dan's photos (Melbourne Summer - 24/12)

since photography is my major at uni, I thought I should post some pics of my photos here. It's probably best to keep these in a separate topic to my art though. I'll try to post a couple at a time. Enjoy

•Autumn in Japan
This was taken a few days ago in Kyoto. I think the place was called Arashiyama. Autumn is now over I think in Japan, which is a great time for photography. I think it was around 4pm. The only adjustments I made, were to improve the shadows.


•Melbourne Architecture
Just some interesting architecture in Melbourne.

Whoa!, nice photos ^^! i wanna go there sometime, I have been told about Japan's autumn, but now i really wanna see it with mah own eyes ^__^

So that is what Kyoto looks like...pretty nice Japanese autumn! The other photograph is quite good too...tall buildings...*drools*

Quoted PrinJess (on Dec 4 2005, 06:25 AM) —

So that is what Kyoto looks like...pretty nice Japanese autumn! The other photograph is quite good too...tall buildings...*drools*

YOu like tall buildings? i live in a 22th floor

Quoted franjcogno (on Dec 4 2005, 09:55 AM) —

Quoted PrinJess (on Dec 4 2005, 06:25 AM) —

So that is what Kyoto looks like...pretty nice Japanese autumn! The other photograph is quite good too...tall buildings...*drools*

YOu like tall buildings? i live in a 22th floor

No, actually, I'm afraid of heights. XD I just like buildings' decor.

Quoted PrinJess (on Dec 4 2005, 07:19 AM) —

Quoted franjcogno (on Dec 4 2005, 09:55 AM) —

Quoted PrinJess (on Dec 4 2005, 06:25 AM) —

So that is what Kyoto looks like...pretty nice Japanese autumn! The other photograph is quite good too...tall buildings...*drools*

YOu like tall buildings? i live in a 22th floor

No, actually, I'm afraid of heights. XD I just like buildings' decor.

ahhhhhhhhh hahahahahah okok
So bad, mah buildin is a lil boring with the decor.....XD

Pretty nice Autum.
I like the first one, especially the Arashiyama, the colour of the leaf on that mountain looks veruy colouful.
We never have those view in Malaysia.
If I'm not mistaken, the lake is a man made lake isn't it?
Pretty nice work done by the Japanese. Love their craetivity.

That building looks pretty weird.
Did they just combine a new building extending from the old one... or It's just a funny design by the designer....

=O I like the Japenese Autum one. Pretty building structures and colors. Great job!

thanks everyone. Got some more Japanese pics to show.

•This is where I'm staying right now - Himeji. This is more like the residential area. It's not really a city, but there's so much to see. I've got plenty of photos of Himeji Castle to show. Most are already at my DA if you want to have a look there first


•Lightup! That's what the Japanese call this event. During Autumn, parks will light up the trees at night. It's amazing to see.


•Udon stand. This was on the way to Arashiyama temples and shrines. It was taken on the way back while we were waiting for the train. It's designed to be more artistic than a touristy shot

Superb view....
Did the resident there grow their own veggie?? U ate some?? how was it....??

Now I'm pretty sure Japan is a very artistic place... that night light was just beautiful!!!!

Those food was cheap... never tought there are low price food in Japan....

Quoted dtownley1 (on Dec 7 2005, 09:07 PM) —

thanks everyone. Got some more Japanese pics to show.

•This is where I'm staying right now - Himeji. This is more like the residential area. It's not really a city, but there's so much to see. I've got plenty of photos of Himeji Castle to show. Most are already at my DA if you want to have a look there first

•Lightup! That's what the Japanese call this event. During Autumn, parks will light up the trees at night. It's amazing to see.

•Udon stand. This was on the way to Arashiyama temples and shrines. It was taken on the way back while we were waiting for the train. It's designed to be more artistic than a touristy shot

I love the middle one! Beautiful!

Quoted hippo (on Dec 8 2005, 04:07 AM) —

Superb view....
Did the resident there grow their own veggie?? U ate some?? how was it....??

Now I'm pretty sure Japan is a very artistic place... that night light was just beautiful!!!!

Those food was cheap... never tought there are low price food in Japan....

yeah, I've had some nice home grown veggies. More last year than this time though. 'daikon' or white radish is really popular and in most soups.

You can actually find some really cheap food around most places. Chain restaurants are very good for cheap food, and you can get some meals between 200-600 yen. The quality is often really good as Japanese have really high standards for food.

Thanks for the comments!

Kung Foo: Thanks for the comment

I love the second one...you took the photo in a perfect spot.

Yep, yep! The second one I like the best! I like how the light is shining off the leaves. Superb photography. *dances*

Very nice dtownley1! It's great to see some more of your photography. I particularly like "The Lights Within."

Can't wait to see more.

I like the Autumn Day in Japan, looks very cool.

Great pictures, can't wait for some more soon.

got a few more pics to show

•Gion
This place is quite famous in Kyoto, and is well known for it's Maiko (Geisha in training)
They are very rare to see, so you can count yourself lucky if you see one here. The first time I came I didn't see any, but this time I managed to see two. The first I just managed to get a photo of, but I missed the 2nd one as the batteries on my camera were just about depleted. I'll post that pic sometime soon though. In the meantime, enjoy this one.


A few pics I took earlier this year for my photography class. Both were with a medium format camera, which uses different film to standard 35mm cameras and gives astounding quality prints. These pics really do no justice to the quality of the original prints, unfortunately, and the tones just aren't as good, even after digital adjustments Still, I really like how they came out, and I got great marks for these. 2 in a series of around 14.

That place was.... clean.... and quiet. Japanese sure knows how to reserve their culture.
Is the Maiko pretty??

I though U have got a pretty good angle for the 2nd & 3rd photo....
What do U mean by "the tones just aren't as good"? I really don't understand.

