Category Archives: Australia

Ballina revisited

November 1, 2018Australia, Ballina, clouds, Landscape, landscape, NSW, ocean, river/creeks, sand dunes, States, sunset, Texturesadmin

Some stitched images from Ballina. The Richmond River Lighthouse, Boulder Beach, Lighthouse Beach and south side of the Richmond River.

Bowra, Charleville, Quilpie & Eromanga

October 31, 2018Australia, AWC, Bowra, Bowra, lakes, Landscape, landscape, Qld, Quilpie, river/creeks, States, sunsetadmin

Part 2 of the recent Central New South Wales and Queensland trip has been posted. Channel Country and dinosaur fossils are the themes. Link here. Enjoy.

mghother@internode.on.net

Arnhem Land Plateau

October 24, 2018Arnhem Land, Australia, Landscape, landscape, Northern Territory, NT, Plant, river/creeks, treesadmin

A remote creek and waterfall on the Arnhem Land Plateau. It was very humid that day, so taking a refreshing dip in the creek was great, just not to close to the waterfall behind the photographer. It was a big drop. This a stitched panorama, enjoy.

A report and more pictures here.

Quilpie sunset at Lake Houndraman

October 23, 2018Australia, clouds, lakes, landscape, Landscape, Plant, Qld, Quilpie, States, sunset, Textures, treesadmin

The Doc previously posted a sunset at Quilpie during his last road trip. There was actually a series of photographs, here is a selection. Yes the colours changed from orange to bright red and finally to pink near the end of the sunset. Click on the images to see the full size, enjoy.

mghother@internode.on.net

mghother@internode.on.net

Goulburn River, Warrumbungles and the Pilliga

October 14, 2018Australia, AWC, bark, forest, Landscape, landscape, mountains, NSW, Piligia, Plant, Textures, trees, Warrumbungles NPadmin

The Doc’s last trip visited Central NSW and Outback Queensland to visit an AWC Sanctuary and visit collections of dinosaur fossils.

Part 1 concerns NSW, the Report is here.

mghother@internode.on.net

Focus stacking in the field

October 10, 2018Australia, bark, forest, Landscape, macro, NSW, Plant, Textures, treesadmin

It is been a while since The Doc’s last update, the to-do list was fairly long after the last trip. Sometimes blogging must wait.

One thing The Doc been working on is a quicker way to create focus stacked images in the field. This is primarily aimed at textures like bark, leaves, flowers, etc. The Doc is now using the Post Focus feature in a Panasonic Lumix G9 camera using an Olympus 30mm or 60mm macro lens.

The Post Focus feature can be used for focus stacking. Post Focus is a two-stage process. After placing the camera in Post Focus mode and pressing the shutter release the camera finds all the focus points in the image and then takes a 6K video of all those focus points. The process takes about 2 seconds after pressing the shutter release. The lens must be in autofocus mode.

You can stack images in-camera using the G9’s touch screen or use a program like Helicon Focus. I created some images from a recent visit to Mount Annan Botanic Gardens, The Doc used Helicon Focus in post processing (Helicon imports the 6K video then creates a super sharp focus stack). It was a windy that day limiting my subjects to barks from the Corymbia family. Below are a few images (click on image to see full size). This is a link to a 3D video of the one of the stacks, here.

East MacDonnell Ranges – travel guide

June 5, 2018Alice Springs, Australia, desert, Landscape, Northern Territory, NT, river/creeks, sand dunes, The Red Centre, Uncategorisedadmin

The Doc has written as travel and photo guide for the East MacDonnell Ranges using Alice Springs as your starting point. Guide can be viewed here.

Patrol update

April 3, 2018Artesian Range, Australia, AWC, Bowra, Charnley River, Mornington, Newhaven, Nissan Patrol, North Head, Paruna, Pungalina-Seven Emu, Scotiaadmin

The Doc has changed the Patrol recently. Due to a safety issue identified on the Northern Territory trip, The Doc installed a second UHF radio. The head unit is a GME XRS-330c matched to a RFI CD63 6dBi UHF antenna. All the controls are on the mic, which has a great OLED screen.

The XRS-330c is programable, allowing The Doc to customise frequencies (receive only), including police and emergency services. You can Bluetooth to the head unit making changes easy, by using the iPhone or Android app.

The combination is potent and outperforms my other UHF which is excellent. The new combination is excellent plus more. It has only been tested around Sydney and one short drive to Forster.

Next The Doc fitted Kut Snake flares to replace the OEM ones. These are a little wider and are attached with stainless screws, giving more side protection and a more aggressive look. The Doc painted the rear bumper matt black to match, using Peel Coat. The front LED bar was also painted with Peel Coat.

The last change was Australia flag number plates. To come are matching Australian flag side mirrors after The Doc visits Apex Decals. A picture of the new look, click to see full size. Remember to donate to Australian Wildlife Conservancy.

Lorella Springs Station, Gulf of Carpentaria, Northern Territory

February 9, 2018Australia, bark, clouds, coastal, Landscape, landscape, Northern Territory, NT, river/creeks, Texturesadmin

A few photos from Lorella Spring Station, from places like Snapping Handbag Billabong, Gateway Gorge and Teardrop Gorge. Photos taken in the dry season. At the end of the wet these places are accessible by helicopter only.

mghother@internode.on.net

The Gulf has very unusual cloud formations, on occasions, The Doc got a few images of where two airstreams met creating an unusual pattern (with some other textures from Lorella). Click to see full size image.