Robert's Ramblings

Christmas retail mayhem takes a break in the small hours.

Shopping at midnight is not for everyone but if you detest crowds the 24hour opening times are a blessing. I shudder imagining being in this scene a few hours earlier when the walkways would have been packed shoulder to shoulder.
Easy parking, no waiting queues, forty percent off everything including crowds! I like it!

The last time I took photographs in a shopping centre I was politely but firmly asked to put my camera away or I would be escorted from the premises. This time I played it a little low key and looked for places to place my camera without a tripod. Retail Christmas is garish already so I don't mind extending the theme with a hdr rendering to match.

I wanted great depth of field for this image so I set the lens to f/16, made a guess where the hyper-focal distance would be for this lens/zoom/fstop combination. I then pointed the lens at an object at that distance and performed an initial pre-focus in AF mode. Once I had pre-focused the lens I set it back to MF mode, placed the camera into position and took three frames. In this way I kept my actions as 'non-photographer' as possible and succeeded in bringing both the shopping and photographs home.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 355 - Forty Percent Off Everything'. 0.4s f/16 ISO160 17mm

I love the beach and would find it hard to live anywhere it was not easily accessible.

During sunset most people stare out to the horizon to watch the setting sun but how many use the opportunity to watch the beach itself as it becomes alive with contrast and texture.
Beach sand is never flat above the high tide mark and rarely below it. Feet trod patterns becoming indistinct as new overlay old. The wind whips up sand spirits to smooth out the bumps. Beautiful waves form as the wind eddies around rocks.

All these beautiful features are visually flat and hidden in either the hard or soft overhead light during daylight. However in that last half hour before sunset when the sun casts its golden light from the horizon, every bump, every ripple, every nuance and every grain comes dramatically but briefly to life before fading again in the twilight.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 354 - Sand Waves'. 10s f/22 ISO160 40mm

Tonight was going to be special. I had done the maths (well at least the computer had) and I was ready.

Tonight the waxing moon would set in just such a way that it would be visible in the centre of the jetty. Imagine sitting on the beach, under the jetty, looking down under the pylons and out to sea. At exactly 23:50pm tonight the moon would would be perfectly aligned in the centre of the jetty and its reflection would travel all the way back under the jetty back to shore. 1.4 degrees above the horizon and 14 minutes before moon set I was ready.

Well despite the best maths brought to bear in predicting this convolution of moon, horizon and jetty, sadly it did not predict the clouds on the horizon. At exactly 11:40pm the moon which had been completely visible all evening slipped behind clouds not to be seen again.

A change of plans ensued and as the tide was low I found many interesting and varied formation in the intertidal sand to capture instead. This image is a very subtle HDR fusion composition of two images, one exposed for 30 seconds and the other for 2 minutes. HDR fusion simply increases the dynamic range of the raw image without all that in-your-face tone mapping. The result is bold and dynamic without being unnatural.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 353 - Low Tide'. 120s f/7.1 ISO640 15mm

Like two lovers in the seaside twilight these iron sentinels entwine but their union will outlast us all.

I headed down to the beach tonight to capture a promising sunset. Indeed to did but without the visual drama I had hoped for. In the twilight I looked round and this pair looked so beautiful together. Perfect models in a perfect pose.

OK, time to spoil the illusion. These sculptures created by Adelaide artist/designers, Gregg Mitchell and Greg Healey actually depict the sea grasses so important to our coastal marine environment. Tonight however I saw them in a different light (pun unintended).

I the deep twilight I tried to use fill flash to bring out the colour and surface texture but with out multiple strobes and a means to soften the light I was stuck with either a silhouette or a harsh flat image. This turned out to be a perfect opportunity for a hdr composite to bring it all together.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 352 - Twilight Lovers'. 3.2s f/16 ISO320 100mm

Could it have been one of those strange foreign films that nobody goes to see?

Actually we had just seen 'Skyfall' and it was great. Come the rolling credits I sprang into action setting up the tripod and the camera and getting into position for the shoot.

There's a really small window of opportunity at the end of any movie after all the guests have left and before the cleaning staff come in to prepare prepare for the next session. If you pick the last session you get a little more time as this time the professional cleaners to the hardcore cleaning and they take a little longer to arrive.

I wanted to capture this image from directly in front of the screen but the courtesy lighting was flooding the lens so I was forced into the corner. I bracketed 3 shots at two different ISO setting to give the most post processing options and in the end I chose a simple single exposure, converted to black and white and then toned back into the shadows the same colour as the chairs and curtains.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 351 - Alone In The Red Room'. 3.2s f/4.0 ISO640 15mm

The evening's getting on and the party almost over.

Thank you Tim and Dee for your wonderful hospitality tonight. Such a beautiful home demanded an image to match. Perhaps I should have captured this scene earlier in the evening when there was more action but I like the subdued 'had a good nigh' feel.

