VA Blog

An old Queensland Lady makes a strong subject on a miserable day. Photo by Andrew Weller

Ever got up early with excitement and the buzz for a great morning's shooting, only to find that the sky is overcast, it is miserable and cold, and even raining?

It is easy to just get back in the PJ's and crawl back in the sheets, I know ... and I've done it. On the other hand, I have never had a morning when I have gone out where I have come back entirely disappointed. Sure, the shot that you were hoping for, might not be in the camera that morning, but forcing yourself to look elsewhere for inspiration can usually generate some good results.

On a recent workshop in Emerald with some participants from the Emerald Camera Club, we went out on our first morning shoot - when will Queensland get Daylight Saving? ... anyway, it was some unearthly hour of the morning, but it was flat, grey and overcast with a little drizzle to boot. The subject - an old farmhouse that had collapsed, and the old cars and rubbish around it were a nice subject, but no really good light to do the best work with. We got back in the car after whispering to the old horses on the farm and headed back to town for some much needed coffee.

On the way, we went past a little town which had an old Queenslander that had been moved there reasonably recently, and which I thought presented an opportunity. It is the sort of opportunity I call "Photography in the small" - the little things, that present opportunities that are too frequently missed for "Photography in the large" - the big notable things, landscapes, portraits, etcetera. The old house oozed 50s - 50s architecture and 50's decor, 50s colour and 50's detail. It was very nice - almost livable actually, in good condition, although a little dusty, but a wonderful subject full of fine detail to excite me.

Here's what the old Queensland Lady offered up ... I hope you enjoy the gallery

Naked Lady The Morning's Glow on a Naked Lady by the River. Photo by Andrew Weller

"What is he smoking?", you are entitled to ask!

One of the things most often said about our photography workshops is that one of the most important things learnt, was the value of getting up before the crack of dawn. Well, that is a hard thing to do continually for even the most inspired of us. I find that it is easier once you start, but it only takes a few days off for the pillow to seem much more appealing than the bad hair, the cold, the wet, and the sheer bleary eyes ... funny, however, that these things seem totally forgotten in the cool morning atmosphere, and more often than not, the wonderful morning light - even if it is for just a few minutes, or less.

I have also noted that the most relaxing holiday I have had is on a houseboat on the River Murray - second to none. For one thing, you don't travel at 100 km/h - you are only allowed to drive at 5 knots, so the world goes past you very slowly. The natives are not scared by your presence as you drift up on them quietly, and you can just cruise along and shoot from the comfort of the top deck, for instance.

So, as we have a lot of clients and potential clients who have limits to their mobility, or who can't see themselves camping under the stars, or who simply like the environment of the River for improving their photography, we have taken the comments on board, and setup a tour on a 12-berth Luxury Houseboat from 6th-10th August, 2007 departing from Adelaide.

Luxury 2-storey Houseboat luxury, space and relaxation on the River. Photo courtesy Kia Marina

A view of the downstairs area. Photo courtesy Kia Marina

The houseboat is a two-story affair featuring a large canopied upper floor and lounge. Each room is configured as either a Queen Room, or a Twin Room using "zip-apart" Queen-size beds. Each room also boasts it's own en-suite bathroom, making for your own privacy, and freedom, whilst enjoying the group dynamic as we share our photography skills and passion.

So, what are you waiting for? For a taste of the sort of great photography opportunities, take a look at our Murray River Gallery. and make a booking.

And, if you need any further motivation, remember that for registered VABlog Readers there is a 10% discount that applies to all bookings received by 15th February, 2007.

The mob on the move with the Salvador Rosa NP in the background.Photo by Andrew Weller

Country people from one side of this country to the other are among the most hospitable and friendly people I have met. It was without a moment's hesitation that I accepted a booking from Springsure in Central West Queensland to come and join a bunch of horse and cattle folks there, and help them with their photography.

I had a wonderful time, with them, and with their workers and families as we shot all sorts of rural life activities over a two-week period, including another workshop nearby at Emerald, just a few hours away.

It sounds like we'll be doing something there later in the year, this year - who knows, perhaps they'll get some rain and we can go out into Carnavon Gorge when the water's flowing, or we can get out in the gemfields a bit more? Perhaps we can do some more photography in Salvador Rosa Carnarvon National Park or elsewhere in the Channel Country which is full of such wonderful people and great opportunities. If you want to see what it's like here's The Long Paddock Gallery so you can check out what it was like ... and if you want to join us next year, fill out an enquiry, and once the details are worked out we can make sure we work you in.

