Monthly Archives: December 2009

Misty


A sad day today, we lost Misty  (one of my fur kids)  today to a tiger snake.  We knew something was up when she walked inside like she had too much to drink. We had to take her to the vet and put her down. It was a very sad day today. Horrible in fact.

She was a fantastic cat as soon as you would arrive at home she would be there to greet you. She would know when it was dinner time and remind you and would always manage to take a day nap on the bed, the lounge or her favorite chest.

The saddest thing is Prowl her sister is still out tonight looking for her. She spent all day wandering calling for her. Its horrible. She and Misty had a such a close bond and have never spent a day apart.

Misty we will miss you.

VR Photography – its a challange!


Well its panoramic photography on a new level for me. Its all just for fun. You actually see the world in 3D with Virtual Reality (VR) photography. You can feel like you are really there. However I am still trying to master the art of this. So please bare with me.

Feel free to roam the first of many VR panoramics – Boranup Forest. All you need to do is click your mouse and drag over the image! Enjoy.

Copy the link below and paste it in your address bar and get ready to explore!

http://www.leighdiprosephotography.com/gallery.asp?WebsiteID=18799&PageID=72425&AssetID=85389&FFS=1&pageName=Boranup+Karri+Forest

Ellensbrook Homestead


Margaret River is such a beautiful place to visit or even live! I can recommend if you are going down that way and need a nice place to eat your lunch with the family – this is the place for you! Ellensbrook Homestead has some lovely old tables by the flowing stream or you can just find a bit of lawn to sit down on, either way it’s very relaxing.

Hope you all are enjoying your break. I am!

Happy Shooting

Leigh

Meekadarabee Falls


I shot this on the last morning of my trip down south. I heard from numerous people that the nearby historic homestead was worth a visit. Unfortunately polly pipe doesn’t make the best photos – when I got there the local ranger seemed to be watering all the lawns. So I was only able to take some tight shots of Ellensbrook Homestead. Photos of the building will be up shortly.

I hope you all enjoy your break and have a very happy New Year.

For those that want to know…This shot was taken at ISO 400, 1/1000 @ f2.8. Shot at 300mm. There wasn’t a lot of light as the sun was setting. Although it would have been nice to capture some mist on the water. Maybe next time I will have to go back on a really cold morning

Happy Shooting everyone

Boranup Karri Forest


I got eaten alive by march flies, bull ants and mosquitoes for this series of shots. I spent a whole day from sunset to sunrise wandering through this beautiful forest. If you haven’t been to Boranup before its something you have to experience.

A funny story for you all.  I had packed everything I needed for this trip. I set off for the whole day with my Lowepro Photo Trekker II AW backpack, Manfrotto 303sph head, tripod, monopod and 2 camera bodies and an array of lenses – the only thing I forgot was a torch! I found this out when I was about one hour away in the bush from where I had parked the car. It was pitch black and I was surrounded by waist height bush. I couldn’t see. Oh dear. Not to panic I thought. I’ve watched Man vs Wild before….. I can do this I thought to myself……

I ended up using my flash gun to fire my way out. Canon to the rescue! As I walked in the direction I thought the car was I fired the flash to reflect off the road signs in the distant horizon so I could see what direction I should take. Once I made it to the road (one hour later) I found myself walking in the wrong direction (15 minutes later). All I can say is take a torch and some really good insect repellent!

More photos will be posted shortly

Happy Shooting.

Splendid Fairy Wren


Well it seems like it has been a while since my last post. I have been keeping myself extremely busy editing wedding photos and taking new photos.

Yesterday I went to Hamelin Bay, Boranup Karri Forest, The Berry farm and Augusta – what a day!

I took this photo with my Sigma 120-300mm at ISO 400, 1/100 of a second at f8. I’m blown away by the colour of these birds. Every time I see one I rush to get my camera and sit and wait, and wait and wait for it to come back. This time it paid off.

Photos of Boranup should be up sometime soon when I get time.

Happy Shooting…

What a busy day!


Well it all started at 4am, pitch dark outside and the crisp smell of smoke. Onward to the city. Am I crazy getting up at 4am?? Hmmmm…

Buildings and orange light I thought to myself – wouldn’t that look great.  I was still waking up when I got to the corner of St Georges Tce and William St in Perth where I shot this little pic. I went for the retro look so you should either like it or hate it.

By the time I got home I was a bit exhaused. However I didn’t stop there.  I Helped clean my brother in laws garage out and then went on to Cottesloe Beach for a smokey sunset with a mate Steve. The photos should be posted tomorrow as well as some music for the website :)

Happy Shooting.

Fern


I didn’t end up going to the city today because of the late night. I take my  hat off to all those people in IT. You know so much! I was up to the wee hours of the morning trying to create two more pages for the site. An interactive event photography page followed by a networking page. Exhausting! In the end I got there though.

Fern was taken last week at the Porongurup National Park.  I used my favorite bit of glass – the Canon EF 85mm f1.2 L series. I love it because for such a ‘small’ lens it produces a brilliant depth of field.  After a little bit of curve adjustment in Photoshop this was the result.

Enjoy

Water and Sand


Well I have been editing weddings all day today. Haven’t really got much else done. I need a break!

