PHOTO TIP - LEADING LINES....

One of the easiest and most effective ways to create a great photo is with "Leading Lines".

Leading lines are a way for a photographer to communicate to an audience and guide them around or to a specific point of the photograph, without being there to talk to you.

There are a number of ways to draw the viewer around a photograph below -

Walkways and Railings.

The railing in the above image contains your eyes to centre of the image, whilst the wharf draws it off to the distnace.
Sometimes other things in an image are so unimportnat you wouldn't know they were there.
For example - Without looking, could you say how many boats are in the image? I doubt it. But surely you could tell me (still without looking) which side of the wharf the railing is on or to lesser extent which side of the wharf the white paint stripe is on.

The natural world

Sometimes the natural landscape can be a much more subtle way a photographer can isolate a viewer's eye. This rocks draw you to the right third of the image, where the water is washing through. From there you can see the morning sun piercing through the clouds.

Moving lines

Sometimes while taking images leading lines come and go. So you have to be quick!
This shot was taken as the water returned back to the ocean after an incoming set. Because of the moving directionality of the whitewash lines on the sand you feel as though you are being pull out to sea towards the large rock in the top third of frame.


So next time you are out shooting for yourself look around to see if there is an easy way to direct your audience and make your image more interesting.
Oooooor if you just like looking at others images try to figure out what you think the photographer was trying to achieve. Sometimes you might surprise yourself.

Let me know what you think.......
Catchya
Josh :)

JUST ARRIVED...

Hi all,

A little while back I blogged about "Perfect Photo Suite 6" - a new release of software from a company called onOne Software.
Well.... good news. It's arrived!
Jump over to their website, check out all the videos on what each software is capable of and even download a FREE 30 day trial.
See if it is right for you.

On One also have some FREE products too, that you can download and keep forever! Click the banner below to go there now! They even have an iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch App that lets you fire off, view and adjust your Canon or Nikon DSLR camera wirelessly. Pretty cool huh? There is a FREE version of this app, which is pretty basic, but the more advanced versions that cost upwards of $49.99.
I hope you find something worthwhile with these guys.
 

Happy shooting!
Catchya.

Josh :)

THE GET TOGETHER...

Whilst driving around The Entrance, I spotted this location only footsteps from the carpark. What drew me to this area were the vibrant green rocks and I knew I might be able to get a nice pre-dawn sky looking straight ahead.
On the day of this shoot unfortunately the pre-dawn sky wasn't to be, however I did have a nice set of drama filled clouds and to go with that, I had the company of the four pelicans just off in the distance. They look as though this is their morning meeting point, where they get together for a chat before their day begins. It almost reminds me of when I shoot at the local beaches, no matter what time of the year it is, I always see some old school surfers hanging out in the carparks and the daredevil's joining eachother for a morning budgie-smuggler icy swim.
Anyways I think this scene comes together nicely - even the subtle whispy stream just beyond the rocks.
I hope you enjoy.
Catchya
Josh :)

Meeting Point, The Entrance NSW © Josh Pitt

HERE'S THE HERO

Check out this GoPro shot entirely on the new release HD Hero2 camera. This is definitely on my list of toys to get.

They have some pretty cool new features:

• Professional 11MP Sensor
• 2x Faster Image Processor
• 2X Sharper Glass Lens
• Professional Low Light Performance
• Full 170º, Medium 127º, Narrow 90º FOV in 1080p and 720p Video
• 120 fps WVGA, 60 fps 720p, 48 fps 960p, 30 fps 1080p Video
• Full 170º and Medium 127º FOV Photos
• 10 11MP Photos Per Second Burst
• 1 11MP Photo Every 0.5 Sec Timelapse Mode
• 3.5mm External Stereo Microphone Input
• Simple Language-based User Interface
• Wi-Fi BacPac™ and Wi-Fi Remote™ Compatible (coming soon)
• Long Range Remote Control of up to 50 GoPro Cameras
• Wi-Fi Video/Photo Preview + Playback + Control via GoPro App
• Live Streaming Video and Photos to the Web

For more details visit the

WHERE'S THE HERO?....

Anyone living on or near to the NSW Central Coast should spend a sunset at the waterways of Long Jetty. There is always great foreground interest to put in your frame - from the most obvious subject of the long jetties to the ducks and the occasional boat or windsurfer.
This day was very windy and I was actually going to shoot The Entrance at sunset but decided to find somewhere a little more protected. Not because there were angry looking fishermen in my frame that didn't seem to appreciate me taking their portraits ;).
I always have good shoots at this spot, mainly due to the sky firing off some vivid colours and I thought this time would be no different. BUT it was. The setting sky didn't get to great vibrancey I had come to expect from this location.
It's hard to come back to a location and shoot it again when you are happy with the initial results. But sometimes it pays to return. Like this time. Becasue at least I knew I wasn't interested in shooting the same composition as two of my previous shots (below).

