Wake up call /  by Mario Mirabile

If you have a tree near your window in the country, or even in the city, there's a good chance you don't need an alarm clock to get you out of bed. A flock of cockys is will be quite happy to make sure you don't sleep in.

The cocky - more correctly the sulphur crested cockatoo - is a large, white parrot native to Australia, New Guinea and Indonesia. An attractive birds with vibrant, showy crests, they are often kept as pets and have been known to live 80 years and more in captivity. The are gregarious, raucous, and often quite destructive. They gather in large flocks which attack cereal and fruit crops, and even soft building timbers. Nevertheless, they are appealing birds, full of character. Just hope they don't come screeching outside your window at dawn.

Tech Talk
I love my 50-200mm lens. Shapp and quick to focus, it's fast enough to cope reasonably well with a 1.4x teleconverter attached. A great combination.

Olympus E-5, Zuiko Digital 50-200mm f2.8-3.5,  with and without the EC14 1.4x teleconverter

Ports of all sorts /  by Mario Mirabile

The south coast of Australia can be a wild and treacherous place for shipping. With the shortest route from Europe to the east cost lying along its often rocky and treacherous reaches, it was, and continues to be, a busy route. Exposed to the Roaring Forties, the conditions brought many sailing ships to grief. The south-west cost of Victoria, in particular, is famously rugged, so much so that it's become a tourist attraction. The few ports along its length are welcome havens when the weather turns foul.

Originally known as Belfast, Port Fairy was once a busy whaling and sealing port. The wide bay offered shelter from the westerlies, but the main port was eventually established on the Moyne River. As whaling declined, it thrived as a busy agricultural hub for the fertile Western District of Victoria, until road transport and larger deep water ports saw its importance fade. Port Campbell is perched on the cliff tops near the most treacherous stretch of coastline in Australia, aptly named the Shipwreck Coast. A small inlet opening directly onto Bass Strait  has been home to a fishing fleet for 140 years. Even in today's modern vessels, it must take considerable courage to steer a small boat away from its shelter when the wind rises. These days, the towns are primarily havens for tourists, but they retain many reminders of their seafaring pasts.

Tech Talk
Both images are multi-shot panoramas. I rose early for the Port Fairy image, hoping for glassy water and a dramatic sky. I Unfortunately I got neither, but I managed to coax a bit of colour out of the dawn light. 

I tried a similar shot of Port Campbell from a lookout just  east of town on my last visit a couple of years ago, but was never particularly happy with it. On that occasion, the light was poor and there was a dead tree just below my vantage point which interfered with the view. The light was better this time, but the tree was still there. No matter where I stood, the tree still interfered as I swept the camera through the arc of the view. So, rather than stay in the same spot, I tried taking the sequence from two different positions on the lookout. This goes against panorama best practice, and would normally be expected to guarantee a  mis-aligned sequence, but Photoshop appears to have coped admirably.

Olympus E-5, Zuiko Digital 12-60mm f2.8-4 SWD lens. Processed in Lightroom 5 and stitched in Photoshop CS6.

The King's bastard /  by Mario Mirabile

Fitzroy is a Melbourne suburb adjacent to the CBD.  It was Melbourne's first suburb, and also the first to be granted separate municipal status. The parts closest to the city were originally quite genteel, with large townhouses and gardens for the well-heeled. But, surrounded by factories and industry, it also provided an ideal location for working class housing, and the northern end became a maze of narrow streets and tiny cottage terraces. Eventually, the mansions were converted to boarding houses, and by the end of the 19th century, Fitzroy was solidly working class, and even slum-like in parts.

Like any inner city location, it has undergone waves of renewal and gentrification over the years. Today, the working class have been largely squeezed out, replaced by the hip and arty. The once grimy back alleys are now covered in exquisite street art, the factories and warehouse converted to galleries and boutique breweries. It has become one of Melbourne's central hubs for live music, art and dining. Even though it's come a long way from its down-at-heel roots, it still manages to feel a bit grimy and grungy. All part of the charm, I suppose.

Out and down /  by Mario Mirabile

It’s been something of a struggle to get out and shoot lately. Partly it’s been a certain lack of enthusiasm on my part, but mostly a lingering back complaint which looks likely to need surgical intervention. The two factors are almost certainly linked. I do need to start taking pictures, though. A new year of camera club competitions is about to begin, and with it a new list of set subject topics.

I like to use our monthly competitions as motivation to take photos, and try to use something relatively new for each of the set subject topics. I think I have the first subject (“planes, trains and automobiles”) covered. After that we move on to “from above”, for which I definitely need material. A lunchtime walk with eyes downcast yielded this batch of images. While they all fit the theme “from above”, I rather like them for “minimalism” later in the year. But I think that’s a problem for another day.