Hey sensei, is it just me or you are too fixed with that whole geisha thingie? XDDD just kiddin
hey man, I have this project workin on deviant, I was thinkin if you want to participate, I have reserved a place for ya man, here it is the link if you want to see http://elasbajolamanga.deviantart.com/journal/7361829/


see ya!!

Pretty nice photography, Daniel-san! I espacially like the third photograph. I can't quite explain why I like it, but it just intrigues me as fascinating!

sugoi, good to see your still pumping out excellent work townley. these photographs are superb. oh and sorry i didnt get back to your pm, you are indeed right not to many people post there anymore (myself included) lol.

Quoted hippo (on Dec 17 2005, 05:55 PM) —

I though U have got a pretty good angle for the 2nd & 3rd photo....
What do U mean by "the tones just aren't as good"? I really don't understand.

thanks mate!
I meant that the original photo print looks much better. Some of the tones were lost in the scan, so the tones don't match that closely.
eg. a 50% grey on the print might not be a 50% grey in the digital file. It might be off by around 5% but there's a big noticeable difference when you have the print next to you. I'm fussy when it comes to that

Bateau: hey, good to see you here! Thanks for the comments. I've got some art here too, but haven't updated in ages. Check it out if you get a moment, and be sure to post your pics here too.

Prinjess: thank you. Yeah, I couldn't resist photographing that. I think one of the trolleys was toppled over, so I fixed that up, but the rest was quite symmetrical, so I had to take the shot. I love really structured photographs, with grids and lines leading the eye around. I'm not so good at natural photography (nature, landscape etc.) A lot of my photographs from that series were really grid like with a lot of symmetry. Glad you liked it

franjocogno: ehh? well, it's just something that not even many Japanese get to see. So photographers flock there to get good pics. I'll check out that link, but I don't think I'll have time for projects until late Jan when I get back from Japan. Even KAF mag is going slowly at the moment

I know man, I was just kiddin ahahaha don't worry, the project only needs your approval and a photo of you, but i can use the pic i made for you ^____________^

OK then. But my hair is different to the pic you used before...I think. My hair is quite similar to yours - or at least from the last photos you posted, just a bit shorter at the back.

kewl ,man! easier then! but i ll try to make it a lil different to don't look exactly da same XDD

finally got some new pics. I've been travelling around Japan a bit recently. I went to Miyajima, I guess most of you would recognise some of the landmarks there. I also went to Takayama, Gifu. I'll post some pics from there soon.

Typical Japanese apartments - but I loved how this came out. The lighting was just right. It should be desktop sized, so feel free to use it for your wallpaper.


Miyajima Torii - this is a really famous place in Japan. Most of you have probably seen photos of it before. Later in the day, the tide comes in, and it looks as if the gate is floating on the water. It's absolutely massive.


This is a 5 level pagoda at Miyajima. I really liked the angle of this, but the lighting was difficult. Minimal adjustments to this photo.


This was by the Yamato battleship which was in the Japanese Navy in WWII. I couldn't pass up taking this shot. Everything lined up. Again, minimal adjustments.


more pics to come soon. Enjoy!

The Yamato battleship scenery is absoluty beautiful. Yeah...everything lined up like that...that scene deserved a pic. The 5 level pagoda at Miyajima is very nice. The lighting you chose was experienced. You are a very good at what you do. Keep up the awesome work!

thanks very much mate. Greatly appreciated

The first pic seems like nothing spacial, but i agree what U say about the lighting, Iit was nice, and the texture of the building was very clearly capture, actually it is a pretty nice photograph.

The Door of torii was just amazing, a very big one too.....

I like the angle U take on the Pagoda. Really like it alot.

Ask for the battleship.... where is the ship????? I don't see any ship....
What I see is only a pretty line up wood and a very clear river.....

haha, thanks Hippo. For the first pic, I was more interested in structure, rather than content. I was happy that a lot of the tones came out OK. Usually the sky can be blown out, and appear very white. That's why I liked the lighting - everything is exposed properly

I'll post a few pics of the battleship sometime. I just loved this shot, but thought I should explain the location a little first. The battle ship is off to the right, and is parallel to the vertical lines in the shot, and about the same size. The battleship was featured in a current Japanese movie, called Yamato (the name of the ship).

I often try to take more artistic shots, rather than happy snap shots. Photography is my major at uni after all, so I need to practice all the time.
Thanks again mate!

Daniel-kun! I love your photography! *becomes a big fan* I like the first photograph because of how the building is angled like that. I like the lighting as well, although I think the pagoda photograph is my favorite! ^^

I await more photographs! Yay!

thanks very much glad to have a fan of my photos

woah

They give me a happy feeling ^__________^

*saves them all*

Nice photos! I really enjoy the shadowing/lighting...

Those are absolutely great. I love them.

You, sir, simply just REGURGITATE beutiful art. oO STOP WITH THE TALENT ARREDY.

Quoted Hyuzan (on Jan 20 2006, 09:47 PM) —

You, sir, simply just REGURGITATE beutiful art. oO STOP WITH THE TALENT ARREDY.

haha - I practically live for it though.
Somehow, I don't think 'regurgitate' is a good word. Makes it sound like I copy....
I know what you mean though Thanks!

For lack of better...er...more vulgar words. o.o;

Copy? COPY!?! Neber. =O

This pic is half photography, half 3D. I did not model the plane.
Though, I did set up the scene (angle of plane, camera etc.), lighting and render it, then colour matched it to the photo.

My 3D modeling skills are way below this right now, and my laptop limits me to the amounts of detail I would like to use (not enough power )

Hopefully, I'll have more pics like this finished soon, as this was great fun to make. Feel free to use it as a WP. Enjoy!