The Calm, Long Jetty NSW © Josh Pitt

Sunday, Long Jetty NSW © Josh Pitt

So I turned my attention to finding a whole new shot. When I got out of the car I spotted a large row of reasonably manucured row of reeds by the waters edge. I was fascinated by this and spent a fair amount of time trying to compose the image you see below. My tripod went up. My tripod when down. I walked to the right. I walked to the left. Until I found the right spot.
Leaving enough mystery that you can still see what is "Beyond the Reeds" - the couple watching the sunset together, the jetty, the last glimspe of the sun for the day. The sky wasn't the hero this time. And it didn't need to be. The soft setting sun was enough to draw the day to an end.

Catchya
Josh :)

Beyond The Reeds, Long Jetty NSW © Josh Pitt

THE GUARDIANS....

This is another shot capture on Killcare beach. It was taken on the same shoot as another one of my images - Morning Swirls, Killcare NSW.
While shooting that shot I could see the clouds starting to part and the light starting to penitrate. In this shot the the light has completely penitrated an opening in the clouds and was at its picturesque best when I pressed down on my remote shutter release.
I love the soft wash across the foreground and the detail in the rocks and of course the rays of light shining through. I called this shot "The Guardians" because these rocks are the front line soldiers battling against the relentless incoming swells of the ocean. Unfortunately, this a losing battle and one day the rocks will be totally eroded away but will know that they have fought gallantly up until the day.

Catchya
Josh :)

The Guardians, Killcare NSW © Josh Pitt

ROCK SOLDIERS...

Located on the NSW Central Coast - Killcare is quite a beautiful and secluded area which I had never shot there before.
On the morning of the shoot, I rose in the pitch darkness and could see a slight silvering of the clouds in the sky - I had high hopes for a dramatic image. When I arrived on location, clouds covered the entire sky and as I stepped onto the sands it began to rain! Not quite what I had in mind. Luckily, the rain soon eased and then stopped. As I wondered around towards the rocks, I noticed some beautiful green mossy rocks that had the rough ocean washing in, out and around them. I shot a number of different intervals for this composition and this was my favourite. I think I like the swirl of whitewash eye cuddling these resiliant rocks sitting on the beach is really quite interesting. It is almost as though this rock is being protected from the ocean by his rock soldiers spread in front of him. Although big, they are no much for the ocean that manages to squeeze through their guard and continue the erosion process.

Catchya
Josh

Morning Swirls, Killcare NSW © Josh Pitt

50% OFF ADOBE LIGHTROOM - TODAY ONLY

Hi guys,

I told you last week that Adobe was having a big discount on Lightroom. Well here it is Today only - Get 50% off Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3. Offer ends October 11, 2011.
I hope this helps someone get the software they've been after. Just remember the offer is only for today.
Cathya
Josh :)

BUT WAIT. THERES MORE...

Hi all,
Yesterday I wrote about Adobe's new Photoshop Elements 10.
But there is another award winning company doing big things with photography software. "On One Software" is a name that not many people may be familiar with but after ready this you should check out their pending new release software suite - "Perfect Photo Suite 6". It is due for release in late October, however it can be pre-ordered now.
Now to be honest I haven't used all the components of the suite, so please don't take my word for it to go and purchase the whole suite. Like Adobe you can trial all onOne's software before you buy.
However the products I have tried include:

Perfect Resize 7 - is an industry leading image enlargement software. This software gives you the ability to upsize your image up to 1000% of what is normally recommended.
Just last week I put it to the test by getting one of my images printed at Created For Life . Admittedly it was only a 30" x 20". But with the image saved and printed at 400dpi, the lines were clearly smoother to that of the photoshop save.
This is particularly important for budding photographers who would like to be able to sell LAAAARGE prints.

Perfect Mask is a product that I have trialled. It is very clever and works differently to that of Photoshop's selection tool. What Perfect Mask does is quite simple - it allows you to select which colours you would like to keep and which you would like to delete from your image. What this does is it allows you to mask in/out fine details like branches, hair, anything really. This is clever because it doesn't get confused with lines or edges (as Photoshop does sometimes). Instead it just works with colours and therefore doesn't easily get confused.
I guess it is quite helpful for portrait, fashion or commercial photographers who want to drop models, products, cars and other objects into exotic locations without having to actually travel there.

Check out all the other products that are available by visiting onOne Software.   

Thanks for reading.
Catchya,
Josh

IT HAS ARRIVED...

Hi all,
Sorry my blog has been a bit dormant for a little while, I have been so busy with my day time job. But over the last month or so there has been a little bit happening.
I got an email the other day from Adobe to say that they were just about to release Photoshop Elements 10. Since then, it has since been released!
Below is an excerpt of the email sent from Adobe. Check out the new features and visit the link at the bottom of the post to see some video previews of how the new features work.
Keep in mind you can trial all Adobe software before you buy it, so you can feel comfortable with your choice.

Catchya,
Josh :)

Free Shipping on the NEW Photoshop Elements 10 through November 20th only at Adobe.com

NEW! Photoshop Elements 10: The #1 selling consumer photo-editing software. Photoshop Elements 10 software lets you turn everyday memories into sensational photos with a complete photo-editing solution.

