new member

[thaddeus]

hi everyone

i just joined up on the advice of leek. i've had my d70 for 6 months or so now and have been happily snapping away. i'm looking to sharpen my skills so thought i'd post some of my photos to get some constructive criticism

i enjoy landscape photography. here's some shots i took during a helicopter safari from sydney to the gulf of carpenteria last year

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<td>fractal river. this one is up at the gulf where the rivers snake along through the sand for miles. i was shooting through the perspex bubble of the helicopter so used a polariser to keep the reflections down. sadly there are still a few reflections there, but you get the overall effect. we were wearing bright lifejackets which, sadly, you can just see.</td>
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<td>hot refuel. more of the hot theme! this is refuelling at a qld airstrip. hot refuelling usually refers to refuelling with the engine running, but it means something different here! i think i could improve it by straightening the horizon and making the lens flare point directly to the helicopter.</td>
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<td>hot shadow. this is at undarra lava lodge in central queensland. it's not super-clear in this low-res reproduction, but the shadows seem to converge too quickly, as if the sun is too close behind you.</td>
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<td>fraser fractal. this is one of the tanin rivers on fraser island. the lake is at the top. the lakes are spectacular in reality, but i couldn't capture them without them looking like a giant sewer. so i opted for the contrasting white sand instead.</td>
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<td>dreamscape. this is near newnes near lithgow. probably not a very good technical shot, but i find it somehow relaxing.</td>
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<td>four mysteries. this is at newnes about half an hour later. there are in fact four mysteries here: mystery mountain, a tiny cemetary, a dunny and a solar panel that could power a small township. actually, five mysteries if you count the fact that they are sitting together.</td>
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<td>diffraction. i love physics and the patterns around this island/peninsula on the south coast really impressed me. it's overexposed at the top, so i'll be keeping an eye out for similar occurrences in future.</td>
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<td>willow. i thought this willowy pattern was interesting against the still-blue sky. this was the 9pm fireworks last nye</td>
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<td>harbour bridge from last year</td>
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i'm thinking of getting one of those wider angle lenses. i see there's a thread on them so i'll take a look at that.

thanks for any constructive feedback

[rokkstar]

well thaddeus,

What can i say?
What a first post. Outstanding images. Absoloutely first class.
Reminds me as jan-arthus bertrands earth from the air series. I have that book and salivate over the images. You've got some crackers in there.

I love the shot of the bridge, its my thing at the moment, where did you shoot that from?

I really like dreamscape too. Its ethereal almost. Rlaxing too. I could look at it for hours.
THe fractuls are awesome. Right, I gotta hire me a chopper ride

Nice one, and welcome to the forums.

By the way, what lens did you use for these?

Matt

[johndec]

Lots of red X's, but what I saw blew me away, especially the NYE Bridge shot. Check your links

[christiand]

Also, outstanding images, what can I say ?
I guess I'm packing up my toys and am going home !
But I will be back !!!

Regards
CD

[pippin88]

Amazing images, all of them capture the eye immediately.

[fozzie]

thaddeus,

Welcome to the forum .

Look forward to your continual input.


Cheers,

[rokkstar]

Thaddeus,

Just been to your site.
What's the chances of hitching a lift in one of your heli's mate?

Well you gotta ask havent you

Matt

[beej]

Thaddeus,

Fantastic shots.

I really enjoyed those fractal landscape shots and if there are any problems technically with the dreamscape shot, I don't care, because I too find it relaxing.

[sirhc55]

Thaddeus - welcome to the forum with an amazing display of your talent - hope to see a lot more in the years to come

Chris

[bwhinnen]

Great photos. I too love the look of dreamscape. And the willow is just fantastic and awe inspiring!

Thanks for sharing, look forward to many more from you.

Cheers
Brett

[gleff]

Love the shots as well.. Well done. Now if I could only shoot like that

I guess i'll keep practising.

Geoff

[mudder]

G'day,
Welcome to the forum, enjoyed your images very much. You have a very creative and thoughtful skill which shows through in your photo's... The shots of the bridge particularly the one with the highlighted Opera house and lights emanating from the bridge is captivating. Stunning...

Thanks for sharing
Mudder.

[meicw]

Welcome. All your pics are outstanding. Hard to pick a fav, I like them all. You have a great eye. Thanks for sharing these and hope to see some more of your work soon.

Regards
Meic

[redline]

some great work there Thaddeus,
do you very get any of your work published?

[Rusty W. Griswald]

Well done. Love the four mysteries. Is this a touristy spot, noticed a car in the background.

[Link]

You've captured great patterns from the helicopter, I'm sure those pictures would look very very impressive printed big!

I really love the hot shadows pictures, did you get this effect from the speed of the helicopter? Or did you zoom your lens while pressing the shutter?

For the Four Mystery shot, to get a bit closer and shot it with a wide angle (using the graves in foreground) might make the photo more dynamic.

The diffraction shot is also one of my favourite; I couldn't imagine the sea would be so reflective and that will be challenging to get it right next time you're in the same position... Maybe fly out in early morning?!

Link.

[thaddeus]

thanks for your kind replies and welcomes

rokkstar, i only have the kit lens. i am just fortunate to be able to fly to some interesting places and get some interesting angles. i had a good look at the nikkor 12-24 at birddog's place on saturday - very nice! re the chopper, if people want we could split the cost and do some aerial photography around sydney.

johndec, i've checked the links and i'm not getting any red X's. perhaps it was a temporary issue?

beej, yes, i like the fractal shots as well. here are a couple more of my favourites:

these two are up at the gulf of carpenteria. the left one is from futher away. the one on the right is the detail of the last couple of bends. yes, we were headed for the little island that you can just see on the horizon!



this one is flying east along the top end. that's not a dust bunny in the bottom right, that's a shadow of the helicopter!


most of my photos are for travel logs which allow me to weave a story through the photos and captions. the full trip to the gulf of carpenteria is on the web at http://rotoheads.com.au/sweers04

mudder, i have a confession to make: i took the shot of the harbour bridge searchlights with a canon d60. my only excuse is that the d70 was not released then! there were over 100,000 page views when i published them at http://hoore.com/sydney/nye03 last year. they were also circulated around the world on various email chains. it was bizarre to receive my own photos forwarded through email trails of people i didn't know. someone had even made them into a little powerpoint presentation! the willow shot was from the most recent nye at http://hoore.com/sydney/nye04/ so it is with a d70.

redline, thanks. i have had a few published in a helicopter magazine, but that's about it


rusty, well spotted! actually, the four mysteries is my least favourite photo of the set, the reason being that the tree is obscuring the mountain. if i moved to the left i could get some sky in between the tree and the mountain, but it put the other objects at an angle, and i liked the idea that the outhouse and pet cemetery were facing the camera. the area is newnes, near lithgow. my trip report is at http://hoore.com/helo/newnes which contains a link to the tourist site which has directions and other information. there are many ruins there that provide excellent photo opportunities.

link, thanks! the hot shadows effect was due to the very low sun, high, sparse trees and using an 18mm lens. i agree with your comment about the four mysteries - i'll try that in future. the diffraction shot was flying north the eastern coast so i didn't need to get out of bed too early! the south coast of nsw is stunning and i hope to get back there soon!