Polo Crosse @ Euberta

Not to be mistaken for plain old polo, polocrosse is perhaps the mongrel version of the regal game. The difference, so it was explained to me by a very knowledgeable lass (that's her in the last three photos), is that at polo you eat caviar and drink Moet while at polocrosse you eat salt 'n' vinegar chips and drink rum...

I'd watched polocrosse from a distance, sitting up in the grandstand at the Sydney Royal Easter Show, but I had never been up close, nor had I been to a fair dinkum country carnival so it was certainly an experience, arriving at the Euberta showground to be met by a scene of chopped up fields ringed by horse floats, trucks and pillars of light blue smoke from the many camp fires rising slowly into an overcast sky with the thundering of hooves and vocal, tongue-in-cheek jeers...

Under leaden skies two players battle for the ball

Players look on as their team vie for possession

The agility of the rider and horse is nothing short of impressive!

Shooting for goal

BYO toy ute and John Deere excavator...

Watching for the throw in

Charging down the field, hooves thundering on the turf

A mammoth hit dislodges the ball from an opponents racket

If you want to know more about polocrosse or are interested in finding your closest club, check out the Polocrosse Association of NSW's homepage.

As always make sure you head over and like my FB page to keep up to date with everything that's going on.

Winter's Here: Head for the Snow!

Well it has been a while since I took the virtual pen from the holster, in fact last time I posted it was waaay back in Autumn! But now that winter is here, why not head for the hills and explore the snow through your lens?

Three Mile Dam, Kiandra

Planning

Planning if critical for a successful, safe trip into the hills. It is not like a quick trip down to the local lookout or beach. It is a harsh, unforgiving environment that deserves respect. But good planning will also provide you with the best results.

For me, there's nothing more enticing than a fresh, untouched blanket of snow. For this reason, I plan on being there toward the tail end of the next snowfall or first thing the next day. Keep an eye out for the forecasts on websites like Weatherzone or the Bureau of Meteorology. For the more adventurous, you can check out the snow forecast models {here}.

The Cold

The cold is more than just taxing on your digits! In extremely cold weather you may find your batteries can loose their charge very, very quickly. In short space your battery that normally gives you 700-800 shots can pull up stumps after only a couple of hundred. The key here is to try and keep your batteries warm, by any means possible (I heard of one wedding photographer keeping her batteries in the straps of her bra!).

A great asset in battling the cold is fingerless mittens. These nifty little things have a mitten type pocket that flips over your fingers, keeping them toasty warm. When you need the dexterity back, simply flip the pocket back and there are your toasty digits ready to rock and roll.

Another common problem when going from cold to warm environments is condensation. Pretty quickly the glass elements on your lens can get a nice layer of fog and while these can make for atmospheric throwbacks to the 80's the condensation can pose a threat to your gear.

While there isn't a great deal you can do to eliminate the fogging up of lenses - other than keeping everything warm - once you're done throw a couple of those gel sachets from shoe boxes in your camera bag. These will absorb the moisture from your gear and help avoid problems down the track.

Exposure

Eucumbene River, Kiandra.

Snow is bright. Very bright. Anyone who skis or boards will now just how bright the snow can be. Unfortunately this can play havoc with your exposure meter, resulting in underexposed scenes. Just keep this in mind when you're shooting and perhaps dial in a bit of exposure compensation.

Something I recently tried was exposure bracketing scenes and then blending the exposures into an HDR. This just seemed to really bring back the scene to how I remembered it.

There's a couple of things to watch though: very quickly you can lose the snow to a muddy grey colour. Don't forget that snow is bright white (unless you come across a patch that has recently had a wombat relieve itself on)! It's supposed to be borderline blown and it just really lacks if you move too far away from that.

Alpine heath and rock,
Thredbo

Black and White?
Don't dismiss black and white. In fact I think black and white lends itself pretty well to snowy scenes as they're already largely monochramatic. Black and white also allows the viewer to focus on the textures and patterns present within the scene; deep blue skies, gnarled tree trunks or lichen covered rocks are some of the elements you'll come across up in the hills.

Reflector!

Lilly enjoying her first real experience
of snow, Mt Selwyn

Having what is essentially an endless reflector underneath you can yield some pretty ethereal results, especially when you're photographing people.

