Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan 14/5/2016 - 28/5/2016
This week’s blog post will be a walk thought of the last few weeks walks in the Australian Botanical Garden's Mount Annan, apart from last week when the the rains came down in a big way, the gardens actually closed on Sunday due to the wet conditions, here’s a link to the Garden's Facebook footage of the water, a few of the locations are where I take some of my shots from so you can see a little wet there for these.
https://www.facebook.com/AustralianBotanicGarden/videos/1196231800389209/?pnref=story
The previous three weeks I've managed to get out thou and here are some of the shots I managed to get out there plus some more practice at the Digital Art work with some of the shots with mixed results.
The first shots here are a series of shots of a Noisy Miner (Manorina Melancephala) taking a bath by flying into a small dam opposite the plant bank the last two are the better of this series of shots here. The first two the focus seemed to have eloped onto the water droplets and reflection rather than the actual bird, but happy with the final two there.
This shots of a Grey Butcherbird (Cracticis torquatus) feeding on a case moth larvae it found in the gum tree.
The grass at the tunnel to the plant bank has started to have mushrooms growing there each week so now a regular spot for me to check each week now, This one is focus stacked and lit with two speedlites you can see the effect the second light at the rear has on the steam on the left. Buy dropping the power so as not to over power the shot but just give enough to add a bit of a glow makes a good effect I think.
The next two are the same shot but after giving different effects to the shot. Again practicing some of what I learnt on the Steve Parish, Western MacDonnell ranges photography tour. This one gives it misty feeling to it.
Where as this one is more of an Alice in Wonderland feel to it.
There next one as a small mushroom growing up in the connections gardens, this one had only just pushed its way through the bark coving on the garden bed so had a bit of debris on the top. Again focus stacked and two lights
The next ones of a small light blue flower that was growing amount the maiden hair fern. So tried to get a shot with the flower contracting the greenery, didn't get this one right its missing something for this shot for me.
I then went down to the main lakes and had a look what was about, got quite a few shots of birds in flight this time round. The first ones of an Australian Raven ((Corvus Coronoides)
This next ones of a Peregrine Falcon, Iv'e seen this one a few times now of a late afternoon as it flys across the lake, but never managed to get a good shot of it, this week I did better but still not great, but one to look out for of a late afternoon. The other birds give out their alarm calls when its in the air so when you hear them you know to look out for something that has them worried.
I did manage to get a couple of decent shots of some Australian Wood ducks (Chenonetta Jubata) coming in to land on the lake Late afternoon the light was just right and enough of it to be able to freeze the action so happy with these two shots.
Then I just practiced panning shots of what ever flew in front of me, the trick with darker birds and in bright blue sky is to set the exposure on manual by setting it on the nearby grassy hills or some distance trees and then sticking to that and just focus on the bird as it flys, Well thats the way I've done these ones and pretty happy with the results expire wise, if you use an auto function it will more than likely expose for the sky and you'll have a black bird with no details.
Magpie-Lark (Grallina cyanoleuca)
Little Pied Cormorant (Microcarbo Melanoleucos) Would have been better had I framed this one to the left but I'm luck to get them in the frame at times hand held with a 600m lens. The lens is great but not the lightest thing to swing around at times.
An Australian White Ibis (Threskiornis Moluccan) Taking its afternoon bath on the island in the middle of the lake.
This next series is again of a pair of mushroom growing outside the plant bank. The first one is the normal shot then the next is the same show but playing with it with different effects, and applying different textures to the end result. Again this was trying things out seeing what works and what doesn't some are again better than others.
An Australian White Ibis in the small dam opposite the Plant bank.
Soon joined by a White Faced Heron (Egretta novaehollandiae).
This one I caught the Noisy miner taking a drink with a great reflection, I didn't have time to reposisiont to get clear of the grass this time, but will keep an eye out next time and see if I can get in a better position.
An Eastern Great Egret (Ardea modesta) patrolling the shores of the first main lake in the gardens.
One of the little Yellow thornbills (Acanthiza nana).
The Birds of Prey were out as well this ones of a Nankeen Kestrel (Falco cenchroides) as it sits high on the high tension power lines watching the world go by.
The next is a series of a pair of Black Shouldered Kites (Elanus axillaris) These ones have the most amazing eyes with bright orange eyes against the white bird. Happy with some of these and one I've already had printed large just waiting from me to mat and mount it so it can be hung on the wall here.
This ones a little smaller being a little Black Cormorant (Phalacrocorax sulcirostris) as it did a circuit of the lake.