Uncovering the past /  by Mario Mirabile

It's never easy going through a departed loved ones effects. There is sadness, confusion (what the hell is this thing???), guilt (I don't want this, but it doesn't feel right getting rid of it....), and more than a few surprises. We've been through this recently after the passing of my mother-in-law. One of the great treasures, of course,  are the photos found tucked away in so many corners. I prepared the memorial slide show for the funeral, and in the process discovered many gems I've never seen before. At the time, I came across only one photo of Jeanette and Murray's wedding, which perhaps was odd give the prominence normally given to such events. It was a photo of them leaving the church in a deluge, a picture which ended up in the papers as it turned out to be one of the wettest days on record in Melbourne.

A couple of weeks ago, Trish handed me an envelope and asked if there was anything I could do with the contents. It contained nine small pictures from her parents wedding day, or at least what was left of them. My first thought was the the pictured - bronzed, faded, stained and cracked, were beyond help. Nevertheless, I took them to a restoration expert, hoping there might be some chemical solution to their condition. They said they could (for a substantial fee), scan, re-convert to black and white and touch-up the pictures. Thinking "well, I can try that", I gave it a go. With a bit of fiddling with the scanner settings and in Photoshop, the, the results are, to say the least, remarkable. The first image shows what the pictures look like to the eye, and the rest after a bit of digital magic. These were the pick of the bunch, the ones with the least deterioration which looked like they had the best chance of resurrection. The rest, while improved to some degree, are not nearly so good. Nevertheless, a win for the digital  age.

Tech Talk
The restoration expert thought these were likely to be proofs, which may explain their condition. Perhaps they were intended to deteriorate, increasing the chances the clients would buy enlargements. In any case, I was surprised how much detail my 10 year old scanner could extract. from the faded originals Scanned at 1200 DPI and imported into Photoshop, with Nik Silver Efex Pro to handle the mono conversion, Colour filters - orange in particular - removed the deep orange-red cast, after which it was a matter of some judicious cloning to remove spots, cracks and creases.

Wind change /  by Mario Mirabile

Melbourne's weather is famously fickle and the butt of many jokes (if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes...). Spring is the most changeable season, but as the summer settles in, the weather becomes a little more predictable. We are subjected to protracted spells of hot weather which can be quite oppressive, and seem to be becoming more so. But even the most torrid spell of hot weather will be ended by a famous Melbourne cool change.

If you're out in the heat when the first hint of a cooler breeze is felt, the relief can be pure bliss, especially if you've just suffered through a series of 40° days. The change usually rolls in over the bay from the south-west. It can be anything from a gentle wind change that somehow drops the temperature by 15°, all the way to a blustery gale with some wild storms mixed in with it. The more dramatic changes can make for pretty interesting photography, so when I saw a storm line approaching on the weather radar, I headed for a bayside vantage point with high expectations. The storm line dissipated before it reached me, and with it the often dramatic cloudscapes that accompany severe fronts. The wind, however, remained fierce. It was impossible to hold the camera steady, and even difficult to stand up at times. The bay is nearly land-locked and relatively shallow, so the seas are never huge. Nevertheless, even the once mighty ironclad Cerberus, long scuttled as a breakwater and artificial reef, copped quite a hammering.

We wish you a Merry Christmas /  by Mario Mirabile

Christmas can be a wonderful time of festivities and family gatherings. It can also be a time at which sadness is felt more acutely. This year out Christmas will be clouded by the passing two weeks ago of my wife's mother, Jeanette O'Neill. There is also joy in the knowledge that she lived a long, full and rich life, and her legacy will long live on. Vale Jeanette, you will be missed.

Christmas also means that a long and eventful year is drawing to a close. To all who've followed my blog through the year, thank you. I wish you all a peaceful and happy Christmas and all the best for the new year.

Grounded /  by Mario Mirabile

Travel can be a pleasure - at least so I'm told. A flying visit to Canberra for a meeting you don't particularly want to attend is anything but. A 5:00AM alarm, getting stuck in traffic on the way to the airport and missing my flight made a particularly bad start to the day. A brief panic before a replacement flight was arranged just added to the stress. I now had an hour and a half to kill, and airports are not the best place in world to pass the time in my book.

Fortunately, a colleague had told me before the trip that our tickets, despite being cattle class, allowed us access to the airline lounge. I was able to get a nice coffee and a comfortable chair while I waited for my flight. I got to my destination and - after a totally forgettable all day meeting - I headed back to the airport with a few colleagues for the flight home. Naturally, we had allowed JUST enough time for a quick visit to the lounge. As we had a quick drink to steady our nerves, we could see some nasty weather closing in on the airport through the picture windows, and it wasn't too long before a thunder storm delayed all flights. Last time I was weather delayed at Canberra airport, I spent nine hours wondering if I was ever going to get home. It was made worse by the fact that renovations at the airport meant none of the amenities were operating. No such problems on this occasion. I confess that Sir Richard Branson's stocks of beer,  red wine and bar snacks took a hammering, but I did propose several toasts in his honour during the two hours we took advantage of his hospitality. We all floated home safely in the end. It really is the only way to fly.

