Iconic Sydney - Australia

Harbour Bridge - Sydney, Australia

I hadn't taken any photographs for sometime so decided to get out with the camera over the weekend. I drove down to Milson's Point to photograph the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. My shot list for the night included a panoramic photograph of both icons. I also tried a new 2:1 ratio on the photograph above and thought it came out pretty well.

More photographs inside.

Harbour Bridge and Opera House - Sydney, Australia

I got there at dusk hoping to be able to include a clear blue sky in the photographs but it was cloudy and grey. However, I liked the fact that the setting sun brought out the details on the underside of the bridge. Fortunately there weren't any people around to walk into the frame and I manged to fire off a few "keepers".

Harbour Bridge and Opera House - Sydney, Australia

The panorama above was a 4 or 5 image stitch. I would have liked the left hand side of the image to be a bit brighter but short of getting there earlier, there wasn't anything I could do. Maybe another drive down to Milson's Point is in order?

 Opera House - Sydney, Australia

These photographs were taken with the Canon 7D and the 24-105mm lens. I also used a tripod for all these shots. An aperture of f14-16 and a shutter speed between 20 seconds and 30 seconds was used for all of these.

Around Sydney - Australia

The Skyline - Sydney, Australia

I hadn't been out in the city with the camera for sometime so decided to go for a bit of a walk last night. I started off near Mrs Macquarie's chair near the open air cinema but didn't have any particular route in mind. I wasn't after any specific shots last night, just a walk and an an intention to photograph whatever came up.

More photographs inside.

The Opera House & Harbour Bridge - Sydney, Australia

The next subjects were the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. I'd been to this location to photograph them before (to take this photograph) but the light conditions were very different. This time I got there after sunset and the sky was a rich blue in colour.

The Opera House & Harbour Bridge - Sydney, Australia

I would have preferred to have used a longer lens for the photograph above but unfortunately, I only had the 24-105mm lens with me. I was surprised that the smaller sails of the opera house were not lit up. That resulted in the main sail being a lot brighter than the others.

Cahill Expressway - Sydney, Australia

The next stop was a bridge overlooking the Cahill Expressway. Being a Saturday night there wasn't a lot of traffic on the road but a 30 second exposure was sufficient to photograph a few light trails as cars moved to and from the city.

Chaos on William Street - Sydney, Australia

Heading up along William Street towards Kings Cross on a Saturday night is probably the worst place to drive in Sydney. Kings Cross, the red light district in Sydney, is a hive of activity with thousands of people hitting the clubs in the area. The ever present hoons add a level of stupidity to the whole experience.

The Archibald Fountain - Sydney, Australia

The Archibald Fountain in Hyde park was the last stop on my walk. Built in 1932 , the fountain was a gift to the city bequeathed in the will of J. F. Archibald. It is intended to commemorate the association between Australia and France in World War 1 and is the work of French sculptor Francois Sicard.

All photographs on this post were taken with the Canon 7D and the 24-105mm lens. I also used a tripod for these photographs.  

Garden Orb Weaver Spider- Sydney, Australia

Garden Orb-weaver Spider (Eriophora transmarina) - Sydney, Australia

I took the macro lens out over the weekend hoping to photograph some spiders in the garden. I found a number of Garden Orb Weavers in the shrubs along the driveway and spent some time photographing them. The fact that they spend a lot of time under their webs made the whole task a lot harder.

More photographs inside.

 Garden Orb-weaver Spider (Eriophora transmarina) - Sydney, Australia

Garden Orb-weavers are common, non venomous spiders found in Australia. They are usually brightly coloured and vary in terms of size, shape and colour within Australia. They are nocturnal feeders and weave their webs in the evenings. One of the spiders I saw over the weekend was actually in the process of weaving its web. It was interesting to actually see how the spider set about creating such an intricate web.

Garden Orb-weaver Spider (Eriophora transmarina) - Sydney, Australia

I had been trying to figure out how spiders actually sets about creating a web across a void when I came found an article which actually described the process. Apparently the spiders use air/wind to spread the initial line across a void. The spider is said to move to a vantage point and raise its abdomen and release a steady stream of silk from it's spinnerets. The wind will then pick up the silk and carry it until it snags on a solid object. Once the initial strand is firmly snagged, the spider will move out along it to build the web.

Garden Orb-weaver Spider (Eriophora transmarina) - Sydney, Australia

Interestingly the Orb-Weavers build a web every night and then remove it at dawn, unlike some other spiders who stay in the web day and night. Apparently the reason for this behaviour is predator avoidance. Although the "orb" section of the web disappears, some of the support lines will be left in place. During the day the spiders "hide" near a location where these support lines meet a solid object.