In the main lakes there was also a pair of black swans (Cygnus atratus) that seem to betraying out the lake for size.
This pair are the same ones as above but one week later, again the first shot is the original and the next are variations of this shot with different effects, again just trying things out experimenting with it all.
So thats it for this weeks blog, a round up of the last few weeks shooting for those that missed the weekly shots, the weathers looking better for this weekend and a long weekend here as well so we'll see what I can come up with this weekend when I get out.
Thanks for dropping by my blog, be back next week wth more.
Glenn.
Western MacDonnell Ranges
This week’s blog a little further afield than the local botanical gardens, like normal, this time I managed to head out to Central Australia, Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. I booked on to a photography workshop ran by the Australian well known nature and wildlife Photographer Steve Parish. Via his Nature Connect Site.
https://www.steveparish-natureconnect.com.au/upcoming-events/categories/
Where I booked on the Western MacDonnell Ranges 5 day tour.
It started off with a train ride from Campbelltown to Sydney Airport where I boarded a plane for Alice. As I boarded the plane it was fairly full no spare seats but Turns out I was actually sitting beside Steve on the flight over, Now what are the chances of that on a full plane. It turns out that all but one of the participants were on the same plane.
apon arrival at Alice we all got in a Maxi Cab together and headed off to the hotel again pure coincidence but we were all staying at the same hotel. We booked in and Steve suggested since everyone’s together that maybe we could unofficially go out for an afternoon shoot even though the tour didn’t start till the next morning, no one disagreed and we agreed to meet up in a few hour’s time to give everyone a chance to unpack and set up their gear.
So I assemble my gear and turned two carry one camera bags into one usable backpack with both cameras mounted on my Spider pro belt holster.
As I had a few hours to kill before we headed off I went over the road from the hotel where the Todd river bed is and took a walk along the river bed to see what was about as a small ridge was opposite and I thought I take a walk and see what was on the ridge.
After those shots I headed back to the hotel and we all headed out to Simpsons Gap for the afternoon, Our first shoot together less one. We drove out to Simpsons Gap and on the way stopped by to shoot this range. This was one of the things I picked up from this workshop long lens stitch panoramas. This shot reminded me of the old western movies the colours are what does it I think for me. But certainly not the American wild west.
Then on to the Gap, After all the rain the last few days there was plenty laying around out there. Though pretty sure this one is one of the more percent sources of water as last tim eI was out that way this one had water in it as well.
There was a small group of little rock Wallabies living on the rocky hill side, this shot captures one having a yawn.
So after a Yawn what better to do than have a chew on your tail I guess. These shots the light was already going so low light and higher ISO was used so you can start to see some of the effects of upping the ISO in the background, but sometimes to get the shot you have to make sacrifices as long as you know what your getting your self into, these ones won't make for good prints, but still the make great memories.
That night we all ate together in the restaurant and the final member of the group arrived introduced themselves and retired for the night as they had spent the most of the day travelling on a bus up to Alice.
The next morning we drove out to the Alice Springs desert park there was some light rain falling most of the morning as you'll see in these shots from time to time, but certainly made the animals more active, and the bird life was certainly very active so plenty of chances for some decent shots there.
The first one here is an Eastern Barn Owl.
The Owl and the next few shots were part of a free flight show were the birds were flying free, the next few shots are of a Brown Falcon in flight the same type of bird I caught earlier in the river bed in the wild.
After the show we took a walk around the park where they had several aviaries that you can walk into, others had clear glass that you can shoot through. So the next series of shoots are a combination of each, see if you can pick the difference.
This next shot is of an Orange Chat. (Epthianura aurifrons)
Still trying to ID this little one, should have taken a few shots of all the ID plates in the various aviaries, One for next time in the mean time I'll try and get the ID of this one and update this post when I do.
A Spinifex pigeon. (Geophaps plumifera) There was a small group of these in one of the open aviaries, Though through out the trip we say plenty in the wild as well.
Crimson Chat. (Epthianura tricolour) This ones not fully coloured up as yet.
The park also had a pair of Dingos, but again we were to see a few in the wild later on and certainly hear them at night calling out. This shot was again taken in the rain but makes a nice effect in the background I think.
A nice portrait of a Dingo.
Next up both of them eventually appeared on the log together. This is one of those cases when it paid to revist a shot as early on there was only one up there and later on when I returned I got this shot.
