Yesterday I bought a book on Australian Birds. It reminded me of some photographs I took on Kangaroo Island in 1991. Funny how brains work.

  Any fool can be uncomfortable !!!

Fog - Canon PowerShot S5 IS

It’s a very grey day today as it has been, seemingly, for weeks so I thought I’d look at some photos with colour. My motto is “images with impact” which makes me think of bright colours, but it doesn’t have to be. I think that photography is a selfish hobby in that amateur snappers like me only take snaps to suit themselves. I came up with a few different looks which I like and which I think fits my motto. See what you think:

Canon EOS 350D, EF-S 17=85 mm lens.

Canon EOS 450D, EF 70 300 DO  USM  Lens

Canon PowerShot SX IS

Canon PowerShot SX1 I

Canon PowerShot SX1 IS
 

In May 2008 I showed some Sturts Desert Pea flowers under the heading Beauty in Harsh Places. Another one of my favourite flowers is Naked Lady (Amarygia Parkeri) which deserves a mention for its beauty in harsh places. The flowers I have photographed have been around for untold years in old gold mining areas, totally untended yet have continued to flower right through the drought.

On 7 Feb 2009 Victoria had the most severe bushfire on record and the Naked Lady flowers were some of the first colour to appear in the fire blackened areas; seems they will survive almost anything including heat that melted car engines.

The first photo is from the PowerShot SX1 IS and the next two are from an EOS 350D with EF-S 17-85mm IS USM lens. The reason the cameras are different is that the photos were taken a year apart and the cameras happened to be the ones I was carrying at the time. All photos taken with handheld cameras.

At the moment it’s hard to get good colourful photos so I’ve delved into the dusty old files of 2007 for one of my philosophical moments. I’ve titled the photo Modern Civilisation; the photo was taken with camera set for about 300mm to telescope things a bit. Given that the silos are no longer used and are sitting alongside railway lines, unseen, also no longer used, you may wish to apply your own interpretation to it all.

I always take photos over peoples’ front fences since I can’t take many from my own garden because I seem to have been born with brown thumbs. The photo is below, exactly as it came from the camera.

The photo asked me to do a bit more with it so I brightened it up a bit. Here is the result which I quite like, sort of follows the rule of thirds. The photo was taken at midday so I could have timed the light a bit better, I guess it depends on how fanatical one wants to be.

As you may have gathered by now I’m very happy with my SX1 IS. It is very consistent with the quality of the photos it takes, therefore, I know just how the photo will turn out before I press the shutter button. No more trial photos, just photos that I like to take. Here are a few I took over front fences in Rushworth while walking the dogs a couple of days ago, plus a crop or two for the fun part. the colour is set at  Bp in the “My Colours Mode’ which gives the vivid colours of positive film. It is the setting I use for both the SX1 IS and the S5 IS. The day was slightly overcast hinting of rain which never comes though it makes colours more prominent.

Bougainvillea

Gazania

Oleander

Petunia

I snapped just these two photos of a Portulaca flower growing in my back lawn. I’ve mentioned it before that we are in drought here, Portucacas,it seems, are as tough as Sturts Desert Pea. In case you can’t see it, the lawn is  the spindly light coloured stuff in front of the flower. ( I love the sound of a crisp lawn crackling under foot ).

The flower is about 20mm across and it would be a bit hard on my aged bones to get down far enough to take a true macro so I prefer to use telephoto. the first photo is at 20x zoom = 560mm. The second photo is at 20x zoom times 2.3x tele-converter = 1288mm focal length. Both photos were taken at 1/640 sec and f5.7 – no loss of 2 stops with this tele-converter.

These images are exactly as they came from the camera, I only needed the 2 shots. No multiple photos and hours in Photoshop ( if I had it ).

I’ve got a bit more friendly with the honey eater that I photographed recently, able to get a bit closer now. Here are a couple more photos that do the camera and lens a bit more justice. Taken near sunset at 480mm(35mm equivalent) at 1/160 sec, 800 ISO, f 5.6.

The SX1 IS takes photos in aspect ratios 4:3 or 16:9, instantly selectable at the press of a button. The recording pixels are 3648 x 2736 and 3840 x 2160 respectively so you can see from the pixels and the photos below that that the 16:9 frame is wider, it is not simply a matter of the camera cropping the 4:3 image to 16:9. I only realized this when on taking a 4:3 photo of some family members, curtains behind made the photo look busy, produced some unwanted  backlighting and cramped the photo for width unless I zoomed back and allowed even more backlighting. After consulting the Camera User Guide to see which button to push, I took a photo at 16:9. The 16:9 photo fits a wide screen.

