A Trip to Orange World

Canon 5D Mark II camera and Canon 24-105mm f4 L series USM lens @ 24mm. Exposure Details: 1/125 second @ f6.3 ISO 100

It’s late Sunday afternoon and I’m about to fly back to Melbourne for some work commitments prior to returning later in the week to the set of the Australian made motion picture film Summer Coda. Earlier this afternoon some of the actors visited Orange World just over the border in NSW for some fruit picking training and to gain a feel for the orange groves, an important setting in the film.

Greeted by our hosts Mario and Maria we all enjoyed a fun and informative ride on a tractor-pulled, open-air carriage through the tree-lined grove. Mario provided great entertainment. His enthusiasm and extremely pleasant nature made the trip a joy for all involved. And here’s the tip of the day: I have never tasted sweeter orange juice than that served to me at Orange World.

Today’s pic features Mario leading the team on a tour through the orange grove. While the day was overcast, and much cooler than Days 9 and 10 on the shoot, the strong light produced quite high contrast conditions. I had to employ fill flash to reduce the contrast back to how one (the brain) would remember things if you’d been along for the day.

Image processing was conducted in Adobe Lightroom 2 and Adobe Photoshop CS4.

Thanks to Mario and Maria from all your new friends at Summer Coda.

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Glenn Guy, Blue Sky Photography

Summer Coda_Day 10

Canon 5D Mark II camera and Canon 24-105mm f4 L series USM lens @ 70mm. Exposure Details: 1/30 second f11 @ ISO 400.

Here are a few shots of some lovely folk involved as extras in the film Summer Coda. Day 10 included a shoot in Merbein, a small town close to Mildura where the film is set. After film was finished I asked permission to make a few quick snaps of these good folk and, as is the case with country people, they were happy to help and a pleasure to deal with.

While my second day on the shoot was warm, 36 degrees Celsius was somewhat easier to cope with than the previous day’s maximum of 43 degrees. And, although the increasing cloud cover did produce a more humid environment it provided me with the advantage of somewhat softer light.

All 3 images were made under verandah light, one of my favorite light sources. The above image features lovely, pastel colors and a diagonal line drawing the eye, across the line of figures, from the front to the back of the image. The fact that all primary figures, people and dogs alike, are looking in the same direction, adds a sense of balance to the image.

The next image features a really friendly gentleman and his dog. The luminous light brought out his honest, affable and easygoing personality. Country life, I remember it well. Though, if I knew then what I do now, I would have appreciated it and the good folk around me much more at the time.

Canon 5D Mark II camera and Canon 24-105mm f4 L series USM lens @ 32mm. Exposure Details: 1/60 second @ f8 ISO 400

Today’s final image is of a lovely local girl photographed under verandah light. The gorgeous yellow dress and her sweet, wholesome nature inspired me to make the picture.

 

Canon 5D Mark II camera and Canon 24-105mm f4 L series USM lens @ 73mm. Exposure Details: 1/50 second @ f8 ISO 400

All images were processed in Adobe Lightroom 2 and Adobe Photoshop CS4. I hope you’ll all enjoy re-visiting this site and seeing more behind the scenes images from what promises to be a lovely Australian made film. This is a production with which I’m proud to be associated, albeit in a minor way.

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Glenn Guy, Blue Sky Photography

Summer Coda_Day 9

Over recent days I’ve been working as stills photographer on the Australian film, Summer Coda, set in and around Mildura, Australia. My role is twofold: to provide specific images for publicity and promotional purposes and to capture behind the scenes images of cast and crew.

I arrived in Mildura at around 8pm on Wednesday evening to a very balmy 38 degrees Celsius. The next day, my first on set, was 43 degrees. Part of the day was spent filming a series of scenes in and around the Mildura Railway Station. An added surprise was to see an old friend, Darryl Smith, who I’d played with in my first band Taxi in the early 80’s, drive a freight train right past me while I was making a few candid shots of actress Rachel Taylor on the station platform. Smithy has been living and driving trains in Mildura for a number of years. We caught up on Saturday afternoon for a chat and a few cleansing ales.

Canon 5D camera and Canon 24-105mm f4 L series USM lens @ 24mm. Exposure Details: 1/80 second @ f5.6 ISO 100.