From the Desert part we drove out to the Glen Helen Gorge resort where we stayed of the next few nights. One we had unpacked and settled in we went out to a local lookout across a small cause way for a sunset shot, at the time there was a small trickle across the causeway, that was soon to change in the coming days.
The next day we drove out to the nearby Ormiston Gorge, not too far from where we were staying. This one’s a shot of a Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater, (Acanthagenys rufogularis) that was near where we parked. So many different birds out there that I wasn’t use to, looks very much in the style of the Wattle Birds and seams to fill that roll out there.
One of the things that Steve taught us was how to take a photo and get creative with it and turn it into something of an art work not that photos are not art but to take it to a different place, this was one of my first attempts at this and for a first go I was happy with the results given time I hope to be better at this one of the people of the tour had been doing this for a while and some of his work was great so something to aim for later with practice.
One of the many river gums growing on the gorge face. The white trunks against the orange rock are certain a sight.
This shot is a sunset shot but the river is just a few meters up form the cause way and as you can see its no longer a trickle but a flowing river, the Fink River was actually a river, that put an end to our trip to palm valley, as the way into the valley is along the river bed, not this week as it was actually a river for once, still made for a nice sunset shot.
This shot is of the Glen Helen gorge at night right outside my room. This was my first attempt at shooting the milkyway and for a first attempt happy with the results. I was setting this one up at 20 seconds exposure with my fisheye lens and light painting the ridge with my spot light, the shot was taken at 3:00am in the morning and this one turned out a lucky shot as Glen Helen gorge is about 150 km west of Alice so pretty much the middle of know where and at 3:00 am the place is pretty quiet turns out that during this exposure someone arrived by car and the car did a turn in one of the turning circle and just happened that its head lights swept along the ridge at a steady pace enough to create this effect, nice, how luck can you be some days.
This shot was from the lookout again that the first sunset shot was taken but a few days later after the river had dropped. An early morning shot.
One of the highlights of the trip from me was a helicopter flight of the local area around Glen Helen gorge the scenery for the ground is amazing and from the air even more so, the next series of shots are from the short 30 minute flight we had but some great shots and amazing scenery from the air. We had several days at Glen Helen gorge and were trying to pick the day with the best light for the flight, as the first day was still raining a bit not a great day, turns out we fly on our last day there and as we took off the sun started to come out so we got some shots with nice lighting on the ranges.
After the flight we drove off back toward Alice On the way back we stopped at Ellery Creek Big Hole where again you can see the river gums and the orange rock. Again another percent source of water so a fair bit of bird life around.
This is a pair of White Plumed Honeyeaters that came in for a drink, love the way the far one peers under the near one.
We stopped along the way as we say fit depending on what we say and this time a dried river bed with a few pools of water in the deeper parts, again with the river gums along the side.
From there we drove off to Standley Chasm, this is a narrow gap in the range and vertical walls, at mid-day the light lights it up, we just missed the full light in the chasm but saw enough to get an idea what it would look like, Guess I have to go back now one day to catch the light there.
After that we headed back to the hotel in Alice and from there got unpacked got to our rooms and then got ready to head out for our final shoot of the tour, the old Telegraph station at The Original settlement of Alice springs, around the telegraph station are a few rocky outcrops were a group of Rock Wallabies reside, so here are a few shots of the wallabies at the old telegraph station.
This first shot was as I got out of the van a Brown Falcon flew over so just had time to get this shot exposure was a little underdone as I didn't really have to time set the shot but lightroom saved it a bit.
This last shot was a fitting end to the tour as we were leaving so was one of the wallabies so that ended out Fantastic 5 day MacDonnell ranges tour with Steve and Ruth. A great trip and some great shots. Steve and Ruth did a great job and everyone enjoyed them self on the tour. Well done to the pair of them.
If you enjoyed the shots in this blog there are more over at the MacDonnell ranges gallery follow the link here.
http://glennsmithphotography.
You can run the slid shot by clicking slideshow in the top right or just scroll thought the images.
Don’t forget to check out Steve’s web site for any events he has coming up, check back over the next month or so as he adds in more.
https://www.steveparish-natureconnect.com.au/upcoming-events/categories/
Thanks for dropping by my blog, Be back next week with some more, around the Botanical gardens back home.
Glenn
Jenolan Caves
Welcome back to my weekly blog, this week for something different a look at some of my shots form a week weeks backs trip to Jenolan Caves. My companies social club arranged for a day trip to Jenolan Caves in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, these are a series of limestone caves with plenty of formations to view the caves are all viewed on a guided tour so no self-tours of these caves, but the groups are sized based on the cave tour you go on and well run.