Learning from pro photographers is not always easy.

Sometimes, we've even been accused of being "precious" or "cute", but this does tend to hide or mask the real issues. Most of the professional photographers I work with, (and I have worked with a lot as they grapple with the transition from film to digital) are just very focused individuals. They are not professional verbal communicators, teachers or presenters. They are typically quite intuitive photographers, for whom the technical aspects of using a camera have become second-nature, and their decision making sub-conscious.

What are they good at teaching?

Of course, you can't tar everyone with the same brush, much less make sweeping generalisations, and I have great respect for Australian photographers like Ken Duncan and even Pete Dobré and their willingness to speak about their work, and to not hold back their secrets, but neither of them is a technical trainer - they are communicating a contagious and infectious love for great light, beautiful scenery and nature in all it's glory, and encouraging others to get out and enjoy it, and capture it with what skills they have. Perhaps there are exceptions - I rarely come across them.

As an example an English client of mine was doing a workshop with me in the Flinders Ranges, and following that, a New Zealand workshop (admittedly much longer and more expensive) with another Australian photographer who shall remain nameless. Her priorities were the learning, and then the photography opportunities. Besides telling me that one of the things she learnt with the Flinders Ranges tour, was how important it was to be up before the sun was up (we did have some great light every day on that tour), she also told me two weeks later that she had left the NZ group after a few days because she was sick of being told she should shoot black and white film; she was sick of waiting for people to finish breakfast at 9AM so she could get out shooting; and finally, she was sick of not getting answers to her questions. If you're going on a photography tour, make sure your priorities mesh with the group leader's.

Challenges for burgeoning camera clubs

But Camera Clubs - there seems to me to be a new injection of life into camera clubs as digital cameras become pervasive. This has to be good, even to the die-hard competitive "Fellow" who knows how to create work that will be judged well. The "Fellow's" work will be admired by more, leadership respected, and fellowship enjoyed - I trust. The cost, however, is that the technical issues when slides and prints were being judged have been supplemented with a whole new lot of technical issues. Further, the new questions are being raised. In the past, members who could afford to use pro-labs could have their prints hand-crafted and respectfully created. But they could hide behind the negative and the print. Now, however, the newest member of the club, not only has access to Photoshop or other image editing tools, he or she may well be much more qualified or capable in their use, than the old hand, and thus capable - using different skills, of course, of producing different but in some ways better work, by different means.

The Paradigm Shift

We can get into the trap of forgetting that even with film, the images we capture are at best the camera, film and photographer's created reality - and that, capable of being twisted one way or the other, by lens, by aperture, by perspective, by shutter speed, by film stock, and finally by the printing process - and I am sure I have missed a few.

The New IQ Issues

So, have you noticed that the digital images submitted to your club have technical issues - things like severe noise, over-saturation, chromatic aberation, blown highlights - even whole blown skies where it matters ... these are all the things that I have noticed. I have also noticed that some of these things are being overlooked by the judges who are not used to having these issues, and consequently the learning opportunities are being missed - well, the judges are no more qualified to teach the avoidance of these issues than the contestants.

The transition from film to digital also is somewhat of an issue for many who struggle with obtaining the same tonal range, or who are challenged to get the same sharpness despite having spent mobs of money on glass.

So let's summarise some of the common issues that I see that could be easily avoided with just a little education (and add some abridged comments that will help improve the situation):

• Blown highlights - where it matters ... learn to use your camera's histogram and exposure compensation and careful image adjustment
• Clipped shadows that detract from the image where shadow detail makes for nicer tones ... avoid high in-camera contrast settings, and heavy-handed contrast adjustments
• Noise - sometimes horrid noise ... avoid high ISO settings, particularly in compact digital cameras, but also, edit carefully, and try to use 16-bit TIFF or RAW where possible (and learn about JPEG compression artifacts)
• Extreme saturation and noise ... typically from over-editing - in one word "don't"
• Prints with colour shifts ... buy an inexpensive colorimeter and calibrate often - it is easy, it is cheap, and you can achieve what you see is what you print colour reproduction

What do we teach?

