On Tuesday, September 06, 2011 8:35 AM, "Bruce Walker" <[email protected]> wrote: > Lucky you to get the chance to shoot this scenery from the air like > this. I really enjoyed this gallery. > > Your post-processing worked really well. At no point did I think I was > viewing these through glass. Well done, Brian! >
Thanks for the comments Bruce and Paul. Cheers Brian ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Brian Walters Western Sydney Australia http://lyons-ryan.org/southernlight/ > -bmw > > On 11-08-28 8:37 AM, Brian Walters wrote: > > Hi all > > > > First - thanks again to those who provided advice a month or so ago on > > photographing from a light plane. This flight was part of our recent > > trip to the 'red Centre' of Australia. > > > > The flight was in a Cessna 210, carrying 4 passengers plus the pilot. > > The lack of wing struts on this plane was a bonus for photography. The > > two biggest problems were reflections in the windows, which were > > difficult to avoid, and the mild jerkiness of the flight. I used my > > K200D with the 16-45 mm zoom attached. I had other lenses available but > > the cramped conditions made it difficult to change lenses, so I > > eventually gave up on the idea. As it happened, the 16-45 mm range > > proved to be pretty much ideal. My wife used an old Optio for the first > > part of the flight but it wasn't up to the job so she commandeered the > > *istDS with 50 mm f1.7 FA attached for the second half. Both of us shot > > in shutter priority mode with the speed set to 1/350 - 1/500 sec. > > > > I hope you enjoy this small selection: > > > > http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1370864/Lake-Eyre/index.html > > > > Initially I was concerned about the lack of contrast in the images - > > they were generally 'flat' with a limited tonal range. A simple levels > > adjustment made a world of difference. The only other significant post > > processing was in getting rid of reflections which mainly affected areas > > of sky. I addressed this by sampling the colour of a section of the sky > > and applying a colour gradient layer, masked so that it applied to the > > sky alone. This tended to hide the reflections quite well. > > > > Overall, I was happy with the results. There are a lot of 'misses' but > > enough keepers to make me feel that the exercise was worthwhile. > > > > For those who are interested - some background. Lake Eyre is usually a > > huge, dry salt lake in the South Australian outback. It's catchment > > covers about one sixth of the Australian continent but it only fills a > > few times per century. In most years any rainfall in the catchment is > > lost by evaporation or to groundwater well before it could reach the > > lake. In 1964 it was the location for a successful attempt on the world > > land speed record by Donald Campbell. > > > > Over the past couple of seasons there has been abnormally high rainfall > > in the catchment, so much so that the lake is approaching full capacity. > > It's an iconic place to both Aboriginal people and the wider > > population. Most Australians would like to visit but it's in a remote > > location which is only accessible on land via 4WD, so there is a growing > > interest in flights over the lake. > > > > The Painted Hills extend over an area of about 200 sq km and are low > > hills in contrasting colours of white, red, brown and orange. They are > > not accessible by road and can only be seen from the air. > > > > > > > > Cheers > > > > Brian > > > > ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ > > Brian Walters > > Western Sydney Australia > > http://lyons-ryan.org/southernlight/ > > > > > > -- -- http://www.fastmail.fm - Access all of your messages and folders wherever you are -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