Oh, wow. Who knew photography could look so attractive. ^^ Nice job! I must see more! XD

Wah!!! how come everything that comes out from your camera looks so professional...while everything that comes out from my camera looks so tourist-ly...haiz

The plane looks very nice to me already...

it's my major at uni after all. I just try to take my camera everywhere. Never know when you will find a good opportunity and what you can use them for.

got some new pics for you all.

•A horse - taken near a bike trail. I quite like this shot.



•Ebisu Festival - if you want a description, check out my DA page



•Himeji Castle - yeah, another one. I took so many photos there



•Healesville - A shot I took at a creek near Healesville, Victoria. Beautiful place

Did you stand right in front of the horse or just used a very powerful zoom?

I thought you were an australian? Where are you now? Your photos seem to be from all over the globe...So good, you get to travel...I shall try taking photos too! Any advice? hm...but let me try to get a camera first...

Quoted xirelle (on Mar 14 2006, 09:25 PM) —

Did you stand right in front of the horse or just used a very powerful zoom?

I thought you were an australian? Where are you now? Your photos seem to be from all over the globe...So good, you get to travel...I shall try taking photos too! Any advice? hm...but let me try to get a camera first...

yeah, I'm an Ausse. I'm in Aus at the moment, but the reason my photos seem to be all over the place might be because a lot of them are also from Japan. I've been there twice now

For the horse one, I was right in front of it. If I had used a zoom lens, the background may have been blurred. If you think of sports photography, you often see just the figure in focus, and everything else can be out of focus.

Advice for photos? Begin with shooting what you like - you have to enjoy it. If you're buying a camera, go for one that can also have manual focus or manual exposure settings, that way you can experiment more. Manual focus is a lot of fun to play with as you can focus on precisely what you want. A lot of compact digital cameras can have that feature, but get the staff to tell you about the cameras. I'd go for one with good manual features, fairly high resolution and one that's from a trusted company.

You take wonderful shots...now I'm glad I took photography last year.

Quoted Heroine of Time (on Mar 15 2006, 06:33 AM) —

You take wonderful shots...now I'm glad I took photography last year.

thanks HoT. Got any to post here then?

^ that one is gorgeous. I love water-scenes. And that one is amazingly photographed.

Quoted dtownley1 (on Mar 16 2006, 07:51 AM) —

Quoted Heroine of Time (on Mar 15 2006, 06:33 AM) —

You take wonderful shots...now I'm glad I took photography last year.

thanks HoT. Got any to post here then?

I'll have to retake some during the summer since the ones I have are extremely n00bish..D:

heheh. I'll still be good to see any. I'm always keen to view people's photography.

T.T I love your pictures. Lucky......u live in Japan... I wish I lived in Japan. T.T

Quoted Kakashi H. (on Mar 21 2006, 09:22 PM) —

T.T I love your pictures. Lucky......u live in Japan... I wish I lived in Japan. T.T

nah, I don't live in Japan
I've just been to Japan....twice

I agree with Usaki. The water is gorgious! X) It makes me want to go swimming. And I love all the Japan pictures. They are equaly beautiful. I have been planning to move to Japan when I get older.

Quoted dtownley1 (on Mar 21 2006, 11:30 PM) —

Quoted Kakashi H. (on Mar 21 2006, 09:22 PM) —

T.T I love your pictures. Lucky......u live in Japan... I wish I lived in Japan. T.T

nah, I don't live in Japan
I've just been to Japan....twice

Stop showing off.

eheheheheheheh
Well, I had to save up all year, spending no money on myself at all.

nah, I don't live in Japan
I've just been to Japan....twice 

ur still lucky

righto, got some more photos for everyone.

•Fish on the Yarra river
Anybody see the opening ceremony for the Melbourne Commonwealth Games? This is where part of it took place. Up close, those things are giant metallic fish, and there were around 50 or so. You can also see the famous MCG in the background (Melbourne Cricket Ground) - where most of the games events took place. They were packing up the fish when I took these photos, so I was lucky to get some shots in. It's not often I get a massive sporting event like that in my hometown, so it was pretty exciting.


•Melbourne Pyramid
Another shot of part of Melbourne. This was taken by the Yarra, looking back at the city.


•Fading
Another Yarra shot I love the colours of this. Minimal retouching - so it pretty much looked like that in real life.


•Energy
This WASN'T edited at all. This is a straight photo. Who can guess what it is?

Is there a prize for getting it right?

Well, i guess it to be a shoot of water spraying out above an ultra- violet light.

Quoted xirelle (on Apr 13 2006, 05:29 AM) —

Is there a prize for getting it right? 

Well, i guess it to be a shoot of water spraying out above an ultra- violet light.

a prize? No heheheh

But you are REALLY close. It is water, but not ultra-violet light. Just ordinary light. It's a little foutain thing in my backyard, which has multicoloured lights inside it. It just happened to be purple when I took that shot. I've got a stack of others though, even one that looks like a mini bomb blast 0_0

I think you were close enough though, so I'll have a think about that prize

Hahaha. YAY! A women's six sense is something to be feared.
You actually have a fountain? I stay in high- rise flats, so it isen't something I get to see everyday. hahahaha

oh, it's just a small fountain. Just above knee-height. In Aus, most people have pretty large backyards

OK, update time! Almost 2 months since I last updated 0_0;
So, heaps of pics to keep you all entertained.

•Warhammer Scouts - yeah, I used to paint these little guys. Never played properly though, I was just determined to have the best painted guys on the battlefield, heheh


•Neighbours - a photo submitted for my photography folio last year. Interesting to see how people's personalities come out in their homes and gardens - here we see two very different ones.


•Follow the footsteps - a priest I saw in Himeji, Japan, who showed a tour group around, letting us all into the temples and shrines which are normally off-limits to the public.