The morning was an early start with a 7:00am pick up at the company works. From there we drove up the Blue Mountains and had the first stop at the Neck a rocky plateau that runs in to the Megalong Valley, from there we drove to the Hydro Majestic for a morning tea break too early for the hotel to be open unfortunately to have a look around after its renovations. Then on to the caves.
We had a private tour booked of the Lucas Cave which is an hour and a half tour. The next series of shots are taken during that tour.
This shot shows one of the older ladders in the cave, not in use apart from cave maintenance now days the guide said its known as scary ladder, hmmm wonder why.
This one is a shot of an area where they use to and occasionally still do hold church services in the caves, called pulpit rock.
This shot shows a piece of limestone with a light underneath it to show the translucence of the stone. One of the only piece of limestone in the caves hey allow you to touch, other wise it turns black for the acids in the skin as you constantly touch the stone.
This ones only a small opening say about 50cm high very hard to get a sense of scale to these shots at times with nothing to gauge against.
These next Three shots are of a formation called Broken Column, funny that, this was caused not by an earth quake but by the stone at the bottom slowly sinking under the weight and eventually snapping the column. The Diameter at the break is apron 50cm held a metre. So a fair bit of a column to snap like that.
This formation is called the Bishop as if you look at the formation on top o the Stalagmite it looks like a Bishop reading from his book.
The coloured lights like this seam to be in once cavan in each cave to show what it looks like they have a set of coloured LED lights and use the colours to this effect. Personally I prefer the natural look, but for one cavan its Ok to see what it looks like.
Through out the cave system theres underground rivers and this is where the rivers flow out. Around the bend is a small weir which store the water forming this lake the blue colour gives the lake its name the blue lake and the colour comes form the minerals in the water from the limestone deposits.
This shot is of a skeleton of a Wombat that was found in the cave, over the years the caves have been in existence animals have become trapped in the caves, not so much these days since the cave system has been discovered.
Now on to the second cave tour this one only had around 15 people in the tour so a small group, again on cavan with the coloured lights.
This formation is called the Dragon and with a bit of imagination you can see a dragons head.
Well thats about it for the tour shots of Jenolan Caves, something different from my usual shots.
Thanks for dropping by my blog, I'll be back next week with something different again.
Glenn
Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan 30/4/2016
This weeks Blog is again a walk thought of the shots taken this weekend in the Australian Botanical Garden's Mount Annan. The weather wasn't to bad this weekend occasionally looked like it might rain but held of during my time in the gardens so all good.
The first shot here is of a White Faced-Heron (Egretta novaehollandiae) this one was again in the very first dam as you drive into the gardens.
The grasslands as enter the gardens are a popular place for ro of the Raptors that visit the gardens to hunt and this weekend was no exception the first shot here is of a Black shouldered Kite (Elamus axillaris) potholing the skies above the grassland.
But it wasn't long before a Nankeen Kestrel (Falco cenchroides) came along to claim the skies for it self and tried to chase the Kite off. The next series shows some of the close flight this pair had as they tried to master each other.
The Kestrel finally gave up leaving the skies to the kite.
Watching on as all the activity took place up above was a small group of Golden-headed Cisticola (Cisticola exilis) comfortable in the grass well camouflaged with their golden colour in the golden dried grass.
Leaving the grasslands for the afternoon I walked around the lake and came along this Eastern Water dragon (Intellagama lesueurii). This one didn't seam to concerned with me there taking its photo and quiet happily feed on the grass while I took a few shots.
There was a good variety of bird life around and this ones of an Eastern Rosella (Platycercus eximius).
While taking this shot I heard the call of the noisy miners calling out there alarm call so went looking for what was causing there concern and found a pair of Pacific Bazas (Aviceda subcristata) high up in the gum trees.
There was a few days during the week that had a couple of light showers enough to keep the mushrooms poping up, so heres a few shots of this weeks mushrooms. The first two here are the same mushroom group from different angles.
This ones probably the best of the day, again the brown gel over the speedlite really bought out the colours of the gills to great effect.
The last shot of the mushrooms for this week was a tangled mess of mushrooms.
The final shot for the week this week as of a Geraldton wax flower, light with one speedlite in a soft box to give some mood to the shot.
Thats it for this weeks walk in the Gardens, not a bad days shooting this weekend, getting back into it all now.
