Any of you boys know how to shovel coal?

Ahhh... one of the more memorable lines from Arrested Development.



Okay so the HMAS Adelaide is actually powered by gas turbines rather than steam (two General Electric LM2500 turbines apparently), in fact for more info on the Oliver Hazard Perry Class frigates go here.

Right, why am I talking about frigates? Coz the HMAS Adelaide had an open day for Navy Week! (Cue Claire's cool burbling giggle). Claire suggested that we go see the ship and it's compliment of sea-men (cue Claire's cool burbling giggle).

Whilst we didn't have free run of the ship (I wanted to ride the guided missile on the fore deck a la Dr. Strangelove) we did get to roam about a large portion of it and take photos.

Here's some of them I've managed to get a chance to play with

Horses for courses

Really tried to work on that smooth panning action today, but the location was against me. Low cloud and the sun to my 12 when I was at the track barrier made the light awkward for detail on the jockey's (I was just lazy and should have asked if I could move to the inside ring).

I think I now see the benefits of an expensive lens like the 70-200mm VR for high speed sports. The speed of focusing on the 70-300mm was unacceptable. Hopefully the new nikon 70-300 AF-S VR will be cheaper, even at the sacrifice of wide apertures.

Gotta love 5fps, good for 25+ frames on the D200! I wonder what people do with the 8fps on the D2x?!







I switched to a higher shutter speed to make sure I at least got some decent horse photos.



Rest of photos here...

A Day at the Races

Claire, Katerina and I were cordially invited to join in race day festivities with people we hardly knew. So it was surprising that people quite happily let me snap pics, I guess it's one day of the year the people don't mind their photo being taken.

Hopefully someone will distribute this webpage and people can pick the photos they like. If anyone wants a high quality photo to print, just email me. Sorry if I don't remember all your names.

Funny story is that some randoms that weren't in our group thought I was as a pro photographer, so I told them I was shooting for the imaginary but utterly credible "Toowong Times". Oh well... whatever makes you sleep better I guess.

The pic of the day has to be this one. Gorgeous girl, nice hat, nuff said.


Webgallery link here...

Pictures of the actual horse racing to come, my excuse is I'm tired and sick.

Hash out.

$86 28mm Vivitar f2.8 BARGIN!

Who say's Ebay's prices are over inflated? Well lemme tell ya, I scored a Vivitar 28mm f2.8 Nikon F-mount AIS lens for $86 clams!? Sure there is a smige of lens fungus on one of the elements but for $86, what do you expect? Remember this thing is circa 1980! And oh the joy of a D200 and metering with manual lenses! Definitely worth it's cost in being able to use it's metering system with non-cpu lenses


Luck reaper


More bogans



Sammie playing guitar


The joys of reversed prime macros! this is the fibres on my jeans!

DSLRusers Hunt and Shoot - Trial by Fire

Update : Other peoples winning photos (untouched from the camera) can be found here
Update: Originals from the day can be found here.

I participated in my first ever photocompetition for personal gain (beyond inflating my Ego), there were PRIZES!

The Brisbane chapter for DSLRusers had a Hunt & Shoot event which involved 10 categories and only 4 hours, using a maximum of 20 exposures (yes, only 20 presses of the shutter button, including mistakes of which there were many for me). Oh yeah and we had a limited area to play in! Awesome!

Whilst I didn't win anything, I did learn many things about the way I take photos and how I couldn't be put on an assignment with a limited number of shots, and how much I use post-processing as a crutch for my mediocre technique.

Really need to work on my composition and technique. And when faced with categories or themes, I should stop thinking like a Virgo and be alittle more creative rather than literal.

Here are the photos after they have been massaged a little in photoshop (which the contest didn't allow for). Next time I'm gonna tweak the in-camera settings for contrast and saturation to get a little more "pop" in each photo.

Movement


Multi-coloured


Reflective Surface


Gainfully Employed


Sculptured Animal


Texture

even a geophysicist can recognise a limestone!

Religious Significance


Sign of the Times


Showing its age


From above

Little Birdy and Bob Evans

Under the light of a heavy full moon (70-300mm AF-D on tripod with spot metering, ISO 400, 1/125, f8.0, cropped) I joined Amy and Nissa at the annual Brisbane Ekka for 2006, more than anything to watch Little Birdy play and get a chance to try my hand at firework photos.


The ladies were less than impressed when the camera was pointed at them.

BOB EVANS


For a support act, Bob Evans (pseudonym for Kevin Mitchell - front man for Jebediah) went on for an hour! I'm sure he's a great person, I love Jebediah and enjoy a few of his new songs, but he does get grating after 3 or more songs let alone for a whole hour!

I think he was just covering for Little Birdy being a little late so kudos for keeping us entertained, I just wished he would have played acoustic versions of some Jebediah hits. I think Niss was thinking the same, coz when he came back on stage for an encore after his hour long support act and asked for any requests, both Niss and I yelled "HARPOON!!" from the bleachers! Poor Bob.



Little Birdy


By the time Little Birdy made their appearance it was time for the fireworks (photos in a different post) which they delayed their act for. Despite making us sit through the support act they did not disappoint, in fact I think they sounded fuller and warmer on stage then they do on their album.

Now Katy Steele (vocal/guitar) is a foxy chik, and it's spine tingling when she appears to pick you out in the audience (thanks to my vibrant and lucid imagination), but the only reason why there are so many pictures of her is because she is quite simply the best lit member of the band.

I think Claire would agree that after going to see Aliveminded, that drummers and other members don't get as much lighting as they deserve. I wish that the entire band was more appropriately lit for more concerts.

Little Birdy are playing at The Zoo (My fave venue coz it's so small!) on the 5th of September if any Brisvegas residents are interested. Email me.











At least the photos aren't as grainy as they were for Clare Bowditch and Aliveminded. There was more ambient stage light and the artists themselves were better lit with spots. So the poor D200 didn't have to be driven so hard for exposures (I'm finding that bad noise can crop up even with 400 ISO if there isn't enough light for the camera to expose for).

For me, even the 90mm didn't have enough reach for big stage concert photography. I was using Claire's 70-300mm a lot more (thanks Clairebear!) and compensating for it's smaller max aperture with slower shutter and higher ISO, so maybe a 70-200mm f2.8 would be handy for this sort of work, or a 85mm f1.4 with teleconvertor if that doesn't rob it of f-stops. Any suggestions for composition or critique on my work?

Rest of the photos here...