The above image is of DOP (Director of Photography), Greg de Marigny, setting up the new Red camera for a scene in front of the Mildura Railway station. Greg, who I’d met prior to commencing work on this project, is an incredibly nice guy. I was very impressed that, despite the extreme heat and dreadfully highly contrast we were working under, he remained completely calm and in control throughout the day. He even found time to chat with me about some aspects of the motion picture industry, with which I have only a tenuous connection. He is a consummate professional, a leader and, most importantly, a team player.  Greg works closely with Director Richard Gray, his camera team and the lighting guys to establish the films specific look.

I was very impressed with the never say die attitude of the caste and crew. Despite trying conditions they simply sucked it up and got on with their jobs. This is a trait I’ve come to expect from my Aussie and Kiwi brothers with whom I’ve worked over the years. While great films are made in this part of the world, economies of scale have determined that the motion picture industry is, compared to the USA or India, relatively small. Maybe its because its so hard to get a film up and running that, when the light finally turns green, its all go and all involved just get on with it and do their job, without fuss, as well as they possibly can. It’s a privilege to work alongside such good folk.

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Glenn Guy, Blue Sky Photography

Portrait Photography of Your Family

 

Leica R8 camera and Leica 90mm Summicron-R series lens with Kodak Professional Ektachrome 100VS film

 

 

Buddha Statue in Red_Bagan_Myanmar

 

Leica M6 camera and Leica 35mm f2 Summicron-M series lens with Kodak Professional Ektachrome 100VS film

The above image was made in Bagan, ancient capital of Myanmar (Burma). The Buddha statue was positioned in front of a mural depicting significant moments from the Buddha’s life. The original image was made with Kodak Ektachrome E100VS film. The ‘vs’ stands for vivid saturation and, with the films slight magenta/red color bias, flesh tones and warm colors sometimes photograph a little too hot for more liking.

In the above image I decided to employ Adobe Camera RAW to de-saturate the image, in particular red and orange, and balance the image out by pushing up the green and blue saturation. I feel a more realistic 3-dimensional representation has been produced.

 

Leica M6 camera and Leica 35mm f2 Summicron-M series lens with Kodak Professional Ektachrome E100VS film

In the second version I chose Adobe Photoshop CS4 for a black-and-white rendering with varying degrees of split toning throughout shadows, mid tones and highlights.

If you have a favorite I’d be interested to know your preference.

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Glenn Guy, Blue Sky Photography

 

CD and DVD Quality

I’ve been thinking quite a bit lately about the most appropriate way for me to archive images for long term keeping. In this case the term archive refers to the storage of images in a way where they can be located and accessed, when needed, at some later stage. Image backup is somewhat different. A backup is a regular (e.g. daily) process that places a copy of significant quantities of important data (e.g. image, word document, powerpoint, etc) on an easily accessible device, such as an external hard drive, that’s separate to your computer. Ideally you’d have at least one other external drive to which you’d back up on a regular basis. That drive should be stored in a separate location (work, family or friend’s house) in the event of fire, flood, theft, etc.

Many photographers choose to archive important files on CD and DVD. While I’ve never been a big fan of that approach, I felt it worthwhile doing some basic research into the longevity of these storage devices.

As far as long term keeping of important images on CD and DVD’s are concerned it’s worth considering the following brands:

• Taiyo Yuden DVD
• Verbatim DVD
• MAM-A Gold Archival CD
• Kodak Gold CD

Though I don’t like to say it the indications are that CD and DVD’s made in Japan, Taiwan or USA are usually the best option.

The type of organic dye used is the key factor in the long term keeping characteristics associated with these devices. Taiyo Yuden use Super Cyanine, Verbatim use Azo dye and MAM-A’s Gold Archival CDs use Phthalocyanine dye. Look for these ingredients on the label as they should identify a longer lasting product.

It’s likely that CDs incorporating actual gold (opposed to those that are merely yellowish in color) may last longer than DVDs. However, the reduced capacity of a CD, compared to a DVD, can be a concern when its necessary to archive a large individual job over multiply disks.

Beware of re-writable disks, such as CD-RW, DVD-RW, or DVD+RW. Such media, while providing the opportunity to write data more than once to the same disk, do not offer great long term keeping characteristics.

Interestingly the humble jewel case provides good protection for the CD/DVD as it places the disk in contact with air, rather than sandwiching it directly up against the plastic case. Inert, polypropylene sleeves provide a less bulky option, but with reduced protection against physical damage.

I hope this post has proved to be interesting and informative. I’II write about portable and external hard drives at a later stage.

