ReDynamix

I've been playing with a photoshop plug-in called ReDynamix. I wasn't too sure about it to begin with. The results were interesting but it created a lot of noise in the process. I have since found a couple ways of reducing the noise created by ReDynamix and I'm very happy with the results.

All of my original images don't get touched/altered, I import them into Lightroom and export Tiff's and Jpeg's to work on. The first way I have found to reduce noise is to export as a 16 bit Tiff. Then in photoshop change the bit amount to 8 bit so the plug-in will work. This saves quite a lot of detail.

These images were done before I came up with the 16bit tiff idea. They only show what detail can be found in images that may look rather poor to begin with. They were all taken during a 3 hour Eco Cruise around the Tasman Peninsula coastline. During this trip I felt rather sea sick due to the fact I was forever taking photos. In other words, I was always looking through the view finder. This had an adverse effect on me. I didn't feel too good by the end of it but the trip was well worth it!

2008 Senior Medal Winner

I have been a golfer for many, many years now and I’ve been a member of the Quamby / Prospect Vale GC for the last 9 years. I’ve won my share of prizes in that time, this year I decided to give something back to the club. The club has grown in the last three years since we moved to Country Club Tasmania and a large number of the newer members are seniors. With that in mind I choose to donate a prize for the Senior Medal.

The inaugural winner of the Senior Medal for 2008 is Denis Lockwood! The prize is a 12” x 18” framed print of Safety Cove. Congratulations Denis!!

Safety Cove

This is another calendar I've put together. All the images were taken at Safety Cove on the Tasman Peninsula. I found this place on my visit to Port Arthur 2 years ago, I've been fascinated with it ever since.

This calendar shows the dramatic scenery I witnessed during my short visits.









Clicking the image will take you to a preview page where you can purchase it.

Government Gardens

Government Gardens of Port Arthur

Port Arthur Shipwrights

Moonrise over Tasman

You might have noticed that I really like the Tasman Peninsula. I've made two trips down there in the last couple of years, and plan to return again in the future.

This shot was taken earlier this year from the deck of Sea Change at Safety Cove. I was in my room getting ready to go out for dinner and after go on the Port Arthur ghost tour, when my host, Rex Mapley, came knocking on my door. He wanted me to see this great view of the moon rising over Tasman Island. I quickly got my gear together and headed out to try and capture it. I couldn't get everything exposed properly so I decided to take two shots and put them together later. The main part of the image was taken with my Nikon D80, while the moon was shot with my Panasonic FZ30.

This shot is the third incarnation. I did the original combo a while ago but, wasn't completely happy with it. Sometime after that I started to tweak it but still wasn't happy. Then last night I had another look at it and NOW I'm happy with the results.

Enjoy! :)

What's been happening?

It seems that time has gotten away from me in the last few months. I haven't had time to get out and take many new photos. I haven't even had time to keep up to date on the net. It's just a case of life getting in the way of life.

I have been doing a few things during these past months but, I wont divulge everything in one post. I need to keep something to talk about.

I have been doing some product photography as part of my day job. That hasn't been too bad and I have got another job lined up for something similar, not through work. We just have to workout some times and places.

Other than that I've been going through some of my old and not so old photos. I have found a couple shots that I liked but needed re-processing. The results have been quite good.

All of these shots are from my trips to the Tasman Peninsula. The first two were shot on my old Panasonic FZ-30, about 18 months ago, and put through Photomaitx. I'm very pleased with the results.













The third shot was taken with my Nikon D80 earlier this year. The original processing of this shot was a bit flat for colour, so I increased it!







These shots and more can been found on my website www.colbluephotography.com

Tasmanian Flora part 2

I have a few more shots I want to share. All of the images in these two posts were taken at Port Arthur.












More of my Flower images can be found here.

Tasmanian Flora

I don't take a lot of photos of flowers but, while I was away on my holiday I made an effort to do so. Here are a couple of my shots from the trip. I still need some practice with this medium but I like the results.











More of my Flower images can be found here.

East Coast of Tas

I mentioned before that my car had a set of white wall tyres after driving on all the dirt roads around St Helens. I have proof just in case you all thought I was stretching the truth.



When day two started I wasted no time in getting lost. This was my first time at St Helens and I was a little turned around with my bearings. Even so, I figured out the location I wanted to get to for the sunrise (St Helens Point). I had to walk out to the point via the track that was signposted at the start. It said in this order, St Helens point, Beer Barrel beach return walk approx 30 minutes. Now maybe I’m an idiot but I would’ve thought that if St Helens point is listed first it would be the first place I would come to first. I was wrong! I headed up the track till I got to a junction. To the left was Beer Barrel beach. To the right there was no sign posted but it did head in the general direction of the point. So I went right. I bashed my way through the trees and brush until I couldn’t force my way any further. I turned around and headed back the way I came only to see the sunrise over the tops of the trees in a beautiful blood red. I was very disappointed to miss it!

After the mornings debacle I headed back to the shack and packed the car up. Since I was already up and had nothing to do I took off early down the coastline. Once again, this was the first time I had travelled down the coast. I saw some wonderful beaches and had to catch myself a couple of times or I would’ve driven into the sea.

