2011 NYE Fireworks

IMG_8587, originally uploaded by Ian Champ Photography.

Fireworks at Ulladulla Harbour, New Years Eve, 2011

Angles again

IMG_8505, originally uploaded by Ian Champ Photography.

As promised yesterday, here is another take on yesterday's photo. It's easy to just think "get close" once you have a fixed focal length lens on, but in this case a very pleasing photo was achieved by stepping back just a little.

More on angles

IMG_8507, originally uploaded by Ian Champ Photography.

Here's another example of thinking about angles and framing. With this shot I had found an interesting flower and I zoomed way in as far as my macro lens would go to get a close up of the center.

That has certainly given me an interesting photo, but then I tried a few more more angles and different framing options. Tomorrow I will post a different shot of the same flower which is - in my opinion - a better photo.

A different angle

IMG_8498, originally uploaded by Ian Champ Photography.

Same flower as yesterday, but from a different angle. When you find an interesting shot try to take a few different shots of it ... frame it differently and/or change your viewing angle. Never dress in your Sunday best when you go for a photo shoot because you may just want to lie down on the ground to get the shot you want.

Ulladulla

IMG_8493, originally uploaded by Ian Champ Photography.

Had a great time today wandering around Warden Head at Ulladulla and my dad's garden. Took lots of shots with our 100mm lens. This shot was the obvious shot (from above, looking down on the flower), but it also made a stunning shot when I lay on the ground and looked up through the flower at the blue sky.

Cradle Mountain

Cradle Mtn2, originally uploaded by Ian Champ Photography.

With all the work I've been doing tweaking my web site and doing family Xmas things I've had no time left to take photos, so here's a picture from long, long ago. It's my good friend Ian Ferrier climbing a boulder overlooking Dove Lake so that we could recreate a famous shot by Fred Smithies.

My Website

webpage, originally uploaded by Ian Champ Photography.

I registered http://www.IanChamp.com and started making my own website today.

There are still a few broken links and loads of work to do but there is enough in place to make it more or less functional.

Giddy Up

IMG_7841, originally uploaded by Ian Champ Photography.

Trying to take action photos in low light situations can be challenging.

My preferred approach is to select a high ISO setting with the camera into shutter priority mode, and then choose a shutter speed that is fast enough to freeze the action.

This shot has ISO 3200 and shutter speed of 1/125 sec.

Fly by Night

IMG_7633, originally uploaded by Ian Champ Photography.

How can you not get great shots with action like this!

The Low Down

IMG_7252, originally uploaded by Ian Champ Photography.

Having found something interesting to photograph, have a quick look around and try to find the most interest position to take the shot.

Getting down low so as to make best use of the lighting and background made this a much more interesting photo.

Warehouse Circus

IMG_7308, originally uploaded by Ian Champ Photography.

It's been a privilege over the weekend to take photos of Canberra's Warehouse Circus performers. I got some really cool pictures of these talented young performers and I've a had a great time taking them :)

Photographing People

When photographing people, always try to focus on the subject's eyes and use light and shade to draw attention to the face. In video images the viewer would probably pay attention to the flying balls or the blur of hands, but when the moment is frozen in time we are drawn to the eyes and the concentration on the juggler's face.

Jingle Bells

IMG_6907, originally uploaded by Ian Champ Photography.

Bah. Humbug. There's no escaping all this Christmas hoo har. Even Mother nature has her Xmas decorations on display.

Nicely focused flower

IMG_7090, originally uploaded by Ian Champ Photography.

My "secret" to getting nice hand-held macro photos is to use the Live View screen of my Canon DSLR rather than try to focus using the view finder. I compose the shot and then press the little magnifying glass button which zooms into the center of the screen.

If I hit the zoom button twice I will zoom into the middle 10% of the screen. I make sure that is focussed then click the shutter.

To further improve the chances of getting a great shot I also set the camera to continuous shooting mode and click of 5 or 6 shots. That way, even if the breeze is moving your subject around you still have a good chance of getting at least one nice, crisply focussed shot.

Jemma and Evan's Wedding

Pretty in pink

IMG_6986b, originally uploaded by Ian Champ Photography.

I got some absolutely gorgeous photos at Canberra's Botanic Gardens today. This little beauty looks like a flock of flamingos dancing.

Strawberry seeds

Strawberry seeds, originally uploaded by Ian Champ Photography.

This is the same photo I blogged on Monday, but zoomed in a little more. You can actually see the individual cells of the the strawberry if you zoom in a little more ... now that's what I call macro.

Back yard sunset

sunset, originally uploaded by Ian Champ Photography.

The view from our back yard is pretty boring ... but the sunset tonight made it look a million bucks.

King Parrot

King Parrot, originally uploaded by Ian Champ Photography.

A family of King Parrots live in the front garden at Birrigai Outdoor School. This male was pretty relaxed about posing for me, but the click of the mirror moving made him a little nervous.

Strawberry

Strawberry, originally uploaded by Ian Champ Photography.

Strawberries have to be one of the best things about summer in Australia :)

Please vote for this photo at Ted's Cameras

Today's cameras are pretty amazing!

P1020981, originally uploaded by iseayak.

I thought I'd post a photo taken with our relatively inexpensive waterproof camera today. Digital SLR cameras certainly make it easier to take great photos, but the photos you can take with cameras costing only a few hundred dollars are pretty impressive too.

This was taken from my sea kayak as I paddled under Anzac Bridge on Sydney Harbour with our Panasonic Lumix camera.

Butterfly's Ball

IMG_6349, originally uploaded by iseayak.

A juicy, fat caterpillar at Surveryor's Hill near Canberra

Awww..

IMG_6226, originally uploaded by iseayak.

Almost (only?) half way through the wedding photos.

Fern

IMG_0153, originally uploaded by iseayak.

I'll be working on the wedding photos for an eternity yet, so I'm going to blog some old favourites in the mean time. This is a fern at Canberra's Botanic Gardens ... a great place for photo shoots. I can't wait to get back there with the new macro lens.

The Ceremony

IMG_6070, originally uploaded by iseayak.

I may never finish working on these wedding photos!

Mr and Mrs Webb

IMG_6428, originally uploaded by iseayak.

Congratulations Jemma and Evan

Patterson's Curse

IMG_5902, originally uploaded by iseayak.

Jemma's wedding is tomorrow and every power point in the house is busy charging batteries for an armada of audio visual gear. The ceremony is at Wallaroo and the hills out there are awash with the purple flowers of Patterson's Curse.

Daisy, Daisy

IMG_5897, originally uploaded by iseayak.

More macro magic

spider

spider, originally uploaded by iseayak.

The hand held macro shots you can get with this new lens are insane. It's so much fun!

Hmm ... where shall I go to get some snapshots this weekend. My daughter's getting married - I might take a photo or 2 there.

bees knees

bees knees, originally uploaded by iseayak.

We got a new macro lens today, and it is quite literally the bee's knees :)

Woo hoo ... I've won the Klixus Photo of the Week Competition for a photo I took of Julian Banks from the Dan Banks Band.

A Cute Joey at Birrigai

zoomIMG_5569, originally uploaded by iseayak.

I snapped this little cutie right outside the staff room while working at Birrigai.