•Eastern Freeway - you can see the lights of Melbourne off in the distance. 3 second exposure. Colours corrected.


•Stay Fresh! - taken near my home. Used flash to bring out the foreground and did a lot of colour corrections afterwards.


•Clear as... - somehow, this photo calms me... It was interesting to play with reflections.

Hey! I just checked out the last couple pages. Very nice work

Love the composition in "Eastern Freeway" - you can't help but follow the lights!

OMG i envy u soo much being able to go to Japan!!! OMG i hate you ahhaha. You take awsome images i really like the fountain image it was pretty even though it wasnt edited.

Quoted Tantal (on Jun 12 2006, 12:59 PM) —

Hey! I just checked out the last couple pages. Very nice work
Love the composition in "Eastern Freeway" - you can't help but follow the lights!

yeah, but I dream of getting a digital SLR, so then I can really experiment more with longer exposures. My digital camera can only take up to 3 sec exposures, plus grain and sharpness are problems...

Quoted Narutofan —

OMG i envy u soo much being able to go to Japan!!! OMG i hate you ahhaha. You take awsome images i really like the fountain image it was pretty even though it wasnt edited.

Been twice actually heheh
But I had to save hard to go, and I'm guessing I'm a fair bit older than you too.
Thanks for the comments!


Strange that the Follow The Footsteps pic turned out that small. The image dimensions are supposed to be around double that, and the filesize wasn't so large that it was automatically resized by photobucket... that's weird.

Quoted dtownley1 (on Jun 13 2006, 10:24 AM) —

yeah, but I dream of getting a digital SLR, so then I can really experiment more with longer exposures. My digital camera can only take up to 3 sec exposures, plus grain and sharpness are problems...

You're not the only one dreaming. I often get annoyed at the limitations of my little canon point-and-shoot, but at least I have one, and for now it will have to due. I have some savings in the bank, but that will soon be used to buy a much needed external harddrive and prime lens.

Strange that the Follow The Footsteps pic turned out that small. The image dimensions are supposed to be around double that, and the filesize wasn't so large that it was automatically resized by photobucket... that's weird.

Photobucket has been acting weird for me too. It resized my Melbourne Town Hall pictures from the Photoshop It! thread and they're less than 300kb.... so I hosted them elsewhere.

yeah, it's pretty strange. I recall them saying that pics over 1mb will be resized...
I'm quite sure the other pics were larger in size than that particular photo.

Ah well. I've got the full size pic at my DA for those interested
More photos to come soon.

OMG I love your phtography, by far I have to say you and a friend of mine named Melisa are the best photographers Ive ever seen. O_o I hope when I get better at phtography I can be just as good ^-^

does your friend have a DA page or anything like that? I'm interested to check out her photos now

What kind of camera are you using at the moment?

her DA is rikusgirl.deviantart.com check it out XP

and Im using a digital camera that my mother got me for an early birthday gift. I think its a Fuji Film >< Its not perfect if you check out my DevArt O.o it truthfully rather sucks XD

I use a fuji digital camera too
Finepix F810. What model are you using?
I checked out your gallery at DA some time ago. Which is why I said how similar you look to my sis If you want any tips or advice give me a yell

oh thats right *ditz brain kicks in*


It's a fine pix umm, *looks around on camera*

Fine Pix A 360

Just a starter ^-^;;

I looove the "Autumn in Japan"
The mountain is beautiful, I wish I could go to Japan!! I'm a photographer myself.

thanks very much
Have you got any photos you're able to post here? Would be great to see some.

Here's just a bit of critique.

Although I'm no experienced photographer myself, it feels like there's something missing in your photographs. In all of them, the picture is there. The lighting is right, the object of capture is present. All of your photographs are beyond what many people could take. All of them are good, really good, but I think they have the potential to be greater. One example is in Miyajima. The architectural structure is great, the lighting is great, and the details, such as the buildings which give note to the size, and also the water are great additions. However, the angle seems to be a bit off-balance, and the lighting is just a tad bright. I think most of your photographs, including this one, could be a bit more dramatic. Granted, it's hard to get a perfect shot, but it's also something extremely minimal adjustments in photoshop could intensify.

That being said, I also think you're an extremely talented photographer. You have a good sense of litghting and subject matter, as well as proportion, canvas layout and negative space. The pictures all have a meaning, that is, they aren't pointless or boring.

Hope that helped just a little.

Lakada

well, the lens on my camera isn't the best for all kinds of shots. I think it's called a wide-angle lens, which bends the edges of the frame, so it's quite poor for architecture.

As for the compositions, I can understand what you mean. Improvement there comes with years of practice. But it also comes down the the equipment. With a better camera (a digital SLR would be awesome) I'd be able to capture a better range of tones. At the moment, I sometimes have to sacrifice details and tones to get what I want.

As you could probably tell, I'm a big fan of grid like structures and framing, so I try to employ that as best I can in most of my shots. There's more to photography than just pretty pictures. William Eggleston is a great example of a pro photographer working like that. Studying photography reveals more about his work than is visible.

it's been FAR too long since I updated here. But, I have got some nice new photos to show everyone

This was fun to take. Just after it got dark, I wandered around the neighbourhood with my camera and tripod (I think I worried some residents though )


These were some awesome looking plants I came across on one of my walks. It had been raining, so the texture is very different to the next shot. I love the shapes of these plants, and they make for great macro shots.


Another shot of these plants. Macro is fun


Taken down at Docklands. I was just heading off, and looked back to notice this kid. A quick snap was all I had time for. Heheh, kids are odd.

*sigh* no comments from the last photos
Ah well, I've managed to keep myself busy the last couple of days with this Eva model. Been 5 years since I last got one, and Unit 02 was always sold out. They finally had some in stock, and reduced, so I snatched one up. Determined to do a much better paint job than the previous models, I slaved away carefully painting this little beast. Below are the results.