Garden Orb-weaver Spider (Eriophora transmarina) - Sydney, Australia

These photographs were taken with the Canon 7D and the 100mm macro lens. The lighting was again from a Canon 430EX II fired at 1/8th from high (relatively) camera left. Like with the photograph of the Weaver Ants the strobe was handheld. It's not the easiest thing to do when you are trying to lock focus using a macro lens!

Humpbacks in Sydney

A Humpback Whale dives

The migratory season for Humpback Whales is well underway and a large number of them are currently making their way north from the Antarctic Ocean toward the breeding grounds in North Queensland. One of our friends got us tickets to go Whale watching and we booked the trip for last weekend.

More photographs inside.

 Whales surface close to a boat

We were lucky not to have to go looking for Whales when we went out. As soon as we headed out of the harbour the skipper was informed that whales had been sighted just north of the heads. The trip north didn't take too long and we soon came up to a number of stationary whale watching boats. Apparently Humpbacks dive for about 5 minutes on average and we didn't have to wait long before they surfaced.

A Humpback Whale dives off the coast of Sydney

They didn't seem to be too bothered by the large number of boats which were in the vicinity. They were quite inquisitive and came close to the boats on a number occasions. At one point they were just 5 or 10 meters away. The water was quite clear and we saw them swimming under the boat on a number of occasions.

Whales surfacing

We sighted about four or five separate pods over the entire trip. Since there were so many Whales the boats were quite spread out and didn't crowd them. The Whales were not the most playful and we were not lucky enough to see them breach. They lifted their tails out of the water very often as they dived and we saw a few whales slapping their flukes.

A Humpback slaps a fluke

These photographs were captured with a Canon 7D and the 100-400mm lens. The ISO performance on the camera and the great light helped me get some sharp photographs. My only regret is not having taken a Circular Polariser on the trip.

A Humpback tail slapping

Surfers at Bronte

Carving it up at Bronte

* Photographs must be viewed at a larger size. Please click on each image.

The weather last weekend was the best we've had in Sydney for a while. I decided to take advantage of it and headed out to the Eastern Beaches to do some surf photography. Bronte and Tamarama were the locations of choice due to the fact that they are relatively small bays which are surrounded by cliffs. Fortunately the zoom on the 100-400mm lens was sufficient for me to shoot from shore.

More shots inside.

 The big white

I cranked up the ISO on the 7D to freeze the droplets of the waves as they broke over the surfers. I started off with the ISO set to 100 but the shutter speeds I was able to get were not fast enough. The fast shutter speed also allowed me to shoot without a tripod which was a handy bonus.

In the drink... almost

I think the facial expressions of the surfers added a lot to these images. I was pleasantly surprised that the zoom on the 100-400 was long enough to capture the facial expressions of the surfers. It was a bit hard to gauge exactly how far away the surfers were because I was on top of a 40 meter cliff. I'd guess they were close to 300 m away.

The green wall

The surfers in these shots are all positioned on the right of the image as they were all taken at Bronte where the break was from the right. I tried a few compositions with the subject on the left but the white water didn't really add to the overall compositions. They images were a lot more dynamic when "the wall" was more dominant. The only exception was the shot below.

The Break

The day got off to a great start when a pod of 8 humpbacks made an appearance a few hundred meters off shore. The surfers paddled out beyond where the waves broke and sat on their boards watching the pod for about 45 minutes. At times they would have been no more than 50 meters apart. They swam off towards Bondi and disappeared. We are going whale watching on Sunday and hope we get lucky again.

The Tram Sheds - Glebe, Sydney

Some of the Trams - Glebe Tram sheds

The Tram sheds in Glebe have been popular among photographers for ages. The sheds belong to the Harold Park Paceway and although they are locked, getting into them is pretty easy. The sheds themselves are two massive rooms covered in graffiti. Inside, there are 7 old Trams and a bus. The trams and the bus too are covered with graffiti.

More photographs after the jump.

 A Panorama of the Tram Sheds in Glebe

Last week I read an article in the papers about a proposal to clean up the tram yards and restore the trams. I had a seen a number of really good photographs online and I had been waiting for an opportunity to get down there. Reading the article was the kick I needed. I called one my friends and made plans to head down there on Sunday morning!

Some of the Trams - Glebe Tram sheds

Apart from photographers, the sheds are used for filming advertisements and TV programs. While we were there another photographer came in with a model for what looked like a portfolio shoot. A second group came in just as we were leaving.  So much for having the place to ourselves at 8.00AM on Sunday morning!

One... flat tyre - Tram sheds, Gebe

I took the 7D with the Canon 24-105mm lens on this trip. I wasn't sure what sort of focal length would be useful so decided to go for a zoom lens. I also took along the two speed lights and the tripod. I only used the speed lights for a couple of shots but the tripod came in very handy.

