Sunrise over Manly beach on a glorious winters morning

I am not normally a fan of the HDR function of the iPhone 4; my subjects are usually a little too dynamic for HDR to work well.

I think it works ok for this shot of sunrise over the beach in Manly this morning as I set off for the day.

Some Nice Drama…

Some nice drama in the sky over Sydney this morning on my daily commute. I just love the trip across Sydney Harbour at this time of day; despite suffering a bit of a winter cold, I prefer to sit outside and enjoy the view.

Please forgive any image quality issues as it was taken with an iPhone on a slightly rolling ferry deck, edited with Photoshop for iPhone and uploaded with the WordPress for iPhone app.

Ain’t technology wonderful .

“The girl with the bow dress” by Jamie Beck

Some random pho­to­graphy related links which have caught my eye over the last few days:

• From Me To You: a photography blog by Photographer Jamie Beck. Such a simple idea, which he calls a “Cinemagraph”, but absolutely stunning — add a little bit of movement into the image. Many, many, many mentions of the magic photo’s in the Harry Potter movies. I might have to give this idea a try.
• Photography Book Now by Blurb: PBN is an international juried competition celebrating the most creative, most innovative, and finest self-published photography books – and the people behind them. The logical destination for the images I am working on at the moment (South East Asia, 2003) is a photo book; this might speed thinks up a bit!
• Paid-For Photography Competitions: Speaking of competitions, Haje Jan Kamps has a very timely and interesting perspective. Would have been more timely if it was before I entered the Head On Portrait Prize!

All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you.

— Ira Glass (via NPR)

Brilliant quote, read the rest at the source link.

Short version… keep at it.

Photosmith – the iPad mobile companion for Adobe Lightroom

Did Adobe just miss the boat for an iPad Lightroom App?

If Photosmith had been available a year ago, I probably would be rocking an [amazon_link id=“B0013FRNKG” target=“_blank” ]iPad[/amazon_link] now rather than an [amazon_link id=“B0047DVRQW” target=“_blank” ]Apple MacBook Air[/amazon_link]. It can import, view, rotate, tag, rate, label, keyword, caption, images, including RAW, and then sync them to [amazon_link id=“B003739DVY” target=“_blank” ]Lightroom[/amazon_link]. If and when I get an iPad, this will be on my must buy list! Check it out in iTunes.

Rainbow Over Manly

Was looking out the back window of the apartment this evening when I noticed a bunch of people in neighbouring apartments taking photo’s of the sky. I quickly grabbed my camera, and ran out the front downstairs.

Wow, what a view! Pity I only had my 28–135 IS onboard, and not the 18–300 F2.8 L IS that I am sure Canon are going to come out with any day!

Some random photography related links which have caught my eye over the last few days:

• I’ll start off with the fantastic video at the top of this post, The Aurora, by Terje Sorgjerd. It involved a week of nights, in the open at –25 degrees Celsius. My wife thinks Terje must be nuts, but I would love to experience this!
• Despite my struggles to work through my back catalog, sorting the good from the bad, one of the goals of this website is to show off my best shots and offer high quality prints. I have dabbled with Fotomoto to provide that facility, but have disabled it for the moment as I had some technical issues. In the mean time, PhotoShelter (a company which specialises in building portfolio websites for photographers) has realeased it’s “2011 How To Sell Prints” guide. Excellent, and timely reading.
• I still hang on to my Canon EOS 30 film camera, and I probably have a stash of about 40 rolls of Fuji 400 speed film. At times, I felt “more of a photographer” when using that, than I do now with my Canon EOS 7D. Why? Hard to nail down, but perhaps the newer technology, and instant feedback allows us to subconsciously relegate actual photographic skill to post processing so to speak. Whereas previously I would use partial metering and exposure compensation to get the result I wanted, now there is a lot of “spray and pray”. Digital Photography School’s article “5 ways to stop being a luck photographer {and start taking pictures on purpose}” might help to get me back on track.
• Overheard in Camera shop: “My camera is broken”. Classic. I experience this is so many area’s these days, computers, camera’s, software, etc.
• Finally, was digging through my photo collection recently to illustrate my running route in Manly, Sydney, and I cam upon these two. They worked out well, so I though I would share:

The view of St. Patricks, North Head, Manly, from Queenscliff.

Dawn, Ocean Beach, Manly, NSW, Australia.

Super Moon Over Manly

Nearly forgot about this; so fired up the trusty Canon 7D @ ISO160 F11 with my 70-300mm IS onboard. It was pretty cloudy, but managed to grab a couple of shots.

The Clouds Begin To Roll In…

Photo Editing 101 — Surviving The Tidal Wave Of Data

I can’t believe it is nearly 2 years since I last tackled the thorny issue of photo rating, but as I wade through my current catalog I feel a fresh rewrite is due, with a not small level of inspiration from this excellent and timely piece on the painful process of sorting / rejecting photos by Scott Rinckenberger over on the Chase Jarvis blog.

I can really associate with this bit in particular:

Painful memories I have: My first breakup, my first deceased pet, my first time moving, but perhaps most painful of them all is this; my first attempt at editing 15,000 photos. Such overwhelming volume, such slow progress, so many similar photos. Why, oh why, did they ever create the motor drive!?

My current photo library sits at approximately 13,500 images, and all but about 1,000 are personal, and carry with them some level of emotional connection. Deleting, or otherwise consigning to the digital rubbish bin is so hard, especially since my little boy arrived on the scene!

A Canon 7D shoots 8x18MP photo’s a second… something’s got to give.

Phase One Workshop — Ireland

I have never used a Phase One medium format camera, and have only occasionally tinkered with Phase One software, but this trip looks like fun:

• P 65+ shooting
• 3 world-class instructors
• Airport pick-up
• Hotel accommodation
• All meals
• Complimentary camera bag
• 2 30x40 inch prints
• Capture One Pro
• Lots of fun

We begin our trip at Shannon airport where we’ll board our vehicles and make our way to our base for the next three nights, right on the shore of the famous Lough Leane in Killarney. From here, we’ll be exploring the Ring of Kerry on the Iveragh Peninsula. At the hotel, you’ll be given a P 65+ camera system, which will be yours for the rest of the trip, and instructed how to use it by our expert team.

USD$5500 is a good bit of change, but I think this would be a great experience. I have traveled around that part of Ireland a few times, and it is indeed very beautiful; having the time to indulge in some serious landscape photography at the same time… NICE!

I hope, for whoever partakes, that those Phase One P65+ camera’s are waterproof! Rains a bit in Kerry.

Link to PDF Datasheet.

Link to Registration Form.