I have heard on the radio that Perth will be experiencing some smoke or haze. I just might go and try to get some sunrise city shots tomorrow morning…hmmm. It might be too early though…I see how I feel.

Water and Sand was shot in Denmark. I decided to create a 3×1 panoramic as well as the 4×6 ratio. I couldn’t decide which one was better.

I love textures like this. Photographing the simple things in life are sometime the best. The colours of the water and sand are some of my favorite colours to photograph because you can never get a photo that looks the same. Who knows one day I might even have an exhibition just on water…one day.

Enjoy

Weathered


Well it’s that time of day where I get a break from editing wedding photos and get to edit some of mine.

The latest is Weathered, a little building near Aurthur River that offered a rustic weathered look. The house interested me as the afternoon light reflected from its surfaces. Whoever owns the building needs to do some serious work to the gutters!

I decided to shoot this with the White Balance set to shade to enhance the already golden light. It seemed to work. Tell me what you think.

Well its back to the weddings….

Happy shooting

Leigh

Black and White


I’m experimenting with black and white photography at the moment.

I’m starting to like my sigma 10mm 2.8 a lot more as it is quite versatile. Denmark contains two images stitched together.

It’s almost impossible to stitch waves with most lenses  as the scene is constantly changing. But not with the sigma!

I hope you all enjoy this image. I’ll post it in the Denmark and Surrounds Gallery shortly

Well its back to editing wedding photos…so until the next break….Happy shooting!

Leigh Diprose

Paperbark Lake


I took this image yesterday in Denmark. This shot presented some difficulties with the paper bark trunks being quite bright and the water very dark.

In the end I opted to shoot this as a four photos stitched together.

Each shot was bracketed three times (giving a total of 12 images – one over exposed, underposed and correctly exposed for every shot) and then these images were merged together to give a correct exposure (ended up with 4 images).

Once the bracketed images had been merged they were then stiched together forming this 3×1 panoramic.

So with a little bit of playing in around in Photoshop…this was the result.

Happy Shooting everyone!

Finally its here!


Some exciting news! I have just posted the first video tutorial. Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom are covered in the 20min tutorial.
There is a very small fee to download but the plus side is that you will find out how to create your own fantastic looking photos in the comfort of your own home..and not in the classroom!
Enjoy

Just visit the website (click on Leigh Diprose Photography WEBSITE link) and visit the VIDEO TUTORIALS page.

or
http://www.leighdiprosephotography.com/content.asp?WebsiteID=18799&PageID=57326&FFS=1&pageName=VIDEO+TUTORIALS

The Salmon Holes


Well yesterday afternoon I decided to go to the Salmon Holes near Albany. The tide was low – but I still had to take off my shoes, wade into the water and get my shorts wet.  It would have been quite a funny site seeing a guy with an over sized tripod above his head, trying to keep his shorts up and protecting his camera from dropping in the water all at the same time!

Well this is the result after 4 images stitched together using a Sigma 10mm 2.8 fisheye lens.

Well its editing more wedding photos today.

I might even be able to make a trip out to Denmark so hopefully you should see some blue wrens soon.

Happy Shooting

Leigh

Video Tutorials


I am pleased to announce that I will be starting some video tutorials to show everyone some techniques I use to edit my photos. I’m sharing my secrets with the world.

On the 9th of December I will be posting some download links on my website (under the Video Tutorials page). The first video will be in two parts.  Part 1 – Using Adobe Lightroom to edit a RAW image followed by Part 2 – further editing in Photoshop CS3.

The first tutorial I will be using the image shown on the previous post – St Patricks Church in Fremantle.

If you would like to be shown anything in Lightroom or Photoshop please let me know and I will show you how to do it in later video tutorials.

Cheers

Leigh

Its been hectic


Well it was one of those weeks last week. You know the kind of week that if something was going to go wrong it went very wrong!

I did go into the city to take some shots however when I got there I realised  that there was no memory card in the camera ahhhhhh! So instead I combed the city for bridal locations. I was a little bit frustrated!

Still moving in at our house in Bibra Lake, juggling furniture, painting, thinking of more painting, cleaning, putting pictures up and trying to modivate myself to tackle the garden (full of rose thorns and bougainvillea).

Well fortunately there is a change in the air. I’m back in Albany till Thursday! Holidays! Love it.

Now I did say that I was going to post some photos from the city shoot…..well I can’t (because of the memory card saga). So another photo from Fremantle.

Google


Well the website should almost be listed on Google. Very exciting.

Thank you everyone for you comments so far,  I’m blown away at the response from this site so far I have had enquiries from the USA, Europe and all over Australia (including Tasmania!)

A big thank once again  goes out to David Sobik. Check out his blog – the link is on my blogroll on the right. His got a very very very nice 600mm lens….I’m so envious even if it is a Nikon!

Love the colour


Well here is another photo taken at Little Beach.  Thought I might post it up and challenge anyone out there for another sea scape shot.

There are a few more in the photographs\landscapes\albany & surrounds  section on the website.

Planning to take some shots in Perth tomorrow so I’ll post any up the following day.

Well its back to editing wedding photos….

Leigh