Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan 7/11/2015
This week back to normal after missing last week. I didn't pick up the camera the other week all week so no shots to share and a busy mid week here as well, more on that later. But for now I'll run thought some of my shots from last weekend. As usual I went out to the Australian Botanical Gardens, this time in the afternoon as we had booked on a guided ranger tour of the Dharawal national park, The walk and talk are good but no great photos out of the walk, but a good place to go for another day and close to home as well only 30 minutes drive so somewhere to go back to later.
In the afternoon I headed out to the gardens as usual but being later in the afternoon of a warm day not to much activity about, but still managed to find a few decent shots, not to many thou.
First up is the usual Eastern Yellow Robin (Eopsaltria australis) these little fellas are all around the gardens and are often seen hanging off the sides of trees studying the ground looking for insects to pounce on.
There was a fair bit of rain about through out the week so Thought I'd find quite a few mushrooms this week, however I only found the one this week. Though with time a little short I didn't centre up to the Wollemi area this week. The rest of this week is also suppose to be wet so maybe next weekend I'll have better luck.
Around the plant bank there was a fairly large noise going on and I eventually tracked it down to this one an Olive-backed Oriole. I managed a series of shots before he took off, this was the best I managed today of this one, happy with this shot.
Coming back for the plant bank and back on to the board walk. I heard a noise in the trees and and found this Nankeen Night-Heron (Nycticorax caledonicus) First time I've seen one of these in the gardens, I know they have them there at terms from there bird list, but I've never been able to find one, I managed to get this shot which is far from great before it took off and I could;t find it again. But I know where to start to look for it next time and we'll see If I can get a clearer shot next time. This time as I moved around to try and get a shot between the branches it took off, so not like the little robins this one doesn't like you to get anywhere near close. This shot has way to many branches in the way, but its one of only three shots I have of this one so far.
From there I drove up to the connections gardens to see what was up there and managed to get this shot of an Eastern Spinebill (Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris) These are probably the closest thing we have to a humming bird here in Australia Very fast and they don;t stay still for long.
Lastly I walked down tot eh lakes to see if anything interesting was down there and a Magpie-lark (Grallina cyanoleuca) trying to chase off a much larger Channel-billed Cuckoo (Scythrops novaehollandiae) This much larger birds prefer to lay their eggs in the little Magpie-larks mud nests. Looking at the size different it would certainly have its work cut out if the Cuckoo succeeded. I'll keep an eye out as I think I know where the nest is.
Another shot of the Channel-billed Cuckoo when it settled down for a few minutes.
Thats it for the shots from this weeks walk around the gardens.
Some news here and the reason I was a little busy the week before was each year the Australian Botanical Gardens holds a photography competition where you can enter three shots per category and see how you go. This year there wasn't that many entries only about 81 from memory I entered a few shots in the Wildlife category a few in Macro which also included plants this year so not just macros and a couple in the landscape category. I the past I have won a few prises in this competition, its usually the only competition I enter. This year I managed to win the Wildlife category with the Brown hornbill shot, and one of my mushroom shots won the overall open division, so a good day out last Sunday in the gardens, Heres a couple of shots of me besides my some of my shots.
The first one I'm beside my white Waratah shot.
This one the top Mushroom shot was the winning shot and the mushroom shot in the middle is also mine.
Lastly the Grebe with the reflection the Thornbill below it (The winning shot) and the mistletoe bird beside the Thornbill were all my shots in here.
So that was a good day out for me.
The council also runs a photography competition and in the past I've never entered that one this year I thought I'd give that one a go as well, they limit you to only 5 entries in that competition. This year they got over 300 entries and the awards night was Wednesday night. I managed to win the Macro category for that one as well. So two competitions and a win in each so a good year here for my this year.
The local paper has also featured the winning shots on its macbook page and is currently using my mushroom shot as its banner shot. So all up a good week for mushrooms last week even though I didn't actually pick up the camera here.
Thanks for dropping by my blog.
Glenn.
Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan 24/10/2015 and Noorumba Reserve 25/10/2015
This weeks blog covers Saturdays walk in the Australian Botanical Garden's then Sundays Guided walk in the Noorumba Reserve ran by the local Campbelltown Council NSW as part of Bird week.
