My Blog

On The Constant Look Out For New Photo Opportunities

09/12/2011 22:42:00

There are so many things that we see in our surroundings that we take for granted. Taking the time to explore what's around your suburb and neighbouring suburbs awakens a whole new myriad of prospects for new and interesting photographs.

At 4am the other Sunday, I ventured out with a friend to Woody Point which is a suburb near Redcliffe just north of Brisbane. My sister had lived in Woody Point and as a child for many years I enjoyed taste of fresh crumbed fish and freshly cooked chips from the local corner fish n' chip shop.

What I didn't realise until the other week was that Woody Point is home to a wreck on one of it's main sections of beach. When I found out, I knew that I had to visit as there were bound to many photo opportunities to be had.

I was both surprised and very impressed when I finally found the wreck at around 5am. Although the beach was enveloped in darkness, the HMQS Gayundah was certainly a formidable sight!

The HMQS Gayundah was a flat-iron gunboat in 1884.

She operated with the Queensland Maritime Defence Force and later in the Royal Australian navy. She was first commissioned in 28th October 1884 until she was decommissioned in 1921.

She then served as sand and gravel barge for Brisbane Gravel Pty Ltd until 1950, when she was scrapped.

In 1958, HMQS Gayundah was run aground at Woody Point and used as a breakwater structure.

Here is a photo of how the Gayundah looks today in 2011. 53 years later and you are still able to see just how large this ship was and it serves a dual purpose, not only has it been a very effective breakwater, but it is truely an impressive landmark and tourist attraction for our Redcliffe suburb.

The next two photos show you a section of the ship as it stood in all it's glory during daylight hours.

However have a look at the next photo and take notice of the fantastic effect of utilising the same part of the wreck as I took photos of the rising sun.

It's incredible how you can use your surroundings to make something as commonplace as a sunrise take on a whole new vision simply by incorporating something unique to your surroundings, neighbourhood or city.

Never underestimate the vast array of photography opportunities there are at everybody's disposal and what's great is that they are free to use and each photo is different and can create a completely new visual piece of art.

Keep looking around you and never stop taking photos, your next impromptu snap may just be an award winner in the making!

Digital Enhancement of Photographs

09/04/2011 06:23:00

Photoshopping Images

I'm a firm believer in taking a photo and getting it right the first time. For me it is all about getting the right light, the right angle, capturing the exact moment and freezing it in time forever.

There are more and more software programs becoming available to the public that allow you to completely change a photo once it's been taken and turning it into something that is nothing like the original photograph you took. I don't like the idea of having to change a photo you have taken to that degree. If you took a bad photo, learn from it and move on. The next time you will remember what you did wrong and you may just end up nailing it the first time you hit the shutter button!

However there are times where certain aspects of editing or photoshopping software can be extremely useful. The first example is of a photograph of my father that was taken when he first entered the Royal Airforce of England. This photo was carried around by my mother for years after they married in South Africa in 1945 and my father was returned to England with my mother to follow afterwards. This photo was my mothers treasured reminder of her first and only love. As you can see from the first image, it certainly bears the pressures of being carried around in my mothers wallet for many many years. It has fold marks on it, tears along some areas, the ink has worn off in other areas etc. For me, this is what makes it invaluable. These marks remind me of just how very much my mother loved my father from the moment they married until the moment my mother passed away in 1988.

For the purpose of this blog, I have photoshopped this image and removed all the creases and bits of missing ink etc and the second image will show you one that is more than likely one that resembles the original photograph as it was first taken so many many years ago, when it was first given to my mother.

This second image is now something that can be put into a frame and displayed for many more years to come without having the distraction of all the wear and tear it has suffered over the years.

Personally, I prefer the first and original image. It shows character, it tells a story in itself by the weary state that the viewer finds it in. For me it shows the love in each crease and each fold and makes me smile at the thought of my mother carrying it with her over the years, travelling with her wherever she went and knowing how very much she treasured the first photo of her new husband.

Obviously there are a wide variety of digital enhancing tools available for you to use now.

