Elia Locardi in Sydney

Workshop + Photowalk – 10th Feb

If you like HDR then you will Like Elia Locardi’s work. He runs a travel blog over at blamethemonkey.com and has some stunning images. Elia is running a digital blending workshop here in Sydney on the 10th Feb and then hosting a photowalk from the Opera House Steps at 5:30pm. The workshop has a fee of $60 but the photowalk is free to attend.

I have registered for his Digital Blending workshop, in 2 hours I am sure I will pick up a trick or two! If you’re interested in learning more about using photoshop this is a good value workshop – Elia has more info on his website HERE, I will also be attending the photowalk afterwards… To check out more info and register for his Photowalk CLICK HERE (you will need to be on Google Plus to register)

Today’s iCandy – The Great Wall

If you go to China, this is one place you have to visit… it was the highlight of the trip for me…

(Click on the photo to order yourself a print or to download (please see licensing for the rules!)

I Updated my ‘Cameras’ Page

 Added camera’s past

Just a quick heads up… I have updated my camera’s page. It has a list of cameras that I am using, or have used in the past, I guess you can call them reviews, but I like to just call it giving you my opinion. I will add more info as time goes on so it’s a good time to check back every now and then to see if anything has changed!

Here is the link to the page about my Cameras

Todays iCandy – The Twisted Tree

I found this tree in the gardens surrounding Government house in Sydney. I just loved the way it was all ‘twisted’… It seemed to have grown into two trees and was huge… the sun was just poking through the leaves but the canopy on this tree was thick… making it the perfect shady spot on a warm day!

Click on the photo to order yourself a print or to download (please see licensing for the rules!)

Free HDR Tutorial

Create stunning HDR Photos

I have just finished putting together the final touches of my free online HDR tutorial. I believe this is the most comprehensive free HDR tutorial on the web… CLICK HERE to check it out. I re-worked an image I took on easter sunday 2012 with my D700 and documented step by step what I do to create a HDR photo. I hope you like it… feel free to share it around!

Here is the Before and After shots from the tutorial

First Official Photowalk of 2013

SYDNEY | Milsons Point to Kirribilli

A short stroll with lot’s to see! Welcome to the first On3legs photowalk for 2013. Once again I am teaming up with Rob Potter from photographyhotspots.com for this walk. We will meet and greet out the front of Sydney’s Luna Park at 630pm and slowly make our way around to Kirribilli to watch the sun set behind the Harbour Bridge… EVERYONE is welcome.. no matter your skill or your camera.

The walk is all about caputuring some images, learning, meeting great similar minded people but most importantly having some fun!  🙂

Register on FACEBOOK or GOOGLE+ (You pick your favourite!)

Today’s iCandy – The OOO (Odd One Out)

Whenever I see something like this I just have to stop and capture it…

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More Fuji XE1 HDR

I am loving the X-E1 for landscape and HDR photography

I know, I have rattled on a fair bit about this camera in the past few months, but I do really think these mirrorless wonders will supersede the DSLR, especially for the majority of the market… I think they call them prosumers… anyway, to me it’s anyone that bought a DSLR for the convenience of interchangeable lenses and of course, the image quality.

The downside of the DSLR is the bulk and the weight, and this has been fixed with the mirrorless camera. The Fuji X-E1 I can carry with me all day, I don’t feel like I am weighed down, even the bag I have for it is small, and is easy to carry all day! In the past, it was a trade off, the heavier it got, the better the image quality.. the lighter, the less image quality and things like shutter lag etc. etc…. The mirrorless camera is lighter, almost like a point and shoot… yet it still has superb image quality! So you can have your cake and eat it too!

If you want to read my review on the X-E1 CLICK HERE to go there now…

Today’s iCandy – The shed by the Harbour

This is a HDR image I have taken with the Fuji X-E1. It is 3 exposures. I had the Fuji mounted on a tripod, and it is really easy to manually do the bracketing by moving the EV dial in between shots. Sure, it would be nice if there was a function for the camera to take bracketed shots at a spacing of 2ev… maybe in a future firmware upgrade (hopefully you’re reading this Fuji R&D). For now, this is a good solution and probably the easiest out of any of the mirrorless camera’s I have seen.

Click on the photo to order yourself a print or to download (please see licensing for the rules!)

Using Topaz Adjust

make your images POP…

There is plenty of cool software and plugins out there, so many that you would need to stop feeding your children if you were going to buy them all… I was asked the question, “If you could only have one plugin for photoshop, what would it be?” – and this is a tough question, I have so many that I love… but in the end I decided on Topaz Adjust… I wrote an article on HDR One explaining exactly why I love this plugin so much and I even show you how I use it! CLICK HERE to go to the HDR One magazine and have a little peeky boo at the article!

If you want to get Topaz CLICK HERE and you will be re-directed to their site… enjoy!