• Make every photo look its best with powerful options that take the work out of image editing.
• Create photo books, cards, calendars, and other printed mementos that look just the way you want.
• Quickly share your photos anywhere, including on Facebook and YouTube and in fun, interactive Online Albums.
• Enjoy your photos and videos virtually anywhere you are, and get automatic online backup with 2GB of free storage.
• Enhance specific photo areas with dozens of new Smart Brush effects and patterns.

Top New Features:

• Paint effects onto specific photo areas
• Easily create stunning photo effects
• Add curving, flowing text to you photos
• Tag faster using your Facebook Friends list
• Find photos that contain specific objects
• Get better composition with crop guides
• Enhanced management of even the biggest photo library
• Get fresh looks with new templates
• Save photo creations with greater flexibility 

FUNNY STORY...

What trip to Katoomba would be complete, without a visit to the Echo Point lookout and "the three sisters" - a rock formation over-looking the Jamison Valley?
According to Aboriginal dreamtime legend there were three sisters (Meehni', 'Wimlah' and Gunnedoo') who lived in the Jamison Valley as members of the Katoomba tribe. These sisters fell in love with three men from a neighbouring tribe (the Nepean tribe), but marriage was forbidden by tribal law. The brothers were not happy to accept this law and so decided to use force to capture the three sisters causing a major tribal battle. Battle ensued, and the sisters were turned to stone by an elder to protect them, but he was killed in the fighting and no one else could turn them back. Story courtesy of wikipedia.

I had arrived for a sunset the night before this was shot and it just wasn't happening for me. For one, a rival photographer had parked himself in prime location, and secondly it was hard to take a photo for yourself with every other person asking you to take a picture of them ;P . My wife found it quite amusing, watching from the top viewing platform. In particular she had to laugh at the very rude "rival photographer" who flat out refused to take photos for anyone else. However, there was a very persistent tourist who wouldn't take no for an answer and kept buzzing around like a fly to poo. But as far as we know the rival kept his nerve and won the battle against the tourist. Poor tourist! (I actually took a photo for the guy earlier - he mustn't have been happy with mine haha).

Sunset wasn't the best to shoot on this particular day as there wasn't many clouds to diffuse the light an harsh shadows were appearing everywhere. Unfortunately, I had somewhere to be that night so I couldn't hang around for the after glow.

I returned in the morning to find the valley was covered in fog. I waited for about an hour for the fog to lift until finally I was ready to head back. I took one more look and noticed the fog was all heading away and revealing the rock formations and valley before me. By this time everyone had vanished and I was there on my lonesome. Yeeeewwww! I stayed for about another hour until everyone started turning up and this is one of the images I captured.

It's hard to get a unique shot of this location because there is only so many ways you can shoot it.You will notice the remnants of the fog out in the valley.

The Three Sisters, Blue Mountains NSW © Josh Pitt

TRANSLATE THAT FEELING...

I just wanted to do a quick post of a picture I snapped while away in the Blue Mountains.
For those of you that have visited Katoomba, the first (and maybe every) time you look out across the Jamison valley at any number of lookouts - you get that awe inspiring feeling of the sheer majesty of the scene you are looking at and sometimes it's hard to translate what you are seeing and what you are feeling through your photography.
Sometimes it pays to step back and includes a piece of foreground or a person to show scale. In the photo below I included some people on the edge of the bottom Echo Point lookout, I think it gives you an idea of how BIG these majestic canyons are.
Enjoy!
Catchya
Josh

Echo Point Lookout, Katoomba NSW © Josh Pitt

PLAN B REIGNS SURPREME...

On a recent getaway to the Blue Mountains I was hoping to get "the Three Sisters" at sunrise. Luckily we had booked accommodation in Katoomba so we were nice and close. Even though, I set the alram for 530am to make the 2 mintue drive to the Echo Point lookout. As we got outside there was a lot of fog around! And I mean a lot of fog! I thought "Great!", this would add an interesting effect to an otherwise commonly photographed subject. When we arrived there was no-one in sight. No wonder! You could not see a thing! It was quite a eerie feeling when you looked over the edge only to see a nothingness. It actually made your knees got to jelly.
We waited around for about an hour to see if the fog would lift, but with no luck (it actually took until 3pm). So not to waste our early start, we travelled to nearby Leura - to visit the Leaura Cascades. Only a short walk from the carpark, there are a series of falls. This one is nestled just of the track, before you head around and onto other lookouts looking over the Blue Mountains. 
My wife patiently waited for me to shoot for a good couple of hours and we had a bit of a joke that this image was one of the first half a dozen frames I shot and therefore we could have left and saved a lot of time. Thanks Rachy!
There were a number of things that drew me into this image. One being, the obvious one - the silky waterfall. Another being the great colour of the grreny/yellowy pool and the brown interesting rocks, in the foreground. It was quite slippery around here, so yet again I was paranoid about dropping my equipment.....again.
All in all it was a fantasic shoot and I am really happy with the final capture.

Sometimes your plans don't really go to plan, so you have to improvise and check out new locations. The key is to know your surroundings, even if your an out-of-towner. That way you can make the most of your trip away.

Catchya
Josh

Cascade Cove, Leura NSW © Josh Pitt

THE RACE IS ON...

