Alpha Photography Blog

When I first started to learn photography, I was using a film SLR and slide film.  Digital photography changes the playing field substantially.  In order to use some of those images I’d taken on slide and negative film, I wanted to scan them to create a digital file.

I ended up getting a Qpix digital film scanner, which while not the best on the market, suits my purposes.  Now I can manipulate my slide and negative film images digitally!

Here is an image I took while I was studying photography that I wanted to use:

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I was just reading through an issue of Digital Photo magazine and what really struck me (apart from the really good articles) was the number of retailers and courses on offer.

Photography used to be part of that “higher” realm of art that was not attainable by many.  The equipment required, studio lighting and film developing practices made it a very specialised skill that took hours and hours, and thousands of dollars to achieve.

Nowadays, photography studios are popping all over the place.  Despite the fact the world economy is  still in a state of upheaval, in the area that I live, 3 new photography studios have opened in the last 8 months.  It’s pretty amazing really.  There must be the demand for it.  Maybe there’s a connection between the population increase and the number of portrait studios around

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In last week’s post we went through how to insert text into a photograph.  This week I’ll go through how to edit that text and make it look less flat.  Here again is the final image:

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I had a question the other day about how to enter text onto a photograph using Photoshop.  It’s one of those things that as soon as you know, it’s really easy.  Here is what I’m creating:

I’m sure there are a few ways to do it, but here’s what I find the easiest.

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Continuing the theme of the previous post, before you travel somewhere completely new, it’s a good idea to do some research into what there is to photograph, and the best times of day to take these pictures.  You may also need to find out what the best vantage point is, so when you get back home you can look at the photographs you took and get excited all over again.

Here is one where timing, vantage point and lighting all had to come together at just the right time.  I had a window of about 5 minutes to get this shot:

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Preparing for an upcoming trip I find myself taking a look at my photography equipment and doing a check to make sure all is in working order and that I have everything I need.

I always like to make sure I have a few different memory cards, as I have been caught out with relying on one card and it corrupting, leaving me without a working camera, as there is no built in memory in my camera.

My current cards are a few years old now, so I decided to get myself a new 8GB card.  It’s getting increasingly difficult to find cards of smaller size.  Generally I like about a 2GB or 4GB, but in the better quality (faster speed) options, these don’t seem to be available in the brand I like (Sandisk).

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Event photography is almost as tension filled as wedding photography.  You get one shot at it and it has to be right.  Admittedly, the advent of digital photography has made this much easier.  However, on the day you need to be prepared and have a clear idea of what you want to achieve, otherwise, before you know it, the event is over and you haven’t achieved what you wanted.

Recently, I photographed the TedX Byron Bay event.  If you want to see some truly inspiring 18 minute presentations by some of the best minds in the world, check it out - www.ted.com.

One of the main challenges I had with this event was the lighting.  It was a fabulous event and the lighting was focused on the speakers, so it made my job pretty difficult.

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Byron Bay is a natural wonder.  As the eastern most point in Australia, it boasts a colourful history and existence.  It is standing contradiction where yuppies meet hippies and cocktails mix with marijuana smoke.

On a recent visit, I was reminded of how beautiful this part of Australia is.  The majestic natural beauty is breathtaking, especially on days when the weather was as glorious as the day I was exploring the area.

Added to which, while admiring the view from the lookout, I saw a pod of dolphins swimming along the coast!

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I know it’s been a while since I’ve written.  My apologies for that.

It’s fun breaking rules every now and then.  One of those fundamental rules in photography is to not photograph into the sun.  In portraits, it’s better to make your subject squint than to photograph with the sun behind them

In this case, I tried it out on a morning along Melbourne’s Southbank area - with interesting results…

Here is a nice effect - the sun is hitting a glass building and spraying out like a star:

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Going to theme parks is fun.  For me, this was a recent trip to Movieworld on the Gold Coast, and it meant I got to be a kid for a day - riding rollercoasters and watching grown ups in cartoon animal suits entertain children.

I have to admit to never having been a huge fan of rollercoasters - particularly the ones that spin you upside down.  And, the last time I went to Movieworld (which was about 12 years ago), I chickened out on the Lethal Weapon ride.  This time I was determined to go on that ride!  I did, and I think my brain got moved around in the process…

It’s often difficult to capture a day like this in photos, as there are lots of people around, and everything is so close together, so getting a decent shot isn’t easy.

One thing to do, is to get there as soon as the park opens and hurriedly take some photos before people arrive.  Or make them disappear like wizard magic…

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