Bushwalk Australia

Gday all, I took some extra time off over easter and went for a kayak down the Pieman River to the coast, it is certainly a stunning area and very beautiful (apart from all the 4WD tracks, beer bottles and rubbish at the heads) and was a magnificent trip, on the way back we went for a short paddle up both the Donaldson and Savage Rivers as well which was fun as it had been raining most of the time and had a fairly good flow going, the Donaldson is an exceptionally beautiful river once into the dense rainforst area and well worth a visit. Anyway here are a few of the photos I'v processed so far from the trip.

Michael.

Amazing photos as always Michael;
I love the 2nd & 3rd shots.
Thanks for sharing

Stu.

magic! I love the depth of field in the second shot (I hope that's the right term... from a non-photographer... you know the detail of the close up as well as the detail of the very distant).

Nice shots Mickeymoo
I especially like the foreboding angry cloud ones - the colours are awesome
... so, which one will you choose for the April photo comp?

Well somebody knows how to handle a camera! Fantastic

Thanks for the comments everyone.

Yes Nik that would be the correct term for it

Absolutely stunning Michael!

Amazing photos.

So, can you give us beginning photographers some tips on how you achieved them? Are they HDR composites? Did you use any kind of filter? Can you give us an idea of shutter speed/aperture/ISO used?

I ask because I am becoming seriously interested in getting much better results from my bushwalking photos so I'm trying to pick the brains of anybody who'll let me

cheers,
Alliecat

Very nice, especially the third one.

Thanks, great pictures ! A bevvy of contenders for the April pic !

Terrific photographs that's why I dont bother to take my camera now
c

Well done Michael, I adree with all the previous comments. Those pics are a bit out of my league (A FAIR BIT)
Thanks for sharing
FF

is that someone lying behind a rock in the crashing wave pic? definitely gives it some perspective.
i noticed the tiny dot of pink on the pigface, you would think it wasn't meant to be there if you hadn't seen one before
great photos.

WOW!
What type of camera do you use, Mickeymoo. They are top notch amazing!

lyndoor

Thanks for all the wonderful comments everyone, they are greatly appreciated

alliecat wrote:Amazing photos.

So, can you give us beginning photographers some tips on how you achieved them? Are they HDR composites? Did you use any kind of filter? Can you give us an idea of shutter speed/aperture/ISO used?

I ask because I am becoming seriously interested in getting much better results from my bushwalking photos so I'm trying to pick the brains of anybody who'll let me

cheers,
Alliecat

Hi Alliecat, these are all single exposures, no HDR or blended exposures. To achieve this I used Singh-Ray Graduated Neutral Density filters (GND) (these are filters with one half dark and the other clear) for the sunset ones, and either a UV filter or circular polarising filter on the others to keep slat spray and sand off the lense. I will put a thread up in the photography section soon for nature photography hints and tips where everyone else can add stuff as well, I have been meaning to do it for a while now, I did a long post in a photography forum that was specifically for long exposures, which I will modify a little and put in there, so keep and eye out for that soon.

Settings in order from first to last were:
1/160sec, f/10, ISO 400
1/160sec, f/16. ISO 200
2.5sec, f/18 ISO 50
1/100sec, f/14, ISO 200
1/160sec, f/16, ISO 200
1/500sec, f/7, ISO 400
1/125sec, f/16, ISO 200
1/200sec, f/16, ISO 200
1/60sec, f/9, ISO 640
2.5sec, f/18, ISO 50
55sec, f/18, ISO 50
1/80sec, f/16, ISO 200

If you have any other questions don't hesitate to ask and I will do my best to awnser them.

Nick S wrote:is that someone lying behind a rock in the crashing wave pic? definitely gives it some perspective.
i noticed the tiny dot of pink on the pigface, you would think it wasn't meant to be there if you hadn't seen one before
great photos.

Gday Nick, yeah that's a person on the rock, gives a good perspective!! Yeah I would love to be there when they are in full flower, but the solitary flower does look like its a bit out of place, looks a little like a hot pixle!!

lyndoor wrote:WOW!
What type of camera do you use, Mickeymoo. They are top notch amazing!

lyndoor

Hi Lyndoor, thank you, the camera I'm using is a Canon 5D DSLR, with a 17-40mm f/4 L lense.