A funny thing about the brain is that it remembers what it expects to see. And when you're outside your brain expects to see shadows under your chin, nose, eyebrows etc. But with this huge reflector sitting under you, the shadows are largely filled in resulting in said ethereal look. Throw in a bit of fill flash and you can get some quite flattering even light!

So that's all I have for now. All the usual tips, tricks and rules (to be obeyed or broken) for landscapes still apply. Have you made a trip down to the snow? I'd love to see some results if you have!

As always, make sure you head over to my FB page to keep up to date with new blogs, photos and other little tidbits of fact, fiction and fun.

Cheers,
Will

Corporate Images: Why They're Worth the Investment

Traffic is the name of the game when it comes to business presence on the web and social media now has the potential to play a huge role in driving traffic to your site. But there are some critical challenges to overcome if you wish to taste success in this area. 

Capture Their Attention

While social media is largely a free marketing platform, the trade-off is that you have to compete not only with other businesses (even non-competitor businesses) but with the constant stream of content from friends of the individual. 

Graphics will always trump text - that we know - but it is eye-catching, engaging graphics that are the key to success and the key to capturing the attention of a potential client. Prior to the widespread availability of digital cameras, it was good enough to simply have a photo in the ether. But now that pretty much everyone is walking around with not only a camera, but a video camera in the form of their smart phone, your images really have to be at the next level.

Pinterest
Pinterest is quickly becoming one of the most popular social media platforms for businesses. The benefits for small business are numerous and well covered by Web123's terrific blog on the subject.


While the benefits are substantial the challenge presented is just as great. 

 As you can see in the screenshot above, Pinterest is almost exclusively populated by graphical content; images, illustrations and infographics make up the vast majority of what is posted to users' boards. So while it is an excellent forum for displaying your wares, you need some pretty speccy images for it to be worthwhile. You want your images to stand out from the rest and grab the viewers' attention; you want your image to scream "CLICK ON ME!!!"


You Have the Traffic, Now Keep Them! 
Ok, so you have people coming to your site. Whether it is by referral (such as coming from Pinterest or another social media platform) or direct from search engines, you want visitors to be engaged and you want them to hang around; bright, rich graphics are an excellent way to do it.

Take a look at the image above... Which site holds your attention? I don't know about you, but the site on the left is like a brick wall. Visually it stops you in your tracks; a frying pan to the face. On the other hand, the site on the right engages you visually, it draws you in. The images invite you to explore the site further and help to break up the text. 

Avoid Stock!
In this day and age of corporate-consumer relations, a generic stock photo can lack genuineness. Consumers want to see you, your staff, your premises and your products. 

Don't see this as a 'bare-all' but rather the first step in developing a more personal rapport with your potential customer. It is an opportunity to introduce them to you and your business before they venture into your store, engage your services or buy your product. After all over 75% of consumers use the internet to research products and companies as a part of their decision to buy. 


Use a Professional Photographer
It's hardly a surprise that this is included, but I think there is a perception out there that quality photography is something that can be short-cut. 

Professional photographers are professional for a reason. And it is no coincidence that successful companies have invested in quality photos for their website and print media. Whether it be product, portrait or location, a professional photographer, with your vision in mind will be able to create an engaging, attractive image that not only shows someone the product or person, but tells the story behind it. 

The same dish is shown in both photos; the photo on the left was the restaurant owner's photo (for their website) and on the right is my attempt after they called me in. Which gets those juices flowing more?

In the end corporate images are really about three things:

1. Getting noticed
2. Retaining visitors on your site
3. Building a rapport with your potential client

As always I would love your feedback, so feel free to leave a comment or ask a question. You can also keep up by heading over to my Facebook Page or by following me on Twitter.

Cheers,
Will  

Emmins Family

{Thanks heaps, I can't stop looking at the photos... Words cannot explain how much I love them...} - Rani Emmins

Thanks for a fun, if not challenging, day Rani!

- Will

$200 for 200 Likers!!

Social media plays a huge role in what I do and I'm thankful for every single one of you who reads, comments, likes, shares and generally interacts with my page, blog and website.

And with a big milestone being achieved in 200 likers on my Facebook page it is only fair that I share the love and give back to those who have supported me.

