Category Archives: mountains

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

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 – 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.

Flinders Island – vistas

Australia, coastal, Flinders Island, Landscape, mountains, ocean, seascape, Tas

The howling winds died down today, so The Doc managed a few shots. These photos are all stitched panoramas, usually 2 or images. Locations include Sawyers Bay, Mt Killiecrankie, Castle Rock Point (that rock is massive) and the view from Walkers Lookout across Darling Range towards Mt Strzelecki. Click on each image to see larger version.

 

Outback NSW, Queensland and South Australia

desert, Flinders Ranges, Landscape, landscape, mountains, Mutawintji NP, NSW, plains, Qld, SA, sand dunes, Warrumbungles NP

On the last trip The Doc and his friend Tony travelled around outback NSW, Queensland and South Australia. Places like the Warrumbungles, Broken Hill, Marree, the ochre pits at Lyndhurst, ruins at Farina, Arkaroola Wildness Sanctuary, Innamincka, Brachina Gorge in the Flinders Ranges, Epsilon in outback Queensland, Cameron’s Corner, Tibooburra, Menindee Lakes and lots of others.

Characters like Talc Alf, roadtrains and huge coal carrying locomotives, the odd emu and even some water in this parched part of Australia.

A collection of photos from that trip.

Textures of the Australian Bush: Part 6 The Painted Hills

Australia, desert, Lake Eyre, Landscape, landscape, mountains, rock, SA, sand, Textures

The small plane flight took us over Anna Creek Station, Lake Eyre and The Painted Hills. Perhaps the highlight of the flight. They have extraordinary colours and textures.

The following images were sharpened, resized and a bit of saturation was added. That is about it. Enjoy.

Warrumbungles recon finished

Australia, Landscape, mountains, NSW, Panoramio, Uncategorised, Warrumbungles NP

In January 2013 the Wambelong Fire destroyed much of the Warrumbungles National Park. The Doc visited to do some recon for a trip later. Nearly half the walking trails are still closed and many facilities still need major repair work. But the birds and animals are returning in numbers.

You need to hike for at least half a day to most places, so the closed tracks make it hard.

The Doc arranged a sunrise shot of the mountains, but the weather had other ideas with it raining. So The Doc headed off to Dubbo to visit the Western Plains Zoo in the next day or so. It was raining over much of the area.

A panorama shot from yesterday, from the lookout right next to Siding Springs Telescope.

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