To start with Friday night was suppose to be the Astrophotography night again in the Gardens but the cloud cover put an end to that for the night and that was called off around 3:00pm. So postponed for a few more weeks, but still on.
So I headed out Saturday for only a couple of hours knowing I was already booked in for Sundays Photowalk.
I started out around the stolen generation memorial and found the usual Bell Miner (Manorina melanophrys) These seam to have taken over the area here and are quite aggressive to anything of similar size in the canopy they occupy.
As I walked along the trail here I came across a few Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos (Cacatua galerita) in a gam tree carrying on.
I soon found out what they were on about as I spotted this Lace Monitor on the board walk. They certainly weren’t happy about this one in the area. If oyu note the claws on this one you’ll see there some what large and these have no issues climbing a tree and are often seen feeding on Bird eggs they get form nests in trees so the bird life try and push them along.
In this case the Cockatoos were screeching and soon an Australian Raven (Corvus coronoides) joined in seen here. A Magpie-lark (Grallina cyanoleuca) or “Peewee” as formally known all joined in to swoop on the monitor and see it on its way, It was interesting to see the three different types of birds all working together to see of this one
This week like last week a White-browed Scrubwren (Sericornis frontalis) was bouncing around the understory of the woodland area seeing what it could find. This one wasn’t in the best light so harsh mixed light but still the shot turned out ok. Probably the best shot for the week this week.
I also came across a small Brown Thornbill (Acanthiza pusilla) This one didn’t co-operate and stayed behind various branches and leaves so I didn’t get a clean shot this week, that went the way of the weekend this week.
As I was shooting the Thornbill I heard the Nosiy miners alarm call going off, followed by quite a few other birds alarm call so I set off to see what set them off. Turns out an Australian Hobby (Falco longipennis) was at the top of a gum tree on the edge of the clearing. I managed these few shots but nothing to great here shot wise but still gives an idea of the Bird and its massive feet.
The last shot here is of the Hobby just as it left the branch before heading out of the canopy and then it started to ride the thermals as it set off.
The last shot in the gardens this week was of another Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo Feeding on one of the many flowering trees in the gardens.
As part of Bird Week the Campbelltown Council organised a talk on Wednesday night with guest Speaker Mark Fuller of the Cumberland Bird Observers Club. Mark gave a talk on the Various birds to be found in Western Sydney and gave some photography tips. The talk was good and Mark was very knowledgeable on the topic, a great evening. The council as a follow up had a guided walk in the local Noorumba Reserve by Mark and Michael Rhydderch from the council. The rest of the shots here are the shots I managed to get on the walk.
The First shot on this walk was taken before everyone arrive and I took a quick walk alone to see what was about, I saw a pair of Eastern Whip birds but didn't manage to photograph the, these ones are quick and I only have a couple of shots of these over the last year or so. This shot is of a Rainbow Lorikeet (Trichoglossus haematodus) This one was stretched out to reach the truck of the tree.
This next one was of an Olive-backed Oriole (Oriolus sagittatus) taken from quite a distance so this shot is heavily cropped in to get this shot, not the best but still gives an idea of the bird.
Like the Australian botanical gardens there was a few Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos flying over the reserve.
As we walked around the reserve there was a few Superb Fairy-wren (Malurus cyaneus) in a small group of bushes on a grassy plain. Again not a clean shot of this one.
Up in the upper canopy there was spotted a Pacific Baza (Aviceda subcristata) Again another non clean shot with plenty of sticks in the way of this shot but the best I got this time.
Another shot of a Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo in flight, as there was numerous ones of these flying over. during the four hour walk we had.
Later on the Pacific Baza was spotted spring on the thermals.
Lastly as we were wrapping up the walk the last bird we came across was a Noisy Friarbird (Philemon corniculatus) again a lot of branches blocking a good clean shot of this one. So this weekend wasn't a good week for clean shots, but some weeks your more luckyer than others. Still not a bad week.
So the guided walk was a good even Mark was very helpful and knowledgeable of the local birds their calls and habitats you would find them in. The walk had about thirty people so with a group like that the birds didn't hang around but even so the group spotted just under 50 bird species in a four hour walk. so a pretty good effort. The Reserve is even closer to my place than the gardens so I'll bare-visiting this one again and seeing what I can find with out the group. A great even by the council.
Thats it for this weeks Blog. Thanks for dropping by.
Glenn.
Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan 17/10/2015
This weeks Blog is a walk though last weekends Shots in the Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan. This was my last chance to see if I can get a final shot for the local Photography Competition they run each year in the Gardens, the shots must be taken with in the gardens. Most of my shots are taken there so I have plenty to choose from, over the last three years I've entered I've placed each year and one year taking out two categorys and the over all winning shot so we'll see how this year fairs, the rules and categories have changed this year and not sure there is an overall winner this year either, so we'll wait and see in a few weeks time.
But on with this weeks shots.
The first shot is of a Red-browed finch (Neochmia temporals) this one was taken a little to far away so been heavily cropped in, and I'm not 100% happy with the focus on this one, could be the amount of cropping on this one, but not 100% happy with this one.
Nest up is the Eastern Yellow Robin (Eopsaltria australis) These are alway s about in the woodland area of the gardens and this week there was a juvenile being attended by one of its parents.
The next two are of a White-browen scrubwren (Sericornis frontal) these ones are usually not so timid and you can usually get a little closer to thee ones before they take flight. You can usually hear these ones well before you see them as they call out their alarm call to warn of an intruder.
While I was taking these shots turns out I was being watched by one of the local Wallabies in the gardens through the under growth.
Just opposite the plant back theres a small dam and this weekend there was a Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio) building a nest in the reeds. heres a few shots of the nest building underway. So far the nest is pretty much out in the open so a good chance of getting a clear shot later on in a few weeks time.
Lastly for the week I went up to the Wollemi Walk of Discovery see if i could find any mushrooms up there having no luck elsewhere for the week. Bouncing around int eh pine trees was this little Brown Thornbill (Acanthiza pusilla) This little one wasn't at all shy and was darting around me all the time. The Brown colour almost the green pine frongs looks quite good to me with the last shot being the better one, just missing out on getting a clean shot of its feet as well as the rest of the bird. Oh well one for another day looks like.
Lastly for the week the only Mushroom in sight was again Spiky Mikey so I set him up for another few shots for the week, in case I got a better shot than last week, I still think last weeks shot was better again these are both focus stacked so getting the hang of that process now. But no other Mushrooms about this weekend.
Well thats it for this weekends shots, well the better ones from the weekend. Next weekend the local Council has arranged for a Bird walk / Photo walk in one of the local reserves I've put my name down for that one so we'll see how that goes this Sunday. So stay tuned for what shots I get form there next week.
Thanks for dropping by my blog this week, Be back next week with more shots and some commentary on them.
Glenn.
Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan 9/10/2015 and 10/10/2015
This weeks Photography started a day early with a photography workshop I’d booked in on starting 6:00 pm Friday night at the Mount Annan Botanical Gardens, they were holding an Astrophotography workshop, so thought I could do with some work on that so signed up.
Turns out after many nights of clear skies Friday night wasn’t to be, started out with a large bush fire near by so the sky was smoke filled so not a great clear night, The decision was made to head up to the area and see what it was like so we drove of to the foot of the hill the Human Sundial is on and walked up, still quite smoky and a thunder storm was also heading our way so being on top of a hill with Metal tripods in a thunderstorm hmmm probably not the best conditions for Astrophotography so the night was cancelled but we managed to get a few sunset shots in. this is one of the ones I got from that.
From there the night was cancelled as s the storm was rolling in and lighting was starting to fly around not that far away.
The next day I headed back out to the gardens to see what was about, no luck on the mushroom front not to be found. But better luck on the bird front. This first one is on an Eastern Yellow Robin (Eopsaltria australis), there’s plenty of these about in the gardens and they are just starting to be come vocal now as well so you hear them before you see them.
While walking along the track I spotted this little tortoise on the dirt track ahead so waited till he moved away, got a couple of shots here as he watched to see what I was doing.
Thought I'd try my hand at a few different kinds of shots so went for a detail shot of the old fence post with the barbed wire on it, not sure that it worked that well but something to practice a bit more on in future I think
Opposite the Plant bank a White-faced Heron (Egretta novaehollandiae) was on the hunt for lizards, managed to get three while I was watching. So didn't go hungry today there.
Theres a few Spotted Pardalotes (Pardalotus punctuates) about as well and managed to get a few decent shots of one this week. These are colourful little birds. that actually nest in burrows on dirt mounts or in rock walls.