These are all things that can be covered in a Vivid Adventures Photography Workshop or Workshops. These could be in the club calendar, or just organised by interested members. You will be surprised how inexpensive these workshops can be. Emerald (Queensland) Camera Club had a workshop for just six that worked out to be very affordable by planning ahead and scheduling the workshop when we were in the area.

Contact Us and let's discuss the next opportunity you could take advantage of.

We are also pleased to present on adventure photography, our tours, workshops, RAW workflow, Photoshop, scanning transparencies, ... even image quality! Well, actually there is a very long list of things we would be pleased to present on, so don't hesitate to ask for us to put your program in ours.

Make your club a learning place

And if you don't have the opportunity to have a workshop with us, I implore you to work with your club committee to ensure that the program for the year includes education on some of the key issues from people willing to share their real knowledge and skill.

Duncan's campfire story as he sent it Photo by Duncan

Mate Duncan sent me a couple of his campfire and fog shots that he wanted me to comment on. He had a campfire shot (this one) that he thought was "about ok"

Duncan's campfire story Photo by Duncan

... and a similar shot with flash to see difference, of which he says "image through flames is poor".

From the EXIF Data in the first shot, we can see it was taken with his Fujifilm S5000, 1/45s at f/2.8 and focal length of 7.5mm using auto-exposure. Clearly the conditions were pretty dark, so the camera is at the limits of it's capabilities in some senses. f/2.8 is the largest aperture, and 1/45s is about the slowest you can handhold the camera, or expect to avoid motion blur in human subjects - indeed, in the first shot the young chick seated at right has moved her hand while the shot was being taken, so it is a little blured.

Now, the second shot - similar settings, except that the use of the flash has allowed a faster shutter speed - 1/60s, but the major difference is just the flash.

What do we usually want to see with flames?

Well firstly, my feeling is that for flames we want some good contrast with the background - in the middle of the days flames don't look half as stunning as in the night (hence a lot of the stunning TV coverage of the recent bushfires has been at night). This is because the flames are not as bright as the background. There is a caveat here - we don't want the contrast to be too much - in a very dark setting the flames may be so bright in the rest of the scene that they are just about white and the highlights are just totally blown or overexposed.

Secondly, flames are a light source, not reflecting light, and they are not static - they move, so with slow shutter speeds, there will be motion blur of the moving light source - this will tend to soften up the flames and probably minimise the effects.

Camera focusing on flames

The way cameras focus is by looking for contrast - a dark edge up against a light edge - the more the difference between the dark and the light, the better the contrast and the easier it will find focusing. Cameras have AF sensors which generally are positioned in and sometimes around the centre of the frame.

The AF sensor is small, but even then, can often have more than just the subject - eg. the flame and the BBQ rack - the camera doesn't know that it is the flame that is the intended subject. It thinks you like BBQ racks, as well you might. The Australian BBQ rack also has a lovely lines/edges - perhaps even vertical or horizontal, whereas the flame is curved and fuzzy ... needless to say, the camera focuses on the sharp edges of the BBQ racks.

If you want to focus on amorphous things, or things without nice vertical or horizontal edges you have a number of options:

• manual focus - as hard as buggery with point and shoot cameras, even the S5000


• use the focus and reframe method - focus on something that is the distance from the camera that the flame or mist will be when you take the shot, and holding the shutter button half-way down, reframe the shot to put the subject the way you want it


• use the hyperfocal distance - google that one - it needs a longer explanation ... basically focus on something far enough away (this depends on the subject being a long way away from the camera too)

Now we've focused, what about flame motion?

Flame motion can be very difficult to solve. We are working in lowish light conditions, so slower shutter speeds are sometimes necessary. We can use a higher ISO (say ISO 800 on your S5000 or ISO 1600 on a Canon or Nikon D-SLR) which will allow a faster shutter speed. You already are using the largest aperture (smallest f-stop) of f/2.8. Framing a shot that is just the flames with a nice dark contrasty background may allow for a faster shutter speed because the scene is considerably brighter on average because most of the frame is flame (I hope you get the drift of that).

In short, that is about all you can do.

