Monday, September 30, 2013

Simons

It's been way too long since I posted some 3D.
It's been an ocean of photography with some R/C posts sprinkled on top, which I guess is what I'm really into these days. I doubt 3D will ever be something I stop participating in though, as it's still on the frontier as a job. One day, at least. 



The render is based off this photograph, and is probably the most time-intensive image I've created to date. Clocking in at just under 12 hours, it truly beats everything else by miles. As well as testing my lighting techniques, I got a kick up the bum as far as car modelling goes. The Ford there is really the first car I've ever modelled, and I feel I did all right.  

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Exposure Shot of Perth's Eastern Suburbs and the CBD

Oh yeah! Did I mention that I bought a new camera? I probably should, it's fairly important to this blog, I guess.
I've just jumped from my oh-so-humble Canon EOS 1100D, to an EOS 7D. While this is more or less an upgrade for video purposes (refer to my YouTube for more of that) there are a lot of changes that help me immensely with photography. Improvements include a better processor (which helps with ISO), increased shutter speed, increased shots it can take per second, a hell of a lot more AF Points, integrated sensor cleaning, a digital leveller (which is great for exposures) and the jump from 12.0 MP to 18.0 MP will not hurt anybody.

Sadly, it uses a different port for the shutter release than my old camera, so I had to wait ages as I new one was shipped to me. As soon as I received it though, and there was a clear night (Winter has just finished here in Australia) I travelled to a nearby lookout that I had been planning to go to for a while. This is the result:


This shot is looking from the edge of the Perth hills, over the eastern suburbs. Those skyscrapers in the distance form the Perth CBD. It's a 60 second exposure, with an aperture of f/9.0 and ISO200.
Stay tuned as Australia rolls into the Spring and Summer months, which I lovingly refer to as 'exposure months', where I'll showcase more images like these.

Monday, August 19, 2013

Quadcopter Crash (On Film!)


It's been a while since I posted about anything R/C related, so how about a video of me totalling a quadcopter? Yes? Okay!
Eventually I'll be going the Hobby King route and putting some serious money into a quadcopter so I can film in 1080p with my action-cam, but first I decided it would be wise to buy a smaller pre-made set-up to get me started. Just as well I did too, because believe it or not, this is the second time I've crashed and smashed this quad.

First time, I drove all the way to the other side of Perth to beg some hobby store owners to sell me a leg off an existing quad. For some reason they did, which was great for me, but not so great for them as now they have a quadcopter that only has three legs. I doubt they would do it again, and I'm not too keen to drive all the way out there to try. Luckily though, at the same time I bought the leg, I bought a camera especially made for the quad. My current action-cam is way too heavy for it unfortunately, but the current camera only cost $30 and I'm actually really impressed with the results it outputs. It's not HD or anything, but it's good enough.

   
Skip to 2:10 if you just want to see the crash, the rest of the video is mostly me preforming barrel-rolls and crashing it in other various ways (but not enough to break it). The actual crash its self was a doozy though, it must of been a good 50 or 60 meters in the air when I lost control.

First time it crashed I tried to glue the frame back together with Araldite. This actually kept it together enough to fly, but as soon as it landed, the (light) impact snapped it off again.
This time around, I'm giving silicone sealant a go. If it's good enough for roofing and concrete, hopefully it will be good enough for a $90 quadcopter reping a plastic frame. I guess we'll see how we go.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Melbourne on Film

Not too long ago, I posted about being in Melbourne which included general good times with photography. Also in that post, I mentioned that I also shot a roll of film.
The other day I finally got around to getting it developed in a chemist that's quite close to me. It's great that I now know of a local photo-place, as before I was getting my shots developed in the city while I was at TAFE.

For these photos, I was using my Trip 35. Refer to an article I wrote on my other blog if you want to learn more about that amazing camera, otherwise, enjoy.

















Tuesday, July 9, 2013

2013 Catch-Up: Abandoned Photography


The last 2013 Catch-Up post... I promise. It's not all that terrible though, it's only July. If anything, I'm 5 months ahead of schedule! YEAAAAH-WOOOOO well done, me! *pats self on back*
Way back in February when I posted the second 2013 Catch-Up post (photography) I said (among other things) that there would be a post dedicated to abandoned photography. Unfortunately it isn't anywhere new;  what you're about to see is the same farm house from last June, but instead this time I had my DSLR.

I shot these all the way back in November, so my metering could of been a bit better. But hey, what ya going to do? It was months ago and does not reflect my current skills. Either way, it's way better than a Pentax point and shoot.









Surprisingly, no one is yet to claim that fridge.


I still no idea as to what this means. Like I said in the original post; if you have any idea, please feel free to drop a line. 


For more photos of a different abandoned farm house, take a look at these: Abandoned Farm

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Street Photography: Melbourne

Yay Melbourne! The cultural centre of the WHOLE UNIVERSE!
Being a small, lowly Perth kid in the big smoke for a week with a couple of cameras was a great experience. By night I stalked all the bars and pubs of Brunswick Street and the CBD, but by day I became an annoying tourist taking photos every couple of steps of every cool looking thing I could find. Great fun.
The following photos were taken with my DSLR, but I did take a roll of film with my Trip 35, so expect to see some pics from that when I get around to developing them. Come to think of it, I still have two rolls from Sandy Cape to develop too. Hmmmmmm.  

































Note the homeless person passed out in the background. 


















Thanks, buddy.