still extremley limited because the iPad wont run Adobe’s Lightroom. However, the ability to store RAW files does also make the iPad an effective back up tool when working in the field.