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 :)