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Glenn Guy, Blue Sky Photography

Pic of the Week_Fallen Leaves

Canon 5D camera and Canon 180mm f3.5 Macro L series USM lens. Exposure Details: 1/8 second @ f16 ISO 100

This image of fallen leaves was made with early morning light on a frosty morning in Central Victoria. It was a simple image to make. I used a telephoto macro lens from an elevated (birds eye) viewpoint and moved in close to isolate the key elements of the image from their surroundings.

The dewdrops and tonal changes throughout the image provide the viewer with visual stimuli. The diagonal lye of the central leaf adds a subtle sense of dynamic movement within an otherwise static scene.

I employed Adobe Lightroom 2 for initial processing and conversion of the original color image into black-and-white. The yellow and green tones (colors) were applied in Adobe Photoshop CS4. So we now have a split toned (colored) black-and-white image.

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Glenn Guy, Blue Sky Photography

Detail and Movement

Canon 5D camera and Canon 180mm f3.5 Macro L series USM lens. Exposure Details: 1/2 second @ f16 ISO 100

Mariners Falls is a lovely and easily accessible waterfall a short drive out of Apollo Bay, a major town along the Great Ocean Road. Photographers can usually move quite close to the cascade and, thereby, use tight framing to concentrate the viewer’s attention on the water itself and the ferns, rock and fallen tree that surround it.

I love the way the black-and-white rendering of the scene emphasizes the rich dark tones and textural qualities of the scene. The flowing water looks particularly luminous surrounded by the deeply shaded background. A 1/4 second shutter speed was employed to introduce the notion of movement within the still frame.

Image processing was conducted in Adobe Lightroom 2 and Adobe Photoshop CS4.

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Glenn Guy, Blue Sky Photography

New One-on-One Photography Courses Announced

Photo courtesy of Bill Poon Photography

Yes folks, it’s me. For all of you that have wondered, and especially for those that have asked, you now know what I look like on a good-hair day. My good friend, Bill Poon (www.billpoonphotodesign.com), made the above image yesterday, while we were out and about exploring light. Bill’s a great photographer, graphic designer and teacher.

Today’s a great day! I’m very happy to announce my availability for a range of One-on-One photography courses during January 2010. These courses are tailored to your own specific needs and can involve the following, either individually or in combination:

• Getting to Know Your Camera
• Camera Craft and Practical Photography
• Adobe Lightroom
• Adobe Camera RAW
• Adobe Photoshop CS3 or CS4

Practical Photography courses can be conducted almost anywhere, depending on what it is we decide to photograph, and would usually run for between 3 hours and a whole day.

Image Processing courses would usually be conducted from my home, in Clifton Hill, Melbourne. Where appropriate such classes could also be conducted at your own home or place of work, with the addition of a levy covering costs associated with travel.

During January 2010 I can be booked for day or evening sessions, either weekdays or weekends.

Cost for these special One-on-One classes is usually priced at $330 (inc GST) for a 3-hour session and $660 (inc GST) for 6 hours. For loyal followers of this blog I’d like to offer the same sessions and content, during the month of January 2010, at the following reduced pricing:

• 3 hour session $230 (inc GST) a saving of $100

• 6 hour session $495 (inc GST) a saving of $165

I’m a photographer with a wide and diverse range of practical photography experiences (please refer to the About page on this blog). In addition to a substantial body of personal and commercial work I’ve been teaching photography for almost 20 years. I’m as comfortable working with individuals as I am lecturing large groups of tertiary-level students. In the case of One-on-One courses I work particularly hard to adapt my teaching to the needs and learning style of the individual.

Please feel free to contact me should you wish to enquire further about this unique opportunity. I can be contacted by email at info@blueskyphotography.com.au

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Glenn Guy, Blue Sky Photography

An Iconic Landscape

 

Leica R8 camera and Leica 90mm f2 Summicron-R series lens with Fuji Velvia 100F film

This is the second version of this image I produced for this blog site. The first was designed to accurately reproduce the original 35mm color transparency. This version explores the same image rendered in black-and-white.

I feel the textural qualities of the image, evident in the rock, clouds and white-crested waves have been further emphasized through the black-and-white rendering. Once again I’ve explored split toning with a subtle warm tonality in the rock and waves and a contrasting cool blue applied to the sand, sea and sky.

The original color transparency was scanned with a Heidelberg Tango film scanner. Processing was conducted in Adobe Photoshop CS4.

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Glenn Guy, Blue Sky Photography