I didn’t stop to take any photos till I got to the Freycinet National Park. I drove into Cape Tourville to have a look around and I finally took some photos. The cape has quite a view!









From there I drove into Coles Bay and the Edge of the Bay Resort to get shots of the Hazards. By that time most of the morning had gone, so I finished taking shots and headed for the Tasman Peninsula.

I had planned to drive through the Wielangta National Park just past Orford. It was all dirt road, so after the previous days dirt road excursion I decided to take a different route. I headed towards Buckland but, I didn’t want to go the long way around so I turned off towards Nugent. That was a mistake! As I took the turn off saw a sign out of the corner of my eye. It said something like “road not suitable for ????? Vehicles”, I missed part of it. Anyway it turned out to be a rough, tight, winding, dirt road. Lucky me! For part of the journey I was stuck behind an 18 wheeler which was covering my already dirty car with another layer of dirt. Now for the really ironic part of this tale. At the end of the dirt road it joined the National Park dirt road I had previously chose not to take. That road was at least three lanes wide and in very good condition, I’ll know better next time.

Once I got back onto the main highway it wasn’t long before I reached the Peninsula. I made a stop at Pirates Bay Lookout which takes in views of Eagle Hawk Neck and the East Coast of the Peninsula. Unfortunately the Forestry was burning off the forest, so I had a big smoke cloud in my shots. I also had to fight the continuous smoke haze for the rest of y trip.

I got to my B&B at Safety Cove just after 3.30pm. I settled down for a while waiting for the Port Arthur Ghost tour that night. It was the second time I had done the Ghost tour. I’ve got to say, the first time was much more enjoyable! I think because I had already done it and new the stories, it took some of the excitement out of it.

Then it was bed. I had another long day coming up and I needed some rest. Stay tuned, the story and photos will continue.

Calendar Submission

I've been busy lately!

About a month ago I approached the printers of the Tasmanian Alkaloids calendar about getting some of my images into next years calendar. I was told I had a good chance of this. At the time I had my Photography Anthology book as my portfolio, this got me a foot in the door. They asked me to put some photos together for consideration and thats what I've been doing this last week.

After my trip down the east coast I had some very good landscapes but, I still had plenty of images from the trip that I hadn't processed. I knew some of them would be good chances of making the calendar so, I went through and processed a select few.

For my presentation I put another book together with only Tasmanian Landscapes in it.

Tasmanian Land...

www.colbluephotogr...

By

Book Preview

Many of the images in the book have been seen on my blog before or are on my site. Some are still sitting on my computer waiting for me to upload to my site at a later date. They cover a wide area of Tasmania. Strahan, St Helens, Freycinet, Tasman Peninsula, Port Arthur, Richmond Bridge, Russell Falls and Mt Roland. I hope that I will be successful in getting some images in their calendar.

Safety Cove HDR

I was trying to go through all my holiday shots in the order I took them, but I got impatient last night.

I decided to go straight to some HDR shots from Safety Cove beach. On my previous trip to the Tasman Peninsula I stayed at Sea Change at Safety Cove, a little B&B that is almost the last building on the peninsula. I returned there because a: I absolutely loved the views and the sound of the waves crashing on the beach, b: I knew I could get some good shots on the beach and surrounding area. I would recommend staying here to anyone!

I had two mornings to explore the beach area and take the shots I wanted. The first morning I got onto the beach and found that the small rivulet I had found on my last trip had been filled in. That was unfortunate but I found other areas to shoot.

This shot was taken on the first day on my way to Eddystone Point. I drove down to a flood way and found this scene waiting for me.



The rest of these images are from the beach at Safety Cove.













These images and more can be found in my HDR gallery.

I'll have more images processed in the next few days. Keep an eye out on my site!

St Helens

Last week I went on a holiday to St Helens and the Tasman Peninsula. I headed out for St Helens on the Monday morning going via Scottsdale. I was lucky enough that my neighbours let me stay at their shack at Akaroa, just outside the township of St Helens. I got there around lunch time and after off loading the car I went exploring the area.

My first destination was further up the St Helens Point Road. This was the first shot I took on my holiday.



From there I headed to Binalong Bay and the start of the Bay of Fires. I found a nice little beach area that I could explore by myself.



From Binalong Bay I drove to The Gardens which is about the mid point of the Bay of Fires. I looked for a place to park and almost got my car stuck. After extricating myself I found a better parking spot and went for a walk on the beach. While I was watching the waves hit the beach I had a huge shadow pass overhead. It was a very friendly Molly Hawk! He circled around me several times giving me a chance to get a good photo of him. He wasn't worried about me at all!

More shots of him can be found here.



I spied this little flower as I was walking back to the car. This was the first of several flower shots I'd take in the next few days.



From the Gardens I went back to Binalong Bay and took the turn off towards Eddystone Point. This was a gravel road all the way to Eddystone point. My car which started the day clear was soon very, very dirty. My tyres looked like they were white walls! By the time I got to Eddystone Point it was begining to get late. I took some shots of Picnic rocks and then called it a day.



I ended the day back at the shack and got this sunset shot from the front yard.



At the moment I've only processed the photos from the first day. I still have a lot of images to go through. I hope to get some more done in the coming days.