To celebrate the 200th liker I'll be giving away $200 worth of vouchers in the form of ten $20 vouchers that will be able to be redeemed against either a print order (minimum order value of $50) or a portrait session. But, to be eligible you must be a 'liker' of Will Barton Photography!

To enter into the draw, simply head over to the Contact Page and flick me an email with your details. Now this is important: you only have a week to enter - entries will close midnight Wednesday, 23 May 2012. Winners will be chosen at random via random.org and the results will be announced on my page Thursday evening.

Thank you again to all those who have supported me; I hope that support will continue into the future and of course I hope I can continue to provide quality content and a quality service.

Cheers,
Will

A Walk Around Town: HDR

Nic and Lilly are away. It's the first time, I think, that I have been left to my own devices for a whole weekend!

Sounds good, but you know what - it's actually pretty lonely.

Anyway, yesterday afternoon I was doing a bit of research on HDR software. Our kitchen window faces north and through it I could see the colours of the late afternoon sun kick in... How could I resist that light? Well, I couldn't so I went for a walk around town:

If you're after information on Junee, or are thinking of making tracks here, check out Tourism Junee's site for details of attractions, events, accommodation and how to get here.

First Wedding: Five Lessons Learnt

So on Saturday I had the privilege of second shooting for well known Wagga wedding photographer Belinda Fraser. This was the first wedding I'd taken a camera along to that was neither friend nor family; this was the real deal and to put it simply I was filling my dacks!

But I survived! There were no big meltdowns or gear failing on me, it didn't rain, the earth didn't open up and swallow me whole and all in all it was a fantastic experience; one that I enjoyed immensely.

But what is the point of second shooting for a more experienced photog if you don't learn anything? Well, there is no point. So here are five things that I took away from the day...

1. Breath and Remain Calm...

I don't know about you, but I've always been prone to shutting down and going all tunnel vision when I'm really under the pump. Maybe that was helpful 10,000 years ago wandering across the savannah, but trust me, when you're shooting a group of people it really isn't helpful!

Keep a level head and slow down. Even if you only take a couple of seconds, look through your shots and force yourself to just take it a bit easy.

2. Keep It Simple. Stupid.

When I decided to accept Belinda's extremely generous offer to second shoot with her, I immediately jumped on the net and poured through hundreds, if not thousands of wedding photographs from all over the world. Why? Well I don't really know. I didn't use a single 'idea' and through observing Belinda, everything seemed to develop organically, or was a child of Belinda's prior experiences (I recognised some of the poses from our own wedding!). 

At the end of the day the bride and groom want a good record of their day and some nice, stylish, fun and flattering photos that they can hang on their wall and put into an album or book to look back on throughout the years and to one day show their grandkids. To this end I quickly realised that I had to trust my instincts, work from the basics and that the rest will come (especially true with a fun and outgoing bridal party!).

3. The Hands (and Bouquet) Matter! 

Going through my photos from the day I was pretty happy with most of them. But one thing that I did notice (and which did not occur to me at the time) was that in a lot of shots that I wasn't overly happy with, a big part of the disappointment with the image stemmed from the way the bride/bridesmaids had their hands and bouquet. 

Now this is not a criticism of them! After all it (a bouquet) is not something that you carry around with you every day! And hands' primary purpose are as tools, not to look good in a photo. This was something that I failed to recognise and treat at the time. 

4. Never Drop Your Guard

I don't mean you should walk around, fists up ready to unleash a left jab or right hook on an unsuspecting flowergirl, but to always be prepared for that candid or moment of unguarded expression.

I know from my own wedding (photographed by Belinda), some of our favourite images are candids, capturing the true characters of our family and friends; the people dearest to us (except Lilly, she was but a tiny entity!). You don't want to miss these fleeting moments of subject gold as you fiddle around trying to turn on, check settings etc.

5. Have Fun!

I know this is an oft offered piece of advice, but I can't reiterate it strongly enough. The bride and groom are after a fun day, you (I'm sure) would prefer a fun day and everyone wants to see images from when fun was had.

Sure, there's some serious stuff up front (and we can't undervalue the seriousness of the commitment) but afterward it's essentially a party to celebrate a couple's love and the coming together of two families (and a whole lot of hangers-on ie friends!). 