Recently, I returned to a local beach of which I haven't really explored too much before. Upon arriving there I wasn't really sure where or what I wanted to shoot. The one thing I did know was that I needed to keep an eye on the cloudy sky, because I had a feeling it was going to be good.
I wandered around testing some spots but wasn't happy with anything I was framing. I spotted some rocks on the shoreline that was being pumbled by the surf. The surf swell was quite big and rough, so I had to be careful when I ventured out on the rocks. They were so slippery!
I was trying to find a spot that created some nice lines to add some directionality to the composition, when all of a sudden off in the distance I could see a single beam of light bursting from the clouds. This is where my leisurely sunrise shoot turned into a frantic race against time to capture something different utilising the radiating sky. It was like someone fired the starters gun! The clock was ticking until the light was gone.
I spotted a gap in the rocks where the water was rushing in, but to get there I had to cross a slippery, flowing, little watercourse. Using my tripod as a three legged walking stick to balance me as I tip-toed through the stream, I got where I wanted to go. Albeit a bit wet.

By the time I had made it to this spot, the sun was higher in the sky and luckily for me, the clouds had parted enough to have created multiple fingers of light beaming through. I shot off a few frames, just so I had something to show for my effort (just incase the moment passed). Then I waited for the next lot of sets to come through, so I could have another element to my image - movement. It wasn't long until I had a nice whitewash in my foreground.
Again, a great level of satisfaction was achieved.
I hope you are enjoying my latest shots.

Catchya
Josh :)

Radiance, Wamberal NSW © Josh Pitt

THE DEADLY CAPTURE....

Whilst shooting on Avoca beach the other day, there was some reasonable cloud cover. Which if you usually read my posts, I usually carry on about how good it is to have a bit of cloud cover - 1. to create some drama and 2. to allow a long shoot, because the light stays reasonably neutral and not over exposed. This day was one of those days! After shooting on the beach, the light was still great so I ventured around the rocks to see what was new. On this day there was a bit of swell around and the water had obviously been washing up on the rocks considerably, because they were very wet and had a number of pools around.
One tip I would give (which is pretty obvious) is to watch and monitor what the ocean is doing - how often and where the water is rushing over the rocks. This is particular important if you want to get closer to the edge without getting washed out to sea. I was a little nervous at the point I shot this image because I thought I had misjudged the incoming sets, to the point of getting ultra wet, dropping my equipment, slipping on the wet rocks and being taken out to sea or all four. I stood frozen as the light rays spread from behind the cloud - creating something unusual and breathtaking. I watched as the area just beyond the foreground rock sucked dry and then the ocean began to engulf the rocky ledge. Once. Twice. And finally a third time, which was the largest. Like I said - I was frozen. Intent on making a unique image I held my ground and luckily the swell fell short of me. After checking the shot in camera, I took this as a bit of a warning and vacated the area for dryer ground and packed up for the day.

Upon reviewing the days shoot I was super stoked to see the result of my mornings work. Particularly, because I can still feel the feeling of accomplishment after setting yourself a goal and achieving it.

The Light, Avoca NSW © Josh Pitt

Seeya
Josh :)

I WAS BLINDED, BUT NOW I SEE...

...By the sky that is. Armed with a brand new set of Neutral Density graduated filters (AKA ND Grads), I set off to a location I had been to many times before, to test them out.
For those who are thinking "what the hell are you talking about!", let me give you a quick explanation.
Filters are either circular and screwed onto the lens or square/rectangle and in a specially affixed mount on the lens. There are many types of filters available today and what they are designed to do is - create effects, correct exposures and improve photos in general. The particular set I got are a series of tinted black to clear filters with varying intensities. What this helps to do, is to correct the exposure between the sky and foreground/subject. For example - when the sun rises, to a camera, the sky is a lot brighter than the foreground and needs help to expose everything correctly or as we would see it in real life. Cameras are similar to the human eye in many ways, but one thing it cannot do is compute multiple exposures in one scene. The human eye is so sophisicated it adjusts to the scene depending what we are focussed on. What this filter does is cuts out a % of light to a certain parts of the scene so it comes back into line with the fully exposed (or clear part of the filter).

In the image below I used the filters to tone down the sky so I could have the clouds visable (because they were very cool!) at the same time as the waves. I liked this shot because of the contrast water. Not in colour, but in movement. You'll notice many different things happening - to the right third of the image, the wash is almost frozen, whereas the the mid-bottom left a wave has broken right on the shore and catapulted towards me and drenched my socks you can also see the future breaks slowly moving towards the shore.

Seeya
Josh :) 

Rush, Avoca Beach NSW © Josh Pitt

CHANGING FACES....

Sometimes if pays to go back to locations you have already shot. Because they are always evolving or you may have missed something first time around.

I began this shoot with an idea where I wanted to go, but soon changed my mind because I didn't realise the amount of trees and things in the way. I started to really run late, with a fast rising sun. I made my way down to the surf club carpark at Terrigal, to try for plan B.

I got my power walk on (I really felt the buuurn) and quickly found myself around plan B - the lagoon! After some recent heavy surf it has developed a raging channel - you can see the clean cuts in the sand. It was even collapsing as I was shooting. You can see the big cracks! But what caught my attention was the water going in and out of the channel to go with the shine of the sun across the water.

