New Year's Day Fireworks - Sydney, Australia

New Year's Day Fireworks - Sydney, Australia 

New Years eve celebrations were fairly low key this year. I was at a friends place for a barbecue dinner followed by fireworks on the harbour. People usually get to the foreshore fairly early (8.00 - 9.00 in the morning...) and claim spots for their chairs and picnic blankets. We couldn't be bothered going through all of that and ended up on leaving home at around 10.30 PM.

More images after the jump. Happy New Year everyone.

New Year's Day Fireworks - Sydney Australia

We had decided to head to a location on the lower North Shore as it was not too far from home. The area was really crowded by the time we got there but I did manage to find enough room to setup the tripod without blocking anyone's view. We had unobstructed views of the city from where we were and had to hang around for only half an hour. No complaints form me.

New Year's Day Fireworks - Sydney, Australia

The most annoying thing about photographing fireworks is the smoke. The first few photographs turn out alright but the others smoke obstructed the view of the city in some of the later images.

New Year's Day Fireworks - Sydney, Australia

All the photographs in this post were captured with a Canon 7D and a Canon 24 - 105mm lens. I also used a tripod and a remote shutter release.

New Year's Day Fireworks - Sydney, Australia

New Year's Day Fireworks - Sydney, Australia

New Year's Day Fireworks - Sydney, Australia

New Year's Day Fireworks - Sydney, Australia

New Year's Day Fireworks - Sydney, Australia

New Year's Day Fireworks - Sydney, Australia

New Year's Day Fireworks - Sydney, Australia

9/52 - Tennis

Tennis

With December coming to an end and the Australian open kicking off early next year, I figured I'd shoot something Tennis related. I had seen a similar photograph taken by David Hobby a while ago and had been waiting for an opportunity to try the lighting technique he used. This is the result.

Read on for lighting info and setup shots.

Tennis - The lighting setup

The photograph above was a single exposure lit by two strobes. A snooted Canon 430 EX II was fired at 1/64th through a 1/2 CTO gel to light up the ball. The light was bounced using a white foam-core board and a white A4 sheet from below the ball to light up the shadow areas.

A Canon 580 EX II was fired at 1/32 through a green gel at a black background (I didn't have a black foam-core board so I just "dressed" a white board in a black t-shirt).

The total exposure time was 6 seconds. The in-built wireless flash control on the 7D was used to fire the Canon 430 EX II. As soon as the Canon 430 EX II fired, I zoomed in a bit and manually fired the Canon 580 EX II with a cactus trigger. I then zoomed in again and triggered the 580 EX to create a ring around the ball. I repeated the process to create each of the rings around the ball.

The only post processing I did was cloning out the bottle which I had placed the ball on.

St Peters Square - Vatican City

A fountain in St Peters Square - Vatican City 

While we were in Rome, we stayed just outside the Vatican City. On one of our first nights in the city, I decided to have a look at St Peters square with the hope that it wouldn't be too crowded. It was close to  11.00 PM when I walked in and I was surprised with the number of people still in the square. It was by no means crowded but there were at least a couple of hundred people milling about.

More images after the jump.

St Peters Square from the Basilica - Vatican City

The photograph above was taken from the top of St Peters Basilica. The climb to the top is not too bad but is not for people who are claustrophobic. At one stage you have to walk between the exterior wall and the dome of the basilica and you can't really stand up straight through this section of the ascent. On the way down we were able to walk out onto the roof near the statues.

Statues on the roof - Vatican City

The statues above are from the roof that runs around St Peters Square. I used a circular polariser for this shot and it resulted in an enhanced colour in the sky. Some renovations were being done to the square during the time we were there. These sections were covered in some sort of white material and can be seen in the second image on this post.

The Obelisk at St Peters - Vatican City

The Obelisk which stands in the middles of the square originally stood at Circus Maximus. St Peter was said to have been crucified in front of this Obelisk and it is now revered as a witness to the death of St Peter.

All Images on this post were captured with a Canon 7D and a 24-105mm lens. I also used a circular polariser for the two "daytime" shots on this post.

8/52 - Merry Christmas!

Christmas Decorations 

I know I have published a photograph of this figurine before but decided to use it as a subject for this weeks shot anyway. The figurine and the presents are decorations for the Christmas tree.

Read on for setup shots and lighting info.

Setup shot for Christmas decorations

I fired a Canon 430 EX II zoomed to 24mm into a reflective umbrella at 1/64 and gelled with a 1/2 CTO gel from high Camera right. To light up the other side of the figurine I used a white foam-core board to bounce the light back. The Bokeh was created by a wreath and christmas baubles.