I tried a few ideas in capturing this image. I took two bracketed sets of 3, one at ISO160 and the other at ISO1600. The idea of the high ISO was to try and minimise ghosting in the individual frames. I was not happy with any of the high ISO images in terms of people and movement so I then explored the low ISO images. The middle exposure was very good but I really could not make the image transition beyond something you'd find in a 'House & Garden' magazine.

The final composition was a HDR composite of the low ISO images with no ghosting management at all. I really liked the sense of movement this created to liven an otherwise static image. This HDR image nearly didn't make though. I'd already rendered my final 'House & Garden' version and was in the middle of this post when I remembered the words of U.S photographer Joel Grimes when he said, "We can't take a photo and have it look like something that was taken 10 years ago. Were tired of it. You have to create new imagery." So with that thought I started again.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 350 - Good Times Good Friends'. 4s f/5.6 ISO160 15mm

Every Christmas for as long as I can remember we get visited by one or more Christmas beetles,Anoplognathus pallidicollis.

Actually there are many species of Christmas beetles in the genus Anoplognathus, part of the scarab family, but as far as I know they are all native to Australia.

It usually begins with a knocking at the door or at the window. We open the door and look but there's no one there; neighborhood kids having fun perhaps? Then it starts again, the knocking at the window or door. Again we open the door to see who is there. No one. A third time the knocking starts up again, we open the door and this large buzzing beetle comes flying through the opening and straight for the lights where it continues to knock itself silly banging into lights, walls or us. Eventually it settles down for a bit of a crawl before launching into its clumsy aerial display again.

We usually put up with the noise and carry on for a short while before our Christmas visitor is escorted from the building back out into the night to entertain some other neighbor.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 349 - Christmas Visitor'. 0.6s f/13 ISO1250 200mm macro

Hindley Street is actually pretty quiet on a weeknight around midnight.

But not at the Horus Cafe. This place was buzzing in the balmy night with coffee, tea and smoking shisha from hookas. I'm not a fan of any kind of smoking but I found that just walking past the hookas the smoke was hardly noticeable not offensive at all. I'd rather see this kind of a good time on Hindley Street with very little alcohol involved than the messy scenes typical of a Friday or Saturday night here.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 348 - Shisha at the Horus Cafe'. 1/60s f/3.5 ISO1600 200mm

In this ever so digital world of megapixel spray, pray, filter and share it was an absolute delight to see a photographer doing something different down here on the Glenelg foreshore this evening.

Tim McCullough's camera in this image is a Fuji's GX617 which is an old school fully manual film camera. It takes 120 roll film and produces a monster 3:1 panoramic 180mmx60mm negative. With only 4 shots to a roll you'd be making very sure everything is right before you pressed that shutter.

It's not all old tech however as Tim gets his negatives scanned resulting in a 200Megapixel images! With the cost of film, processing and scanning, he spends about $10 every time he presses that shutter. At that rate most instagrammers I know would go broke! You can see Tim's work at http://www.timmccullough.com.au/.

Today's message: less really is more!


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 347 - Portrait of a Photographer'. 1/160s f/4.0 ISO2000 19mm


http://robertrath.com/serendipity/

In this image all is not as it seems.

In fact you would have a very hard time indeed filling these glasses. They are actually hanging under a high shelf as is typically found in many bars. It is interesting that by removing the context, ie the surround features which would have made the orientation obvious, we immediately see a glass ready to fill instead.

... Sláinte!


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 346 - Fill Time'. 1/160s f/2.8 ISO3200 165mm

Gently pressing down on delicate skin this gift seemed far weightier that I would have imagined.

Metal and stone, made with artistry, given with love and worn with pride. I would have thought it would lay there on an unblemished surface. Instead I see the burden.


Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 639, The Gift', 1/200s f/11 ISO100 100mm 2x Off Camera Strobes

There is something really old-world in the feel of this image.

The wood and iron handrail, the corrugated tin and glass roof, the muted yellow colours. It certainly has a steampunk feel about it. A pace where you'd fit right in wearing an old leather jacket and aviator goggles.
This is what Adelaide Arcade looks like at Christmas with all of the decorations at ground level and if you look really closely you can even make out the time on the wall at the vanishing point.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 345 - Steampunk Arcade'. 1.6s f/13 ISO50 15mm

There's a backpacker's hostel on Moseley Street just off Jetty Road in Glenelg called the Glenelg Beach Hostel that I drive past several times every week that I final made the effort to capture.

It has a visual character I just can't put into words, part stately almost grandiose and at the same time humble and homely. That no.1 up there on the door makes a statement that this is no ordinary address. If I were a traveler abroad and I found myself here I'm sure I'd like to stay in a place like this.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 344 - Climbing the Stairway to Hostel'. 1/40s f/10 ISO640 15mm

Rachel was 21 this week and tonight was the celebration at the popular Cafe Amore, here in the Adelaide C.B.D.