Again there was a very clear sky, so other parts of the scene needed to capture people's attention in lieu of this. I hope I managed to do this.

Josh :)

Out to Sea, Terrigal NSW © Josh Pitt

SEE THE WORLD DIFFERENTLY (FINAL PART)...

Finally #1. How this was captured will blow your mind!

Truly amazing result!

SEE THE WORLD DIFFERENTLY (PART 4)...

Numbers 3 & 2 from the National Geographic editor-in-chief's top ten of 2009.
Awesome!

SEE THE WORLD DIFFERENTLY (PART 3)...

Another installment in National Geographic top ten photos of 2009. This video contains the 6th, 5th and 4th images, as judged by editor-in-chief Chris Johns.
I hope these are helping you to see the world differently....

SEE THE WORLD DIFFERENTLY (PART 2)...

Two more extraordinary images and their stories.

Josh :)

SEE THE WORLD DIFFERENTLY...

Hi Guys,

The other night I was watching a show on the National Geographic Channel and a show called Most Amazing Photo's. I think the title says it all! Below is a clip of some of the editor-in-chief, Chris Johns' Top ten favourite photos as published in Nat Geo mag.

I think anyone wanting to become a real photographer, needs to watch this and see what it takes to create some of the most emotive images ever.
Nat Geo photographers have a unique skill to be able to look at the world differently to everyone else.

I hope you enjoy! I also hope it gives you some inspiration to challenge yourself with photography.
Josh :)

A BEAUTIFUL MORNING....

This time I ventured to Toowoon Bay to shoot around a T-shape sandbar. I was excited to see a heavily cloud populated sky and even more excited to see a slight gap between the horizon and the bottom of the clouds. I know that this sky would pop! But a nice sky is only part of the image, I had to find some nice foreground to go with it. There were a lot of rocks behind me which were a definite candidate, but I decided upon something simpler. I loved the wash lines in the sand and the waves beginning to break.
It all came together as the sun popped it's nose above the horizon and added another element - a reflection.
 I had to keep an eye on the incoming swells, which could have soaked me!
A good place to experiment with some more.

Josh :)

Morning Wash, Toowoon Bay NSW © Josh Pitt

AFTER THE WET...

Recently, the Central Coast has experienced some very heavy rain. And with a couple of my days off coming up, I was hoping it would clear so I could go and do some shooting. Well the good news was it wasn't raining on my days off and the even better news was their was still some nice cloud around.
I wanted to expand my portfolio, by shooting more Central Coast beaches. Shelly Beach was a place that I had been to a while ago, but didn't get much out of it.
Upon arriving there I took a walk along the beach and watched the surf to see what it was doing, becasue I had noticed lots of sand had collapsed on the shore due to the dangerous surf and after observing it for a bit, I noticed that there were some big rocks poking through as the waters receeded. Because the surf was so irradic, I couldn't get close enough to the rocks to be happy with the result, so I would wait until the water start receeding back out to sea and I would run in, jam my tripod in the sand and shoot. It created a nice sense of movement in the foreground and around the rock, where the water was meeting resistance with the incoming waters coming in.
I must confess - I left with wet socks on this trip. Because whilst I was watch the water directly in front of me, I wasn't watch the incoming from the right of frame.
Regardless, I was super stoked with the result achieved.

Enjoy!
Josh :)

Emergence, Shelly Beach NSW © Josh Pitt

THE BEST IMAGES POSSIBLE...

...This is what we all strive for and I want to give you a helping hand to achieve this.
One of the other photo editing software I use is OnOne Software.
In particular the one below. Printing your image correctly is one of the most important parts of photography, without this ability you will never be able to achieve the ultimate wow's of the professional industry. And if your happy to print your images to just to show your family and friends? Good for you! If I was you, I wouldn't worry about the product mentioned below. But definitely worth a read if you wish to take your photography to the next level.   

Perfect Resize 7 (formally known as Genuine Fractuls) - 
This is what is known as a "photoshop plug-in". Plug-ins are thrid party applications that can be used inside Photoshop. This one in particular, has the ability to upsize your images up to 800% their native size and keep the clarity regardless (to an extent) of the megapixel size of you camera (see the graph below). It also allows you to upscale to 400dpi print resolution. This is helpfully when getting professional print labs to print your work. They would normally produce it in 200dpi, unless advised to produce to 400dpi. Don't worry they can upscale it for you, if you don't mind paying a little bit extra. Cheeky aren't they! Not really, it's a manual larbour thing. If they had to resize every single file that came through they would hardly get any work done.
Hang on a sec Josh! Can't Photoshop upscale to 400dpi too? You betcha! But does it do the same job? Photoshop has been the world leader in retouching for years. But many would consider it not perfect in all disciplines. There are some of these large stand alone companies that inject a lot of money into the development of specific products to work inside of photoshop. Typically they focus on these particular  disciplines because photoshop may be weaker and they see it as an opportunity to capitalise on this segment of editing.
Below are some image examples of the difference between Photoshop's Bicubic Smoother (best for enlargement) image resize and OnOne Software Perfect Resize 7.

