BE Photographic Tips and Tricks

Rottnest - On Consignment

2010-02-21T22:54:00.002+08:00

Originally uploaded by BE Photographic

I got the great opportunity on Friday (which happened to be my day off) to pack up my camera gear and head off on an overseas holiday to Rottnest for the night! A local hotel owner was looking for a new piece for his boardroom :) Those who aren't familar with Rottnest - there is an annual swimming event where they swim from Cottesloe to the island - so technically it is overseas :P

For me it was a 30 min ferry ride :)

All week it happened to be PERFECT blue skies with small patches of clouds to make the sky interesting - up until Friday :/

The gloomy thick clouds came in during the morning, leaving me wondering WTF?

Over there at 8.30am, with bikes, tents, camera gear and clothes set. 9.30am we were all set to get out and shoot some panoramics!

I maybe just my luck, but out of the 1000's of hire bikes, i always seem to get the busted one - but at least it had a comfy seat, unlike Jaz's (my girlfriend) seat.

We rode up on the north side of the island, past the basin - snapped off a couple of rounds, then up to Geordie Bay, then finishing up at City of York Bay...

On the way back, I was very bummed with the shots that I had got at this stage and had resigned myself to think that it aint going to get much better than this. Heavy cloud on the horizon would spoil any sort of sunset. So we packed up the gear and went and had a shower and snooze in the tent.

Originally uploaded by BE Photographic

Woke up an hour later, looked outside and the clouds began to break up. I threw on my back pack and hoofed up the dunes over to the beach. I found myself up at the basin and with tripod and filters at the ready I happened to get a few off that i was quite happy with.

I'm sure it was quite comical to see me SPRINT across the sand, flicking my thongs off my feet when I saw what the sun was doing to the clouds behind me when I was shooting over at the Basin (where the street light is in this photo)

I found myself a nice position where I knew that I would get a great foreground subject and an iconic background - being the Basin's pine trees and snapped away.

I was shooting at about 1/3 sec at 11 - 16f to get the movement of the waves, I wanted a bit of texture not a flat hazy ocean that you see when you are shooting 22-32f at 3-5 sec.

Out of all the ones that I went through, I'm most happy with this one. I hope that it is chosen to be printed up at about 2.7mts wide - love to see it hung on the wall.

I'll keep you updated as to what it looks like on the wall of the boardroom :)

Artistic Architecture

2009-06-29T14:47:00.003+08:00

Blue Roof
Originally uploaded by BE Photographic

Fish Bone
Originally uploaded by BE Photographic

I've have always maintained that the world is made up of millions and billions of photographs, it is our job and challenge to find these and share them to the rest of the world.

I'm always amazed with where I find my new favourite photos, they seem to be never planned and pop out of left field.

Into the wind
Originally uploaded by BE Photographic

On this occasion I went for a walk with a friend of mine around the wharf areas of Fremantle. We weren't even going to go to the Maritime Museum but wandered down to have a look at what we could shoot.

Had some great shot, had a lot of fun in the rain and wind, and came away pretty happy.

Tip: take your camera everywhere with you - you never know when you'll get a new favourite!

Project Shoot from the Hip

2009-06-09T14:57:00.002+08:00

Project S.F.T.H 5
Originally uploaded by BE Photographic

I came up with the idea of 'Project Shoot from the Hip' a few days ago while walking with my girlfriend into see a travel agent to book our next trip to Bali.

As a photographer, I'm ALWAYS looking around to find new things to shoot, but in the area I live, I've pretty much shot everything in the style I'm familiar with. So I simply decided to change my style.

I've been looking into shooting abstract pieces that people could hang on their walls and appreciate its simplicity and textures, but didn't know where to start.

Project S.F.T.H 2
Originally uploaded by BE Photographic

Long story short, I snapped on my 50mm Prime lens and just went for a walk. As i was walking along, i was simply taking shots without looking - Clint Eastwood style, shooting from the hip, with surprising results.

The shot posted here, I simply put the camera into a stack of wine barrels *click* and walked off. A bit of post processing in lightroom and done! SIMPLE SIMPLE SIMPLE!!!!

Using Filters

2009-05-11T12:24:00.001+08:00

Mosman Morning
Originally uploaded by BE Photographic

A few months ago I bought off Ebay two coloured gradient filters (gray and orange) but never really used them.

I got up early one morning and drove down to the river for the sunrise that was looking like it was going to be promising, with a bank of clouds on the horizon.

I experimented with my ND+8 filter on my 10-20mm Sigma lens with a combination of the gray filter to reduce the exposure on the sky.

With the use of gradient filters on your landscape shots can really give you a dramatic look to your photos. With sunset and sunrise shots, the most difficult part is to get equal exposures between the sky and the foreground. With the use of filters, this makes it child's play :)

Published Work

2009-05-11T12:16:00.001+08:00

Trend Magazine 1
Originally uploaded by BE Photographic

I've been working for a group called ISIS (Commercial Interior Design & Fit-out Company) for the last few years doing photography for their social functions and other bits and pieces. I've recently been asked to shoot a few of their finished works in Perth.

Recently they have used the shots that I took in Trend Commercial Design Magazine which is an international architecture magazine.

Published results can be seen on my flickr site as well.