Buckingham Palace - London, England

Buckingham Palace from The Mall.- London, England 

While we were in London we visited Buckingham Palace hoping to see the changing of the guard. We got there quite early and as we had time to kill, decided to go for a walk instead of hanging around outside the Palace. We walked up The Mall towards Trafalgar Square, when the photograph above was taken, and back through St James Park. I decided to capture this image when I noticed the black cabs, which are quintessentially English, travelling towards us with the Palace in the background.

More images and Info after the jump

Buckingham Palace from Spur Road - London, England

Spur Road, which runs in front of Buckingham palace, is quite busy. I actually had to hang around a while to take a half decent image of the palace without getting any cars or cyclists in the frame. During the changing of the guard the road is closed as the Grenadier guards come in along this road.

Buckingham Palace from St James Park - London, England

St James park runs all the way down to Spur road. It was also one of the few places from where I could photograph the palace without including too many people in the frame. By this stage the crowds at the fence were about 6 or 7 people deep. As a result of our walk, we didn't get to see the changing of the guard but did see the guards coming in and leaving after the ceremony.

The crowds in front of the Palace

All images were captured with a Canon 7D and a 24-105mm lens.

7/52 - Christmas Candle

A Christmas Candle 

This is a quick shot of a candle that my wife has decorated with Holly and placed on our dining table for Christmas. I was out of ideas and had to come up with an image for today and this is the result.

Read on for lighting info and setup shots.

Lighting Setup - Christmas Candle

This was a straightforward two flash setup. The first flash was zoomed to 70mm and fired at 1/64 through a 1/2 CTO gel into a white foam-core board. the light bounced off the board to light up the candle and the foreground.

The second flash was zoomed to 105mm and fired at 1/64 through a 1/2 CTO gel to light up the Baubles which I used to create Bokeh.

I used a glass below the candle to create a reflection.

Sorry if there isn;t a lot of detail in this post. It's late and I'm off to bed. Will try and make the next one a bit longer!

Wagtail

Willie Wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys) - New South Wales, Australia 

I thought I'd go back to my bird / wildlife photographs for a change and give you guys a break from Europe.

The wagtail is a common resident found throughout Australia. It is very restless and its name is derived from the fact that it constantly waves its tail from side to side. It is the best known of the Australian Fantails. I have photographed these birds in Sydney, in the hunter region and at Myall lakes on the Central Coast of New South Wales.

Willie Wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys) - New South Wales, Australia

The nesting Wagtail in the photograph above was feeding a brood of two or three chicks. The nest was built on a branch above a lake and was not easy to spot. The adult birds, who are aggressive when protecting a nest, gave away their location as they were flying in at regular intervals to feed the young. I did my best to not disturb them while taking the photographs above. They didn't seem too bothered by my presence as they just continued flying in at regular intervals with food.

Willie Wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys) - New South Wales, Australia

The other photographs on this post were captured on  friends farm in the Hunter region of New South Wales. Farms are ideal habitats for these birds as they prefer open grassland. I watched a couple of these birds for a while as they fed on small insects. They used sudden flicks of their wings to flush out hidden insects.

Willie Wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys) - New South Wales, Australia

The Wagtail is found throughout mainland Australia but its habitat does not extend to Tasmania. It is also found on the Solomon Islands and New Guinea. The nest of the Willie Wagtail is lined with some sort of soft material, usually soft grass, fur or hair. Interestingly, if soft material is not readily available, it is often taken directly from an animal.

Willie Wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys) - New South Wales, Australia

The second image was captured with a Canon 400d and a 70-300mm lens. The other images were captured with a Canon 7D and a 100-400 mm lens.

6/52 - Bauble

A Bauble for the Christmas tree

It seems to be getting harder to come up with ideas for this project.... and I am only 6 weeks in! If any of you have any suggestions as to where to look for inspiration, please let me know via the comments.

The Christmas decorations have now gone up at home. This is one of the Baubles from the Christmas tree.

For those of you who are interested in lighting information and setup shots, please read on.

Lighting setup for the "Baubles" image

This was a pretty straightforward shot in terms of lighting. A single Canon 430 EX II was used to light the whole image. It was fired at 1/64 and 70mm. A 1/2 CTO gel was used to warm the light up a bit. I fired the flash from camera left, just behind the subject. The light coming in from behind helped define the Bauble. The light was then reflected off two foam-core boards placed on the right and front-left of the subject. The camera was positioned between the two foam-core boards. If you look closely at the image, the two boards are visible.