Looking back through the images in chronological order, there is a marked change and continued improvement in the quality of the image (not necessarily the technical quality) that coincides with when I started to relax and enjoy myself. Do this from the get-go and you're sure to come away with improved shots.

So there you go, five things from the first wedding ever shot in my capacity as a pro-photographer. But don't let the advice above be limited to weddings; truth is you could probably apply them all (well maybe not the bouquet advice) right across your photography experience.

What are your thoughts? I'd love to hear them...

As always, thank you for reading and don't forget to check out (and 'like'!) my Facebook page and have a browse through my galleries found through the menus above.

And one last thing: thank you to Sarah and Luke and the best of luck in your journey together.

- Will 

Returning Home

It has been many years since I dragged the camera out during a visit home to the Blue Mountains. So often our time is so scarce, flitting from one family to another for the catch-up lunch with the parents or afternoon tea with the grandparents that when we do get a moment to ourselves we just want to sit and, well, do nothing.

So it was a welcome change when we actually had the time to go for a walk out along the plateau from Mum and Dad's house. This was my playground growing up; the pine forest supplied us with trees to fell to build cubby houses and the native forest beyond that was our first introduction to the way the native world worked.

As a kid you can never truly appreciate the beauty or one's fortune of living in a place like I did. I honestly couldn't tell you how many times I've sat at the spot where the photo below was taken, but it would number in the hundreds and it has only been in the last few years that it has dawned upon me just how lucky we were to grow up with this as our back yard...

The view looking East toward Katoomba from Radiata Plateau. The bank of low cloud is the approaching sea breeze and signals the approach of the classic mountain weather of mist, drizzle and cold weather.

Boar's Head Rock; not the best angle to see the Boar's
head, but it does show the classic late afternoon sun on
those wonderful cliffs. Mt Solitary, having already succumbed
to the sea-breeze, looms out of the mirky background

A road into the wilderness. The fire-trail over Narrow Neck
is the first leg of many a trip into the Wild Dog Mountains
wilderness area. In the full size print you can just make out
the lone figure of a hiker heading up the trail.

Carcoar, Charlie and Colleen

Doorway - Icely Street, Carcoar

Over the Easter long weekend, our family made the usual trip from Junee to Katoomba; this time though, with the Good Friday holiday, we had the rare opportunity of making the trip in daylight!

The Belubula River runs through the
center of the village.

Carcoar is a small village, nestled in the Belubula Valley partway between Bathurst and Cowra in the State's Central West region. At one point it was the third most populous town west of the Great Divide, but has now slipped back to a sleepy but charming little village. The village itself, with its sheltered position, small cottages and numerous deciduous trees is reminiscent of a small English country village.

As a child and in my early teen years, I visited Carcoar quite often with my father to visit two sisters - Rita and Thelma, both well into their eighties - who owned a farm we used to fish, hunt and camp on. And because of this I have very fond memories of the place.

 While Nic and Lilly did a lap of the main street I wandered about with the camera.

Entrance - Icely St, Carcoar

Carcoar Courthouse

In the doorway of the local grocery shop sat an old bloke with, what I guessed to be his wife, standing behind them. Seeing the opportunity, I approached and asked whether or not I could take a couple of photos.

Their names are Charlie and Colleen...

Charlie and Colleen

Charlie and Colleen

After taking a few photos I got chatting to them both, asking about their history with Carcoar. As it turns out they both not only knew of my father (he had been visiting Rita and Thelma for a long time before I came along) but remembered his name, occupation and where we came from and all of this 15 or so years after our last visit.

Charlie finally displayed his dry sense of humour with his
explanation about the boxers' stance...

 As we were chatting Charlie quickly got up from his seat on the front step of their shop and took on the stance of an old school boxer. Looking behind me, a young boy stood there, mimicking his stance. Charlie took a couple of shuffles toward the boy who, with a bit of a chuckle took off to hide behind his fathers' legs (the family were walking down the main street). With a wry smile and seeing the confused look on my face he explained "Only one in town I still have bluffed..."

Tips and Tricks to Get That Cracking Panorama

A panorama image can loosely be described as an image with an aspect ratio of greater than 1:2 (ie its longest side is double or greater the length of its shortest side).

