What are you looking at here?  A dinosaur eye?  A bunch of colours and patterns?  Nothing?  I love photos like this because they cause us to stop and think, to gaze and ponder.

Australian Landscape Photography

So would you like to know what it actually is?   Its part of a coastal mangrove in the North West of Australia, about 100Km south of Karratha.

The little green half moon shape is actually a mini island and the surrounding white parts are salt that is left behind as the tide recedes.  The red bits on the top of the photo is the actual coastline.

When I saw this scene below me as I was flying in the helicopter I knew it was going to be an amazing aerial photograph, I just can’t believe I subsequently forgot about it and left it on my computer for six months before I found it again.

How Did I Get The Shot?

First things first, I managed to get a ride on a AW139 helicopter then I asked the pilot to fly at around 1500ft as this seems to be a pretty cool height for aerial photography.

I was using my Canon F/1.2 50mm lens which is sharp as a tack and my Canon 1DsMkIII.

The settings were:

TV Priority – 1000sec

ISO 800

Aperature – F5.6 (ish)

That gave me an amazingly razor sharp shot.  Remember as I was shooting directly downwards I didn’t have to worry too much about depth of field.

I hope this helps you out.  If you like my Australian landscape photography please click on the link.

Any comments are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jamie Paterson

Last night I decided to head down to Cottesloe Beach to try and grab some sunset photos and I’m glad that I did.   This wasn’t the orginal shot that I was going for it was actually Plan B.  Plan A was actually a shot of Cottesloe Beach itself, however it soon became evident that the sunset just wasn’t going to happen over the beach.

Always have a Plan B:

How many times have you been standing there watching the sunset and thought to yourself ‘Its much better over there, I really should be shooting over there’ only to try and persist with the shot you had in mind, which then ended up being just an ordinary shot?

I’ve done it heaps myself.  Nature has a funny way of not doing what we want and sometimes we’ll hang onto the hope of getting the shot that we want even when we know its not going to happen.   If Nature is lighting up the sky in the other direction and you know its going to be better then just shoot it and come back to the shot that you wanted to achieve later.

So with that in mind I always select two places to shoot from whenever I turn up to a location to make sure that if one doesn’t work I don’t have to think about compositions and locations, I can just quickly setup at the second spot and shoot from there without losing anytime.  Australian landscape photography is all about being prepared so that you don’t wasted your valuable time.

If you enjoyed this or if it helps you in any way please let me know and leave a comment and if you’d like to see more Australian landscape photography please click on the link.

Thanks,

Jamie Paterson

Why Do I Love This Photo So Much?

I have an extremely strong connection to this photo and it really took me ages to work out why.  I’ll admit its not the world’s greatest landscape photograph, but it still really drawn me in.

It Invokes An Emotion Within Me:

When I took at the two ladies just standing there and looking out into the sunset it makes it really easy for me to place myself there and feel what I imagine them to be feeling.   I imagine them to be looking at the sunset, with awe, wonder and contentment and I can feel all those emotions right now because of them.

Orginally I was going to remove the ladies and I must admit I spent quite a bit of time doing so, but the more I did it the more I realised the whole photo actually revolved around them and their actions.

What do you think?  Do they add or detract from the photo?

If you enjoyed this photo and would like to see more Australian landscape photography please click on the link.

Thanks,

Jamie Paterson

Is this place heaven on Earth?  I certainly think so.  Hanalei Bay very much holds a kind of magic for me.   I’d seen photos of this place for years and I always dreamed that one day I would stand on the shores and look out to the mountains while feeling the water lapping at my feet.

Well dreams certainly do come true and earlier this year I made my way to Hanalei Bay.  The atmosphere was amazing, even though it was winter it was still a beautiful 24 degrees and there was very little wind.   People were walking up and down the beach in tshirts and shorts with no shoes on.   In the evenings families would drive onto the beach in their big pickup trucks and crank up the reggae music while the trade winds would gently blow through the palm trees.   Paradise!   I just felt so relaxed the whole time I was here.

To get this shot I had to take quite a few different exposures and then blend them together as there was just no way one photo was going to be perfectly exposed since there was such a difference in light.

In fact I was quite surprised just how tricky Hawaii is to photograph when I got there.  I thought it was going to be easy, but the high mountains and low beaches meant I was kept on my toes and I shot to shoot multiple exposures for almost every shot.

If you ever get the chance to head across to Hawaii make sure you spend at least a few days on the North Shore of Kauai.

If you have any questions at all on how I took this photo or any others please ask.

Thanks,

Jamie Paterson

This is Anahola Bay in Hawaii and its an absolutely stunning bay.  Just check out all the coral in the water!   I wish I had time to jump into the water and have a splash around but unfortunately I was on  really tight schedule on this particular day.   I hooked up with Scott Tylor from Hawaiian Photos for a four hour tour.

I normally don’t use tours and I had done my research of Kauai thoroughly but I didn’t know when I’d be back so I contacted Hawiian Photos and I’m glad I did.  They looked after me so well.   I had already been to a few of the places that Scott took me to but he took me to the right places at the right time of day and also showed me different vantage points which made the tour very worth it.    No matter how good you are at landscape photography its always good to learn from local photography knowledge.

Photography Tour Tips

• You’re probably going to be out for quite a few hours.  Make sure refreshments are included in the price.
• Make sure you know exactly how long the tour is for.
• Make sure your guide has lived in the area for a few years
• Ask to see your photography guides portfolio before agreeing to use them.  If they aren’t producing quality work don’t use them.

If hope these photography tour tips help.

Thanks

Jamie Paterson