Alex Wise Photography

A landscape photograph captured in Ralph’s Bay, Tasmania. The photograph was purposely under-exposed so that way the colours of the sunset would be dark but also so the ugly sand in the foreground would be completely darkened.

 I ordered a Holga! Fingers crossed it comes before Christmas..

A long exposure capturing the traffic as it enters my little city of Hobart

This is one from the archives and was taken in the early days of purchasing a digital camera. I shot long exposures back in the day on my film body but it was a little expensive as I would trial different exposures so bang a whole film was gone pretty quick. This was shot with a 350D + 18-55

This little waterfall is located along Strickland Avenue (funny that ha) and is towards the end of the road as you approach Ferntree. For anyone interested, the car park is quite obvious so you shouldn’t have much trouble finding it. The waterfall itself doesn’t have a easy access path so you have to hop over rocks at the quiet patch of the stream. Don’t worry though this is really easy and the rocks are dry so you don’t have to worry about slipping so just take it easy and you’ll be alright. Once you’ve crossed to the other side you then make your way up a dirt path for a minute or two and bang.

For this shot I used a .6 and .9 cokin neutral density filter to heavily darken the waterfall but create great emphasis on the leaves in the foreground.

If you’re interested in exploring Mt. Wellington for photography and require nearby accommodation be sure to check out Apartments on Strickland

This photograph was taken at Snug Falls earlier this year. It was a terrible day with the rain bucketing down and upon arriving at the waterfall I looked like I had just showered. For this shot I composed the shot then bracketed it 3 stops to create a HDR image (high dynamic range). This is because it allowed me to get more detail around the rocks in the foreground but also the rock around the main waterfall which was otherwise the victim of harsh shadows. Snug Falls is a pretty little place and is around 30 minutes ~ from Hobart, Tasmania. I’d best recommend taking photographs there in winter when the weather can be a bit random and heavy showers are more likely. This is the time to strike as all the little streams which come off the main waterfall really come alive.

With Christmas quickly approaching I pondered a small coffee table like book for close family and friends, those who appreciate my photography the most. I wanted something that was relatively cheap but also allowed free control of what the pages looked like, none of these tacky themes designed for people creating a holiday book they will never look at again.

I looked around and there was quite a few options getting around, Lulu seemed quite popular and I had received a book from there before when I was featured in U&I magazine. The quality wasn’t amazing but it was good enough. But then there were other options that I would have to consider like memento, Asuka, blurb and another which I had heard about on a forum but many were complaining the turn around times were hopeless. I decided to pick Lulu in the end because I thought I could print a 20page photobook for not much damage, around $16 I believe. But then when I was uploading my pages, the system wasn’t much and only allowed the user to use the pre-defined themes, argh! I got in touch with live help and they recommended creating my own paper based book but apparently the print quality is not as good as the photobook, whether this is true or not I don’t know. The price of my book ended up being $9.50 for 36 pages whilst I think a photobook was around $16 for 20 pages. Maybe I had just snatched myself a bargain and they were encouraging me to go the more expensive option so I spend more? Or maybe they were right and I was about to purchase 15 books that looked garbage. Time would soon tell..

I set off designing my book which was much more tedious then I ever imagined. Should I have text about each location? Should I discuss technical data of each image? What colours should I use? Things I never really bothered to think about before. However in the end it was quite easy as my book was made purposely for close friends and family who aren’t interested in the technical data and will possibly recognise most locations anyhow. I had a few ideas for colours but used a website that I had bookmarked sometime ago called colourlovers. This website is great and I love the different colour palettes which users can submit. I knew I wanted to use a gray/black palette but wanted a nice bright colour to compliment. In the end I decided on this palette as the green really grabbed me and seemed to work well with the final product.

Colours and a rough but simple layout design was in my head so it was time to start choosing images. With most of my work being in portrait orientation I didn’t really think twice about going portrait, landscape would of been great for panoramic but portrait was the sure option. Initially I wanted to leave photo quotes on pages but in the limited it to just a couple as I didn’t want it to get overly corny and only wanted to use the ones that actually mean something to me. If this book was going to be selling in book shops I would of made the design dramatically different, I was amazed of the designs on deviantart but such designs for this small book were un-necessary plus I lacked the skill to even do it

Below is a section of pages which have been included, as you can see I opted to use a landscape image which didn’t really fit the orientation of the book but being one of my favourite shots, I had to work it in somehow.