                             

Hyponotised yet??
Below is a table that will give you an idea how big your image could go with Perfect Resize 7. There is an interactive version on their website that you can play around with by clicking here and looking in "what's new in Perfect resize 7". But as an example I have done a 12 megapixel camera at 300dpi. As we can see, what would ordinarily have been only able to produce a 14" x 10" enlargement can now produce a 115" x 75" enlargement. Pretty cool! Firstly, I'm not sure how many people could hang a 115" x 75" image in their house nicely, but you get the picture (excuse the pun).

 

As per usually these days all the software companies have free trials of their products so there is nowhere to hide, when making claims, and On One Software is no different. You can try Perfect Resize 7 or any other of their products, (for that matter) FREE for 30 days with no restrictions. To with the trial they also they have some big savings to be had at the moment. Just click on the graphic below to see what on sale. I know it says "Summer Savings" all the southern hemispherian (is that a word) people - On One is based out of UK and US.
I'm not sure how long this sale is on for? One would imagine all of summer? Anyway you can get it for $99.95 at the moment (RRP $159.95). While you are there you may see more value in getting the full suite of On One Software tools, known as Perfect Photo Suite 5.5, for $299.95 instead of RRP $499.95. But before you buy it, check out the free training videos which will show you all the features for each.

i hope this helps you get on the way to producing some really cool stuff! If you have any questions let me know.
Happy shooting.
Josh :)

PHOTOSHOP LEARNING

Hey peeps,

I found this video by a a guy called Terry White who is a photoshop genius. It shows you some very cool features in the newest version of Photoshop - CS5. For those who don't currently own photoshop it might spur you on to try it for yourself (remember it's FREE for 30 days) and for everyone who currently own photoshop it might show you some new things you haven't used yet.

Enjoy!
Josh

THE BATTLE OF BATEAU BAY...

The Battle, Bateau Bay NSW © Josh Pitt

My first shoot out at Bateau Bay NSW. I discovered this interesting counteracting section of water which had me mesmorised by its directionality. I shood there for quite a while trying to figure out how to shoot it best. Once I got home I ended up choosing one of my first captures. I think it was because I liked the longer exposure (compared to my other shoots) - 3.2sec.

The scene almosts resembles that of a battle scene in Lord of the Rings, with both sides rushing towards each other and occasionly the team running left to right would take the spoils when reinforcements would arrive from the surging ocean behind.

A LITTLE GEM AT PEARL...

First Light, Pearl Beach NSW © Josh Pitt

My first shoot at Pearl Beach was a an exciting experience. I was like a kid in a candy store when I got there, once it got lighter. I say that because I arrived quite early in the pitch black and ventured out onto the beach to set off to shoot the ocean bath I had heard about (luckily I had my trusty torch). There were so many subjects to shoot I didn't know where to start, there were - green rocks, red rocks, water rushing in, water rushing over and off the pool, a beautiful warm sandy beach. Plus the headland blocked the sun for a a good while after it had risen, allowing me to keep shooting for longer than normal, but also diffusing the light nicely enabling a nice even exposure.
I love the cute little row of houses in the distance catching the morning's rays (I say cute however some of the them are massive homes).
There were also some homes with big windows behind me which actually reflected the sunlight and lit up my scene nicely.
Definitely worth another visit.

Josh :)

EXPERIMENT WITH DIFFERENT EXPOSURES...

Shallows, MacMasters Beach NSW © Josh Pitt

It has been a while between shoots at Macs. I knew exactly what I wanted to shoot on this occasion - the ocean bath at the southern end of the beach. It always remains calm and you can get some really nice reflections. On this shoot I noticed the lines in the sand under the water and wanted to be able to show the in my final shot. I was able to create a very interesting image with the sand lines because as the water got deeper and closer to the horizon the reflection gets more intense and the lines disappear.
Sometimes when you are out shooting, you might struggle to accurately portray the scene you see. At times like this you need to take a deep breathe and experiment with different exposures until you can see your plan coming good. Don't be afraid to shoot multiple exposures to compensate for different areas of the image and then post-processing those aspects together.

Josh :)

THIRD TIME LUCKY....

Silhouettes at Koolewong NSW © Josh Pitt

 Although this one is shot at a location close to my home, it's a place that I don't often shoot at. Maybe its because on the two occasions I went there for the sunrise it was really overcast and bleak and I didn't come away with a shot I liked. Third time lucky they say. This time around, there were hardly any clouds in the sky and this allowed me to get the beautiful warm feeling. The conditions were extremely calm which let me shoot with a 1/2 sec shutter speed and not have too much movement in the boats. It's a very simple capture, but I think that's what I like about it. I hope you do too.

MUST HAVE SOFTWARE + PLUS SPECIALS...

Hi all,
One of the most important things about photography is having a great editing software and as far as I am concerned, the only way to go is choosing one from the Adobe stable of world class image editing programs. I have been using Adobe's software for a few years now and frankly - I don't know what I'd do without it. (Sort of sounds like I'm sponsored by Adobe doesn't it haha - I WISH!) But in all honesty, if you are serious about photography, I would thoroughly recommend these guys.
I know that photography editing suites can be a little daunting at first, I was once there myself. But after some practise they are a must have piece of any serious photographer's kit. Plus there is a wealth of information out there on this software and I will be producing some more FREE photoshop tutorial to help you all out. You can visit www.joshpitt.com to see some of my work or past posts of this blog for a look at some tutorials I've done previously (currently only 2 tuts).