 Prior to the dawning of the digital world, quality panoramas were almost exclusively reserved for those with the beautifully crafted medium and large format panorama cameras such as the Hasselblad X-Pan or the Fuji G617. And while the quality was simply breathtaking, unfortunately so was the price for the kit!

The onset of digital changed all that...

With powerful computing and advanced software packages, suddenly the everyday photographer had the option of stringing multiple images together to create a single, panoramic image. This process was coined "stitching".

But is it as simple as blazing away across a scene and hitting "GO"?

Well no, it isn't. There are quite a number of factors that you must keep in mind right from the planning stage through to execution.

The Lens Can Make It, or Break It...

Normally, when you're planning an image that is to have a wide angle of view, you immediately go for your widest lens. These wide angle lenses allow you to fit a whole lot more of your scene onto the sensor and hence, into your image. But there are trade offs with cramming a whole lot into a single scene and for panoramas, the important one is distortion. 

Due to some pretty complex physics, a wide-angle lens will tend to distort horizontal and vertical lines, shapes and figures; the degree of the distortion depends on the distance of the object from the camera and the object's location in the frame: the closer it is to the edges the greater the distortion.

As you would well imagine, for a landscape, cityscape or interior, you have objects at all sorts of distances from the camera and plenty of straight lines! The issue then becomes one of misaligned elements at the boundaries of each individual image.

To combat this, use as long a focal length as is practicable as the longer the focal length, the less the distortion. If you must use a wider lens, then shoot in portrait orientation as this will minimise distortion of the horizon; arguably the most important element in a landscape. Actually, use a portrait orientation all the time!

Lock Your Settings

Even if you shoot in the more advanced shutter or aperture priority modes, there is still every chance that your exposure will change as you move through the scene. This will result in an obvious darkening or lightening of sections of your panorama. Locking the aperture will also maintain a uniform depth of field through the image. 

As you setup your panorama, take a few test images throughout the scene to determine the best overall exposure. Remember to always shoot with a bias toward the highlights as these are what you want to protect. Shadows are much more readily recovered and are no where near as ugly in a photo as blown highlights.

As well as locking the exposure, use either a custom white balance or one of the presets. It doesn't really matter either way; the main thing is that auto white balance is turned off for the same reason as you lock your exposure.

Don't forget your autofocus! Nothing will ruin a good panorama faster for the viewer than for the focal plane to vary through the image. Before you begin shooting your panorama, choose your point of focus and, with autofocus turned on, half-depress your shutter button to engage the autofocus. Once you are satisfied your focus is correct switch it to manual and begin shooting.

The presence of a polarising filter darkens the sky in the
center of the shot considerably, when compared to the
same image below, shot without a polarising filter.

Mount Your Camera, Take Off Your Filters  and Go!!!

Unfortunately it isn't enough to align one frame, you have to make sure your camera is level in both directions (imagine left to right and front to back). If you don't trust your eye, you can pick up a hotshoe bubble level pretty cheap and this will allow you to get the camera pretty close to dead level.

These two panoramas were shot at quite a short focal
length (20mm - 32mm in 35mm format) and this is particularly
evident in the distorted appearance of the fence on the left.

If you haven't already discovered how wonderfully deep blue a polarising filter can make a sky go out and buy one now! But make sure you take it off before you take your panorama as this effect varies with the angle from the sun. At 90 degrees (make a 'gun' with your thumb and index finger, point your index finger at the sun and your thumb will point roughly at 90 degrees) the effect of a polarising filter is at its greatest and this effect reduces as you move closer toward the sun. The result of this is a glaringly obvious graduation in the colour of the sky as you move through your panorama.

I'd love to hear any feedback you may have and it would be great if you shared your pano's with us. As always, you can follow me on Twitter or Facebook.

- Will

How to Shoot a Waterfall

The silky blur of moving water is mesmerising. Giving
the water an opportunity flow through your image.

On thinking about an image of a waterfall, I imagine most people would immediately conjure an image of silky smooth water, deep vivid colours and an overall feeling of tranquility or peacefulness.

But how do photographers get that silky smooth water?

Well it is really quite simple.

Everyone, I'm sure, has taken a photo that has ended up with blurred streaks across the image. This image would have undoubtedly ended up in the bin, but the mechanics that led to such an image are the key to capturing flowing water.