Another example is the photo below which is of a wreck on a beach at Woody Point, Brisbane. I had gone there to capture the sunrise and utilise the fantastic resource of this shipwreck being there and incorporating it into some photos, adding increased interest into each image as I tried to capture the various effects of the suns rays as it rose in the morning sky.

Unfortunately in this particular photograph you will see in the foreground my own shadow as I was taking the photo.

A mistake that I will blame upon my having not had any sleep since the previous day!, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

So for the purpose of sharing knowledge, I have once again ventured into the digital world of photography and the tools that are available to all of us now to use and edited the image removing my shadow from the original photograph. The result is what I had originally had in mind when I first took the shot.

The next bit of editing was simply cropping the photo to make the shipwreck more of the main focal point when you look at the image.

Cropping can be very useful in removing the distractions that were captured when you took the photo and it can make items larger, it can remove other items from the photo that perhaps detract from the atmosphere or ambience that you were trying to create when you first had the idea to freeze a moment in time or frame a particular piece of landscape that has artistic features placed in that spot either by man or by nature herself.

In any case, cropping is one of the most simplistic tools to use, but do not underestimate it's power in helping to create the perfect photo!

I hope you found some of these hints interesting as well as helpful and you enjoyed reading today's blog.

Displaying your photos

08/21/2011 05:30:00

You've taken some photos, they could be of your family, places you have seen, holiday snaps or just general images that you've collected on your everyday travels. What do you do with them now?

The only limit to what can be done with your photos is your imagination. Years ago the most popular form of keeping your precious memories and images was to have them printed and put them into a photo album which usually had an adhesive backing with a plastic cover that you placed over the top of the photos once you had stuck them in your family album. Now there really was no problem with this generally except if anybody decided years later that they either wanted to take a copy of that photo for their album or if somebody wanted to display a particular photo in a photo frame on a sideboard etc, when you tried to remove the photo you found the photo was stuck fast to the adhesive backing of the photo album. Then you either ripped the photo as you tried to remove it or you just couldn't remove it at all.

Today, you have so many options that it can be mind boggling at times just what is the best way to display a photo. You can still use a photo album if you have a lot of photos that you would like to keep in one place (usually of one event, or a holiday or special day), however now most people use digital images you can simply upload your photos and have them made into a photo album where the image is actually printed onto each page of your new album. An example of this is above.

You have a choice of colours, different covers, different layouts, different sizes and the list goes on.

However, perhaps you have a few special prints that you really particularly love and you want to show them off as an individual piece of artwork to hang on your wall. This is not a new concept either, but there are certainly more options open nowadays that allow your special images to be displayed in a totally professional package. You can choose the type of frame you would like, perhaps wood, black, white, a certain colour or even a type of metal.

Then by adding a simple cardboard mat you can improve on the overall look further. Choose the colour and how wide you would like it and have it professionally cut and then it is placed on top of the image and then both are framed in your chosen picture frame ready to be hung on your wall and admired.

Look at the room in this photo, on the left hand side of the photo you can see two images that have been professionally framed. They have become individualised pieces of Art that nobody else is going to have in their homes. There's nothing wrong with purchasing a ready made print that has been framed in a shop and taking it home and hang it up and that's your decorating done! But just think how you will feel if you have something of your very own, a photo that you have taken and had it resized, printed and professionally framed. Think of the sense of pride when family and friends comment on it when they walk into your house and you can turn around and say, "I took that photo myself"! Congratulations! You've made your house into a home and you've done it with a touch of your own artistic flair!

And don't fret if you think you just can't take a good photo no matter what you do or what camera you use. There are ways of presenting your photos in such a way that again - you can create individual pieces of Art unique to you and your home. One way is to make a collage of several photos that have similar features within them that allow you to utilise what may be a simply "ok" photo into a full A2 size print/poster that has taken on a whole new look! Check out the next image, it was 3 photos taken from the same bunch of flowers. Each photo on its own was nothing special, but with a few simple effects and a bit of rearranging - it's had a complete transformation into something interesting and lovely to look at.