Scout Images

I was recently up in the Blue Mountains, with a few intentions. To get away from reality, to get out there and take in some of the beautiful landscapes that are so close to us here in Sydney, and to try to re-shoot some of my lost photos (refer here).

So what does one bring on a trip like this? I didnt actually think too hard but settled for a quality over convenience kit, which in many ways I probably regret (the weight made me not so happy whilst we were hiking).

• Nikon D300
• AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8
• AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR
• AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8
• Tokina AT-X 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 Fisheye
• Nikon SB-400
• Phottix Geo One
• Phottix Duo Cable
• Cokin P-Series ND4
• Cokin P-Series ND8
• Lowepro Fastpack 350

Some Panorama action (Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8 + Cokin ND4 + Cokin ND8)

Some HDR action (Tokina 10-17mm, 7 frames)

Just thought I would share some of the pictures taken over this last week. The D300 has been out and about a few times lately.

First up was Wednesday night’s photos of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, we headed out there with the intent of recording the illuminated symbol from NYE but to our dismay the signage had been switched off early. Regardless we took a few snaps to continue what is becoming a New Year’s tradition.  These were all taken using the Nikon D300 and a variety of lenses, but most importantly they were all placed on top of my trusty Manfrotto 055 Pro B tripod, GPS data captured using a Phottix Geo One.

The D300 came out again on Friday night, when I headed over the Strathfield with some friends for dinner. This time it was no tripod, high  ISO and the Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8 + Nikkor AI 135mm f/2.8 coming out to play.

Finally, Sunday was spent out and about along the coast south of Sydney. Thirroul, Sea Cliff Bridge and the nearby beaches. Once again the combination of the D300 and the 24-70mm was given the work out. Interestingly, I used a mates Nissin Di 622 flash for some shots, this flash works really well and would be a worthy SB-600 alternative especially with the very low import prices for them available at the moment. Included in this set is a 9 shot HDR bracket which has been processed with Photomattix, not my best efforts with this piece of software but an interesting result all the same.

I have spent some time revisiting my latest HDR efforts trying to get a bit more out of the image. The previous version has a bit of strange colouring on the rocks (if you look closely you will notice) so these reworks were aimed at fixing this.

To get a bit more out of the image I have tried a Black and White conversion.

Just for fun…here is the middle shot (the proper exposure) of the 9 frame bracket that was taken for this HDR.

Apologies to anyone who is on a slow connection. This is going to be a pretty big post with quite a few pictures.

Firstly I just wanted to a few more pics from my trip up to the Blue Mountains, these include a 9 shot HDR (using Photomattix) of Siloam Pool, and a few panos (stitched using Auto Pano Pro) taken from Echo Point and Gordon Falls. All of these shots were taken using my D300 + MB-10 and Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 mounted on my Manfrotto 714B with my Phottix Ball Head. This set up is light enough to carry when hiking, but tripod and head combination really is a bit too light for the load of the camera.

Next up is a series of black and white conversions I did of the beautiful cakes and coffee from Lindt Cafe, Darling Harbour. These were taken using my D60 and the RAW files processed using Capture NX2.

Finally, I wanted to share a few shots that I took whilst I was out at Fiesta at Darling Harbour. I was feeling like a film day so I am yet to see a lot of the results as they are still sitting on Pan F 50 inside my FM2n, but I was smart enough to have brought my D300 with me. So there I was snapping pics on both cameras using a Series E 50mm f/1.8 and my AI Nikkor 135mm f/2.8.

I realise that it has been a while since I have posted photos, SORRY. This is a combination of not having a lot of time to go shooting lately and even less time to process the few photos I have taken. Hopefully this will change in the near future with the addition of a lighter D60 which will mean I will be carrying around a DSLR more often (once I find the money to buy a smaller, lighter lens to match).

In the mean time I thought I would share some of the stuff that I have managed to shoot recently.

These were taken at North Head (Manly) a few weeks back. Most of these are HDR’s and a few variants of a HDR pano, which all take an immense time to construct. I have to admit that I am not happy with the results but I thought I would share my triumph over the technique. For this set I used my D300 + MB-D10 with either the Nikkor AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8, Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8, Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8 VR or the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8. I also used my trusty Manfrotto 055 Pro B with the Phottix ball head and the Phottix Geo One on this occaision.

This set of images was taken during last weekends trip up to Palm Beach with some friends. This trip was more for an unwind so photography played second fiddle but both the D300 and the Fujifilm F100fd (and its waterproof housing) saw some action.

You may or may not have noticed that I had an earlier post relating to Vivid Sydney which has since has been removed, the reasoning behind this was so I could group all my shots into one gallery.

There are lots of shots here, including some large stitch pano’s and a HDR.

A few nights ago a friend and myself lugged our gear out to do some night photography. As always I lugged out my trusty Nikon D300 and let it do some magic. We started the night on the roof of one of the buildings of “the Quadrant” before moving inside one of the buildings of nearby UTS.

The object for the night was to have fun, my friend wanted to shoot some panoramas, but I had a play with white balance and ended up with a few nice HDR sets.