I placed a piece of glass under the baubles to create a reflection.

The bokeh was created using a small pile of Baubles and a wreath (which I used for bokeh in this shot).

The Palace of Versailles - Versailles, France

The Apollo Fountain - Versailles, France 

The Royal palace in Versailles was the seat of power in France from 1682 during the reign of King Louis XIV. It was originally a hunting lodge but was expanded in to a palace in 4 separate phases of building. King Louis XIV's decision to move the court from Paris to Versailles was based on his need to extract more control over the government from the nobility. The Royal family was forced to return to Paris in October 1789, once the French revolution started.

More images and info after the jump.

The Palace of Versailles - Versailles, France

The palace was designed by an architect named Louis Le Vau while gardens were laid out by Andre Le Notre and the interior decorator was Charles Le Brun. The Russian Tsar, Peter the Great, stayed at Versailles during his visit in May 1717. He studied the Palace and gardens during his visit and this inspired Peterhof, on the Bay of Finland, west of St Petersburg. 

Interior Detail - Palace of Versailles

Getting into the Palace was a bit time consuming as tour groups have an allocated time and  for some reason or the other they were running late. When we actually went in, it was very crowded and you were hustled along from one room to the next. We had a good tour guide and she described the rooms and pointed out a number of the more important pieces of art and architectural features of the palace. 

A ceiling - Palace of Versailles 

The Museum of the history of France was founded at the Palace in the 19th Century. A number of the rooms were taken over to house art collections.  The hall of Battles was also created to display works depicting famous battles in French history. The palace is now home to a number of masterpieces by artists such as Delacroix, David and Renoir. One of my favourite paintings, "The coronation of Napoleon" by Jacques Louis David can also be seen at the Palace (there are two versions of this painting, the second one is at the Louvre) .

A Ceiling - Palace of Versailles

An exhibition of Japanese modern art was on when we visited the Palace of Versailles. We were very disappointed with it as placed in the middle of every room were these huge, hideous objects which took  away from the interiors of the palace. I obviously don't appreciate Japanese modern art but I feel that there is a place for everything. The Palace of Versailles was definitely not the place for Japanese Modern art. Imagine seeing a massive Pokemon-esque character in the middle of the hall of mirrors.

The Palace of Versailles - Versailles, France

These images were captured with a Canon 7D and a 24-105mm lens.

5/52 - Christmas Decorations

Christmas Decorations 

Shops and department stores have been decorated for Christmas since early November which is ridiculous. Since December has arrived I don't feel too bad to upload the first Christmas pictures of the year. This shot is of one of the ornaments which will end op on our Christmas tree, whenever we get around to putting one up. I introduced a bit of  "home made bokeh" to add a bit of colour to the image.

For those of you interested in the lighting info and a setup shot, read on.

Setup Shot - Christmas Decorations

The lighting for this one was not too complicated. I used two flashes to produce the final image. The first was a Canon 430 EX II fired at 1/16th from high camera right. The light from this flash was warmed up a little with a 1/2 CTO gel. The beam was fired over the subject and bounced back onto it using a white foam-core board. The board was placed just out of frame on the left of the camera.  The subject was lit only with the light reflected off the board. I could have fired the flash directly at the subject but the ornament would not have been evenly lit. I could have also used a shoot through umbrella from the left of the camera to achieve a similar result.

I used a wreath to create the bokeh in the background of the shot.  I fired a snooted (home made snoot) Canon 430 EX II at 1/8th at the wreath which was placed behind the subject. A green gel was used on this flash to add a bit of colour to the final image.

Castel Sant' Angelo - Rome, Italy

Castel Sant' Angelo - Rome, Italy

Castel Sant' Angelo was built to be used as Emperor Hadrian's family mausoleum between 135 AD and 139 AD. It has since been used as a fortress, Papal residence and a military prison. The building is cylindrical in shape and a wide stone ramp winds its way from the ground floor to the upper terraces. The building consists of a number of passageways and Papal apartments as well as old dungeons.

Read on for more images and info.

Castel Sant Angelo across the Tiber - Rome, Italy

The highest point of the building, the Terrazza dell'Angelo, is crowned by a statue of the archangel Michael shielding his sword. The statue is supposed to be protecting Rome from the plague. The Terrazza is also where Floria Tosca throws herself off the ramparts in Puccini opera Tosca. An escape passage, named Il Passetto, leads to Castel Sant' Angelo from St Peter's Basilica and was used by Popes when they needed to make an escape from the Basilica.

