Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2020 i Australian Photography

One of the challenges with photography, and perhaps all creative pursuits, is the question of how we pay respect to the past while still forging a path that takes the artform into the future. In photography, you could say that embracing digital sensors over film, and software post-processing over the darkroom, was a time when photographers were able to take the best elements of the past and retool them for a new future. This sense of old and new is something we look at in a roundabout way in this issue. The first is Sydney photographer Yan Zhang’s feature on shooting landscapes in the square format. Simultaneously acknowledging the history of medium format landscape photography and the 1:1 format, it also recognises a future brought about by social media, and…

Many photographers use the base features of autofocus, no matter what their brand of camera is, but in recent years cameras have begun to offer a number of AI assisted focusing features such as face and eye detect autofocus. Funnily enough, most of this technology started in smartphones, but today many cameras offer excellent versions of this technology that have the potential to change how we shoot. Consider a specialised portrait lens such as an 85mm f1.2, or a 135mm f1.8, and then think about the difficulty of nailing focus wide open on a subject’s eye – the depth of field is incredibly small. In the past, lenses such as these would have only been suitable for very controlled environments like a studio shoot. But not anymore. I recently witnessed…

YOUR BEST SHOT IS OPEN TO AP SUBSCRIBERS AND APS MEMBERS. TO ENTER AN IMAGE IN THE COMP, CHECK THE COMPETITION THEMES AND INSTRUCTIONS BELOW AND EMAIL YOUR BEST IMAGE TO YOURBESTSHOT@AUSTRALIANPHOTOGRAPHY.COM UPCOMING COMPETITION THEMES DECEMBER ISSUE ISOLATION September 30, 2020 JANUARY ISSUE TRAVEL October 31, 2020 FEBRUARY ISSUE MY FAVOURITE IMAGE November 30, 2020 MARCH ISSUE WIDE, OPEN SPACES December 15, 2020 APRIL ISSUE PEOPLE January 31, 2021 YOUR ENTRY 1. Email your entry to yourbestshot@australianphotography.com with the name of the competition theme in the email subject line, for example: Weather, Abstract, Landscape, etc.2. The image file must be the same as your name, for example Jane Smith.jpg. If you enter multiple images, each new image file name should be appended with a unique number, eg Jane Smith2.jpg3. A…

Several years ago, a professional photographer told me he saw the world in square: he used his medium-format camera to produce square-framed images. Even if he used a 35mm full-frame DSLR, he had to visually compose the scene into a square format with his mind. As a beginner, I didn’t really understand why he was so dedicated to the square aspect ratio in his work. But as time went on, I started to realise that the square is a powerful composition ratio, which, when applied effectively, can produce amazing images. Let’s start with the history. THE ORIGIN OF SQUARE FORMAT Before the digital era, most medium-format cameras were made to shoot in square in terms of the aspect ratio of the frame. In fact, the first square medium format camera,…

With nearly 3000 entries and a prize pool of almost $50,000, the Heritage Bank Photographic Awards is one of the most lucrative, and longest running, in Australia. This year, NSW photographer Trung Nguyen won the $15,000 prize in the Open Category for his image, Swirling Sky, featuring the iconic Central Coast lighthouse at Norah Head. Queensland’s Peter Rossi also took home $15,000 for winning the other major prize, in the “Resilience” themed category for his image, Standing Strong, a portrait of an Aboriginal artist named Leigh. You can see all the category winners across the next few pages, with more on the AP website or at heritage.com.au/photocomp. OPEN CATEGORY WINNER TRUNG NGUYEN BATAEU BAY, NSW Swirling Sky “I chose this particular photograph because I liked the turbulent swell of the…

As someone who has spent many years involved with photography competitions as an entrant, judge and organiser, I have long felt it is important to never underestimate the value of capturing “the moment” – photography is not just an exercise in technical excellence. It is wonderful to capture technically perfect images in the most beautiful light, with great composition, but there are times when capturing a fleeting moment is what makes an image special, such as this photo of a cheetah and her son. The photo was taken in Pilanesberg National Park in South Africa. On this particular afternoon we went out in one of the park’s large safari buses. This had height, compared to the private vehicle we were in at other times, but not the option to determine…

