Robert's Ramblings

Imagine lying in the grass staring into the canopy above. The odd thing is that those trunks are not trees at all but the grass itself?

Bamboozled yet? Well bamboo is a grass. It just happens to be a very tall fast growing grass that sometimes pretends to be a forest.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 288 - Bamboozled'. 3.2s (-2,+2) f/16 ISO160 15mm hdr

I wonder if there is always light at the end of the tunnel?

I captured this image during the Adelaide Kelby Photowalk on Saturday. It was originally going to be a HDR composite combining the challenging dynamics of a dark tunnel with sunlit entrance. As it turned out the composite image was boring and this image taken way out on the exposure extreme just made me go wow!

Perhaps a more seasoned photographer would have seen this image in their mind before making the capture. I am just grateful that I had made the bracketed exposures needed to bring this one to light (no pun intended).


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 287 - Tunnel Vision'. 25s f/20 ISO160 15mm

Paparazzi; what more can I say!


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 286 - Paparazzi'. 1/125s f/16 ISO160 200mm

Everything around us in our 'built' world from the the smallest trinkets to the largest buildings and everything in between is the product of human thought.

To try and image the human thought involved in creating the space you are in right now is just mind boggling. Pick out a single object like a child's toy. Mentally unwrap the plastic shell imagining all involved in its creation. Visualize the circuit board with all its component imagining then all one by one and how they came to be. Imagine the bare circuit board with all its tracks and layers and pads and for just a moment imagine you are there in the beginning, starting with an empty workspace and defining every track, every connection, every minute detail.

Our world is complex beyond imagining in diversity, technology and creativity and I could not imagine it any other way!


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 285 - The Matrix Unloaded'. 4s f/29 ISO160 100mm macro

So many people claim a dislike for Monday's.

This particular Monday we got hammered with strong storm winds, rain and bitter cold for this time of year. The perfect day for a nice cosy office desk or for the perfect act of corporate rebellion!


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 284 - Corporate Rebel'. 1/8000s f/4.0 ISO320 200mm

This structure as part of the Adelaide Convention Centre seems completely fatuous to me!

This vertical 1m gap extends from ground level to the very top of the building. What a great view for occupants looking out onto the adjacent blank wall, not!


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 283 - An Odd Space'. 240s f/22 ISO160 15mm

Having a studio with fixed lighting is the mainstay of the professional photographer and no wonder, the level of control over light is amazing!

That being said, the definition of 'a studio' is up for grabs when the dining room table gets lit with strategically placed torches, a translucent umbrella and a little timed management of the light switch.

I have so many curious variations of this image with light from all angles, creating or filling shadows, illuminating nooks or highlighting surfaces. This final image used one fixed torch resting on an egg carton behind a white translucent umbrella, a LED utility torch constantly moving being the subject and the normal dining room lighting turned off halfway though the exposure.

The result; a unique image of a bunch of pencils. It is after all, all about the light!


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 282 - The Butt of Colour'. 25s f/32 ISO200 100mm macro

Photographing chickens is not easy as I thought it would be, well at least not after sunset with low light.

I was not comfortable with getting down on the ground either with lots of little chicken land-mines everywhere but unless I got low they just blended into the ground-scape.

It looks like the one on the left has her arm over and is comforting the one on the right but in reality it was anything but a loving gesture!


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 281 - Free Range Comfort'. 1/1000s f/2.8 ISO1250 200mm

This image was an attempt to combine the feel of a lonely windswept beach with the glitz of the Holdfast Shores nightlife.

It is a single 10 minute long exposure followed with 10 minutes of noise cancellation. I used a small aperture in order to get a useful depth of field with a telephoto capture from well to the north of Holdfast Shores.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 280 - Staring South'. 603s f/20 ISO100 70mm

These gritty arches alongside the Torrens River support the King William Street Bridge, an old Adelaide icon.

I seems I am becoming addicted to extremes! I love wide angle and I love telephoto/macro. Perhaps I need to just put on a 50mm prime and spend some time reacquainting myself with normal everyday perspectives again?

Actually I really do think that wide and ultra wide angle images more than any other style bring us the most authentic experience of being there in the place the image was captured. Our eyes might officially have the equivalent of a 50mm lens but our brains are continually stitching together in real time the giant panorama we experience when we look around us and reassigning our sense of perspective based on the things we notice.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Day 279, Gritty Arches'. 1/8s f/16 ISO320 17mm

Mum's garden is simply alive and buzzing with Spring activity.

There is an army of little workers hard at work in the garden, gather nectar and distributing pollen. In fact you can hear the hive from from virtually anywhere on the property thanks to the fact they have taken up residency in the old and disused kitchen chimney. Despite this fact they mostly stay out of the house and in the garden where they belong.