Keep in mind that the head of this is about the size of the last bone of your index finger TINY details indeed.

Berserk mode






So, I now have the three main Evas, at last. They're awesome models, fully poseable and definitely worth the time, patience and money needed to make one. I only used one of the finishing stickers on it (on the entry plug opening hatch (not visible in photos)), the rest of the colours and details were painted.

wow pretty good, I can't paint to save my life hehe. Used to collect Tyranids from 40K though, dude they were akward to paint XD

I don't know much about Photo compisition and things like that but from a n00b point of view their pretty good too! I like the second photo, looks calming yet it eeriely reminds me of the killer plants movie!

Also I'd like to thankyou for your feed back on pictures I submitted in the past. Its really helped me out and Im starting to reach a stage where im proud of what empties onto the page infront of me! Never got the chance to properly thank you but there you go

I'd shake your hand but these screens disagree with knuckles..reality..ch.

Cool paint job...stable hands...
Well its expected of a photographer to have stable hands... Always wanted to buy a EVA model but its very expensive over on this side. Once you invest in one of the models you have to invest in the paint then the stand and it goes on and on...

That picture "what now" which kid were you refering to? What of those mushrooms in the background?

Quoted xirelle (on Nov 24 2006, 08:12 PM) —

Cool paint job...stable hands...
Well its expected of a photographer to have stable hands... Always wanted to buy a EVA model but its very expensive over on this side. Once you invest in one of the models you have to invest in the paint then the stand and it goes on and on...

That picture "what now" which kid were you refering to? What of those mushrooms in the background?

the 'what now' photo refers to the kid right next to the text - stuck on top of one of the sculptures.

The models can be a little expensive, but I was fortunate to buy it while they had a sale on. Also, these models don't need or come with stands - being fully poseable, you can stand them pretty much any way. I used to paint a lot of Warhammer models years back, so that's where experience came from. I should post a pic of my first Eva model from 5 years back to show the difference in detail

Thanks for the compliments Ryo, I appreciate it

When I saw that, I was asking myself "What kid is he talking about?", then I looked on the white things and was like, "OH! This is where is Waldo!"

Love the mecha photos.

heh, well I don't always like to spell things out in my pics. I was hoping the placement of the text would lead directly to the kid, heheh.

And yeah, Eva's are awesome I'm tempted to buy another now though.

I really like your first picture, your shots are really good.

thanks Pepsi. Well after months and months, I've finally had the time to export some photos for you all.

I got tickets to the Australian Open this year, so of course I took my camera. You all should recognise at least one of the players here.




A shot from outside the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground)


A beach here that I forget the name of...

err..

I think I see Serena or Venus williams..
and is that Nadal? or federer? xDD I cant tell

Great pictures! Im so envious you got to go to the Austrailian open >_<

Quoted^(ref) danbah (on 16 March, 2007, 05:25 PM PST) —

thanks Pepsi. Well after months and months, I've finally had the time to export some photos for you all.

I got tickets to the Australian Open this year, so of course I took my camera. You all should recognise at least one of the players here.

A shot from outside the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground)

A beach here that I forget the name of...

I love how the green came out in first photo. It's a great contrast to the dark sky.

The second one is great, too. Were you using one of those high speed camera lenses that are used for sports photography or did you time it accordingly? Either way, you hit the nail right on the head.

The third one is interesting. The building's structure would be pretty neat to see in full view. o.o

The fourth one reminds me of Argentina. x3 They have brightly colored houses that line their eastern coast.

Nice job as usual, Dan~! Hope to see more of your photography.

Quoted^(ref) Kan (on 16 March, 2007, 05:32 PM PST) —

Quoted^(ref) danbah (on 16 March, 2007, 05:25 PM PST) —

thanks Pepsi. Well after months and months, I've finally had the time to export some photos for you all.

I got tickets to the Australian Open this year, so of course I took my camera. You all should recognise at least one of the players here.

A shot from outside the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground)

A beach here that I forget the name of...

I love how the green came out in first photo. It's a great contrast to the dark sky.

The second one is great, too. Were you using one of those high speed camera lenses that are used for sports photography or did you time it accordingly? Either way, you hit the nail right on the head.

The third one is interesting. The building's structure would be pretty neat to see in full view. o.o

The fourth one reminds me of Argentina. x3 They have brightly colored houses that line their eastern coast.

Nice job as usual, Dan~! Hope to see more of your photography.

actually, for the 2nd photo, it was just my standard compacti digital camera lens - nothing special. I think I just used manual settings to get the fastest shutter speed, and sat with my elbows on my lap, acting as a tripod. Huzzah for improvising

I'd love to have one of the cameras and lenses that the pros use. I saw them all sitting on the side of the court, with the massive lenses....and me with my pocket sized digital

Since I'm earning a bit of money now, I think a DSLR will be coming my way later this year. I may buy it in Japan though, as it worked out AU$300 cheaper for the model I was looking at. And that's without the discount points card I could use over there...

And there are heaps of beach huts like that around a lot of beaches here. Some are quite famous.

Akira: yeah, one of the Williams sisters, but I now forget which is which
The other guy, I forgot his name. I think it was Becker... obviously not Boris Becker though.
I was lucky to get the tickets. We got a call from my Auntie, saying she had 4 tickets for that night - couldn't pass that up. It's pretty close to where I live actually.

actually, for the 2nd photo, it was just my standard compacti digital camera lens - nothing special. I think I just used manual settings to get the fastest shutter speed, and sat with my elbows on my lap, acting as a tripod. Huzzah for improvising

Indeed. =D When the situation demands, work with what you've got.