By the way - you can download and try any of Photoshops programs for free for 30 days. This gives you a great idea of which one will suit your level of photography, by allowing you to freely play around with the software as you would be able to, if you purchased it. I currently use Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended (to be exact!), but Adobe Elements 9 will suit beginner photographers looking for an affordable software to edit your photos. It comes with many of the same tools that CS5 does, with exception of some the more advanced editing tools a professional would expect. There are three versions of photoshop at present - "Elements 9", "Lightroom 3" and "CS5". The vary in price and functionality. Like I said try it for 30 days and after the 30 days you can purchase that version or leave it - no harm done.

Try Photoshop for 30 days for FREE 


If you are a student or teacher, you can get up to 80% off the Photoshop software. This is great news if you are at school, TAFE, university or other accredited education outlet. Allowing you to save AU$897 on Photoshop CS5, taking it down to $183 inc GST when you choose to download purchase it. Pretty cool huh. But like I said it's only for "students or teachers" - you are required to provide proof of your student or teacher student in order to able to register the product and essentially use it.

Don't worry if your not eligible for an educational discount, Adobe has other specials for everyone else.

Current special offers on Adobe products include up to 80% off for students or teachers - Australian site

Current special offers on Adobe products include up to 80% off for students or teachers - North American site




Hope this helps.
Josh :)

PHOTOSHOP CS5 - EDITING WITH BLENDING MODES

Hi all,
Just spent a little while putting together another photoshop tutorial. This one highlights how quick, easy and effective blending layers are to use. If you have any questions please let me know.
Take a look at the before and after below -

Click here to see the tutorial - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1Svh2gzJIg 

or watch below

Enjoy.
Josh :)

PHOTOSHOP CS5 BASIC LEVELS TUTORIAL...

Hi everyone,
Please see below my first tutorial video. This one will take you through the some simple levels adjustment layers on Photoshop CS5. It is very basic and is geared at a beginner photoshopper. Click the youtube button on the bottom of the video so you can watch it larger on the screen.
I hope you enjoy and please feel free to comment below or on facebook if you have any questions or do not understand something. There will be more to come, stay tuned......

Quick! Turnaround...

Sometimes when shooting a sunrise or sunset you need to turnaround instead of trying to shoot where the sun is, because when you do, you may see a really cool glow. This is what happened on my shoot at North Avoca - I was busy trying to compose a shot over on the rock platform, which wasn't working well because I needed a little bit more light. So I turned around and saw the morning glow behind me, which was quite intense. I had remembered some rocks that would make great foreground interest, so I shot off the rock platform to set up to shoot the glow, the rock and get some water movement. You can even see some surfers getting ready to paddle out. After shooting this image, I then returned to my earlier compositionto finish it becasue the light was now much better.

Morning Glow, North Avoca NSW © Josh Pitt

Available at www.joshpitt.com .

Hope you enjoy.
Josh :)

COME AND BE ENCHANTED...

This week I decided to go and shoot a place I had been only once before - North Avoca. I was hoping to find a new angle different to my original shot "Morning Streams".
On this visit the sky was totally clear, not a cloud to be seen, so this focused my attention more on the rocks or beach (instead of the sky). I came back to the little stream running down the rocks and had me fascinated once again with the movement of the water within the miniature rock canyon.
 I wanted to shoot the scene from very low down, so as to focus the viewers attention primarily on the tiny waterfall. I spread my camera legs out very wide so I could get as low as possible to avoid any surrounding distractions.
I choose this name, because to me, the image has a magical quality about it that facinates me when I look into it.

Enchant, North Avoca NSW © Josh Pitt

Available at www.joshpitt.com.

Thanks for stopping by.
Josh :)

MY NEW TOYS....FIRST USE!

Having just recently had a birthday, I was surprised on the big day by my wife, who had been conspiring with her dad for the last little while to get me some Lee filters. I was lucky enough to get 2 sets of filters - a sunset set and a neutral density (ND) graduated set....well sort of - the ND Grad set has been so popular of late that Lee in the UK were out of stock for up to 8 weeks. Yikes! But I did get my sunset set :)
This was the first usage. Inparticular the orange filter, this gives the shot a nice warming.
I had been to Forrester's to shoot before so I knew I wanted to revisit a rock platform to have a little play with my new toys. I remembered that these platforms have the best highlights of mossy green that I have seen around here on the coast! Another good thing about this location is that the sun stays hidden for a while, allowing you to shoot for longer with nice light. I like how the scene has come together - with the green, the little pool alongside the green and the sun poking around the headland.

I hope you enjoy it too.

Josh :)

Delight, Forrester's Beach NSW © Josh Pitt

"LIFE'S LIKE A BOX OF CHOCOLATES..."

