Two Moments Combined With Aperture Priority And Flash
They say a picture is worth a thousand words – so are photos like this are worth two thousand?
Hamish smokes outside at Mt Victoria. Photo: Luke Appleby
The photo shows two moments in time. Or maybe one – I’m not sure which. I love the motion and the extra colours you get from slow-sync photos, even if the colour balance in the flash image is a little bit blue.
I used my Canon 7D with a Speedlite 580 EX II on aperture priority mode at f/2.8. I was using a Canon 15mm fisheye I borrowed from work, which I liked a lot, even on my crop-sensor camera.
News Photography: Up Close And Personal
I work with great photographers at The Dominion Post and it amazes me how professional they stay when the things they are shooting are, well, gory or uncomfortable.
This is a snap of Chris Skelton, photographer extraordinaire and all-around top bloke, photographing a woman having a cataract cut from her eye at Wellington Hospital.
Chris Skelton photographing cataract surgery. Photo: Luke Appleby/Fairfax NZ
Yes – he got shots of the most disturbing nature – we are talking scalpel to eye-ball stuff. Not a job for the squeamish.
I also shot this video and reporter Kate Newton voiced it. I was still learning the ropes with DSLR video, so I apologise if it’s a bit shaky in parts.
You can see all of the photos Chris took during our excursion to Wellington Hospital here.
Photo: Foam Closeup With Paua Shells
This is a shot I took for the Canon Photo5 competition. It took me a while to set the whole thing up and the bubbles were a lot more challenging than I expected them to be.
I found that the trick was to find somewhere with nice natural light – but not too much. It was a sunny day so I set up the tripod to point at a window and diffused the sunlight with a plastic bag.
Here are a few photos I took on my iPhone to show the setup – and one of me obviously quite pleased with myself.
The rig - Velbon Carmagne carbon fibre tripod with centre shaft inverted, Canon 7D and Sigma 16-250mm @ 250mm.
Photos: Wellington Waterfront Night-Time HDR
A while back I did a batch of high dynamic range photos of the Wellington waterfront at night – some involving up to 18 exposures blended into one shot.
As you may have already guessed, this is the set which I made my nifty new blog header from.
The green lights under the wharf near Circa Theatre and the Macs bar.
Circa Theatre looking towards Taranaki St
Click here to see the more of the whole set: (or ignore if you are already in the post)
Portrait: Michelle, Hamish and Me
I got a friend to take a photo of me with a couple of other friends on Friday night at the newly-opened Bangalore Polo Club in Wellington.
From left, Michelle, myself and Hamish.
You know how some photos just look better in black and white? This is one of them. The lighting in the place was heavily coloured, patchy and difficult to balance, so it seemed like a good option.
It’s a bit grainy because the ISO crept up, but I think it adds to the film look. I also put a slight vignette over top to add to the vintage feel.
It was a dark shot, so I used my trusty Sigma 30mm f/1.4 – it’s so fast and awesome for night-time social shots without the intrusive – and irritating – flash.
I also managed to snap this gem, much to Hamish’s disdain:
Panorama: Wellington’s Eastern Suburbs From Melrose
This is a high dynamic range panorama which I put together after a recent expedition – click the image to go to the full-size, scrollable version.
Hauling the tripod up there was definitely worth the effort. I also got a chance to practice some panning shots on planes coming into the airport.
Photos: Allenby Terrace House Fire In Wellington
Here are some photos from the recent house fire on Allenby Terrace in central Wellington.
Crowds gathered on the street to watch – it was one hell of a fire. Rival news agencies edged closer and closer, with some of our own guys perhaps getting a little too close, as they suffered what looked like mild sunburn.
These photos were shot from the fifth floor of the Dominion Post Building on Boulcott St.
Also, after seeing a TV crew filming from a nearby roof, I couldn’t help but put this together:
NZ Police Radio Digital Encryption: What You Want To Know
Judging from the vast amount of hits I have received on this topic, I thought I would put all the information I can find together, in one place.
This post contains information about the encryption levels, the possibility of hacking the encrypted messages and laws relating to this area.
As you may have heard, the New Zealand police have indeed started to go digital with their radio communications. This is in direct response to the increasing use of radio scanners to monitor police activites for criminal or otherwise dodgy activity.
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