Since I'm earning a bit of money now, I think a DSLR will be coming my way later this year. I may buy it in Japan though, as it worked out AU$300 cheaper for the model I was looking at. And that's without the discount points card I could use over there...

And there are heaps of beach huts like that around a lot of beaches here. Some are quite famous.

Do you go to the duty-free stores since you don't have to pay for all that extra tax? Because for how expensive photography equipment is (at least in the US) I'd say saving all that extra money is a good deal.

Quoted^(ref) danbah (on 16 March, 2007, 05:25 PM PST) —

A beach here that I forget the name of...

I really like this picture Dan. I reminds me of somewhere I visit a lot. you're a great photographer. Keep it up.

Quoted^(ref) Kan (on 17 March, 2007, 05:04 AM PST) —

actually, for the 2nd photo, it was just my standard compacti digital camera lens - nothing special. I think I just used manual settings to get the fastest shutter speed, and sat with my elbows on my lap, acting as a tripod. Huzzah for improvising

Indeed. =D When the situation demands, work with what you've got.

Since I'm earning a bit of money now, I think a DSLR will be coming my way later this year. I may buy it in Japan though, as it worked out AU$300 cheaper for the model I was looking at. And that's without the discount points card I could use over there...

And there are heaps of beach huts like that around a lot of beaches here. Some are quite famous.

Do you go to the duty-free stores since you don't have to pay for all that extra tax? Because for how expensive photography equipment is (at least in the US) I'd say saving all that extra money is a good deal.

hmm, never tried duty free. I should probably check it out though, as I don't really know how it all works.


Anorudo, thanks mate

hmm, never tried duty free. I should probably check it out though, as I don't really know how it all works.

You show them your passport at a store and if it's a duty free store (For your usage, probably Akihabara Denkigai is a good location) and they don't charge any tax that's local or national. Plus, if you're lucky you get money back if you claim it at the airport.

=B Nyah, I'm such a dork for knowing this.

wait... you mean to tell me that you went to the Australian Open?
wow. I am so envious... Rawr...
I live for tennis. I'm up at school everyday practicing and I'm still waiting for the chance to get to see an actual event.
Anyways, I love the pictures. I wish I was that good. I'm still new at photography and my poor cats will probably never see right again. a lot of people say that they like my pics. but I'm still having some trouble. I really want to upgrade my camera. right now, I'm using some Kodak thing. digital. It's worked good for the last 3 years, but i want something better.
oh, I'm trying to get a decent picture of the moon... but every time i try, it turns out as just a small white dot on the screen. any tips? I really want to take some kind of photography class next year or so. but for now, i can just keep bugging really good people.

Thanks, and again, you do really good work!

Quoted^(ref) Kan (on 17 March, 2007, 06:38 PM PST) —

hmm, never tried duty free. I should probably check it out though, as I don't really know how it all works.

You show them your passport at a store and if it's a duty free store (For your usage, probably Akihabara Denkigai is a good location) and they don't charge any tax that's local or national. Plus, if you're lucky you get money back if you claim it at the airport.

=B Nyah, I'm such a dork for knowing this.

nah, not a dork - that could be really helpful - especially if I end up saving more money. Akihabara would be a little out of my way though. Don't know if I'd get a chance to go there. Yodobashi in Osaka MIGHT do duty free... but they offer awesome discounts anyway. I bought my current camera there, and the discount I got allowed me to get a memory card and camera case for free. When I bought Ouendan there, I got it about 75% off. So if there are points on the card, I could get a pretty nice discount I'm trying to convince my GF to get a macbook, so either way, buying either of these would put massive points on the card to discount the next item.

Quoted^(ref) :Jadeite: (on 17 March, 2007, 10:32 PM PST) —

  wait... you mean to tell me that you went to the Australian Open? 
wow. I am so envious...   Rawr...
I live for tennis. I'm up at school everyday practicing and I'm still waiting for the chance to get to see an actual event.
Anyways, I love the pictures. I wish I was that good. I'm still new at photography and my poor cats will probably never see right again.   a lot of people say that they like my pics. but I'm still having some trouble. I really want to upgrade my camera. right now, I'm using some Kodak thing. digital. It's worked good for the last 3 years, but i want something better.
oh, I'm trying to get a decent picture of the moon... but every time i try, it turns out as just a small white dot on the screen. any tips? I really want to take some kind of photography class next year or so. but for now, i can just keep bugging really good people. 

Thanks, and again, you do really good work!

To photograph the moon, you'd probably need a hefty (quality) zoom lens, and a camera with full manual settings. I've tried with my camera, and got similar results. It can't zoom enough, and the extremely high contrast scene often blows out the detail of the moon. A tripod would also be a must.

To be honest, I can't say I'm a fan of Kodak digital cameras. The two I've used I've been pretty disappointed with. Both used alkaline batteries, rather than a rechargeable pack, which is a HUGE minus in my books. Means you end up spending heaps just to keep the camera charged. Also, Kodak software is pretty dodgy. Both software packages I used for these cameras were horrendously slow to transfer photos, and the 2nd one actually seemed to cause other camera software I had to crash. That kodak software went into the trash VERY quickly My Fujifilm digital transfers even large files very fast, just through USB, faster than any other camera I've used, and that's either straight through the desktop or through iPhoto. So yeah, I've gone off Kodak.

I'm also looking to upgrade my equipment (as you might have read above ) I'm looking at a Nikon DSLR because they come with great lenses and fantastic features, and take stunning photos out of the box. Canon are also great, but a little more expensive, and the camera bodies are all plastic I think, and supposedly don't feel as solid or stable. I've also seen some inredible photos from them though.

Anyway, glad you like my photos. Keep at your tennis - perhaps instead of one day sitting in the seats at a tournament, you'll be a competitor

Nice camera

Your pictures are all so very well done! I love them. Also, I'm assuming you painted your miniatures yourself right? Well I just wanted to say they are painted very well, I'm not that much into Warhammer 40K and that stuff, but it looks really cool what you did. Plus you took some sweet pictures of them too haha.