To capture this image I have combined a very fast shutter speed along with a larger aperture of f/3.2. I could have opened up even more but the battle with narrow depth of field was already challenging enough. Instead I opted to up the ISO to allow a fast shutter speed.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 278 - Spring Buzziness'. 1/2500 f/3.2 IS640 100mm macro

Perhaps this image seems a little ordinary but I was drawn to the almost desolate feel this parade ground had.

I tried to get a good exposure but the brilliant white rendered walls and lighting overwhelmed the shadowed surrounds. The solution was to use the HDR technique of simple fusion where 3 exposures over 4 exposure stops has collected enough details from the natural tonal range of the image to render a natural looking image without the cartoonist surreal feel often associated with HDR.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 277 - Torrens Parade Ground'. 3.2s (+-2stops) f/8.0 IS100 27mm hdr

I first noticed this view of the Adelaide CBD a few months back but being able to set up a tripod in the middle of the road was problematic.

The Bakewell Underpass on Henley Beach Road was the subject of a previous image in this series. This however was a scene of the city skyline giving 'underpass' a new meaning. The idea of capturing this image came from brief glimpse from the car while driving into the city. An aesthetically pleasing composition of city buildings and road occurs very briefly as you drive in and this is the image I wanted.

I finally got my image in the early hours of the morning when I could walk to this location and set up the tripod in the middle of the road. I had to deal with a few oncoming motorists but most were polite, giving me a wide birth. Still I was vigilant just in case!.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 276 - Under Over'. 8s (+-2stops) f/16 IS320 130mm hdr

Well into Spring now and the warmer weather is a real treat.

The vineyards are all sprouting and green is returning to the woody brown tones of the Winter bare vines.

I love the soft low light from the horizon and the way it emphasizes texture, gives depth and ambiance and highlights the odd thread of a wandering spiderweb.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 275 - Promise of Wine'. 1/800s f/3.5 IS160 145mm

Lilys, lilys everywhere, well at at least in the cold and moist place of the Adelaide hills and in my mother's garden.

Oriental lilys are around all year in florists and supermarkets and even petrol stations. So it is a real treat to have local Arum Lilys plucked from the garden or in this case from a hillside stream.

They may be local but these Arum Lilys, Zantedeschia aethiopica are a long way from their original South African origins.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 274 - Lily River'. 1/1000s f/2.8 IS320 135mm

I nice evening for a Saturday night romantic stroll he said! Take a few snapshots from the bridge he said!

Thirty minutes later we were both chilled to the core as an icy Southerly wind racing down the Port River blew on our exposed vantage point, the Birkenhead Bridge, and somewhat dampened any romantic aspect of this photographic assignment!

From a technical/photographic point of view it was no fun either as the wind rocked the camera back and forth on it's tripod, my fingers froze and the seagulls shrieked at our intrusion. That all being said it was a visual feast as a full moon framed in a cloudy sky lit the scene amid the water, the reflections, the bridges the wharfs and the street lights.

I would have liked to have stayed longer and captured more of this moonlit water-scape but is was Saturday night after all and a cosy local restaurant was just the thing to bring the romance back into our evening!


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 273 - Moonlit Port River'. 1s(+-2stops) f/3.2 ISO320 70mm hdr

Can you imagine an escalator with a moving ramp rather than steps?

Actually that's not what we see here at all, it's just the long exposure. Throw in some extra exposures for HDR processing and all sense of there being individual steps at all has been totally lost.

This style of image is easy to do at night where ambient light levels are low and long exposures are unavoidable. I am however looking forward to trying some of these techniques in strong daylight using neutral density filters.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 272 - Escalator to Heaven'. 2s(+-2stops) f/10 ISO160 15mm hdr

A moment earlier this image maker and camera were engrossed in the macro opportunities of a local vineyard.

I had at first planned to capture a candid shot but there is nothing flattering about an image maker, head down and bottom up peering through the viewfinder. I'm glad I got this briefly posed image before she got back to the task at hand.

Among the many things in this image I like in particular is the backlit highlight of the both cobwebs and hair blowing int the late afternoon breeze.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 271 - Image Maker in the Making'. 1/1000s f/3.2 ISO320 200mm

Here's a scene alien to the nature of this land. It is a product of agriculture.

Driving through the outer parts of the Barossa Valley at the moment you will see alternating fields of wheat (deep green), canola (bright yellow) and budding vines (aka vineyards). I love those vantage points along the way where there is a clean transition from one to another. This is by far my favorite visual combination, from blue sky to green wheat to yellow canola.

This image was taken late in the afternoon with the sun to my left. By focusing on the yellow to green transition I have maximized the clarity of the central green band. I would have like to have used a smaller aperture to bring more foreground into focus but as this was a handheld shot I really could not afford too.

Anyway I think I like the soft foreground as it has turned out.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 270 - Rural Flag'. 1/500s f/6.3 ISO320 200mm

Photo walks in the city at night are great for really interesting images.