There were glam girls and cool guys, lots of music and one or two drinks. I think the girl of the moment had all of these!

Happy birthday Rachel!


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 343 - Line 'em Up'. 1/25s f/2.8 ISO3200 200mm

We won tonight!

Well when I say 'we' it needs a little qualification. The team I support parentally and dutifully.

The other side of the net a different game is being played. Lean tall players, deadly spikes and powerful rally's. Hopefully we'll be there soon; one the other side of the net.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 342 - Behind the Net'. 1/5s f/3.5 ISO160 15mm

While walking along the Torrens River down near its final outflow I found so many interesting animals and critters to watch but for some reason they were all so timid and flighty.

I only had the one lens so I was focused on on the near distance. When I happened upon a couple horses I was determined to get some good head shots but pretty soon on of the horses decided to become by best friend forever! This was the last shot I could make before I was being nuzzled. From then I could not make any distance with a horse shaped shadow following me around!


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 341 - Snort'. 1/400s f/3.5 ISO320 200mm

Do we need to be concerned if Dexter really is watching!

This well known corner of Rundle Street, is one my most frequented parts pf the Adelaide CBD. I love that brief moment when all traffic has stopped and everyone can walk unconstrained in any direction. A Real challenge would be a 360 degree pano' from the middle in the all of 30 seconds allowed.

This image was made from the relative comfort of the mall with plenty of time to wait for just the right moment when I new Dexter would be watching!


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 340 - Dexter is Watching'. 1/8s f/16 ISO50 15mm

For those of you who work in a modern highrise suburban office; this 1885 building is definitely not where you work!

In its day the Adelaide Arcade was one of Adelaide's most progressive retail projects combining both manufacturing and a retail outlet for for each tenant. The building was also one of the very first to provide electricity and electric lighting. Today this building is beautifully maintained and a delight to wander through. Even better if you have an office there and get to live the ambiance every day.

To capture this image I simply waited for close of business and for everyone to leave. The consequence was that I got locked in and need to find alternate escape route!


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 339 - The Offices of Haigh's and Fili'. 2s f/22 ISO160 15mm

I have to say I was not that confident making this image that my camera would survive the shoot.

Would you feel confident sticking 2kgs of camera to the bonnet of your car with a suction cup? Well just to play it safe I also used a safety cable so if the suction cup happened to pop off either through excessive g-force or a snatch and grab at the lights at least some local random would not be running off with my camera, dinged up or not.

For those familiar with the streets of Adelaide, the above should be enough for you to guess where this image was captured.

To set up for this image I installed 'Magic Lantern' into my Canon which enabled me to make the camera continuously shoot a new image every few seconds (you can fill up a CF card really quickly this way). A simple alternative would have been a long cable release or a remote control. The end result would have been the same.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 338 - Warp Speed '. 0.6s f/10 ISO1600 15mm

The badge on the arm says it all.

It was not the Church, or Devo or Simple Minds who played here tonight. Tonight's festivities here at the Mitcham Carols by the Creek 2012 featured artists whose origins were little closer to home.
By all accounts it was a great family evening and the music was lovely but try as I might there were no promised miracles, no glittering prizes; only an unguarded moment under the milky way of a lone member of the Mitcham City Band dismantling the stage.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 337 - Unguarded Moment '. 1/50s f/2.8 ISO1000 200mm

As of December homes around our neighborhood and others begin to sprout fairy lights, reindeer, sleds and big Santas in red hats.

Perhaps it is a strange combination of warm Decembers and climate change. Perhaps it's just plain old fun and celebration. What ever the reason there were some ghosts of a future Christmas here tonight to celebrate the spectable.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 336 - Ghosts of Christmas Future'. 10s f/10 ISO800 29mm

If there are two things I have learned on this adventure they would be to:

a) Expect the unexpected, and
b) Always have your camera ready.

Tonight while driving home I was gobsmacked by visions in the sky. To the West was one on the most beautiful and deeply rich in colour sunsets I have seen and to the East were the most dramatic thunderclouds being lit from the last low rays of the setting sun and full of lightning. Had I time I would have set up the tripod and lingered here for a while and waited but not wanting to risk being AWOL I grabbed a few images of the sky and continued on home.

As a final note on always being ready, my spare tripod lives permanently in the car; just in case.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 335 - Thor's Playground'. 1/160s f/5.0 ISO400 17mm

Ok, so this is not the most impressive image of a DeLorean DMC-12 but it is the only one I have ever made.

