Rodney Campbell's Blog

Yellow

NIKON D7000 + 90.0 mm f/2.8 @ 90 mm, 1/160 sec at f/11, ISO 1400

Not much more to say really…

… OK, ok… taken handheld with the Tamron 90mm Macro and LED ring light along with a set of Kenko extension tubes (12+20+36mm)

Note: These images (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

Gerry and I headed back to Lane Cove Bushland Park for another round of fungi fun. We started at the top end of the park this time and whilst I don’t think the fungi were quite as good as our last visit we still spent a happy few hours wandering along the creek.

Decided to try something a little different on this outing – all my exposures were on a tripod and were longish exposures (no flash was harmed :)). I still used my LED macro ring light for ambient fill lighting (and to greatly assist framing and manual focusing in the extremely dark conditions) as well as an LED torch for controlled accent lighting (sometimes through a diffuser – although I think in all these final images I selected none were with the diffuser).

Stately

NIKON D7000 + 90.0 mm f/2.8 @ 90 mm, 1/2 sec at f/22, ISO 100

These little things were tiny – like faint hairs sticking out of the moss. I had to work for a bit to end up at this – moving the tripod and camera slightly each time to try and get close to exactly side on to both stems and still have a decent background – and I was able to drop to f/11 (instead of f/rediculous) so I could blur those background stems more (they were a bit uglier otherwise). (Spore baring growth of a hornwort)

Paired for Life

NIKON D7000 + 90.0 mm f/2.8 @ 90 mm, 1/4 sec at f/11, ISO 100

A nice cluster of shrooms

Chandelier

NIKON D7000 + 90.0 mm f/2.8 @ 90 mm, 25 sec at f/32, ISO 100

I have over a number of years subscribed (on iTunes) to a number of Podcasts. In the past few years many of these have been photography related. There are a lot of podcasts available in the iTunes store so how do you decide what is and isn’t worth your time. Another factor is that some podcasts come and go and others fade into obscurity when no new episodes appear – so which stand the test of time… The following is a list of Photography Podcasts I’d recommend (in no particular order):

Photography Tips from the Top Floor – Chris Marquardt – the longest running photography podcast with over 7 years and 500 episodes!
PhotoNetCast – Antonio Marques and a nice round table of regular hosts
The Digital Story – Derrick Story
This Week in Photo – Frederick Van Johnson and a stable of regular co-hosts
Martin Bailey Photography Podcast
The Candid Frame – Ibarionex Perello – regular guest interviews
Photofocus – Rich Harrington has taken over from Scott Bourne – things are looking up
Shoot To Kill Photography Podcast – Phil & Mindy Thornton (Wedding Togs)

and if you’re into Videocasts

The Art of Photography – Ted Forbes
D-Town TV – Kelby Media Group
The Grid – Also from the Kelby team – the only downside it can be pretty long so it’s a time investment
Lightroom Killer Tips – Matty K
Smoking Strobes

After a less than stellar sunrise attempt at Manly; Gerry, Suren and I headed to Lane Cove Bushland Park to try our hand at macro fungi work.

At the start we had quite a bit of trouble finding any decent specimens to photograph – by the end we were finding whole groves of interesting fungi – either our searching skills had improved or we’d wandered into a better place 🙂

I used my LED macro ring light along with my SB900 shot through a popup around the lens diffuser to provide fill and in all of the following images Suren provided some additional back or top light using an LED torch.

Note: These images (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

My favourite – a lone translucent fungi in a forest of green mini fern being lit from above like a ray of sun

Faerie Light

NIKON D7000 + 90.0 mm f/2.8 @ 90 mm, 1/60 sec at f/32, ISO 1600

In this one Suren is lighting the green leaves in the distance from behind with the light more directional back towards the camera to also backlight the red semi translucent fungi (Hygrocybe miniata) itself – a real woodland faerie scene…

The Faerie Glen

NIKON D7000 + 90.0 mm f/2.8 @ 90 mm, 1/60 sec at f/32, ISO 1600

Just lighting the green leaves in the distance from behind to provide the separating background – not enough depth of field on this one however…

Toadie

NIKON D7000 + 90.0 mm f/2.8 @ 90 mm, 1/60 sec at f/36, ISO 400

The LED macro light proved useful again – if nothing else for the excellent help it gave to seeing focus in the very dark conditions in the undergrowth.

Well… it was grey and not particularly inspiring – not even the rocks when we headed around the headland at Shelly Beach at Manly…

Note: These images (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

My version of the Rocks in the Mist with a just before sunrise longer exposure

Rocks in the Mist

NIKON D7000 + 12.0-24.0 mm f/4.0 @ 14 mm, 13 sec at f/11, ISO 100

This was probably the best channel for some interesting images – here with a half second exposure for some interesting water movement

The Washing Machine

NIKON D7000 + 12.0-24.0 mm f/4.0 @ 15 mm, 1/2 sec at f/11, ISO 100

As you can see with the above image and the one below we did get a second chance sunrise with some god rays after sunrise – Suren and I switched to telephotos for some more detailed landscaping

All that is Golden

NIKON D7000 + 70.0-300.0 mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 102 mm, 1/250 sec at f/9, ISO 100

The rest, well, there wasn’t much to write home about – I tried to capture the textures of the landscape strewn with large boulders and wind and water worn sandstone on the coastline – it’s not quite there I don’t think – but you can play a game of “Where’s Gerry” if you like 🙂

Strewn

NIKON D7000 + @ 14 mm, 1/3 sec at f/11, ISO 100