Gembikei Gorge

Well the locals call this Gembikei gorge. I was expecting something bigger with the title of gorge.

Anyway, while I was there I took a few shots from various angles. This one kind of stuck out as being worthy of posting. I liked it for the simple blue-yellow colour complement. I purposefully cut of the top of the water source since it was just white and green and would add nothing to the image from a colour standpoint. I also wanted to keep it a little more abstract rather than "finish" the photo.





Gembikei Gorge
Canon PowerShot G10 at 50mm EFL
0.4s, f/4 & IOS 80 - tripod mounted



What do you think? Do you want to see where the water is coming from or do you enjoy the mystery?

Timeless

For something a little different. Here's a black and white image.

I found this old cart in one of the samurai gardens of Chiran, Southern Japan. It was rather rundown but had an old rustic charm about it. I converted the image to black and white to more emphasis it's timeless appearance.

Timeless
Canon EOS Kiss X Digital with a Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM at 35mm EFL
1/25s, f/4.5 & ISO 100 - handheld

Do you like the conversion? Would you prefer to see the colour version?

Edit: 6 Jan 2011

Here is the colour version.

Timeless
The above image in colour

Jumping Spider

Hi All,

Here's a photo of a jumping spider. He was quite active, always looking straight at the camera as I moved around taking photos at different angles.

I quite like the surrounding complementary colours of the spider's environment which contrast with the neutral colours of the spider itself.

Jumping Spider
Canon EOS Kiss X digital with a Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM at 160mm EFL
1/400, f/4 & ISO 400 - handheld

In this shot, I was going for an environmental portrait of a spider. So my question is, do the colours visually overwhelm the spider? Should I try to crop a little tighter to bring more focus to the spider.

The French Alps

Here's a shot taken while on a climbing holiday in the French Alps.

I liked the trail leading into the mountains with jagged peak everywhere. The two climbers are so small, emphasising the scale of these mountains.

However I don't really like the two paragliders who are setting up their flying machines on the mountain. While small, once noticed their presence takes on a lot of visual weight. I'd like to clone them out but such a task is beyond the capabilities of Lightroom.



The French Alps
Canon PowerShot S30 at 35mm EFL
1/1000s, f/6.3 & ISO ???



What do you think? Should I get rid of them or leave them.

Another dragon in the garden

Hi Gents,

While I was doing landscaping in the backyard, I had another friendly little visitor. Tools down, run inside and grab the camera.

I was trying to show the amazing colours that these little guys have up close. I was also testing how much difference there is between f/11 and f/16 in terms of acceptable sharp focus. (I notice that it looks different in terms of saturation on every monitor I have which is annoying, but hopefully I have it right for a happy medium now.)

How did I go?

Canon 40D, Canon 100mm Macro lens, Canon 580 Ex II flash.
1/250 sec at f/16, ISO 100.

Cheers!
Craig.

Dragons in the garden

Hi Gents,

I haven't been out anywhere exciting lately, so this was another image from my garden. I was hanging out clothes to dry on the line and noticed that this little guy was a bit cranky that I was walking past his nice sunny spot.
I had other photos that didn't cut his tail off, but this was the best of him really putting on a display.

Canon 40D.
Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM at 125mm.
1/45 s at f/9.5, ISO 200
Image 1.
What can I do to get the BBC publishing arm to give me a ring and include my photos in their books?

-- Updated 2010-01-26.
Here is the same Bearded Dragon about a week earlier while sitting in another garden and shedding its skin. It looked a lot more raggard at this stage which is why I did not include much of the rest of its body. I also managed to get lucky and have him looking directly at me. He didn't do this for very long though. I really didn't want to have anything man made in the image though, as you can see my garden wall at the bottom of the frame which is a pity.

Canon 40D.
Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM at 195mm.
1/180 s at f/8.0, ISO 250
Image 2.

Cheers
Craig.

Junagarh Architecture

Hi All

Here's a shot of the Junagarh Fort in Bikaner, India.

I wanted to show it's rather unique architectural style with the lower levels made from red sandstone and the upper levels in an off-white colour. On the day, the sky was quite stormy which I thought worked well with the colours already present.

 

Junagarh Architecture

Canon EOS Kiss X Digital with a Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM at 26mm EFL

1/250s, f/11 & ISO 100

How do you feel about it?