Simple Stock Photography

2009-03-07T22:54:00.001+09:00

real estate stock 2
Originally uploaded by BE Photographic

I've had my 50mm f1.2 Minolta lens in my bag for quite some time, and do bring it out in low light situations. But recently I have been enjoying the simplicity of the little things.

The simple things through high shutter and wide aperture have a great shallow depth of focus.

Private Jetty

2009-01-29T18:20:00.001+09:00

Private Jetty
Originally uploaded by BE Photographic

Up early on Christmas Eve while we were camping on the river in Augusta, I went on a walk up to a private jetty and snuck around the gate with my tripod and camera gear - lucky not to slip in, and took a couple of photos before the sun came up over the other side of the river.

Photoshopped of course, blended a desaturated layer to get the b/w, and used levels and curve layers to get the desired results.

I have framed this photo and put it up on my lounge room wall, looks amazing!

DIY Vertical Softbox

2009-01-29T18:13:00.001+09:00

Me and my world
Originally uploaded by BE Photographic

An evolution of the shoebox DIY strobe softbox which I posted below, I had the box from my new Plasma TV hanging around the house so desided to carve it up and make a long softbox.

Same construction as the shoebox softbox, with al-foil on the interior of the box with a piece of white material stapled and taped to the box. (click on photo to see construction)

I've taken it out on location and had good success with the lighting, but wind factor can hamper if you don't have an assistant.

DIY Lightbox

2008-09-04T20:57:00.003+08:00

DIY Lightbox
Originally uploaded by BE Photographic

I had been searching for a softbox for a long time that would sit on my flashgun and be as mobile as I needed. Relying on power sources isn't what I need to worry about when I'm out on location.

So after I made my Ring Flash, this just seemed just obvious to take out an old shoe box and cover the inside with al-foil and cover with a white pillow case. The results have been great.

Jesse & Gina
Originally uploaded by BE Photographic

To the right is an example of it used on location.

Because I have a wireless flash gun, I held it in my left hand over the models to get that contrasty lighting. Really simple and effective tool to have in the boot of the car on location.

DIY Flash Ring

2008-08-03T21:38:00.009+08:00

Bump in the Night
Originally uploaded by BE Photographic

I have only just stumbled across the whole 'Strobist' style of photography in the last year or so. It has opened up so many more doors to the genres of photography that I now enjoy.

Recently while scrolling through the different Flickr groups, I stumbled across one called *DIY Photography Equipment. I am one not to go out and spend a bunch of money on equipment that I don't even know how they work, I decided to make a Ring Flash for less than $10.

Having a Sony Alpha A-100 camera, I now realise that A LOT of products are compatible to Canon EOS camera, and with Sony - it is harder to get things that fit.

I basically used the outline given in Fin Flash's helpful tutorial. Mine ended up a bit bulkier and heavier...all I had was an IKEA box, al-foil, gaffer tape and an old pillow cover. But it worked well for my prototype.

DIY Ringflash
Originally uploaded by BE Photographic

'Bump in the night' also known as 'I watch you sleep', kept me up one night as I edited it, looking into my own creepy eyes was actually quite eery.

Love the effects that the ring flash gives, and recommend it to anyone wanting to do soft shadow portraits.

Urban Princess

2008-08-03T21:18:00.004+08:00

Through her own eyes
Originally uploaded by BE Photographic

I have know Darren for a few years now, as I have worked in the same office in Perth for quite some time. A few months ago, he mentioned to me that he has a gallery space in Northbridge that he will be opening shortly. My first questions was "how long you had this space for?" and he replied, "oh...about a year." Firstly, I was astonished that he had had it that long without telling me, then I was amazed at how ideal this space was for a gallery.

They have had a few events in Ginger's Garage, but I believe that this was one of the first public gallery exhibitions for the gallery.

We were given a concept to shoot for the gallery, and all we were told was that the theme was 'Urban Princess'.

Over many restless nights, I came up with a few different concepts for what I wanted to submit, but the one that I ended up using was the one above called 'Through her own eyes'.

The underlying story behind this image is one of which many young men and women deal with every day of their lives. They have to deal with insecurities in themselves and their looks, and more importantly how they fit in with friends and work mates. Hence the reflection being what she sees herself being on the inside. Trapped in the exterior beauty, and unable to deal with her inner issues.

Humble beginnings

2008-08-03T20:28:00.000+08:00

To be able to capture a moment in time that provokes an emotion in the viewer is a powerful talent to have – and shouldn’t be taken for granted. A photograph can mean something to one person in a special way, like it can have the same effect on millions of people world wide. This is what I strive to do with my work every day.

A photograph can evoke a myriad of emotions and memories in individual viewing the piece. What makes photograph special is that underlying meaning it may have to only everyone in different.

I am always striving to evolve as a photographer across all genres and styles of photography and the passion I have for this power to do so, will see me become a world renowned photographer someday in the future.

From my humble beginnings of taking simple landscapes photographs for my own viewing pleasure, to now being able to share them with the world through this powerful World Wide Web – it is important that I stand out from the thousands of other photographers, by continuously evolving, learning and improving my skills and techniques.

As a Perth based photographer, I hope that you enjoy my work, and continue to come past to see the wonders that this great state of Western Australia has to offer.