In fact, this is the first DeLorean I have seen in the 'steel' since I first started looking out for them in the 1980's. Only 9000 of these vehicles were ever made and this is the only model the DeLorean Motor Company ever made before going out of business soon after the commencement of production in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland in 1981.

For those of us who can remember, this car was made famous as Emmett Brown's time machine in the movie in the 1985 movie 'Back To The Future'.

So my first real DMC DeLorean captured! Then again, there's always a chance it could have been a replica!


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 334 - Back To The Future'. 1/250s f/2.8 ISO400 200mm

This morning I found myself being unexpected entertained.

In the early hours this morning while out making images I heard the most unexpected sound of a busker singing to a celtic mandolin.
The musician in question introduced himself as Chris Dewin (easy to find on Google), agreed to some pics and then settled back into his music.

While I photographed and he played a large group of late night revelers arrived on the scene, barely paying him or his great music any notice. They just walked on by.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 333 - Just Walked On By'. 1/80 f/3.5 ISO1600 145mm

How do you make one of the ugliest creatures in the world look pretty?

Take a few tips from the modelling world.

1. A nice balanced depth of field to focus attention.
2. Make sure the foreground eye is sharp.
3. Keep the hands away from the face.
4. Some soft back lighting to bring out some lovely highlights in the hair.
5. Some negative space to keep bringing your eyes back.
6. A nice pouting smile.
7. And a splash of colour for the fun of it.

Yes, pretty 'fly' for a blowfly! Even one as ugly as this!


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 332 - Pretty Fly for a Blow Guy'. 5s f/32 ISO6400 200mm + strobes x2

This evening was one of those evenings...

The sky was looking very dramatic so I grabbed my gear and headed down to the beach to photograph the sunset. At about 45 minutes from sunset it looked like the horizon was going to be clear making for a less than dramatic event while the stunning cloud formations over the hills were looking better and better.

I packed up and headed for higher ground but the rooftop I chose just did not have the vision of the city and the hills that I wanted. That's when I looked back at the sun now setting only to see the most amazing mix of cloud and setting sun. If only I'd stayed at the beach!!

Oh well, I looked straight up and this is what I captured as the last of setting sun's last rays caught the high cloud above me.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 331 - Skystruck'. 1/160 f/14 ISO160 15mm

Since forever in my memory the presence of ladybirds in the garden means Summer.

This Traverse Ladybird' is happily scouring the Morning Glory for its favorite food, aphids! So if you see these guys in your garden it's good news for the plants and bad new for the pests.

I captured this image handheld with an off camera strobe. In a shot like this a combination of daylight and flash I have gone full manual. Even the the auto-focus is off and I preset to minimum distance. In this case the 'live view' feature is indispensable with the preview zoomed in and the shutter ready to be pressed the moment that wobbly hand held camera just happens to fall into position.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 330 - Ladybird Heralds Summer'. 1/160 f/11 ISO320 100mm off camera strobe

Spiders are the bane of may peoples lives.

No matter how tiny, and this critter is less than 5mm across, the word 'spider' sends shivers down spines and sends people running. Ok so they are not the prettiest members of the animal kingdom but they have just as special a place as the birds and the fish and the other beautiful animals we love. Speak with any expert in the area of bugs and spiders and all you will hear is wonder and excitement at how amazing these creatures are.

This image was a challenge as a hand held shot. Normally for a macro image like this a tripod would be used to allow for maximum natural light. AS I did not have this luxury it was all strobe. One strobe on the camera and another slave strobe in my hand to fill in light and give depth to the image. All settings, camera and strobes, manually configured. Because of the shiny exoskeleton it was impossible to avoid the specular highlights which are technically not desirable and get an acceptable overall image. Still I am happy with the result from a hand held shot.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 329 - Waiting for Dinner'. 1/160 f/16 ISO500 100mm strobes x2

Does anyone actually ever yell out, TAXI!

I think it only happens in the movies. I know for sure that the only time they ever stop when called or hailed is in the movies. In the real world things are so different now. I have my Yellow Cabs app installed on my Android phone. It knows where I am and I can order a taxi online and graphically select my destination in Google Maps. This works especially well when I need to go somewhere I've never posted a letter to!

So I've order my Taxi and now I can sit back and see on the screen where it is and how much long I have to wait. No more yelling out TAXI, for me!


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 328 - Taxi'. 1/20 f/2.8 ISO1600 70mm

What comes from Colombia in hemp sacks?

Why coffee beans of course! I'm not sure if the little coffee shop we love to frequent actually imports themselves but it's nice to know where your beans come from!

To enhance the details at the fiber level I actually used hdr processing with details enhancement. The captured tonal range in this image only covered a couple of stops and initially looked very flat. Combining 3 images, all within the dynamic range of the camera is unusual but allowed me to really bring out the details.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 327 - Product of Colombia'. 1/6 f/18 ISO1250 32mm