Category Archives: Landscape

The Cape – Australia’s far north – the final day

Australia, AWC, Brooklyn, Cape York, landscape, Landscape, Piccaninny Plains, Qld, river/creeks, trees, Wildlife

The final day of the trip from Weipa to Port Douglas, via Piccaninny Plains, Oyala Thumotang National Park, Archer & Coen Rivers, Coen, Lakefield National Park, AWC’s Brooklyn Sanctuary and its luxurious mountain rainforests of this World Heritage Listed area.Report and photos here. Enjoy.

 

Cape York – tricks used

Australia, Cape York, Landscape, mountains, Qld

There are a few challenges spending 4 days shooting from a helicopter. A few tricks The Doc used:

  • he fitted a 24-70mm lense. This gave enough range to take different landscape shots from the helicopter. This Canon lense is very sharp. Because you are further away from the subject in a helicopter you, can shoot at F8, rather than F11 or higher. However you cannot zoom close in, the reason why the helicopter got close to the first crocodile. You could have 2 cameras, but that becomes hard to handle – The Doc tried and gave up after the first session;
  • focus one third down the frame. So The Doc moved the focus point to the bottom of the frame for many, but not all photos;
  • be conscious of the horizon. In a helicopter it is changed all the time, tilting left, than right or up and down. Be conscious of the camera being level when shooting. Exceptions can be made, for example, when the horizon is not in the shot;
  • take several shots, you have fewer keepers. Extra memory cards are much cheaper than hiring the helicopter again;
  • constant autofocus was used, not one shot mode as the helicopter is moving most of the time;
  • use the camera which has the best autofocus, one that can lock focus quickly;
  • the closer your focus point is to the helicopter, the more likely the photo will be blurred. Pointing sharply downwards needs a higher shutter speed, than looking straight out the door. More blurry pictures resulted from this than all other causes added together on the Trip.
  • There is harsh light around the Cape, so early on The Doc attached a Singh Ray Circular Polarising Filter (CPF), perhaps the best choice he made. The CPF reduced significantly, but did not eliminate, the harsh reflections. The CPF needs to be readjusted occasionally.

Cape York HeliTrip Day 1 - 0141

Cape York – Day 3

Australia, Cape York, coastal, lakes, Landscape, Qld, reptiles, river/creeks

Probably the shortest day of the trip in the air, from The Tip to Weipa. The geography is not was varied on the west coast of the Cape, but plenty of rivers and lakes. Report and pictures here.

Cape York – the magic continues

Australia, Cape York, coastal, Landscape, ocean, plains, Qld, reptiles, river/creeks, sand dunes, seascape, Wildlife

The magic continues, Day 2 of the Cape York Helicopter Trip. Report and photos are here.

The croc in the tannin coloured water is a 14 foot long!

Cape York HeliTrip Day 2 - 0076

Or a WWII Bell P-39 Aircobra, recently discovered after going down over 70 years ago.

Cape York HeliTrip Day 2 - 0234

Picca in the wet season

Australia, AWC, Cape York, Landscape, Piccaninny Plains, Qld, Wildlife

Last year The Doc visited Piccaninny Plains on Cape York, an AWC event. That visit inspired the helicopter Cape York trip this year.

Bungie, who The Doc met at the Piccaninny event, was the pilot who flew him all over The Cape. This time we flew over Picca (its nickname) on Day 4. We were going to land but a late start due to rain meant we could not. The Doc took some wet season photos and the Report and photos are here.

AWC’s Brooklyn Sanctuary

Australia, AWC, Brooklyn, Landscape, landscape, mountains, Qld, trees

Not many people get to visit Brooklyn Sanctuary. Brooklyn has the greatest diversity of wildlife (500 vertebrate species) than any other single property in Australia. The Doc flew over and then drove out as part of his recent trip to Cape York. The short Report and photos are here.

Cape York HeliTrip Day 4 - 0870

Flinders Island – seascape

Australia, coastal, Flinders Island, Landscape, moss & lichen, rock, seascape, Tas, Tasmania, Textures

No carcasses today, although The Doc did photograph a few including the Bennett’s Wallaby and a Potoroo, at least I think it was. A Potoroo is a kangaroo-like marsupial about the size of a rabbit.

He is a seascape from a beach close to Emita Beach, a beach without a name. Looking this good it should have one. That is lichen growing on the granite. Two pictures stitched together, cropped slightly, some saturation and sharpening. Click on thumbnail to see full size image.

FI-Rocks

 

Flinders Island – return trip

coastal, Flinders Island, Landscape, marsupials, moss & lichen, mountains, ocean, Tas, Tasmania

The Doc leaves early Monday morning for Flinders Island for a second visit. Reports from the first trip are here, here (textures) and here (wildlife). There is still a few things to do, as Flinders is a large Island.

Cape York helicopter trip starts tomorrow

Australia, coastal, Landscape, ocean, Qld, seascape

The Doc flys out to Cairns tomorrow, then onto Port Douglas on Sunday. On Monday morning he boards the helicopter for 4 days. Then he visits AWC’s Brooklyn Sanctuary, plus a few days driving around Cairns.

The 2 cyclones up north at the moment should mean lots of waterfalls 🙂