Interior of a Tram - Tram Sheds, Glebe

I'm not sure exactly when the restoration work on the sheds are going to start, so if anyone is interested in shooting inside, I'd suggest you get there fast. If you want some inspiration, check out flickr or any of the photo guides online.

The Lone Wolf - Tram Sheds, Glebe

If you'd like to see more photographs of graffiti, check out - Hosier Lane in Melbourne.

Observatory Hill - Sydney, Australia

Observatory Hill - Sydney, Australia

I've been going to Observatory Hill over the last few weekends to try and photograph the Sydney Harbour bridge. I was after a couple of specific shots ( a couple of panoramas) and most of them required warm light. However one of them, the second in this post, had to be taken after sunset on a cloudy day. As a result of all of this, I had to go back to Observatory Hill on three separate weekends.

The results, after the jump.

The Harbour Bridge - Sydney, Australia

I had to slow down the shutter speed considerably to get the light trails of a car driving down towards the bridge. I ended up using an aperture of f/22 and a shutter speed of 15 seconds to get a decent light trail. If I was to take this photograph again, I would probably compose the shot in a way that cuts out the tree in the bottom left hand corner of the frame. To me it just looks like a black spot and takes away from the image.

Observatory Hill - Sydney, Australia

I wanted to use one of the trees at the top of the hill to  compose a panorama. The light was coming in from the left hand side of the image and I though it would help define the tree and add another layer of interest to the image while balancing it out. This is probably my favourite image from this shoot.

Observatory Hill - Sydney, Australia

The tree in this shot is the same as the tree in the shot above. I wanted to capture an image of the bench facing the bridge and the branches of the tree worked well to frame the shot. Both panoramas were created by stitching 8 - 9 separate images.

I'd like to find out what you guys think of these images. If you do have a minute, please let me know via the comments. I'm particularly interested in finding out what sort of improvements you would have made if you were capturing similar photographs.

Opera House and Harbour Bridge - Sydney, Australia

The Opera House and Harbour Bridge - Sydney, Australia

The weather hasn't been the best over the Australian summer and today was no exception. We woke up to another gloomy, wet day with showers forecast. From a photographic point of view, I had been waiting for one of these days to take some close ups of the Opera House with moody gray clouds in the background. I hopped on a train at around 2.00PM for the ten minute trip into the CBD and wandered down to Circular Quay.

More photographs from today's shoot, inside.

 

The Sails of the Opera house - Sydney, Australia

I got down to the Overseas Passenger Terminal to find a massive cruise liner docked at the terminal and blocking the view of the Opera House completely. I was a bit annoyed with my luck but decided to make the most of the day and walk around to Mrs Macquarie's Chair for some shots of the other side of the Opera House. I hadn't planned on shooting from here and I only had my 24-105mm lens with me. As a result I had to shoot and crop the images slightly to get the shots I wanted. I'll head down there with the 100-400mm at some point and re-shoot these images.

 

The Opera House - Sydney, Australia

On my way back to the station I heard the horn(?) of the ship and thought I'd go back to Circular Quay and check if it was moving. I arrived at the Overseas Passenger Terminal to find the ship heading off and the Opera House appearing from behind it. I spent another 20 minutes taking more shots of the Opera House before heading off.

 

The Sails of the Opera House - Sydney, Australia

All images on this post were captured with a Canon 7D and the 24-105mm combo.

New Year's Day Fireworks - Sydney, Australia

New Year's Day Fireworks - Sydney, Australia 

New Years eve celebrations were fairly low key this year. I was at a friends place for a barbecue dinner followed by fireworks on the harbour. People usually get to the foreshore fairly early (8.00 - 9.00 in the morning...) and claim spots for their chairs and picnic blankets. We couldn't be bothered going through all of that and ended up on leaving home at around 10.30 PM.

More images after the jump. Happy New Year everyone.

New Year's Day Fireworks - Sydney Australia

We had decided to head to a location on the lower North Shore as it was not too far from home. The area was really crowded by the time we got there but I did manage to find enough room to setup the tripod without blocking anyone's view. We had unobstructed views of the city from where we were and had to hang around for only half an hour. No complaints form me.

New Year's Day Fireworks - Sydney, Australia

The most annoying thing about photographing fireworks is the smoke. The first few photographs turn out alright but the others smoke obstructed the view of the city in some of the later images.

New Year's Day Fireworks - Sydney, Australia

All the photographs in this post were captured with a Canon 7D and a Canon 24 - 105mm lens. I also used a tripod and a remote shutter release.

New Year's Day Fireworks - Sydney, Australia

New Year's Day Fireworks - Sydney, Australia

New Year's Day Fireworks - Sydney, Australia

New Year's Day Fireworks - Sydney, Australia

New Year's Day Fireworks - Sydney, Australia

New Year's Day Fireworks - Sydney, Australia

New Year's Day Fireworks - Sydney, Australia