"...you never know what you're gonna get." I think most people would have heard this famous quote and in a way, for me, it refers to photography.
Those mornings that you would rather be doing anything (sleeping!) but getting up at 4am to go and shoot the sunrise somewhere, only to find that the weather is incredibly overcast and chances of a beautifully colour sky are zero. That time is the best for dragging yourself out of the car and pressing the shutter a few times, before you turnaround and drive home in a huff. Because while you're out there everyone else has gone home or not bothered at all and that way you will have the shot that no one else does.
This image was shot on a morning like that. I got out to Terrigal on a pretty miserable day and decided to get out considering I was already there and it wasn't yet raining. Quite a long exposure at 48 seconds, it creates interesting movement in both the sky and water.And there is such a nice hue of blue where the water starts to deepen.

Blue Dawn, Terrigal NSW

Available at www.joshpitt.com

Josh :)

GREAT SOUTHERN LAND

The Outback, Yulara NT

Shot from the air in the Northern Territory, enroute for an aerial loop of Uluru and Kata Tjuta.
Most people would visit the Northern Territory Australia to see one thing - Uluru. And why wouldn't you? It's amazing! However, after going there with Uluru firmly set in my sights I soon discovered that you should turn your head once in a while, to see the amazing landscape beyond this wonderous sight. Having gone up in the air, I was able to experience a different perspective of our outback.
The clouds helped shooting this image, shielding the earth from the glaring sun and creating some nice shadows and contrast throughout.
To celebrate the land Australian's live in, I will be releasing this image titled The Outback, Yulara NT

THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY...ALMOST

Last night I sat down at my computer and flicked through some of my old shoots and actually discovered a few shots that I missed at the time of processing, that I really like this time around.
As a photographer, one of the best pieces of advise I could give is - to constantly look at your old shoots with fresh eyes to see if there was that one shot that you missed first time around that could be a winner or that could be viewed in a different light now (so to speak).
The image below was shot almost 1 year ago on a trip I went on to the Northern Territory. One of the options on the trip was to take a helicopter flight over Uluru & Kata Tjuta, which I couldn't refuse.
The landscape from the air in that area is something that has to be seen to be believed. Standing at almost 350m high and 9.5km around its base, Uluru is known as a monadnock or inselberg, which is a small mountain that rises abruptly from a virtually level surrounding plain.
As you can see in the image below Uluru is located in middle of nowhere - almost 350km south-west of the nearest largest town, Alice Springs.
For those of you that have been lucky enough to visit the rock, you might agree that it certainly has an eerie presence when you see and experience it. Not a bad prescence, just an undescribable prescence. And for me, each time I look through my images of this area I can relive that feeling. I hope you do too.

Uluru from the Air, NT

Over the coming days I will post these new/old shots. Each of these images will be available for purchase through www.joshpitt.com . Please leave any comments below.

Many thanks,
Josh :)

Lazy Days in Thailand

This image was taken on one of the sunrises I shot while in Thailand. I had noticed this palm overhanging on the beach and new I had to get a shot. I tried a multitude of angles but chose this one at the end of the day because I thought this angle was the most unique and I love the way the sun warms up the trunk.

Lazy Days, Koh Samui Thailand

This will available on www.joshpitt.com shortly.

Josh

THAILAND'S ELEPHANTS

One of the highlights of one my trip to Thailand was being able to get up close with elephants. For such large creatures they are incredibly gentle, you can see and feel it in their eyes and demeanor. The younger ones are so playful and very cheeky.
Where ever there were elephants, there was a small stall with someone selling bananas - so you could feed them. They were incredibly inexpensive, at about 50 baht (AU$1.75) for a whole bunch. The idea was to get as much mileage out of your bananas as possible by feeding the elephants one by one. At times you could see how much more intelligent the elephants than the tourists. When the elephants would see someone approaching with a bunch of bananas with one outstretched in the left hand, they would quickly reach for their right hand to snatch they remaining half dozen bananas. Quite hilarious!

To celebrate these wonderful animals, I have released this brand new image. It was shot after we were treated to a little show of the very cool tricks.

Enjoy!
Josh

Gentle Souls, Phuket Thailand © Josh Pitt

IT'S ALWAYS DARKEST BEFORE THE DAWN....

.....It's a good bit of advice. No matter how dark it can get, sometimes you just have to wait for the dawn to be able to seize an opportunity.
This one was a real gift. I was so happy to be able to experience this scene, which was a little surreal as I walked around the rocks at Terrigal Haven to see this amazing glow permeating from the sky. I must say the bright yellow strip along the horizon looked quite bizarre and maybe a little out of place, but maybe not as bizarre as me frantically trying to set up and shoot before the intensity disappeared (I wasn't going to miss this one!). The whole scene just went together - the sky, the reflection and the natural vignette that had unfolded in front of me.
This was actually plan B of my shoot on this day, because I had originally wanted to shoot around the Terrigal Beach rock pool, but there is an annoying floodlight shining nearby there that really plays games with the lighting.
The other nice feature of this image is the special aligning of Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter, in the centre of frame in the sky. Very cool! Even though I could only make out 3 planets? But they tell me there is a forth there somewhere.

Glow, Terrigal NSW © Josh Pitt