TEST - ADVENTSCAPE

Spanning my Dreams in Black and White There are so many ways to get a black and white photo.  The most popular is converting a colored photo to black and white.  Though you can achieve this right there in the camera.  In the digital age, converting a photo to black and white is just a press of a key or initiate an action.  In my workflow, I can use the following to get black and white photo: In Camera - either force the camera to capture black and white or edit in-camera. Lightroom - it's Develop module has enough to give awesome B/W photos Photoshop - sky's the limit, do everything you want to do I don't use my camera to capture black and white.  I wanted to get as much information of the scene as possible which includes color.  For me, converting is the way to go.  This way, if I want color then I have it, if I want black and white then I'll convert it. Lightroom For quick snaps in black and white, I use Lightroom.  I believe that Lightroom has enough tools to do a go

Stone Formation at Castle Head Lookout There are many lookouts at Blue Mountains that will let you view the vast space of the valley below including Jamison Valley, Narrow Neck, Mount Solitary and even The Three Sisters.  Some lookouts are challenging to get to and some are very easy.  A friend of mine invited me to go to Castlehead lookout.  Its seems an ordinary lookout at first, but when you're there, you'll photograph yourself in the most beautiful angle possible. Castlehead lookout is at Katoomba.  This suburb is well know to tourist and locals alike.  Katoomba features many lookouts, walks and trails that are very good and very scenic.  The place itself is blessed with autumn trees - trees that change color (red, orange, yellow) during the fall season.  I can still remember my first Katoomba Waterfalls hike that lasted for 6 hours!  (normally 4 hours).  The walk and views are very scenic that it took me 2 hours of photo shooting....  OK that was a lie.  1 hour for photo s

Sunrise Seascape at Minnamurra NSW Its another shoot around Kiama area, this time at Minnamurra.   This suburb is about 1.5 hours from Sydney but 2 hours from my place.  Going for a sunrise photoshoot in this location is a bit of a task - waking up early and driving awake.  Thus, when my friends asked me to do a landscape shoot here, I knew I had to plan ahead. Sunrise that time is about 6:15am.  Since it's 2 hours at my place and I had to pickup the guys, I had to allot 2.5 hours of travel time.  I had to leave home at 3:30am to arrive at 6am at the parking lot at Minnamurra.  I packed my things the day before.  This is no brainer as arranging my things before leaving will be a pain. I woke up at 2:45am, wow...  I'm still sleepy.  But I managed to push through with a cup of coffee and a biscuit.  I knew this food will not last at my stomach, but I was determined.  I'll just count on adrenaline when I'm there. It was still dark at the parking lot.  We had torch.  It was

Optimus Prime from Transformer Movies at Supanova 2014 My friend invited me to join a Cosplay convention in Sydney Olympic Park.  It's SupaNova Pop Culture Expo .  I already heard of such a convention wherein enthusiasts show up and dressed like their favorite anime / cartoon / manga / superhero / book character.  At first I was sceptical.  I haven't been to an event and I don't know what to expect - I'm 100% clueless.  I have a camera gear with me.  I wanted to shoot but I don't know how 'these superheroes' would react if you asked them for photos.  Anyway, like any adventure, I said YES and went to the convention. I'm pumped!  This is exciting! Those were the first few words I uttered by the time I got there.  Something feels like home and slowly I was having fun.   Batman and Penguin from Tim Burton's Batman Aside from familiar characters that roam around the convention, there are booths that sells, informs and displays different kind of items.  T

First Light Play I woke up early.  My gear was already prepared yesterday.  I don't usually prepare the day before.  Probably I'm excited.  I wasted no time and immidiately drove to the location - Turimetta Beach. I aimed to arrive during first light.  It's a bit dark.  I noticed that there were already a group of photographers taking position around Turimetta.  I went past them as that location is already usual.  I went further, near the edges of the reef.  By that time, the colors begin to saturate and brighten. I use 2 filters, Lee 0.9 Hard ND and Lee 1.2 ND.  The 0.9 GND lowers the brightness of the sky so the camera can handle the dynamic range.  The 1.2 ND lowers the shutterspeed to give a smooth effect of the water.  I'm always at timer for 3 seconds to prevent any camera shake as I press the shutter. In photoshop, I enhanced the colors.  I wanted to show how vibrant the scene is.  Saturation and Vibrance are used.  I sharpened the photo to pop out the textures o

Ray of Triangulation - Dodged & Burned Manually Dodge and Burn is a very useful technique in Photoshop (and is frequently used as well) that many digital artist uses.  Basically you lighten (dodge) and darken (burn) parts of your photo according to your liking.  Although the Curves and Levels tools do quite a good job globally, Dodge & Burn polishes it out to finish in specific-hard to reach areas. Many might already know this technique in Photoshop but some might not.  When I'm editing my landscape photos, I use a non-destructive layer that does dodge and burn.  This is a separate layer that can be painted over and over.  To create this when you're in Photoshop: 1. Open an image 2. Hold 'Alt' and Click 'New Layer Icon' (a dialog box opens) 3. Do the following: Name: Give a name to the layer Mode: Overlay Tick: Fill With Overlay-Neutral Color (50% gray) 4. Click 'OK' Non Destructive Dodge & Burn Layer Created a Dodge and Burn Layer This creat

Galactic Leap As I was walking at Newport's rocky area, I saw a rock by itself.  It's shape was fascinating enough to draw my attention.  I want to compose the rock with the vast area of still waters.  I tried at the right side of the rock but my tripod is submerged deeply in the waters it causes camera shake.  I went on the left side.  It's also submerged by only a little. It's easy to achieve still waters with a Big Stopper.  I compose the photo before I insert the Big Stopper as it blocks the whole viewfinder when it's in front of the lens.  I then included a hard edge graduated filter.  This equalizes the exposure of the sky and gave me 126 seconds of exposure. I'm only after still waters.  The clouds moving in the right direction is just an *unknown* additional bonus to this photo. I change the white balance of this photo.  I made it a bit warmer to counteract the Big Stopper's bluish cast.  In Photoshop, I accentuate the yellows as this is already late

Boar's Head I was at Katoomba lately to explore a vantage point.  As we were going home, my friend asked me to go search for the Boar's Head Rock.  It's a big rock shaped like a boar's head, it can be seen in one of the lookouts.  I was excited.  So we drove to Cliff Drive at Katoomba to search for this lookout.   There are 2 lookouts that we saw in search for Boar's Head. Getting There The Narrow Neck Lookout is just beside the road.  Slightly drive off Cliff Drive and you're already at the lookout.  There's no formal parking, but the space is enough to accommodate many cars.  You won't miss it as there is a big sign that screams Narrow Neck Lookout.   Narrow Neck Lookout The area is wide that you can even park a 2 deck bus.  Since it's a lookout, people come and go quickly.  You'll see Narrow Neck Plateau, Jamison Valley and Megalong Valley.    Narrow Neck Lookout The view has potential but I don't like the trees the block your line of sigh