Castel Sant' Angelo across the Tiber - Rome, Italy

Castel Sant' Angelo also features in a number of films including Dan Brown's Angels and Demons where it was the last existing church of the Illumnati.

We stayed close to Castel Sant' Angelo  and St Peters Basilica while we were in Rome. I made a couple of trips to both St Peters and Castel Sant' Angelo in the night to get a few images of the buildings lit up. I thought it was the best time to head out with the camera as there weren't too many people around and I was able to photograph both buildings without people walking into the frame.

Castel Sant' Angelo - Rome, Italy

All the images on this post were captured with a Canon 7D and a 24-105mm Lens.

4/52 - Asics

Asics 

To be honest, I found it a bit hard to come up with an idea for this weeks shot.... and I'm only in week 4! God knows how the guys who are doing 365s manage.... The process of actually taking a photograph isn't hard but coming up with a half decent idea isn't as easy as it seems. I had just come back home after a game of Tennis and figured my shoes were as good a subject as any. I decided to go for warm colours with the lighting. Maybe I'll try cooler colours next week.

Setup shot and lighting info inside.

Lighting setup shot for the Asics image above

The lighting was pretty straight forward for this one. I used a collapsed reflective umbrella again (without a flash in the setup shot) and placed it slightly behind the shoes on the left of the camera. The flash zoomed at 24mm and was fired at 1/8th into the umbrella. I used a full CTO Gel on the flash to warm up the foreground.

A white cardboard box was placed just out of frame on camera right and used to bounce the light from the umbrella and fill the shadow areas on the right hand side of the shoes.

A snooted flash was fired at 1/16th at the chair to light up the background. I used the chair to add a bit of interest to the background of the image as I felt the white wall was a bit boring. The spaces on the back of the chair created some light patterns on the wall which worked pretty well. A light Red gel was used on this flash.

Gondolas and Gondoliers

A Gondolier waiting for a hire - Venice, Italy 

No trip to Venice is complete without a Gondola ride. The traditional flat bottomed rowing boat has been used on the Venetian lagoon for centuries. Although they were once the main mode of transport along the canals, they are now used for tourist rides. The earliest references to the Gondola were made in 1094 when a venetian public official referred to it in a letter. They started appearing in Italian paintings in the 1490's in works by Carpaccio and Bellini. The boat has evolved over the last 1000 years into the sleek familiar shape that it is today.

More info after the jump.

A Gondola parked along a canal - Venice, Italy

Gondolas were fitted with a small cabin, named the felce, until the early 20th century. Its windows could be closed with louvered shutters, the original venetian blinds. Gondolas were originally symmetric in design but at the end of the 1800's an asymmetric design which allowed a single oarsman was adopted. The boats are made out of 8 different types of wood and consist of 280 pieces.

At the peak of its popularity in the 17th and 18th century there were between eight and ten thousand Gondolas navigating the canals of Venice.

Tourists on one of the Venetian Canals - Venice, Italy

Contrary to popular belief the Gondola is not poled like a punt. Instead, the Oarsman propels the boat with a forward stroke and a compensating backward stroke. The oar, which is made out of beech wood, and is held in place by an oarlock known as a forcola. The forcola is a complicated shape as it has to allow for different speeds and directions of strokes. The ornament at the front of the Gondola is referred to as the ferro and is serves as a counter weight for the Oarsman. The ferro is generally made out of iron, brass, stainless steel or aluminium.

A Gondoliers hat - Venice, Italy

The profession of "Gondolier" is controlled by a guild which issues a limited number of licenses. In order to obtain a license, the Gondolier must complete training and an apprenticeship as well as pass a comprehensive exam. During this exam the applicants  knowledge of Venetian history, landmarks and foreign languages and practical skills in handling a Gondola are tested.

A Gondola navigating a canal - Venice, Italy

Gondola rides are available on almost every canal in Venice. We decided to take a ride along a few of the smaller canals as we wanted to avoid the Grand Canal which is constantly busy. The trip lasted around 40 minutes and we passed a number of famous landmarks on the way. These included Vivaldi's Palazzo as well as the Palazzo belonging to Marco Polo's family.

A Gondoliers hat - Venice, Italy

All images on this post were captured with the Canon 7D and the 24-105mm combo.

A Gondola navigates a Canal - Venice, Italy