The combination of low light and long time exposures creates a limit on how many images you can capture. A singe final image can take up to 20 minutes to capture especially if multiple exposures are needed. This means more time thinking about and composing images.

For these long exposures the camera sensor has a tendency to highlight flaws in its image quality so it is always important use a low ISO and to ensure the in-camera noise cancellation feature enabled. This seems counter intuitive using a low ISO as it makes the exposure all the longer however it has the advantage that image flaws created are mostly systematic in the sensor which allows the noise cancellation process to work better. The disadvantage is that an already long exposure, for example 5 minutes, then requires the same amount of time again for in-camera noise cancellation. At least you can spend the next 5 minutes composing your next capture.

This image is of the Adelaide Convention Centre and the Hotel Intercontinental with a waxing moon overhead.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 269 - Urban Sentinels'. 3.2sec(+-2stops) f/5.6 ISO160 15mm hdr

This is another of those wonderful images which was never planned. I was simply there with camera in hand and captured the moment as I saw it.

Of the hundreds of people I shared this space with in Bonython Hall I am sure no one else saw this moment as I saw it.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 268 - Waiting for His Moment'. 1.400sec f/4.0 ISO1600 105mm

I love coffee and that's a passion I share with most people I know.

I love grinding the beans, packing the cup and pouring the shot. I even love the taste though many times the flavour does not quite match the aroma.

The next obvious thing is photographing it! Yes I love that too!!!


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 267 - Late Night Crema'. 10sec f/11 ISO160 100mm macro

Indigenous to South Africa, the 'Soursob', Oxalis pes-caprae is an introduced noxious weed throughout all of Australia.

That being said I am particularly fond of soursobs as they bring back childhood memories of chewing on the acidic stalks and screwing up our faces from the intense sourness.

Another interesting aspect of the soursob flower is that they close up for the evening and open up again the next day in the sun.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 266 - Sour Flower'. 1/640s f/4.0 ISO320 100mm macro

The last couple of evenings has seen the most amazing colour in the twilight sky.

I love this time of evening when the conditions are right where a twilight rainbow graduating from red through indigo seems to hang above the Western horizon. As I was driving through the city I just had to jump out of my car to capture this scene. Unfortunately I had no tripod so a shaky hand held shot had to do.

I now keep a spare tripod in the car just in case!


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 265 - City Twilight'. 1/60s f/2.8 ISO1600 123mm

Sunsets are always beautiful but often clichéd.

Creating a sunset image which is different is really about just seeing differently. Looking for the relationships between horizon, foreground and the setting sun. Seeing an unusual combination come together perhaps only for a brief moment as the sun rapidly descends though the scene.

Finally there is luck. Just being at the right place at the right moment when the backlight is perfect.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 264 - Perfect Backlight'. 1/2500s f/14 ISO640 200mm

It's a wonderful treat to capture a milestone in someone's life.

Congratulations to Josephine, Sue, Lea, Jennifer and Dy on completing your Masters Degrees!


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 263 - Graduation'. 1/500s f/3.2 ISO160 70mm

Finding a place to eat late at night in Adelaide is a real challenge!

We'd just had a great night out at the 'Lee Marvin Readings' and were ready to head out to dinner. The trouble was that it was 10:30pm on a Tuesday evening! Spats to the rescue!

Spats on King William Rd is one of those Adelaide gems you just need to know about. I do not know of any other place were you can head out to dinner after 11:00pm on any night let alone a week night.

It's warm and cosy, a little romantic and kind of quirky with an odd assortment of tables, lounges and snugs. A great place to know about if you are night owls!


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 262 - Spats'. 5s (+-2stops) f/13 ISO800 17mm hdr

It's now Spring and with that comes magpie swooping season!

I remember picnics as a child where invariably we would wander past a tree with nesting magpies. Usually the very first hint comes with a whoosh of air from behind causing you to duck for fear of magpie talons engraving furrows on the back of you head.

Yes this magpie did swoop me but at least it posed for a photo first!


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 261 - Da Boss'. 1/640s f/2.8 ISO320 200mm

I suspect that just like me, other photographers enjoy camera spotting!

Today Jennifer and I participated in Adelaide's 'City to Bay' charity fun run event and as you can imagine at any event like this the photographers are out in force. The perfect opportunity for camera spotting.

This image is my prize for the day, my first Canon EOS-1D X, spotted in the wild so I decided an awesome image was need for a such an awesome camera!


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 260 - 1DX in the Wild'. 1/800s(+-2) f/16 ISO640 40mm hdr

"Sign, sign, everywhere a sign
Blockin' out the scenery, breakin' my mind
Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?"

Remember this 1971 hit from the Five Man Electrical Band?

I guess the owner of this sign doesn't either.


Photo: Robert Rath, '366 Days of 2012, Day 259 - Hillbilly City'. 1/5000 f/2.8 ISO320 200mm