Obviously all the original images are on film. After development of the negative, I scan them using my old Canon film scanner. The results are acceptable, certainly much better than scanning the prints (which I don’t order these days anyway, who needs hard copy…). After the scans were completed the images we only minimally edited using Corel Paintshop Pro. The only one with post processing is the image of Flinder St Station, the first image with the tilt shift effect; only because I do not have a proper tilt shift lense.

There’s something about using film cameras that trains your photography skills. Perhaps it is the fact that we cannot see the end result instantly, that we become much more careful in our execution. Shooting with both the Holga and the Lomography Fisheye brings back memory when I first started photographing using my Nikon F-801s, back in the day every shot counts since every shot will cost money for film and development. This is something that we won’t even think about anymore since we have digital cameras, essentially able to take thousands of photos in a single card and charge.

Therefore I think once in a while, it is essential for any photographer to get back to film, just to remind ourselves of the basic techniques of exposure and speed. Yes, even with the Holga one must understand the corellation between exposure and speed, by default the Holga is set at a certain aperture and speed depending on the model.

In any case, here are the wallpapers, enjoy

This set of 6 landscape and water-scape  wallpapers will surely decorate your desktops.

These photos were all taken using Nikon D300s and edited with corel paintshop pro photo X4. The cataloguing process were done using Corel AfterShot Pro, which I will review soon as it has now become my primary photo management software.

Some of these photos were taken in the 12 apostles along Great Ocean Road, Sorrento and St Kilda Beach in Victoria, Australia.

Enjoy!

Yesterday was  a great trip to great ocean road, we stop by Port Campbell then continue on to the 12 Apostle lookout. Granted it was a 600km+ drive in total but it was totally worth it. The view was amazing and I was able to finally add some more fresh photographs in my collection!.

We also wanted to see the lighthouse but unfortunately they have closed by the time we got there. Next time we’ll probably come earlier than that! 

Although I have taken some great shots of the 12 apostle and a couple places that we stopped by, unfortunately we couldn’t stop during the scenic road as we were taking it when returning to Melbourne, therefore there wasn’t much place to stop the car.

The gears remains the same, the trusty D300s and a tripod. Post processing was done using corel paintshop pro 4 and corel aftershot pro. This time also I have taken some of the photos as HDR photos to accentuate the details of the scenery that I saw on the day.

Without further ado here’s the photos of the 12 Apostles in Great Ocean Road area

The gear that I had at that time was quite minimal. One fixed 90mm macro lens and my Nikon D300s body. All was taken handheld as I didn’t bother to bring any tripod. Like always, the secret of taking macro photos handheld is patience. Always keep a steady breathing and don’t get agitated if the wind does blow the flowers.

Personally I found taking flower photos is always relaxing in some ways.

For your information, the crocodile and the lizzards were taken inside crocosaurus, which you can see in one of the photos below.

With any photo-shoot like this one, where most of the time the subject (in this case the aeroplanes) are mostly backlit, I set the camera to spot metering mode most of the time. . This way I can lock the exposure on the plane, preventing the plane from being capture as a silhouette. 

As for the gears, I used my trusty Nikon D300s and 70-300mm lens. Now, my lens is not exactly the latest and greatest, in fact it is almost 10 years old now, I used to use it when I was photographing with my film SLR. Meaning it doesn’t have any VR technology which should reduce vibrations. So, in order to get a sharp shots at the maximum zoom level, I followed the ‘golden rule’ which is maintaining the speed above the lens focal length. Therefore most of the picture in the gallery is being shot at around 1/400 s.

Anyway, enjoy the gallery below :

As an extra, we went for a meal at Footscray after the shoot. Great place to get some Vietnamese food!

In any case, I present to you some photos of the cars that impressed me most in the show. I have to hand it to them, that Mazda did made a good looking beast called the Mazda Shinari, I think that is the best car all around the show.  Gallery below:

Impressive cars aren’t they? The show was quite entertaining in many degrees, however the only gripe that I have is the lack of sales consultant in the show. I think this is the only car show where I can’t really get a price of a car or place an order, really… the supercars are entertaining, but consumers tend to buy normal car and logic dictates that this kind of show is the best place to sell. BUT… I’m not in the business of selling cars so it didn’t bother me much, I’m just amazed.

Fortunately for us, the day was very good indeed. A little foggy in the morning to begin with, but clearing up during the day. The view on Portsea and Sorrento was amazing, it was certainly a good photo trip. I can recommend these two places for any photographers wanting to take a picture of sceneries.

The gears that I used:

- Nikon D300s
- 18-55mm Tamron lens
- 70-300mm Nikon lens
- Corel Paintshop Pro Photo X3

So put your mind at ease while the Holga shots take you back in time with its retro looking shots then back to the present with the clarity of digital compact.

Without any further ado, sit back, relax and enjoy the sceneries from the two galleries.

The retro style

The present

The photographs that I wanted to present today were taken in Indonesia and Singapore. This was taken late last year during my holiday but have left unprocessed since my Macbook Pro broke down.

In many respects, Singapore is in my opinion much more modern and organized than Indonesia, most of the buildings are of modern designs (eg. ION Orchard). On the other hand however, in Indonesia one can find many heritage buildings granted you go to the right places.

The photo on the left is taken from Marina Bay Sands (on the Sky Park), where most of Singapore can be seen clearly from above (here’s a link if you are interested about the building). It was an impressive view, buildings as far as the eye can see, a lot of development in progress and busy industrial ships. You’ll be able to see more shots from Singapore in the gallery below. Oh, and there are some shots from Singapore Universal Studio too, great place to have fun for a whole day!

During my short holiday though, I also went around in Indonesia, in particular Solo and Semarang city, both cities are located in Central Java. While Solo is very rich in its heritage and history of the old royal families and government, Semarang is a more populated area and is the capital city of Central Java. Visit these wikipedia article about Solo and Semarang if you are interested.

One of the most interesting photo in Solo is the interior of the meeting room in Solo’s Mangkunegaran, it consisted of great detailed and beautiful interior suited for royalties. You can see the photograph on the right. I won’t write more about the Mangkunegaran because obviously history isn’t exactly my expertise. I did had a bit of historical tour about the complex from the local guide though and it was very insightful!

On the left, is a photo of Semarang, taken from Gumaya tower and Grand Candi. Great scenery from up there, you can also see how populated the area is by looking from the photos.

All in all it was a great trip and it was great to see all the different cities and their unique cultures. Next time you visit different countries and cities, it always pays to learn a bit of its history from the locals.

Some tips and techniques when traveling around

1. If using an SLR, make sure to bring a wide angle lens (about 18mm would be enough), it’s handy when photography the cityscapes. If it’s a point and shoot, try to use one with wide angle lens, I think most point and shoot these days have these lenses.
2. When photographing architectures, when possible try to use smaller aperture, about 11 and above would be good. This is a good way to preserve all the details of the scenery.
3. Depending where you shoot, a tripod can be handy, especially at night time. In my case however, since I mostly photograph during the day, hand-held was enough.

The architecture photographs gallery