Click for bigger versions

Front and back covers

The name of the book just felt right, F/18 is such a common range for me when shooting and it resembles my work. I was thinking of names like moments in time or other cliché things, but they all had been done to death and didn’t grab me as much as F/18 did. This was decided and the cover and back were designed to be simple and to the point.

Being a international customer of lulu, one thing that did appeal most was the fact that shipping was well priced. If I order one book then it costs around $6(USD) shipping which is great. In the end I ordered a quantity of 15 which worked out around $60 for shipping. To get a saving on the quantity ordered, I would of had to order around 25~ books to gain a 30-40 cent discount per order. It was too big of risk to make, I wasn’t sure if the books were even going to look good nor do I have that many close friends to give them to haha.

I lodged my order on the 27th of November and was warned that I may not receive my books in time for Christmas. I was a little concerned but through reading the faq of lulu it seems that a book takes 3-4 business days to be printed then another 10-15 days to be delivered internationally through their standard mail system. I could of selected a express delivery but instead of paying $6 for a individual book, I was looking at $65 so I’m not sure I’d like to see how much 15 would cost. But this delivery is quick and is supposed to be 3-4 days delivery time. Not bad! But expensive.

The book did arrive in time for Christmas (14th December) just enough time to post books out for people.

I’m happy with how the books turned out and my only disappointments are more on my own end with I wish I perhaps set certain things out differently but that’s just self nitpicking. My shots don’t really do the cover or back much justice with the ambient light in the room being quite poor so I used the flash and bounced it off the roof which also didn’t help either oops. For the price they cost me (15~usd inc shipping) is quite cheap really and I’m happy with the finished product. They will serve as a great gift to give to friends and family but wouldn’t be something that I would be putting in a book store. Things I would consider changing next time would be: greater emphasis on design, more text for those interested of locations, a biography and perhaps a few other minor adjustments. All in all I’m happy! Now time to get some books out in the mail in time for Christmas.

Friday was quite humid, hot, rank. Thunder and hard rain randomly coming through in patches which made it a good time to go take some shots of waterfalls at Mt. Field, Tasmania. But upon arrival the sun came out and things looked pretty poor for taking shots but you get over these things as theres more to life then taking little photographs right? ok maybe not.. Photography seems to play a increasingly part of my life, i think about it way too much. My mind wanders when I walk down the street as I imagine how I would compose a certain shot with that little puddle on the side of the street, it could look nice with the incoming storm reflecting.. Ahhhhhh!

The two above shots were taken with a Canon 350D and Canon 10-22 and no neutral density filters or any of that.

—————-
Now playing: Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip - Thou Shalt Always Kill
thou shall not shake it like a polaroid picture.

The Canon 18-55 is a lens which is included in a kit when purchasing a Canon body. I think the new kit has changed and the lens now includes image stabilising which is pretty rad. But anyway, I find alot of people say this lens is rubbish, so much so they talk people out of even getting it with their purchase. For a lens which is only worth around $100 or less, it’s a great little lens. Depending what your doing with it, I can understand its limitations especially in regards to portraiture. For memory it only goes to around F 3.5 which could be better for portraits and ideally if your serious I would get the Canon 50 1.8 and couple that with the kit lens perhaps. But you can still get some ok shots for portraits and it will do fine while learning.

The same can be said with it for landscape photography which does have similar limitations somewhat. While the lens isn’t super wide, 18mm isn’t too bad but once you have a play with something like a 10-12mm you will realise that 8mm makes alot of difference. I’m not going to pretend this is some super lens but really it’s perfect for the amateur just looking to have a play and learn their camera in and out.

From what I learnt with this lens, pop it on a tripod for landscape and dial it up to around F.16 and go nuts. Ignore what others say and use the time to decide which range you use more, if you find you’re shooting around the 18-24 mark often then maybe a ultra wide angle like the Canon 10-22 or the cheaper Sigma alternative is a good option. Perhaps you shoot in the 30-55 range which I would probably recommend a 24-70 or 24-105. I’m only reccomending the expensive Canon lenses because that’s all that I’m familiar with and I have nothing against the more cheaper options but just cant speak first hand.

Here are a couple that I had taken in the past with this little lens

I love the Canon 50 1.8

This morning I coupled it with my Canon 350D and set away to the botanical gardens which is somewhere in my little city of Hobart. The lens is around the $100~ mark give or take and this bad boy ensures lots of fun. I love the shallow depth of field which can be obtained as its perfect for so many things. I really would love a Canon 85 1.2, now that would be fun. But pity about the price tag being around the $2000 mark, outch. However for the mean time I’m tempted to upgrade to the Canon 50 1.4 due to the better build quality and the USM. All money I guess..