Great pictures! I think I should start tagging my photos too :x

I want to start walking around with a tripod now for exposed shots, haha. I'll also start to bring my camera to more places that I go to.

Quoted^(ref) Spectator (on 10 August, 2007, 06:36 PM PDT) —

Great pictures! I think I should start tagging my photos too :x

I want to start walking around with a tripod now for exposed shots, haha. I'll also start to bring my camera to more places that I go to.

cheers
You mean long exposures? An exposure can be any shot you take. Long exposures are great fun to work with. I'd love to get a flash unit so I can do manual flash work - multiple flashes in the one exposure! But yeah, definitely take a tripod. It's also a good idea to set the camera to take pics on a timer. Unless you have a top tripod, just pressing the shutter button can cause camera shake.

OK, I think it's about time for an upload. I've got a whole bunch of pics to show.
So, I've got a new camera (finally got my DSLR - a Nikon D40x with a 18-55 lens and a 55-200 zoom lens) Work has kept me extremely busy, so I've not had as much time as I would have liked to get used to it yet, and the weather in Melbourne is really bad now, so that doesn't help much either. But, on the good days I'll spend the entire day shooting.

So, at long last, I return with some new pics!

Zoom Lens Pics
Perfect opportunity to test out my zoom lens. I was maybe 100m away from this kite.


This one was much smaller, and faster, but still came out OK.


Taken by Beach Rd. in Melbourne. Zoomy goodness.




These guys landed right in front of me, so there's no way I'd miss that opportunity.




Standard Lens pics
Love this shot. I love grids, and I rarely (get to) photograph cars or anything like that, so this was a bit different.


Another fave of mine. Everything kind of lined up.


A little black and white stuff.


Aus has been, and still is going through one of the toughest droughts we've had in years. We've been having some LONG overdue rain recently, so before that, this was a rare sight.


Started taking a few action shots. This was one of the best that day. None of the guys were trying any fancy stuff, so it was tough to get anything interesting.


Someone's dad giving it a shot. Surprisingly, he wasn't that bad. I reckon he showed up a few of the young guys.


A shot of Melbourne from the new Eureka Tower.


Odd sculpture and tower. This was the best weather we had in months. For weeks before this, it was cloudy and raining.


OK, that's it for now. I'll have more to come as the weather improves.

All of them look great Dan! Some real quality photos. The bird shots were especially good. I love your new camera. I'm going to go to your house and steal it. Shutter speed on these new cameras is amazing.

I can't wait to see more. The beautiful weather you were having there really helped accent the photos.

cheers mate! The zoom lens is pretty fast indeed. When I get the time, I'll have to try some long exposures. My old camera could only take exposures up to 3 seconds. This one has up to 30, and bulb setting (meaning shutter stays open as long as I keep the shutter button pressed)

I got some more pics, which I'll have to upload tonight. A mate of mine and a Japanese friend spent the weekend going around the city and Dandenong mountains. Practically non-stop walking for 2 days 0_0

But, I got some awesome shots of some Kookaburras as we were leaving. So, hopefully I'll get them organised and uploaded tonight.

edit: Here's one of the better Kookaburra pics I got.

Awesome pics, Dan!

I havn't got a chance to explore my downtown city with a camera yet.

cheers
Got another new pic. This was taken at a lake not too far from where I live. Shot in RAW and converted to black and white through a whole lot of messing about. Was good fun though.

The original shot wasn't that great, considering the weather, but with some careful tweaking I was able to get a bit more out of the shot.



And just reposting this kookaburra pic from the last page. Should have left it for this post, but I edited my last one.


Enjoy!

I really like the birdies picture, x3.

For the first one... The trees are a little too dark for my liking (it might just be this screen).

I just wanted to know... What application do you use to make changes to your photos?

I really like the zoom lens work, although the coloring on the second one doesn't stand out as much as it might.

The second bird (Somesort of tern or gull?) photo is good. The was the water reflects his image makes it look like he's on stilts.

xD Nice job as usual, Dan~

Quoted^(ref) FuzzMop (on 13 August, 2007, 07:14 AM PDT) —

I really like the birdies picture, x3.

For the first one... The trees are a little too dark for my liking (it might just be this screen).

I just wanted to know... What application do you use to make changes to your photos?

yeah, it was pretty overcast, so there was a fair bit of detail and clarity lost there. Great thing about RAW, is that you can go back and edit it again and hone in on parts you want. I think the best way to describe it, is like the digital equivalent of a film negative - you can just keep going back to it.

I use photoshop CS3 for my photography work. I'd love to get Aperture or Lightroom though, to see what they can do.

Kan: The first two birds are both seagulls. Just regular, annoying seagulls That 2nd kite wasn't so impressive - just fast, so it was a challenge to catch.

Gah, wowww, I love your pictures. Amazing photography

Yayy your not dead! nice work as always o.o

new photo for you all. Fairly simple, but I'm pretty happy with it.

Quoted^(ref) danbah (on 19 August, 2007, 04:55 AM PDT) —

new photo for you all. Fairly simple, but I'm pretty happy with it.

The perspective of the image is interesting.. and different. I'm venturing a guess that the tree is a lot taller than the image lets on? The colors seem very natural, almost like you're there in person.


Good job, Dan. You like to do landscapes/cityscapes a lot.

I really like that picture a lot. I like the big leap in contrast, it gives a nice effect to the picture. Anyway, very nice pictures, I love your work

Kan: yeah, I love landscapes. I should try more portraits, but rarely get the time to do that - plus, I'd probably need to buy a flash to get more control. I was pretty surprised by the colours too, but shooting RAW is amazing. Parts that appear overexposed can be rescued. Even detail that you can't see will emerge - it's amazing. I've got an example of a photo with and without RAW editing which I should be able to post tonight.