Essentially, when we photograph waterfalls with the aim of getting this smooth texture, we want the water to blur across the sensor while everything else in the scene remains sharp.

How do we do this?

Again, it's quite simple! As the water is moving quite quickly, we really only have to make sure that either a) our shutter speed is fast enough to eliminate camera shake, whilst at the same time being slow enough to capture the blur of the water, or (and this is really the only way in most situations) b) we use a tripod and a longer exposure. To help out with eliminating camera shake, we can use a remote - this will minimise the vibrations through the camera from depressing the shutter button.

The rich colours of the sandy/rocky
bottom of the pool is brought through
by the use of a polarising filter

Is that it?

Well that's the basics. But if you want to create a quality image, read on.

The time of day counts.

As with most landscape images, the time of day will really impact on your image. Ideally you want to be shooting either early in the morning or late in the afternoon. The low light levels will allow you to slow down the shutter to capture the movement of the water. The pre-dawn or post-dusk light will provide a pretty even, soft light which will help to even out your exposures. Overcast conditions will also provide you with a much softer light source and a much more even quality of light.

Keep in mind that most waterfalls will be located in low light locations anyway. Deep canyons and dense rainforest canopies will naturally lead to slower shutter speeds.

 Use a polarising filter!

One thing you may notice about waterfall - and water images generally - is that there tends to be a lot more colour and a lot less reflection from wet surfaces.

This quality can be attributed to the simple, yet indespensible, polarising filter!

The polariser only allows light with a certain orientation through. As reflected light is scattered, a lot of the reflection is blocked out, allowing the wonderful rich colours of rocky and sandy bottoms to shine through.

Be prepared to get your feet wet!

Staying dry is simply not an option! (And you miss out on half the fun) To properly explore a scene you cannot be bound to dry land. But be careful when wading around the creek! All it takes is one slip and you can just about say goodbye to your gear, or - in the worst case - get into serious trouble yourself. Never underestimate how slippery rocks can be and how much force swiftly flowing or deep water has. Half a metre of swiftly flowing water can quite easily knock an adult off their feet and once you've lost your footing it is very, very difficult to regain it.

If you're setting up your tripod in the stream/creek/river, keep in mind that water moving around the legs of the tripod will cause vibrations. To minimise this, try to set up in slow moving water and keep the length of the tripod's legs to an absolute minimum.

Allow for flow through your composition.

It is always best to give the water somewhere to go; for it to flow through the image. The obvious, and most natural is top to bottom, but experiment with diagonal flows and cross-image.

Is this only applicable to waterfalls?

Of course not! Where ever water is moving through a scene you can apply what you've learnt above. The most obvious is the ocean. And the best thing about the ocean is that it never stops!  

Apply the principles of good waterfall captures
to the ocean.

I really hope you take something away from this to improve your images. If you have, why not share you endeavors over on my Facebook page or keep in touch on Twitter. I would also love to hear any feedback you might have, so why not leave a comment?!

Cheers,
Will

For Those Doing it Tough

A collage of images of the Murrumbidgee River 6 March 2012

As many of you would know, our region of NSW was recently on the rough end of some very wet weather that led to both flash flooding and riverine flooding and the inundation of many homes, businesses and community buildings.

As a way of giving to those whose lives have been turned upside down by this flooding I'm offering up three shoots - one corporate and two portrait - for free. I know that this will not replace those memories, photos and heirlooms lost by the torrid surge, but it will at least help to create new ones.

So if you know of a family who've done it tough with this disaster, or a business that wants to announce to the world that they're back on their feet, send me an email through the contact page on my website (www.willbartonphotography.com.au/Other/Contact) before 16 April 2012 with your nominee's details and whether you're nominating them for a corporate or portrait package. Every nomination I receive will then go into a draw.

A bit of fine print: unfortunately due to time and travel constraints, I can only consider nominees who live within an 80km radius of Junee despite this disaster having a much farther reach.

Please share this among your friends and networks!

- Will

An Afternoon in the Park

Always have your camera ready; you never know when energetic subjects - aka kids - and wonderful light come together!

Tye (the birthday boy) and my darling Lilly
enjoying the late afternoon glow of the Autumn sun

The occasion? Tye-man's first birthday and what better way to spend a glorious early Autumn evening than with friends and a bunch of crazy kids!