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Aug, 2014Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo at Gibraltar Rocks, in the Namadgi National Park, part of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The ACT is a surprisingly big place, even if it is the smallest state or territory in Australia, it is definitely bigger than a lot of European countries. The capital city of Australia, Canberra, is the only town in the whole ACT. The rest of it is a vast wilderness of which the Namadgi national park makes up most of the southern third. It is a pretty amazing place and I am lucky to have it only half an hour from my home. It has geography and geology entirely unique to this continent and is even an important sight for the local Indigenous people. A short walk from the visitors centre and you will find yourself facing Aboriginal rock art that was painted thousands of years before European settlement. The Namadgi is a source of wonder and adventure for any photographer.Time
The photo was taken I think from memory around midday on a winter day in Canberra (while we are one of the few places in Australia that actually gets properly cold in the Winter, we are also very lucky to be treated to clear blue skies for most of the season). Obviously, the fact that the photo was taken inside a 'cave' (is it a cave if it is one giant bolder balancing on another two?) with a big light source meant that I didn't have to worry about flattening light.Lighting
Although I had one big source of light, there was also light spilling in from the side entrances of the cave. this meant that getting the silhouette effect took some trial and error. Even after exposing for the background view properly there was still a lot of detail on my subjects back and the framing cave walls.Equipment
I shot this with my Olympus OMD EM1. Its a m4/3 camera but still performs really well in low light conditions. I could be wrong but I am pretty sure my ISO was still 200 when I shot this. I used the 12-40mm M.Zuiko Pro f/2.8 and I am certain I was wide open when I shot it, although that lens tends to be at its sharpest at f/4.Inspiration
I am pretty new to photography, or at least trying to take good photos, and I had been reading up about composition techniques before I went on the walk. Obviously, the frame within a frame is a really simple but also effective technique so when I stumbled upon this crazy rock window formation, which created a pretty epic 'V' shape, I knew I had to take a photo through it. The problem was the actual view was not that interesting, some bramble and then a pretty flat uninspiring landscape. That's why I decided to include my buddy in the frame, he got weird about being made to model but it was worth his discomfort.Editing
I ended up creating the silhouette effect in post production by heavily clipping the blacks and adding the some light mapping. This gave me the control I needed because all though I was going for a silhouette I still wanted to retain some texture on the cave walls and the back of the subject - his name is Sam ;)In my camera bag
Camera, wide angle and 20mm prime. I now own a flash as well but I am still getting my head around all the work that goes into it.Feedback
Have a friend with you. People provide scale and can be interesting, especially if they wear garish yellow parkers, so they can easily lighten up an otherwise uninteresting photo and give it a bit of depth.