How to increase the contrast in the shot

Well that can be hard too - this shot has a quite bright sky which has been overexposed (this is not too much of a problem really, as it is not the main subject). It would have been possible to look at the image taken and see the overexposure if you learn to use you histogram. Then you could dial in an appropriate amount of exposure compensation to make the sky darker and the brighter areas of the shot as well. The implication is that the people in the shot may well then become dark or even silhouetted and some of the important detail in the scene like the defining trees in the background might be lost in dark shadows.

Well, what you can do, is take the underexposed shot, and then adjust the brightness of the image selectively, and I would recommend learning to use Curves in Photoshop of your other prefered image editing software.

What about flash - what role does that have in this setting?

Flash can work to fill in shadow detail that is getting lost. But the flash only works well when what it is filling in is a similar distance from the camera. In this shot, the camera is much closer to the burning logs than it is to the people, so the people's faces are not really significantly brighter than if the flash had not been used. All that the flash serves to do is add more light, brightening the scene enough for the camera to choose a faster shutter speed, but reducing the contrast between the flames and the logs.

Can I recover an image after I have shot it?

Duncan's campfire story without flash with increased contrast in the bottom half of the image and cropped to remove the white sky. Photo by Duncan

Sometimes, it is possible to add contrast to an image after it was taken using photo editing software. This is one of the basic things that can be easily learnt and quickly done, with minimal negative effects on image quality. In fact, if you learn to shoot in RAW, you can even do this with no negative effects on image quality.

We teach these techniques on most of our workshops and one-on-one training.

For this image, we chose to make a curves adjustment to add contrast (an S-curve) and then to mask the adjustment so that it only applied to the lower half of the image. This is our adjusted image (without flash).

Duncan's campfire story with flash with increased contrast in the bottom half of the image and increased brightness in the top half to see more of the faces. Photo by Duncan

This is the flash version of the shot with more contrast added to the lower part of the image, and with some brightness added to the top half of the image using Photoshop Masks. Still the campfire is best without the flash, even though the people are probably best with it.

What about fog?

Duncan's morning mist on the water. Photo by Duncan

Duncan sent us his morning mist photos with the following equivocal comment: "Both into sun, mist on water - second shot is a better pic (to me) as the first is "grey" and doesn't capture the mood".

Well first, let's look at this first shot. Duncan rightly points out that it was taken into the sun and looks "grey" or washed out. This is mostly likely from ghosting - the indirect light from the bright sky to which the camera was pointing bouncing around inside the lens and camera and making darker areas lighter and thus lessening the contrast. This can be avoided by avoiding pointing the camera into the sun, or by shielding the camera from indirect light - a hood, or just putting a shade up over the camera. The sky above the trees is overexposed, thus blowing out detail on the edges of the trees and is not such a good look

What about the other image?

Duncan's second mist shot. Photo by Duncan

This is Duncan's second mist shot. Now, it is not as grey, and this is because the sky is not so bright - but it is still overexposed and totally white - just not as dramatically blown out. I would still say is doesn't have very good contrast, but it doesn't have anywhere near as much ghosting, if any. The reflections add another element of interest and perhaps the logs in the water are also of interest, although a bit like the Lock Ness Monster - too far out to see what they really are (sorry Duncan - no hard feelings ;-) Both of the images are very "conventional". The shot has the horizon effectively in the middle of the frame, the second one has a bit of shore at the left, but not across the whole frame - it is starting to look like it is there by mistake. If you have a body of water, it is often nice to show the near shoreline so the viewer has an "invitation" and can see how they just walk down into the water (metaphorically). In the first one, the water and sandbank act as more of a barrier. In the second shot, Nessy is a lot more prominent but boringly in the centre of the frame.

Well what is to be done about all this?

When you are shooting, look to place interest in the foreground, mid and background for scenery shots like this - and large features off-centre, both vertically and horizontally. Experiment with moving the horizon up or down by tilting the camera up or down as well. You might need to use the focus and reframe method described in this other article.

It also would help to avoid overexposure in the sky - you can do this by learning to use the histogram and exposure compensation (dial in negative exposure compensation to avoid the sky being overexposed).

What can I do to make the fog stand out more?

Duncan's morning mist on the water with levels and curves adjustment. Photo by Duncan

Well, it is not always possible to reshoot - and Duncan didn't notice until he got home. Well with both images, we could increase the contrast in the image to make the fog stand out more. In the first image, we used a levels adjustment to move the black point to the right - this helped, along with an S-curve curves adjustment. It can't fix the composition, or the overexposure in the sky, but it does remove the grey feeling and make the mist stand out more.