Thanks to Fujifilm, Bailey Mahon has won a brilliant Fujifilm XF10 camera valued at $799. A premium compact digital camera with a high quality FUJINON 18.5mm F2.8 fixed lens. The camera features an APS-C sized sensor which is 14 times larger than the sensor in a standard smartphone. The Fujifilm XF10 includes all the hallmarks of the X Series system, combining simple manual operation with superior image quality and versatile picture-taking options. Find out more at fujifilm.com.au HOW TO SUBMIT AN IMAGE • Email entries to: imagedoctor@australianphotography.com with “Image Doctor” in the subject line.• Include your name, image title and up to 150 words about how you created it.• Only one image per person per month.• Images must be saved in JPEG format. Maximum file size is 5MB. Include your…

DANNY LEE Danny Lee is an award-winning underwater photographer from Tasmania. He loves sharing photos from his ocean encounters and the stories that go with them. See more on Instagram @submerged_ images MATTHEW CROMPTON Matthew Crompton is an award-winning writer and photographer preoccupied with bikes, hikes and the mystical solitude of the way-out. See more at matthewcrompton.com YAN ZHANG Sydney AI professor Yan Zhang is also a landscape photographer with a keen interest in alpine regions. See more of his work on Instagram @yan.zhang.australia DYLAN GIANNAKOPOULOS Melbourne-based commercial, travel and landscape photographer Dylan Giannakopoulos has set out to capture all that inspires him. He is a Sony Imaging Advocate for Australia. See more at dylangiannaphotography.com.au…

SONY ANNOUNCES A7S III SONY has officially announced the A7S III full-frame mirrorless camera, featuring a brand new 12.1MP back-illuminated image sensor with 15+ stop dynamic range and a suite of impressive video recording capabilities, including 4K 120p and 10-bit 4:2:2 color depth. Inside, there’s a newly designed 35mm full-frame 12.1MP (approx., effective) back-illuminated Exmor R CMOS image sensor, which Sony says uses a variety of light-gathering techniques to ensure high-sensitivity with low noise, allowing users to shoot in low-light situations without needing large-scale lighting set-ups. The new sensor features a focal plane phase-detection AF system for the first time in the S-series. There’s also a new BIONZ XR image processing engine that Sony says provides up to eight times more processing power, and also reduces rolling shutter up to…

As the well-known adage goes, “necessity is the mother of invention” and necessity is exactly what spurred photographers Steph Vella and Sarina Jackson to team up and co-found In Focus Women, a new online community for female landscape photographers. Vella and Jackson met during a photography workshop, and their short discussion about the lack of female representation in the landscape photography space went on to spark a bigger conversation about what they could do to help connect and encourage other women. Before they knew it, they had come up with the idea of In Focus Women, a community with intentions of celebrating, supporting, inspiring and encouraging women in landscape photography. With their first photo posted to Instagram handle @in.focus.women in November 2019, they now have more than 10,000 photos tagged…

The square format doesn’t just affect the frame – it also changes the way a viewer looks at an image. In the portrait format, such as this image captured at Terrace Falls, in the NSW Blue Mountains, the eye moves up and down the frame as it explores the image. This is different to the rectangular frame, where the eye is encouraged to move from side to side, as in the image captured at New Zealand’s Fox Glacier at the bottom of the page. The square format, as seen in the middle set of images here, encourages the viewer’s eye to move around the frame in a circle, and also to land right in the middle of the frame, particularly if the elements have been arranged with care. Understanding how…

Sony describes its new 12-24mm f/2.8 GM lens as the world's widest full-frame constant f/2.8 zoom lens, and they're not kidding. With a lens such as this you can see beyond the scope of the human eye, and with a fast f/2.8 maximum aperture, the lens is also a great candidate for night scenes, Milky Way shooting, and other low-light subjects where avoiding extremely slow shutter speeds are key. The other main advantage of an ultra wide-angle lens (as opposed to a “traditional” wide-angle such as a 16-35mm) is the creative possibilities it opens up. You can get incredibly close to your subject, transforming even tiny subjects into huge heroes in your frame. For this review, I took the 12-24mm f/2.8 GM lens waterfall chasing in the Blue Mountains, NSW,…