Thanks for dropping by my blog this week. Be back next week with some Cave shots taken for a few weeks ago at Jenolan caves
Glenn
Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan 23/4/2016 & 24/4/2016
Well all back to normal now with the blog posts and photography once more. Good to be back into it again after three months of bathroom renovations, but the Bathroom is all done and happy wiht the results. S0 here's this weeks post.
Long weekend here in Australia last weekend, where we remember the failed solders and the sacrifice they made so we can go out and enjoy all that life has to offer. ANZAC day.
I managed to get out for a few hours both Saturday and Sunday here. The shots are still a little rough after the three months off but starting to get there and some of the mushroom shots this week I'm happy with, the bird shots for the week are not there yet so still need to get back into those again. But some are looking ok but still need some improvement here.
Again as usual these shots were all taken in the Australian Botanical Garden's Mount Annan.
The first shot here is a female Superb Fairy-wren (Malurus cyaneus) Not a clean shot wiht the small twig in front of the bird, and the background is a little busy, there was a small dam between me and the bird and I couldn't get enough separation between the bird and the back ground in this case. To get the clean backgrounds you need to get a bit of distance between the subject and the back ground and shoot at a small Aperture number (Wide open) this will give the creamy looking back grounds and take away some of the distractions that the back grounds can give at time. This time the environment was against me, i.e. a dam and gully. The gardens would not appreciate me in their dams.
This next shot is of a male Mistletoebird (Dictum hirundinaceum) This one was keeping an eye on me while it hopped around the Shears. A little better shot this time, wiht only the tips of the sheoak over the bird and the background is a little less busy though still not the best, but the colours are more neutral so not so distracting as the first shot.
There seams to be quite a few Laughing Kookaburras (Dacelo novaeguineae) about the gardens at the moment, this one seemed to be having a bad hair day so to speak. With its top feathers all ruffled by the wind at the time.
This next ones of a tiny female Rose Robin (Petroica rosea) Also in the Sheoaks, these are all at the back of the first lake as you enter the gardens.
While I was taking these an Australian White Ibis (Threskiornis molucca) watched on for the lakes edge.
Through out the week here in southwest Sydney we had a few light showers and the temperatures have finally started to drop a bit now, so a few mushrooms are starting to show up now int eh gardens after a few months I not finding to many. This first shot of mushrooms is taken opposite the stolen Generation walk just a short walk up the trail and right on the very edge, these are tiny only a couple of millimetres in diameter and very delicate, this image is focus stacked from a series of images to get the depth of field.
This next one is also a tiny little one and this one was all alone in the lower part of the connections garden. this one again is no larger than 4mm in diameter. The bright red colour was what caught my eye, enabling me to find this one.
Further up in the connections gardens I found these ones there was a few in this patch these ones made the more interest shot, To see just how I get these shots the shot ofter this one shows the set up for this shot.
This shot you can see the actual light conditions the shot was taken in actually quite bright, two separate speedlites used the one on the left in a small soft box with small piece of aluminum foil opposite to add in some fill light on the opposite side, then a second speedlite at the back with a brown gel in place to give the warm glow at the base and rear of the mushrooms. To get the dark effect I under expose the shot using the live view on the LCD till the whole shot just about goes black usually with a shutter speed of around 1/200 of a second, (Only one of my speedlites handles high speed sync) and I'll adjust the aperture to achieve the rest of the darkness then I adjust eh flash power usually down near as low as they can go till I get the effect I want, so a bit of trial and error and moving the lights around till I like what I see. Once happy with the shoe I'll take a series of shots at the different focal plans to allow me to focus stack later on when I get back home. Again you can see how handy the articulated screen comes in on the 60D on the ground.
These next shots are from the Sunday. The first two here are of another Rose Ronin this time around the stolen generation Memorial.
Followed by a shot of Australian Raven (Corvus Coronoides) in flight, More practice needed here on this one.
The Kookaburras were around again and this time I got a better shot than the day before, this ones more a portrait shot, he also took the time to brush his hair this time. Much smarter
The last shot for this week is a final mushroom, pretty much the same set up as show above similar lighting conditions as well this time the sun was actually out as well so had to step down the aperture a bit more than normal to get the effect. again focus stacked in photoshop afterwards. The rear speed light adding a bit of rim lighting around the back left.
Well thats it for this weeks shots, hope you like them and it gives you an idea of of how some of the mushroom shots are taken.
Thanks for dropping by my blog and I'll be back next week with more shots wiht luck time permitting.
Glenn.