Tech Talk
Nothing special here. I traveled light and only packed my nifty little Olympus XZ-1 compact. I would have loved to get outside with an ultra wide angle lens, or even with the XZ-1, but I don't thing I would have got far if I tried to leave the terminal. As it was I had t shoot through glass, and ended up having to clean up the reflections in post. Still not a bad result.

Olympus XZ-1 compact.

'Ard luck /  by Mario Mirabile

The Loch Ard departed England on the 1st of March, 1878, bound for Melbourne with a complement of 17 crew and 37 passengers. Three months later, as she sailed along Victoria's aptly named Shipwreck Coast, she struck a reef in thick fog and quickly sank. All except two of those aboard perished. The survivors made it to shore and took shelter in the small inlet which now bears the ship's name - Loch Ard Gorge.

On a fine, sunny day, the gorge seems idyllic. The colourful rock walls frame the tropically turquoise water, and shelter the pristine beach from the turmoil of Bass Strait. Similar refuges are few and far between along this rugged stretch of coastline. Eva Carmichael and Tom Pearce - the survivors of the Loch Ard tragedy - were fortunate to come ashore here, although doubtless they weren't focusing on the spots great natural beauty at the time.

Tech Talk
A great spot to put the wide angle lenses to work. The superb 7-14mm zoom and 8mm fisheye are purpose built for this kind of work. As always with lenses this wide, care must be taken to keep distortion within reasonable limits. A little tugging and stretching at the corners in Photoshop doesn't hurt, either.

Olympus E-5, Zuiko Digital 7-14mm f4 and 8mm f3.5 fisheye.

A wider view /  by Mario Mirabile

I've had a fascination with panoramic images almost as long as I've had a digital camera. My first was a little Canon point-and-shoot. It had a panorama mode which displayed a set of guide lines to help with composition, alignment and overlap for each frame. I could never work out how it was supposed to work, so I would invariably give up and switch the camera back to auto. 

I think my first attempt was at  Mallacoota Inlet. As I said, I didn't really know what I was doing, and I ended up spending a lot of time tweaking and equalizing the exposure of each frame before assembling the whole thing manually. The result was less than inspiring, but quite a revelation at the time. My technique and tools have become more sophisticated since then, but even so it doesn't always work. When it does, though, it's still a revelation.

Tech Talk
A couple from my recent trip to the state's south-west. The first is Childers Cove. Tucked away off the main road near the end of the Great Ocean Road, it's not nearly as popular as some of the other attractions along that scenic route. In fact, on the day I visited it, I had the place to myself.I toyed around with focus stacking to try getting both the foreground and background in focus, but in the end I was able to get away with a single shot at f9 for each frame. A 3 shot pano with plenty of overlap.

The second is at a spot called The Crags, about 20 kilometres west of Port Fairy. It's a a much wider vista and required 9 frames. The wind was howling off the water, and even weighted down my tripod wasn't particularly stable, so I took the series hand-held. I've tried processing this image several times, and I'm still not entirely happy with the result. Something about the colours and contract just doesn't seem quite right.

Olympus E-5, Zuiko Digital 12-60mm, processed in Lightroom 5 and Photoshop CS6.

Bright eyes /  by Mario Mirabile

My camera club's year is winding up. In a couple of weeks we'll have the presentation of our end of year competition. Trophies will be handed out, backs will be slapped and much food and drink will be consumed. It's a big night for the club, and it's always good to look back at the year's best work before we break for Christmas.

An almost equally important fixture on the calendar is the annual portrait workshop in the second-last meeting of the year. Our founding member, Paul, lines up a model for us to photograph, and this year it was his daughter Tessa. She was a delight to work with - very natural and comfortable in front of the camera. Professional models know how to pose and present for the camera, but with others it's important to give them some idea of what you're looking for. That makes it a great opportunity to practice not only our camera skills, but also our communication skills.

Tech Talk
Even though we had what seemed like bright studio lights in action, I was still only getting 1/80 second at f2. Makes you appreciate just how powerful real studio lights are. I was tempted to take the bug 35-100mm f2, but just couldn't be bothered with the bulk. Fortunately, the 50mm f2 macro doubles as a very handy short telephoto macro. 

Olymus E-5, Zuiko Digital 50mm f2.0 macro

Come fly with me /  by Mario Mirabile

Getting great pictures of birds in flight is something that every avian photographer aspires to. There is both skill and luck involved in getting a crisp, well exposed and dynamic image which captures the essence of effortless freedom that is a bird on the wing. The skills are similar to those needed for other forms of action photography - anticipation, the ability to track your subject, and a keen sense of when to trip the shutter. As for luck, the barest fraction of a second can make the difference between a perfectly positioned wing, and one that's obscuring or shadowing the bird's head.

Equipment plays some part. A telephoto lens is essential. Fast and accurate auto focus is a big help, especially if the camera has the ability to accurately track moving subjects. It helps to practice with larger birds as their movements can be slower and more predictable, especially soon after take-off. These shots are at the low end of the scale when it comes to dynamic composition, but as opportunistic shots in passing, I can't complain.