Photo at 4:3 aspect ratio.

Photo at 16:9 aspect ratio.

Notice the slightly wider field of view and the lack of distracting curtains, also that life is not too tough for our animals.

I got a chance this evening to get a couple of photos of the New Holland Honey Eater with the EOS 450D in a similar situation as those I took earlier today with Canon PowerShot SX1 IS and S5 IS ( see previous Blog ). The first two are exactly as the came from the camera - the bird in shadow and bright sky behind - followed by some cropped versions. The 300mm lens is equivalent to 480mm on this camera, a bit behind the PowerShots’ longer reach. 

Now for the cropped versions.

Cropped a bit more.

I had another go at improving it using Windows Live Photo Gallery.

A reminder, have a look at the PowerShot photos below.

I have trouble getting good photos of nectar feeding birds, they quickly flit between blossoms. Here is one of my early attempts with the PowerShot SX1 IS, exit stage right.

Now a better one with the SX1. Taken while I was hanging out the washing - worthwhile having a camera nearby. Exactly as it came from the camera.

Now that one cropped a bit.

Now a couple from the SX1 iS‘s older sibling the PowerShot S5 IS. This one taken at – 1 stop, it was a dull day.

The same one jazzed up a bit.

Here is an idea I got from Vista wallpaper. The first photo is exactly as it came from the S5 IS camera. The second is the photo cropped to 16 : 9 ratio for wide screen. Looks a bit like the  Australian Army “ Rising Sun “ badge.

My last blog was of a rosebud. Here is another macro of the same flower twelve hours later ( they get lighter in colour with age).  Macro photos are a bit harder to focus with this camera than I had hoped, but the photo provides a good strong outline of the subject. The rose bush got a bit burnt in the heat wave, these are the first flowers to come back in amongst the dead leaves.

Here is a macro photo of a rose bud I took just after sunset tonight. Handheld 1/25 sec, exactly as it came off the camera.

The hot weather has not helped the lifespan of the Everlasting wild flowers. I took a photo of this slightly faded Everlasting at 1288mm (Digital Tele-converter) focal length at a surprisingly short, hand held, 3 or so metre range. Note the different focus of each of the flowers; so you can get short depth of field with a compact camera – not bad bokeh either. The first photo is exactly as it came from the camera at 10 mega-pixels. Since I’m into “ Images with IMPACT “, I tweaked the saturation a little for the second image, probably only needed because the photo was taken in the dull light of sunset as I walked the dogs. The photo doesn’t have the usual kangaroo but it does have half an insect as a bonus.

I’m always pretty understated in what I say, but I tell you it’s a very good camera. I’m just sorry that I can’t get hold of a $10 000 SLR and a $40 000 1200mm telephoto lens to give you a direct comparison.

The SX1 takes photos in two selectable formats, 4:3 and 16:9(wide screen). In digital tele-converter mode the focal lengths are up to 1288mm and 1160mm respectively. Here, exactly as it came from the camera, is a photo taken hand held at 1160mm at 1/640sec; another thing that an SLR can’t do (for those who say you can buy a cheap SLR for a similar price) not to mention its full HD Video capabilities. I recommend that you do a lot of research before you buy an SLR these days.

The group below includes a 4:3 photo taken by the SX1 IS. Sorry about all the kangaroo photos. its been a severe summer - bush fires and all - that there is not much else to photograph

I guess 1000s of kangaroos (and other wildlife) have died around us in the Victorian bushfires over the last week or so. Here is a bit of a tribute to them taken with different cameras, all hand held. I leave it to you to make some comparisons.

Canon EOS 350D with Canon EF 75-300mm USM F4-5.6 Lens. Not stabilized. 480mm(1.6 multiplication factor), 1/40 sec.

I decided that I need an image stabilized lens.

                             Next photo cropped to 16:9,

Canon EOS 450D with Canon EF 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 DO IS USM lens. 480mm 1/60sec.

Canon PowerShot S5 IS. 432 mm, 1/100 sec.

Canon PowerShot SX1 IS. 1288mm 1/100sec.

Post Script. It was in the newspaper a day or two ago that a mob of wild kangaroos followed a man away from the bushfires onto a sporting complex and they all survived. When the chips are down, humans and wildlife are all in it together. One day I’ll tell you about my communication with a Taipan snake in Queensland floods.

I’m getting old and forgetful, sorry. I’ve just noticed I have  previously used one of the photos in my last blog. Here’s a different one to make sure you get your money’s worth.