Phoebe’s Portrait with Canon 85mm F1.2

This afternoon I had the pleasure of doing a photo shoot with Phoebe using my new lens. While I have used it a couple of times now with a wedding and family portraits, It wasnt until today that I used it in very low light of the late afternoon shade under the overhanging tree’s. The first shot was under the cover and shot at F1.2 and wow the amount of depth of field was very shallow to say the least, it extend from the left hand side of her eye to the edge of her nose. But it left nothing in the background sharp what so ever. Plus I have also found that the edges at F1.2 are a little dark and I have been told that shooting at F2.0 will give a better result, but I like the challenge of shooting at 1.2 and I love the effect that it give.

There is no question at all that this lens is an amazing lens for shooting portraits and I have found that I am now leaving my 70-200mm in my bag now for in favour of the 85mm.

This second shot I shot near the surrounding fence of the park and this one is shot at F2.0 and still you can see quite strongly that the background is way out of focus. I asked Phoebe to give me a sultry look and at the time after looking at the shots on the back of my camera she was of the opinion that she didn’t pull it off, I beg to differ and think she did a great job, and this was her first time for doing this kind of shoot. Great work.

Uluru Golden Sky Sunset.

2 Years ago now when I was moving from Adelaide to Katherine for work I stopped at various places along the way to capture what I could on my way up here.

One of those places was Uluru and I stayed there for 10 nights in total. On the first night I got there I was lucky enough to capture this stunning sunset. And to be honest I had totally forgotten about it until Glen from CFL in Erina told me I had a sweet shot of the rock. I have had some work done to it as it was a little under exposed in the foreground, but to be there was just awesome to see, and one I will be lucky to even see again.

I have added this to a new website and it will be available as a limited edition print of 50 only and one size as well, and that will be a 60 inch printed at CFL on Fuji Flex.

http://caseysmith.zenfolio.com/p69029528

Marble Bar, Western Australia

The town Marble Bar  set a world record of most consecutive days of maximum 37.8 degrees  or more, during a period of 160 such days from 31 October 1923 to 7 April 1924. Marble Bar is located 152km’s South East of Port Headland and has a population of 194 people, but at its peak during the gold rush the town boasted a population of 5000 people. And during Dec and Jan the temp rise well above 45 degrees.

here are a couple of shots I took from Marble Bar on our way to Karijini National Park. Tis was an overnight stop for us which cost us 30 bucks for the night, under the stars of the caravan park with Rod and Flemming.

 

Canon 85mm F1.2 L Series Lens

Last week I received a second hand 85mm Canon F1.2 L Series from a friend in South Australia who wasn’t using the lens to it’s full potential and as I am shooting more portraits and weddings now, he told me that I would be more than happy with the quality of this lens. And wow he was right.

When I received it on Tuesday and took it out of the box, my first though was wow how heavy is this lens and I was keen to put in a body and see how much difference F1.2 would make.

So it wasn’t until yesterday that I got yo use it in Darwin when I shot a wedding there and I have added an image that I took with it. The settings for this photo are 1/80th sec@ F2.0 Iso 100, and when I opened it up here home, the sharpness is just amazing and I did also take a few shots at 1.2 and the depth of field is very narrow that’s for sure. I am going to love using this lens more and more as I get used to using a prime lens as the quality is just unmatched with anything else I have in my bag.

I am shooting a model portrait next weekend and its there I will get to use the85mm to its full potential, so I am looking forward to that.

New Website

Over the past 12 months since buying my digital camera kit I have been asked to shoot quite a few weddings and family portraits, well now that I have done enough shoot to showcase my work, I have since built a basic website where people can have a look at my work and be happy that they will be getting value for their money when it comes to shooting that one special day. Or be it just a family portrait that a coupe need for there loved ones that are interstate.

So click on the link below and have a look at some of my recent work, I will be adding more folders as I get permissions from various people I have taken photos of in the last 12 months.

http://caseysmith.zenfolio.com/

Bungle Bungles National Park, WA

Last week I got the last of my film processed from my trip to Western Australia, and the final part was a drive into the Bungle Bungles National park.

Pictured here is the road that enters the park and I took this shot on my way out and this was about half way out. Too look at the road here you would be fooled to think that it’s a reasonable easy drive. Well it’s not, its 52 kms from the highway and most of the road is passes through privately owned property and as they live and drive the rough roads all the time, maintaining the roads is a low on their list of things to do. So for most of the trip in it’s a slow drive and very rough drive. I think the top speed I got up to was no more than 60kms/hr and even then it was for a very short time.

But once in the park the roads are still rough but are maintained by the national park, but I dont think it had been done for a while as that state of the road had not changed at all. It was rough. But after all that negative comments about the roads, once you are there its well worth the effort of getting in as the Bungles are a sight to be seen and enjoyed.

Northern Territory Natural Body Building Comp, Darwin

Yesterday I had the pleasure of covering the Natural Body Building Competition that was held at Darwin Entertainment Centre as the official photographer.

To be eligible for the competition you have to be drug free for more than a min of 7 years and all competitors are tested prior to the performance on the day.

Also prior to the day all the competitors dehydrate themselves for more than 3 days so that there is no fluid in between the skin and muscles which I am sure is not good for you, but to be able to show off all the hard work for the competition its what they have to do. I also saw Eddie (pictured here) after the comp had finished drinking 2 ltr’s of water as quick as he could, as the day is a grueling hard days work in itself.

Eddie won the overall best body in the mens division yesterday and will now be eligible to compete in the national titles in Sydney where he hopes to win there and compete in the world titles held in New York. Good luck.

Photographic trip to New Zealand 2010

Next year around July/ August I am planing a trip to New Zealand’s south Island where I plan to hire a 2 man mobile vehicle and head across the shores for 6 weeks exploring the land of our Kiwi neighbours. Milford Sound, Fox Glacier and many of the coastal attractions of this amazing country to name a few.

I have had this trip in mind since I arrived to the NT and as I am in the very early stages of doing research on the small country, I am wondering if any people who are have been there in recent years would have any ideas of locations of some stunning places to visit, be it a major tourist location or a small out-of-the-way place that is not commonly known to anyone.

I am open to any ideas and thank you in advance for your help.

Northern Territory Darwin Sunset.

Today I received some film back with photos I had forgotten about and ones I knew were shot recently. Last week I spent a week in Darwin and of the 7 days I was there 6 day were clear blue skies.

So I ventured out what I thought was going to be a sweet sunset and at point not long after the sun had set, I thought oh well this is it, but I waited it out for about another 15 mins and it was then that the clouds began to light up.

These are two of the photos I took that night and this was shot from Nightcliff.

Rebecca’s Wedding day

Over the last few months I have been shooting quite  few weddings and who knows I may one day go from landscape to wedding photographer, as I seem to enjoy them quite a bit and have a good time while I am shooting them.

I took this in the lounge room using available light and when I showed Bec the photo on the back of the camera she almost cried there and then. I was wraped with the reaction from her. I just shot a wedding this weekend  and will be doing another in 2 weeks. Looking forward to it.