Michael, thanks for the info, I appreciate it very much. Especially knowing which filters were used as I'm really at the novice stage and being able to relate techniques to final images is really helpful. I look forward to your thread with hints and tips.

It's interesting that my 3 favourite pics of the ones you posted were the 3 long exposure ones. Something about the depth in those just grabs me. (Note to self, stop balancing camera on rocks and buy proper tripod )

Thanks again.
Alliecat

Most desired new gear: Kayak. Or canoe. What's the difference?
Something on which I can paddle up/down rivers and around lakes/coasts, anyway.

Beautiful images. How do you keep the camera gear safe while on the water? Bins, bags, or trust to luck?

Beautiful shots Michael, great light, well composed and well executed.

scavenger wrote:Most desired new gear: Kayak. Or canoe. What's the difference?
Something on which I can paddle up/down rivers and around lakes/coasts, anyway.

Beautiful images. How do you keep the camera gear safe while on the water? Bins, bags, or trust to luck?

Thanks A kayak will generally be enclosed, so you will sit in an "cockpit" of sorts and you will seal you're self in by wearing a skirt and it will usually have hatches to store gear in, where as, a canoe is usually open with a couple of seats and resembels something more like a narrow dingy. You could paddle in either on lakes, coast or rivers, but a canoe I would imagine is not going to hnadle rough weather too well, and would be a lot more in-efficient I would think (i.e. it would take a lot more effort to paddle 20kms in a canoe than in a kayak) and a proper sea kayak will be able to handle some pretty nasty weather, but it really comes down to what you are going to use it for, how often, how far and in what types of weather etc.

My camera bag just goes in a waterproof stuff sac (with some air left in so it will float) and strapped to the outside of the kayak, the black bag you can see in the photos with the kayak is the camera bag.

lexharris wrote:Beautiful shots Michael, great light, well composed and well executed.

Thanks Lex.

Note that the remainder of the technical discussion about photography has been split off to a new topic here.

Awesome photos Michael.

Thanks Steve.

Great shots and what a fantastic adventure! Major envy..

These really are beautiful photos, thank you for posting them.

Mickeymoo

I am curious - was it your own kayak, or did you hire it at Corinna?

I gather you camped overnight - how do you arrange gear in a kayak - and can you carry a full backpack to allow overnight hiking away from the kayak?

thanks

Thanks for the comments guys.

eggs wrote:Mickeymoo

I am curious - was it your own kayak, or did you hire it at Corinna?

I gather you camped overnight - how do you arrange gear in a kayak - and can you carry a full backpack to allow overnight hiking away from the kayak?

thanks

Eggs, yes its my own kayak, but I believe that you can hire them from Corinna, and if my memory serves me correct they were of a similar style to mine with a hatch fore and aft, although I am not sure on the capacity of the hire ones, and if they have skirts also (they look silly but you do get a lot of water falling off the paddle onto your legs without one!) I would imagine you would still be able to pack all your bushwalking gear in one though. With mine I can easily load all my bushwalking gear plus a bit more, and then you can strap things to the outside if need be as well.

If you were looking to hire one it may be a good idea to call the Tarkine Hotel their contact details are on the website http://www.corinna.com.au/Default.aspx

If just wanting to walk the other option is to get a ride down on the ferry Arcadia II and be dropped off at the heads and then picked back up a few days later, however if wanting to head north you would need to swim across the river or take a lilo/blowup dingy etc as I'm pretty sure they are unable to drop you off on that side of the river (it would be a 150m+ swim though, and currents could be quite strong at times I would think).

If paddeling I would highly recommend a side trip up the Donaldson River at the very least as it has some stunning scenery after about 1-1.5kms. I definantly want to get back up there, just need a good lot of holidays to allow 1 full days to get there and another back!

Hope that awnsers your questions, if not just sing out.

Michael.

Impressive, as everyone else has said. Personally I liked the fourth pic but agree with the others about the sand patterns.
Cheers, Ian