Yarrangobilly Caves

IMG_9274, originally uploaded by Ian Champ Photography.

Trying to take nice photos while on a guided walk in limestone caves is tough. There is typically little room to move and frame shots, using tripod is impractical with so many people and so little space, and you need to move at the same speed as the rest of the group. Hopefully I'll get the chance to take shots -without- those constraints one day.

Grass

IMG_8788, originally uploaded by Ian Champ Photography.

My partner Julie took this great shot recently at Broken Hill. Great use of back lighting and the stunning deep blue sky to show the grass seeds off to best effect.

Guided Walks

I've been playing around with CoolIris photo galleries that can be embedded in your own blogs, facebook, web page, etc.

It's an amazing interface and does much more than initially meets the eye. You soon realise that if you slide the blue button or click on the "<" and ">" buttons the wall of photos will fly left or right. But wait ... there's more. Scroll the mouse wheel in-out and the whole wall moves closer-further away. Click one photo and it gets enlarged. Click the diagonal arrows icon at bottom right and it becomes full screen photo. Click the icon bottom center when enlarged and it becomes a full screen slide show. Very cool.

Another baby in the family

EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM Lens

I'm now the proud owner of the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM. I'm looking forward to playing with this baby, and will post some of the resultant photos in a few days time - once I manage to get my wife to let me have a turn with it!

How to change Depth of Field

Depth of Field, originally uploaded by Ian Champ Photography.

Here's a series of photos that show the variation in depth of field by taking the same shot several times but changing the aperture for each shot.

At f 32 the iris hole is tiny and less light gets in. This gives you plenty of depth of field.

As the iris hole gets bigger (that is, the f number gets smaller) more light gets in - AND you get much less depth of field.

In this series of shots the "brightness" of the shots is kept more or less the same by speeding up the shutter speed as the hole in the iris gets bigger (bigger hole for the light to get in, but open for less time).

Clontarf Rolling

I got to try out a GoPro Hero waterproof camera yesterday. It's not the world's highest resolution or highest quality video/still camera, but it does what it aims to do very well. It's easy to use, it's well and truly waterproof and it's unobtrusive once you put it on and hit record.

Repetition

IMG_7027, originally uploaded by Ian Champ Photography.

Keep your eyes out for repeating patterns, both natural and man made. Repetition is pleasing to the eye and what we typically rush past every day can look stunning when frozen in a photograph. I have this image as my PC wallpaper - it looks terrific blown up large on my monitor.

Klixus

Klixus, originally uploaded by Ian Champ Photography.

Wow - I've won the Klixus Photography Challenge, Best Album Award for my photos of the Woden Valley Festival.

Thank you very much to Richard Block and Klixus for this much appreciated vote of confidence, not to mention the prize money.

Rebel

IMG_8687, originally uploaded by Ian Champ Photography.

Meet Rebel, a gorgeous Miniature Fox Terrier. When photographing pets take the time to immerse yourself in their world. To help viewers of your shots feel they have stepped into the animals private life, get your camera down to their eye level.