This next one is of a Brown Thornbill (Acanthiza pusilla) Chick waiting to be feed these were chasing the parent birds around constantly demanding food.
The other week I got a shot of the white Waratah this week the Red ones were out. They are usually a few weeks later than this so a little early in the year this year probably due to the hot weather of late, quite a few days already in the thirtys (Degrees C.) here already this year and still early spring.
But a sign of the warm weather about seams to have bought out the snakes in the area this ones a little Brown snake indent one you would want to be bitten by. According to Wikipedia these are the second most venomous land snake in the world so not one to play with, need to keep an eye out when I'm on the ground shooting mushrooms with these about now through summer.
Well thats it for this weeks shots. Thanks for dropping by my blog.
Glenn.
Guide to shooting mushrooms and image stacking 3/10/2015
This weeks blog is a walk thought of how I got this shot, including the method of focus stacking I started to use as of last week on some of my shots.
Last weeks blog is still coming for those that are wondering what happened to it, Zenfolio the web site service I use for my web site has been having a few technical issue over the last week. The post is a walk thorough of the shots taken last week.
This week the walk through is a mushroom shot. Like most of my mushroom shots its taking in full daylight and under exposed and then light with two speedlites and in this case a small piece of aluminium kitchen foil as a small reflector.
This shot shows the set up.
As usual I use one speedlite to add some rim lighting to give a bit of separation to the background and second light usually around 90 deg to the camera lens to fill in the details will adding some shadow to give better definition to any texture there. You can see how bright the setting is compared to the final shot below, mainly done in camera by under exposing and lighting just with the flashes on low power.
In this case the little mushroom is growing on a small stick so east to move around to get a better angle and in this case a better environment, the mushroom and stick were on a plain patch of ground but I moved them on to a nearby mossy patch of ground for the shots, (Also moved it back to where I found it when I had finished.
The Mushroom is a hardly little one this one its been around now for nearly a year and when the weather dries up like to day. 35 deg. C. it shrivels up. In this case I gave it a couple of sprays of water form a small spray bottle I carry and it expanded up and lifted its skirt to expose its gills.
From lightroom I do my normal edits on one of the shots in the stack, getting it as close to how I want it as possible. these are usually dropping the highlights a little, darkening the blacks sometimes increasing the shadow slider a fraction then adding clarity and contrast. I'll then add a little sharpening and noise reduction and then add a little bit of a post crop vignet to darken the corners, I'll then review the image and sometimes add in a couple of gradual filters to darken further some of the edges as required. Once all thats done I'll check the image again and maybe increase the exposure a fraction. depending if it needs in, I also use either the radial filter to high light the actual mushroom in areas that may need it or use the adjustment brush to darken some areas of the background that are drawing the attention.
Once one image is fully done I'll sync the adjustments to the rest of the series to be stacked.
From there go to the top menu bar and select Photo / Edit in / Open as layers in Photoshop
In the layers palet select the top layer and then shift click the bottom layer to select all layers.
Then in the top menu bar of Photoshop select Edit / Auto-align layers ….
From the pop up dialog box I select Auto and hit OK.
This will align any miss-alignment that may have occurred wither from the actual act of changing focus points or by accidently moving the camera when adjusting the focus.
This aligns all the layers so they are all in alignment it will most times result in the need for some cropping which I do when the image comes back into lightroom.
Next select Edit Auto-blend layers ….
Again a pop up box appears and by default its selected Sack images and the check box seamless tones and colours is checked.
This only takes about a minute to do so not long at all. It depends on how many layer (Stacked images you have) This Edit Auto-blend layers creates a layer mask for each area that’s in focus and removes the rest automatically. So very powerful and very effective.
I save the file and exit photoshop the file automatically appears back in light room where I crop the image to remove and issues from the alignment. I then make any final adjustments in lightroom and that’s it the finished image.
All up this week I created 7 stacked images of this mushroom in various angles and lighting configurations here’s the rest of the shots from the day. All slightly different. Most are around 10 images stacked together the one above is actual 21 images stacked.
Thanks for Dropping by my blog, hope this ones helpful to anyone interested in trying out stacking images, its pretty straight forward and not to difficult, but you do need both lightroom and Photoshop, which if you use the creative cloud and either the full version of just the photographers bundle which I use then you have them both to use.
Be back next week with more.
Glenn.