South Coast

[Mickeymoo]

Gday all, my old man and I went for a nice leisurely walk to camp at South Cape Rivulet on the South Coast Track for a couple of nights it really is a beautifl spot and actually closer to Hobart than you think. Two other groups camped there had a lot of trouble with antichinuses chewing sizable holes in tents, packs and other stuff, I guess it pays to pack your food in ziplock bags etc as we had no trouble and were only 5m away!
Here are a couple of photos I took while down there and more can be found here http://s173.photobucket.com/albums/w76/mcikeymoo21/
Any C & C welcome and muchly appreciated.

Michael.

[tasadam]

Well, what can I say.
Well done!
I would like to learn more of your post processing techniques.
I know the ocean images 1,3,4,6 are time exposures, especially 3. But what else do you do with the image in PS to get you to the end result?

The colours of the foreground rocks in 3 have picked up a fair bit of blue, too.

One last thing - how come you didn't use any of these images on the April comp? Is it because the post processing destroys the original exif info, or did you particularly like the clifftop view photo more than these?
I've figured out the answer - you couldn't decide?

[Mickeymoo]

Thanks Adam.

My post processing is usually fairly simple.
1. open RAW image in CS3.
2. adjust white balance if needed.
3. adjust exposure, fill light and blacks (I can't yet afford good GND filters yet and I don't want to get the cokin ones which I have been told are a waste of money) so basically I'm replicating this but it does tend to degrade the images if pushed to far.
3. contrast adjustments if needed then a little saturation and viabrance, if the colours don't seem right to me I may adjust the individual colour channels a little to get the right colours but this is very rare.
4. save as TIFF file with settings to a 16bit image, straighten horizon remove dust spots etc.
5. **stupid me forgot a very important step sharpening I first change the mode to LAB and select the lightness channel then use an unsharp mask then convert back to RGB.
6. I usually run the images through neat image too to remove noise and then resize and I'm done.

I have an old CPL which has heaps of spots on it that I have to clone out at the moment as I'm to lazy and frugal to replace it and for some reason I have been getting a lot more CA than normal which I have to manually remove, I'm starting to wondering if the abuse the camera gets is starting to wear it down

I think the blue on the rocks of #3 is just the deep blue sky above reflected off the wet rocks as I think I had the CPL turned so it was giving no polarising effect, but I may be wrong there.

There were several reasons why I used the photo I did in the comp, mainly because I didn't think that I'd have the others done in time and the long exposure ones need some noise reduction which strips the EXIF data, also I sort of feel a bit weird entering the long exposure ones as it doesn't really seem right to enter them.

Hope that helps explain my post processing techniques if anyone has any other questions feel free to ask I'm more than happy to help.

Micahel.

[tas-man]

WOW Michael, the lighting you have captured along this part of the coast makes me definitely want to go back there again in non raining weather sometime. I was a little disappointed with the scenery from South Cape Rivulet to Cockle Creek when completing my South Coast walk over Easter in the rain and overcast conditions. I have a photo taken from the same lookout as yours looking back to South Cape Rivulet, but it is all very flat and lacking in colour even with a lot of digital tweaking. It goes to prove that there is no substitute to getting the best quality original you can using the best lighting conditions, use a tripod etc, and then only minimal adjustments will be required in the digital "darkroom". Very atmospheric photos that capture the moods of the south coast wilderness.

[Mickeymoo]

Thanks Ian, I was very fortunate with the lighting on the trip. The first day it rained most of the day after we reached the first beach and all night then it stopped raining and came out sunny on the day out, but we had some really nice moody clouds going either side with the rain. There was a really good spot on the way to South Cape Rivulet for photos of Lion Rock but it was pouring with rain unfortunatly so I will be back down there soon hopefully when there is some bad weather to get a few good shots of Lion Rock hopefully.

Michael.

[Son of a Beach]

My wife just looking over my shoulder at that first shot reckons she'd like that one up on the wall at home. Well done!

[Mickeymoo]

Thanks Nik, I'm quite happy to give you a copy if you want it

Michael.