Below are just a few photos I took over the weekend. The first lot were takent at Dee Why RSL at the show Tumbling Dice - a Rolling Stones tribute band. The lens was a Nikkor 1.8 50mm, with no flash.
The birds were shot from my verandah with a  Sigma 150-500mm at 500mm.

 

 

Figurine shot in a home made light box. SB910 to camera right at -1.0ev. SB700 at camera left and slightly behind figurine. Black velveteen background. Flashes very close to light box and shot through two layers of muslin. Triggered with Nikon's CLS system.

Moon shot - most people do a moon shot, and below is mine. I have been reading up on lunar photography, and like star trains stacking images is the way to go, with freeware such as registax.

Moon - 1/200 sec, f/7.1, 500mm, 200 ISO

Diptychs originally were any 2 flat carved or painted panels attached at a hinge. This has been modified in recent times to encompass photography such that a diptych is two photos that fit together and are better than when apart. More than 2 photos can be added for example a triptych is 3 photos.

The purpose of many photographs is to tell a story. Diptychs, triptychs and n-tychs are great for photographic story-telling. I had previously used a tych of surfer Courtney Conlogue winning her semi final in the Beachley Classic at Dee Why beach.

Tych Panel v2 by Reimond Trost is a great Photoshop Panel for the creation of diptychs, triptychs and ntychs. It is basically an automation tool for Photoshop, and it is free, and is available at: lumens.se/tychpanel

A few more examples of tychs:

Sydney's Latin Fiesta at Darling Harbour

Bob Geldof in Sydney

Kestrel on the hunt

Developing a passion

Seagulls in flight

Singer with a comic action applied

Vivid Sydney and Lighting the Sails

Anzac Day

Textures - you either like them or loath them. I like them, they can add mood to what would be a rather drab or so-so image.

Textures are freely available on the net, and Flickr is a good source for free textures - see the "Textures for Layers" and "NinianLif's texture addicts" as good starting points. You can always photograph or create your own textures.

Adding textures to images is easy if using Photoshop CS5 or CS6. I use the Photoshp Panel by Russell Brown - he has a great Texture Panel for adding textures to images. It will only work in CS5 and CS6. Follow this link: russellbrown.com/scripts.html

Seagull in flight off Long Reef with texture added

Cat with texture (don't ask what he is doing with his tongue).

Rowboat in Pittwater with added texture.

Ettamogah pub with texture

Long Reef beach with texture.

Courtney Conlogue at the semi finals of the Layne Beachley Classic, Dee Why Beach.
Contemplation; Good Luck; Aggression; Finished

Welcome to my site on photography. Many genres of photography will be new to me so included will be mistakes as well as what I consider success. Be patient, I'm just learning the ropes of this blogging site.

I will be uploading more photos as time goes on, with an explanation of some of them. The first four I have uploaded are below:

 

 

 

Turimetta Rocks, the mecca for seascapes in Sydney's northern beaches. 16mm with Tiffen hard grad ND4 filter, 2 secs, f/20, 16mm, 200 ISO. Post processing concentrated on luminoscity masks.

 

Lily with black velveteen background, no flash. 50mm, 1/60 sec, f/5.6, 100 ISO

 

Dancer at Sydney's Latin Fiesta, Darling Harbour.

 

Nankeen Kestrel at Long Reef. 200mm, 1/4000 sec, f/5.6, 500 ISO. Texture added in Photoshop.