Duncan's morning mist on the water with selective contrast enhancement on the bottom half of the image. Photo by Duncan

A similar approach was taken with the second shot to increase the contrast, but only in the bottom half of the image. We used a Photoshop Mask to do this. I like the way it makes Nessy stand out a little more and enhances the fog and misty feeling.

One other observation - this shot was taken with a wider lens, and thus the fog appears more dispersed and less prominent (it is a smaller part of the frame in height, for instance). Also a telephoto lens zoomed on will tend to make objects appear nearer, including the fog, which will tend to make it appear more dense and distinctive.

What to do next time?

In short, if we were going back there, we could look for some new angles being aware of the sun's position, we could dial in some minus exposure compensation, we could use the zoom lens, and we could try some different angles for more interesting compositions.

Like photography in this sort of setting? Join us on the River Murray

This is the sort of advice that makes early mornings on the river interesting and exciting - why not think about joining us for our Relaxing Murray River Houseboat Workshop in August, 2007. These sort of opportunities will occur on the River most mornings. Remember, if you book before February 15th this year, you will receive a 10% discount on your bookings, and on this houseboat, spouses and partners are welcome, or just come with a friend.

Duncan's Riverside shotPhoto by Duncan

This is Duncan's piece which in his effusive style he asks, "sharp tree roots and softer everything else with nice reflection" which I think is short hand for saying the tree roots are nice and sharp, and the reflection is "nice" - and sharp too, I guess, but why is everything else soft?

What follows is the sort of image assessment that we teach. It is something that we have the luxury of doing in the digital age without the PIA of having to take notes for the camera settings for every shot we took.

Reading the EXIF Data to learn what camera settings you used

What we will use is the EXIF data. This is information that the camera stores in the electronic file with the image. It tells us the camera settings that were selected. From Duncan's shot, we know that it was taken at ISO 160, using focal length 5.7mm (this is the widest setting) aperture f/4.5 and shutter speed of 1/450s. We also know that it is a shot taken with a Fujifilm S5000 camera. The camera was on Auto and Normal Exposure was used. We used the Adobe Bridge Software to show us this information, but most photo library or photo editing softwar will show you this data. It is called "Metadata" because it is not the data itself, but additional explanatory data.

Duncan's Riverside shot - we can see the sharpness of the roots as we zoom inPhoto by Duncan

So now we know how he shot it we can begin to assess the cause of the issues he perceives. He is bobbing down to take this shot - we can tell because he has the horizon in the middle of the shot, yet has quite a bit of foreground. Looking at the image, I would say he has focused quite close to him - perhaps 1.25m or four feet or so - this appears to be the sharpest part of the shot.

Using the Depth of Field Calculator

With this information we can use the wonderful DOF Master Online Depth of Field Calculator to calculate his depth of field. So, putting this information into the form:

• Fujifilm S5000 Camera


• 5.7mm Focal Length


• f/4.5 Aperture


• 1.25 metres Subject distance

and pressing the "Calculate Button", the little tool calculates for us:

• Near limit of acceptable sharpness: 0.67m


• Far limit of acceptable sharpness: 8.91m


• Total Depth of Field: 8.24m


• Depth of field in front of subject: 0.58m (7%)


• Depth of field behing subject: 7.66m (93%)


• Hyperfocal Distance: 1.45m

So, the issue is one of acceptable sharpness, and using the rather arbitrary view of what constitutes acceptable used by photographers for a long time, this tool has made these calculations.

I can hear Duncan saying, "So what"

Understanding the things that affect Depth of Field

Duncan's Riverside shot zoomed in on the soft backgroundPhoto by Duncan

Well Duncan, all these things - focal length, aperture and distance from subject (and the type of camera you have too, but that might be hard to change) affect what we call the depth of field - the area in front of the subject and behind the subject that is acceptably sharp - after all, it is only the subject itself or more precisely, light reflecting from a plane that is the subject distance from the camera that is perfectly sharply focused on the film or the sensor - everything else is soft or softer.

In this case, about 9 metres away from the sensor the subject matter - the trees in the background, for instance, become soft enough to be not acceptably sharp, and the trees which I guess would be 50 or 100 metres away become even softer again.

What did Duncan need to do?

