Southern Lights – Aurora Australis – 11th May 2024
A couple of images from Sorrento Back Beach, Vic, Au, during the peak of Aurora Australis on May 11th.
I’ve never seen or experienced anything like this before. Previously I’ve only ever seen the aurora as a distant tiny colour smudge on the horizon. This night was something special. 🙂
Tenby Point – A High Tide Sunset
The setting sun at Tenby Point beach, Western Port Bay.
On this occasion the tide was so high that the water’s edge was all the way up to the vegetation line so there wasn’t much opportunity to explore the beach. We could only walk a few short metres to the left of the access stairs and no further.
Fortunately though it was still possible to catch a glimpse of the setting sun from this position.
Dawn at Montforts Beach – Blairgowrie
Following are a couple of long exposure images from Montforts Beach taken at first light on a cloudy grey dawn. You can access Montforts Beach by parking at the Spray Point Road carpark and following the sandy walking track south. Montforts Beach is signposted along the track. It’s also well worthwhile visiting Spray Point while you’re here.
Tech stuff for the image below- 5 sec, f/11, ISO50.
Technical stuff for the image below – 2.5 secs, f/18, ISO50.
Reefton Vista
A sweeping vista viewed from Woods Point Road, near Reefton in the beautiful Yarra Ranges, Victoria.
With still another 6 weeks of COVID-19 lock-down to endure, it makes me truly appreciate the simple joy of being able to get out and immerse myself in photography.
The Caves – Inverloch
The view from inside one of The Caves at Inverloch, Victoria.
Tech stuff – The image is a blend of 3 exposures, each taken 3 stops apart in order to capture details on the dark walls of the cave and also the bright scene outside.
Sunset at Dog Rocks, Batesford.
A sunset image taken at Dog Rocks, Batesford, Victoria, Australia. It was the 21st December 2012 which was supposedly meant to be our “last day on Earth”. Thankfully it was all hot air as expected. 😉
Grantville – the pie and pier photography tour.
My excursions are never entirely about the photography. Often they’re about the escape, ….often they’re about self exploration, …….every now and then they might even result in a nice photographic image. Well, nice to me anyhow. 🙂
On previous visits to Grantville I’ve tended to concentrate on trying to capture an inspiring image or two from the mangroves dotted along the coast here. The mangroves are a fairly easy target for photography purposes. At high tide it’s possible to visually isolate them between the water and the sky which works to simplify the image by excluding potentially distracting background elements. On calm days the water can also act as a fantastic mirror for capturing reflections, particularly when doing long exposures.
This particular visit to Grantville was all about capturing the pier though, so here it is.
In the black and white image above I’ve deliberately over exposed the image to blow out the sky and increase the contrast between the pier and the background. I personally like the contrasty result here, but I know this style of image is not everyone’s cup of tea.
Pictured below – “The First Days of Sun” which is available to purchase as a print here.
This image from the pier was created from 3 exposures using HDR tone mapping techniques to maintain details in both the bright sky and the dark shadows.
Pictured below – “The Promise of Warm Days” which is available to purchase as a print here.
Another 3 exposure HDR shot converted to black and white and processed with a bit of dodging and burning in Photoshop.
Now for some serious business. I’ve discovered that the cafe on the corner of the Bass Hwy and Grantville Glen Alvie Road in Grantville sells excellent homemade meat pies made with flaky puff pastry. The coffee is pretty good there too.
(Disclaimer – I have no connection with this cafe at all, I just enjoyed the pie so much I felt the need to share it with you.)
Photography by Jim Worrall 