Teruki: Glad you like my work!

edit: figured out a way to get by Photobucket not working - have another program autmatically upload pics for me! hah, take that photobucket!

So, here are those pics I mentioned above.
First, the image without RAW editing. Looks pretty bad - no detail in the sky, shadows are very dark and the colour stinks.



Now, the same image with RAW editing. I was able to bring back detail in the sky. Don't ask me how, but somehow RAW is able to store info in parts that are overexposed. If it were a jpeg, that sky would just be white and there would be nothing I could do about it. No chance of getting any detail there.

Wow... looking at your photos makes me want to take a photography class. My boyfriend has tried to make me take a photography class (it's B&W photo class, for beginners), but I hadn't been that tempted to take it. I think I should take that class next semester....



As for your photos, Iunno why, but there's always this calming atmosphere I see in them. I would never expect a shot taken during a tennis match would be that pretty to see (I'm not into sports o.o). Great job in taking those pictures, Dan.

I wanted to comment on the kookaburra pic a while back, but I forgot to... I thought it was very nicely composed. And the new one after the edit looked like hundred times better... the sky looked a little weird after the edit though... overall a very nice piece though. =3

Quoted^(ref) Usaki Ikasu (on 19 September, 2007, 11:17 PM PDT) —

I wanted to comment on the kookaburra pic a while back, but I forgot to... I thought it was very nicely composed. And the new one after the edit looked like hundred times better... the sky looked a little weird after the edit though... overall a very nice piece though. =3

yeah, I kinda overdid the sky But in the end, it was to demonstrate just how much detail can actually be rescued. Thanks mate

Beta, you should try to take those classes I know you're pretty busy though, but if you do get the time, it could be really interesting. Glad you like my photos, and that you find them calming. It's actually pretty calming taking photos - it can be about patience - waiting for the right moment. Try taking a camera out with you sometimes, just snap away at what you like.

I'll get some new photos up soon, including some I took for work.

edit: new photos

•Road Bike - taken near work. We were shooting a promotional DVD, and I was there with my new camera.


•Docklands - another location for our DVD shoot, this time for the flat bar road bikes. This was taken after we finished shooting at the location.


•Escape - Docklands again, this was taken before the DVD shoot. I got there an hour early, so wandered around taking heaps of photos.


These next two were taken just outside our design studio at work. I forget the name of the bird now... there's a whole flock that live around here. Noisy little monsters




Also, for those interested, you can check out some of my other work at our new website
Apollo Bikes
I designed a couple of the bikes there, and a couple of the ads too. The other designer I work with designed the website layout, and pretty much everything else on the site.

Oh my gosh, your photography is AMAZING! I love the kookaburra pic, that is amazingness in itself. All of your stuff is really good; it makes me wish that I were able to be an avid photographer like you are. I've taken some good pictures (in my opinion), but I don't have the money to buy film or lenses yet. I'm hoping that once I get through school and have a steady income I'll be able to photograph more, though. Thanks for helping reawaken my love of photography with your wonderful photographs!

The bike one is pro-looking. Awesome shot!

got some new shots. RahX contacted me about the models I made, so I've got some shots of them to show.

•Gundam model


•Eva 02 model


If the colours look washed out, it's because your browser doesn't support colour profiles *use safari!*

OK, couple of new shots. We're heading into summer now here, but this is what the weather is like right now...

Holy crubs, I love the first Gundam. I don't have the patients for those, I've only made one and never painted it. xD

I like the deck picture too, I love the sky in that pic. even though it's all cloud (well mostly).

Those are great pictures. I want to frame the oceanside one. x3 It's awesome. What sort of camera specs are required for shots that good? I think I'll save up for a really awesome camera.

well pretty much any digital SLR should be able to take shots like that. The advantage lies in the better lenses they have, and being able to shoot RAW. Shooting RAW allows for easy editing, but with possibilities that jpeg doesn't offer.

I'm told that Pentax DSLR's offer great results at a very decent price. Best thing to do is just test them all and see what you like, and if you like haggling a little, you could get a sweet deal.

I use a Nikon D40x. Fairly recent camera, small but takes great shots. It's come down in price recently too, by a couple of hundred dollars here. It's also often featured in a twin lens kit, so you get a standard lens and a nice zoom one too.

Pepsi: thanks I've always put a lot of time into painting stuff like that. If I'm gonna be buying them, I figure I may as well make it look good.

Wow, they are all incredible.

Your camera is also amazing, the pictures are so perfect and clear. Its so amazing, it picked out the dirtyness of those unclean birds xD

The lighting and angles of your photos are always so perfect and amazing too. Amazing stuff ^^

Quoted^(ref) danbah (on 26 December, 2007, 08:55 PM PST) —

well pretty much any digital SLR should be able to take shots like that. The advantage lies in the better lenses they have, and being able to shoot RAW. Shooting RAW allows for easy editing, but with possibilities that jpeg doesn't offer.

I'm told that Pentax DSLR's offer great results at a very decent price. Best thing to do is just test them all and see what you like, and if you like haggling a little, you could get a sweet deal.

I use a Nikon D40x. Fairly recent camera, small but takes great shots. It's come down in price recently too, by a couple of hundred dollars here. It's also often featured in a twin lens kit, so you get a standard lens and a nice zoom one too.

Pepsi: thanks I've always put a lot of time into painting stuff like that. If I'm gonna be buying them, I figure I may as well make it look good.

I got a digital camera for Christmas, but it turned out to be defective, so Spyder and I are going to pick something nice together. I'll look into those. =3 Thanks, Dan.

They are great! Keep it up!