What went wrong? Well, in a sense nothing. the 1/450s should be adequate to stop camera shake, even though Duncan might have had a beer or three. The camera focused where Duncan pointed it, and half-pressed the shutter. His selection of what to focus on was the issue, however, if he wanted the whole image to be sharp. From the calculations, we can see the hyperfocal distance of 1.45m - if he had focused (for instance on a different root) just 20cm further away than the 1.25m he did focus on, everything would have been in acceptably sharp out to Infinity. Unfortunately I can't just go and take the picture to prove it to you, but perhaps Duncan is looking for an excuse for another 4WD trip with his mates anyway.

On the other hand, we might want even more of the background soft - what then?

Now, Duncan may actually wanted to shoot the roots and have them nice and sharp and have even more of the background out of focus. If he used "Aperture Priority" Mode and selected aperture f/2.8 (I think this is his largest aperture), and then used the shutter button/reframing feature to focus as close to the camera as possible, the DOF Calculator says that his DOF will be reduced to 82.6cm. Of course this might be rediculously narrow for his interests, but the things he needs to do is either increase the aperture (smaller f-stop) or decrease the subject distance (and if he is happy to have a different composition, he could also increase the focal length - zoom in a bit, but this will change what features in the frame because it will have a narrower field of view).

Focusing and reframing - an important skill to learn

The steps required are firstly, to reframe the shot so that a point 90cm from the camera (or thereabouts) is in the centre, then by holding the shutter button down half-way, allow the camera to focus on that point - generally it will need to have the AF sensor rectangle directly over it, and the AR rectangle will generally flash, or the camera will beep to indicate focus has been achieved. Next step is while keeping the camera the same distance from the subject, AND whilst holding the shutter button down half-way, reframe the shot, by rotating the camera up/left/right as appropriate so that the elements of the scene you want in the frame are in the right position, then caress the button down (no need to lift your finger until the shot is taken), and there you have it

This is a skill that you should learn to do without thinking about it - make it second nature. It is particularly important for portraits, where you really want to focus on the eyes. Get out and practice it. Take a lot of photos using it. Do it lots of times today, and then get your camera out again tomorrow and practice it again, and you will make it a second-nature skill that you do without needing to think.

Sharpening in Photoshop and Tonal Treatment to simulate Velvia Film

Duncan's Riverside shot zoomed in on the soft background now sharpenedPhoto by Duncan

We did do some photoshop sharpening on the image for Duncan, just to show him that all is not lost, and we also thought that Duncan's shot would look nice with a slightly different tonal treatment, which we did using the Velvia Vision plug-in for Photoshop.

Duncan's Riverside shot with Velvia Vision Treatment and a little sharpeningPhoto by Duncan

If you have any questions about this, just ask ... And watch this space for some other articles on related aspects of this question ... there are other reasons besides the one afflicting this shot of Duncan's that can make you think the camera is not focusing properly when it is just doing what you tell it ;-) after all, it is the people not the machines that are stupid ;-)

It has been a big deficiency of Windows that the standard file viewer has a quite arcane, difficult to use and restrictive viewer of Metadata including EXIF information in a file.

After eventually coming out with a raw viewer some months ago, a color profile manager a few months ago too, they have finally release the Microsoft Photo Info Tool to allow viewing, editing, add, change and delete from an easy to use tool that integrates with Explorer - and it works in Windows XP and Visa.

Windows users can download it for free from: here.

We've just come back from the Murray - more photography fun on the river. Yes, when we get a moment, we'll publish some of the work. (Here of course - why do you ask?)

Well look out for the Mean Green Machine in Sydney and up the North Coast to Coolongatta ... the beaches and the mountains and everything in between.

Up North, Central Australia has had a decent washing with water flowing down the Finke and other river systems, so this season is going to be a wonderful photography experience - don't miss it.

The Kimberley is getting a lot of rain, so everything is going to be flowing well for our April/May tour - come along onboard, or tag-along for the experience in your own vehicle.

Bookings for the Flinders and Central Australia are flowing in, so word is getting around - don't miss out! Book now.

So, if you're in Sydney, up the Central Coast or further North, Brisbane or somewhere in between, drop us an email or call us on 0419 900 363 and let's get together over a coffee and chew the fat about where your photography passion is taking you, and anyways we can help at all.