I shoot in RAW and mostly photograph wildlife. My aim when editing is to try to reproduce what my eyes saw. Our eyes see 30 stops of light and compensate for bright areas or shadows automatically. The human eye resolves the equivalent of a 52-megapixel camera and has a dynamic range equivalent to about 24 stops. Our brain is constantly ‘post-processing’ to make the most of what our binocular vision is taking in. No camera can do these things to the same degree. I almost deleted this photo. The tiger cub was moving very fast and had almost bounded out of the frame. The image is very dark, but despite its faults, I loved the feeling of movement and joyful play – and the subject was in focus. In Lightroom,…

I'm not sure if it's the large formidable beak, the massive wingspan, or how they always look so impressively groomed, as if they have just had makeup and eyeliner applied, but ever since I saw my first albatross 20 years ago, I have always been fascinated by them. I call the eastern coastline of Tasmania home, and I find I don't have to go too far into the Tasman Sea to find one of the few different species that rule these parts. I don’t take this for granted as many of the species are listed as near threatened with a decreasing population. Being predominantly an underwater photographer, I had always wanted to try to get a series of split shots, or half over, half under shots of the albatross, not…

GLOW NEIL HENDRY Kangaroo Valley Morning EDITOR’S COMMENT What makes for a great image? Light, light, light! We had a really hard time choosing a winner this month but kept coming back to Neil Hendry’s image, Kangaroo Valley Morning, which he tells us he captured one misty morning and it shows perfectly the reasons why getting up early can be great for photography. This image works because of that amazing burst of light that transforms the scene from something relatively unremarkable into something quite beautiful. We also really like your composition; by balancing the glowing tree against one that is subtly lit, it helps to create a nice point of contrast. Well done! TECHNICAL DETAILS Nikon D810, Nikkor 28-300mm lens @ 98mm. 1/125s @ f14, ISO 100. PETER MORTON Fremantle…

As much as we’re a clan united by a common interest, travel photographers are also a diverse bunch. While there are many who plan their trips around meticulously structured itineraries, right down to ticking off individual shots and locations on a spreadsheet, there are just as many others for who the approach to travel photography is essentially improvisational, catching as catch-can. Although I’ve shot stories from the beaches of Mozambique to the mountains of Kashmir, to the streets of Seoul, the reality for me has almost always been pretty much exactly this: making it all up as I go along. Improvised or not, for me a great travel image conveys a strong, unique sense of place, a compelling sense of the journey or, ideally, both, bringing a narrative element into…

To explain in greater detail the technique of the combined square approach, let’s take a look at a more complex image that shows the importance of two critical factors affecting the final outcome – composition and focusing. I took the following image in Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park, New Zealand. I’d hiked to this location in the afternoon and set up my tent near the cliff ledge. I planned to take a night photo of this mountain scenery when the Milky Way would move to the right side of the Mount Cook peak and appear vertically in the sky. During the planning stage, I wanted to create an image with my tent as the foreground, Mueller Lake and Hooker Lake as the middle ground, and the mountain peaks together with the…

Sky replacements can be a great tool to improve an image’s overall aesthetic, particularly when reshooting isn’t an option. In real estate photography, sky replacements are considered common practice and are applied to almost every exterior shot. In this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to replace the sky in this blue-hour landscape with a stock image of a pier that features a starry sky. To follow along, go to australian-photography.com/tutorial-images to download the project files. STEP 1 SKY SELECTION When selecting your sky replacement layer, it’s important to consider how it compares to the original in terms of light direction and time of day. The closer the match, the easier it will be to create a seamless and realistic blend between the sky and the existing scene. A…

WATCH OUT FOR PEOPLE It was a 5am start for Bailey Mahon down at Fingal Head off the Tweed Coast in northern NSW. According to Bailey: “The sunrise colours turned out beautifully and the unique shaped rocks just made the composition look stunning. The movement of the waves crashing and the fishermen casting their rods created a dynamic and beautiful scene.” Amazing rock formations, nice colour and dramatic weather conditions provide powerful subject matter here. The composition is quite strong with the water channel leading diagonally into the scene from the bottom left corner. However, including the back of the fisherman on the right does not quite work as his dark clothing mostly merges into the rocks. When including a figure in the scene, a strong silhouette that stands out…