Today’s iCandy – Sydney Opera House

This is the image I ended up with after I used Topaz Adjust… if you want to see how I did it, then you better click on the link above to the HDR One magazine and check it out!

Click on the photo to order yourself a print or to download (please see licensing for the rules!)

HDR +

That’s what I’m calling it in 2013!

I have been tagged as a ‘HDR’ photographer, and I don’t mind that, as I do use HDR as part of my process… but… I think that people immediately make judgement when they hear those three letters… (HDR). And I understand why, I see it too, you know, the ugly HDR, the badly done, over saturated, halo heavy and noisy yucky HDR images that all beginners put out on the net… we all have to start somewhere. A photographer that has discovered HDR for the first time is like a kid with a new toy for Christmas, they’re excited and want to show off their new found tricks… unfortunately, the new tricks are not nice… they’re hard on the eye’s!

For 2013, I am going to forge forward with what I call, HDR+ … why? I hear you ask. Well, 2013 is the year that I share with you exactly how I create my images, and it is so much more than just HDR. I spend a lot of time working on each image to make them look so much better than what HDR software alone could produce, I use photoshop with various other plugins depending on what I am after… some images I can spend over an hour working on, others are a quick 5 to 10 minutes, it all depends on what I want to produce, what I remember from the scene and what story I want the image to tell. The great news is what I do is not hard, and you can do it too… my mission in 2013 is to help reduce the amount of ugly HDR on the web… and help you make your images pop… you don’t even need to use HDR, the techniques I use work just as well for any image!

So where do we start… I will be running a free online 1 hour post processing session in the coming weeks, during this session I will share my screen with you, and you will see exactly what I do from start to finish. You will see how I overcome some of the issues of HDR software and I think you’ll be surprised at how easy it is… stay tuned for dates and times as it is going to be a fun session not to be missed… I hope you will join me!

Today’s iCandy – Coke is it!

I took this in the old Abandoned Dunlop/Slazenger factory. It has been empty for years and is quite un-nerving to wander around as you never know what may greet you around the next corner. I assume all the holes in the roof are from a huge hail storm at some stage… there is graffiti everywhere… and I mean EVERYWHERE! What I have been able to establish is that whilst graffiti artists are very creative… they’re extremely untidy people!

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Trey Ratcliff Back in Australia

This time Trey headed to Melbourne

Last time Trey was here he held a photowalk in Sydney, there was a great turn up and it was great to meet Trey and have a chat with him. About a week ago he announced that he would fly into Sydney then drive to Melbourne for a photowalk, the photowalk was held last night and from what I can see from the images he had a great turn out there too! You can check out the images from his photowalk on G+ HERE.

Today’s iCandy – 541am

Last year I spent a lot of time on the northern beaches of Sydney, for 2013 I thought I would head to the eastern suburbs more often. This is my first visit to the Eastern Suburbs and I decided to head to Coogee. This is Coogee Baths, and it was forecast to be a real scorcher in Sydney with temp’s reaching 43c, it was no surprise that by 6am the beach was starting to fill up… anyway, this is one I took of the baths at 541am (according to the clock on the Surf Club…

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Fuji X-E1 for Landscape

The X-E1 delivers

Now that I have Photoshop CS6 and I can use camera RAW to process the Fuji X-E1’s .RAF Raw files, I decided to test out the results. I headed out to shoot the sunset and with the Fuji firmly planted on the tripod, I had the 18mm f2 mounted on the front of it and I was ready to take my photo, and decided to use HDR for this one, I used the EV dial to take my 3 exposures, -2, 0, +2.

The 3 exposures in RAW (click on this image for a closer look)

I then took the 3 exposures and imported them into Photomatix (the software I use to create HDR images) and created my tonemapped version. I then did a little crop in photoshop and today’s iCandy is the end result. I am pretty pleased with the image quality of the Fuji and having full RAW file control in photoshop means I can seriously use this camera for landscape shooting.

Today’s iCandy – Bridge Glow

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Best Walk-around Lens

What would you pick?

I see this question often… what is the best all purpose walk around lens. In my opinion there isn’t one, this is why there are so many to choose from. I do have a favourite I will take if I could only take one lens and that is my 50mm f1.4, it is a great lens and on a full frame sensor is the perfect capture just about anything lens. For you folk with cropped sensor, go for a 35mm, it will give you roughly the 50mm equivalent.

Why do I like the 50mm f1.4? – it is light, fast and is good for just about anything, plus… quite a cheap lens too! You will have to move more, as this is a prime lens and will force you to think more about your shot, and in some cases you may have to take 2 or 3 shots and stitch them together later if you’re after something wider.

I am sure there are many different opinions, and all of them will be valid… feel free to leave a comment below and share with me what your ultimate walk around lens is….

Today’s iCandy – Watch your Step

I took this in an abandoned old building in Sydney. It was quite un-nerving as you never new what you would bump into around each corner. I really enjoyed shooting here though and have added my own tag in this picture (using photoshop of course)…can you find it?

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