Central Coast Imagery

35mm monochrome scanned and reprocessed in PC

2011-11-15T08:50:00.001+11:00

gP1_series_(361)
Originally uploaded by gtveloce

A slightly more bizarre take on an Ansett (or short to be ex-Ansett) Short flying boat at Sydney's Rose Bay around 36-odd years ago... give or take. Many of these images originally by the late James Davidson (I'm not sure which, it was a while ago now...!). Rose Bay was a magical place in the 1970s, a tiny living museum of international air travel.

An abstraction

2011-11-08T08:47:00.001+11:00

1_almost abstract_W5_400(111)
Originally uploaded by gtveloce

I can't tell what this is anymore so I pronounce it abstract. It was once a photograph of something, I think, but I have Photoshopped that original work out of existence. There are other image manipulation tools at work here too.

Sony’s update to the VG10 - the VG-20. Interesting semi-pro hand-held video

2011-08-31T08:30:00.001+10:00

Wow. Semi-pro hand-held video that matches - and betters - DSLRs. At a price, of course. Could be a handy device if you are cashed up and want one camera that does it all.

Sony Releases Updated NEX-VG20 Camcorder | Video News

First off, the camcorder has an upgraded sensor going from the VG10′s 14.2 megapixel Exmor APS HD to a new 16.1 megapixel Exmor R CMOS. As a result of this upgrade and an upgraded processor, Sony was able to include the ability to capture RAW stills. That’s right. RAW photographs have finally made their way to an affordable camcorder. That’s big news seeing as most camcorders just a few years ago could only take VGA resolution photos. Now if we could just get them to give us RAW video recording, we’d really be talking!

Interesting article explains the practical and theoretical differences between 35mm DSLR and dedicated movie lenses

2011-08-10T13:31:00.001+10:00

Well I never knew movie lenses focused the other way around, did I? And many other interesting points. For myself I'll shoot videos with what I have, but if you want to step up to a new world of quality - and cost - read on...

Cameras are for christmas, lenses are for life - what high-quality optics bring to budget film-making

Why aren't still camera lenses good enough for movies? Optically they are. If you were shooting a single static scene an SLR type lens is fine (turn the autofocus off). However film making is collaborative and stressful activity that involves lots of movement, even if it's a fan-flick filmed in your backyard, and there is a whole list of practical requirements that can explain the difference between the price of say, the manual Zeiss 35mm SLR lens at $1200 and the equivalent Zeiss 35mm Compact Prime movie lens at $3000.

Yet another Panini projection #images

2011-06-22T12:15:00.001+10:00

Panini_2011-05-25 13-04-09-140
Originally uploaded by gtveloce

Another kaleidoscopic image put through Panini and re-projected into different views (a la stereographic, Mercator, cylindrical etc).

I've then run it through PS just in case I haven't ruined it enough...

Camera Futura offers flexible wireless connectivity between smartphone sized "back" and detachable lens "front"

2011-05-31T12:04:00.001+10:00

Can't say it's entirely new - SLRs have had detachable lenses for decades and higher-end cameras have had detachable, interchangeable "backs" for even longer. You could even say that remote lens position and operation are not entirely new either. What is new is the application of a smartphone-style back with wireless connectivity to the lens. So you can couple the 2 facets - electronic and optical - at varying distances, and control the servo-assisted AF lens (again not new per se) from the remote back. The possibilities for virtualising "hard" camera controls onto a smartphone or similar object then open up in tandem with the remote lensing opportunity. Hopefully the wireless range will be good, maximising creative remote lens use whilst minimising those inevitable "OMG I've lost my lens" moments. (Some privacy issues may also arise of course...)

WVIL concept: Digital SLR meets mobile phone, with an ingenious twist

Given the suitable moniker of Camera Futura by its designers, the concept camera pivots around a patent-pending technology that the Artefact Group has called the Wireless Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens (WIVL) system. WIVL sees the camera benefiting from the same operating platform and connectivity as a smartphone – with the same access to a world of application development – but with the image processing power of a digital camera. A natural (and no doubt welcome) progression in the evolution of the digital camera, you might say, but perhaps not too much of a surprise.

Colliding kaleidoscopes Batman! Or just another set of semi-abstract images

2011-05-27T09:27:00.002+10:00

Panini_2011-05-25 13-05-54-468
Originally uploaded by gtveloce

Yesterday's kaleidoscopic images have been put through Panini and re-projected into different views (stereographic, Mercator, cylindrical etc). And then run through PS just in case I haven't ruined them enough...

The process here is (a) start with a digital drawing or photograph (b) mirror it a few times in PS, GIMP or Andy, whatever you have (c) re-project it in a pano program like Panini and (d) do it over again in your image editor. Is it art? Who cares!

Kaleidoscope image processed in Panini and PS

2011-05-26T15:32:00.001+10:00

Panini_2011-05-25 13-05-54-468
Originally uploaded by gtveloce

Huntsman gets tangled

2011-05-21T17:05:00.001+10:00

tangled_1052a, a photo by saratoga2251 on Flickr.

Not a good idea, generally speaking - hiding in clothes can lead to unwelcome entanglement. Yes, we rescued this huntsman from his/her folly...

Possum at large eating our fruit

2011-05-21T17:02:00.001+10:00

possum at large_1038, a photo by saratoga2251 on Flickr.

She not only takes our fruit and eats it, she drags it up onto our deck to do so. At least she poses for photos!

Another butterfly image

2011-05-10T09:22:00.001+10:00

Butterfly_1044a
Originally uploaded by gtveloce

An icy stare from a compound eye always seems so other-worldly, at least to us mammals. Up close with a Nikon standard lens, nothing more.

Closeup and personal - butterfly proboscis

2011-05-10T09:18:00.001+10:00

Butterfly_1047c_L
Originally uploaded by gtveloce

It's hard to capture a living, breathing butterfly as they tend to, well, flit about. This one was injured and looking for a rest, so I got it out of the wind and away from the chooks to recover. And to take some closeups.

I am pretty well certain this is Papilio aegeus (the Orchard Swallowtail). Or as certain as I can be until someone corrects me.

Fungus on a tree

2011-05-02T14:33:00.001+10:00

Fungus_1110a
Originally uploaded by gtveloce

It's a trick really - that's a cut off dead branch forming the "trunk" - but it's a real fungus "umbrella". So it looks like a mushroom but it's more like a shelf fungus growing on a tree... trust me.

Pencil sketch coloured in PS, then FilterForged

2011-02-22T09:07:00.001+11:00

DAR018g
Originally uploaded by gtveloce

Layers upon layers, but it began with a pencil sketch on paper over 20 years ago. I coloured it in PS and then gave it a treatment of saturation and vignetting via a LOBO filter, followed by a gauzy overlay. Voila, an entirely new look and feel for my old art.

Abstracted: using LiquidPaint, PS and FilterForge

2011-02-15T15:45:00.001+11:00

abstract_s00180
Originally uploaded by gtveloce

One of a quick bunch of crazy abstracts I just uploaded, created using a digital pen and various image-manipulation software like LiquidPaint, PS and FilterForge.

Eriophora at night

2011-01-12T13:14:00.001+11:00

Eriophora_0664
Originally uploaded by gtveloce

I can't resist a spot of spider-hunting at night. Can you?

Aussie spider opens her Christmas present and finds a cicada...

2011-01-02T14:32:00.001+11:00

It's a wrap_0608
Originally uploaded by gtveloce

Well how could I not take this shot? It has both a look of despair and resignation (as in 'what can I do about it now?') coupled with a sense of anticipation (as in 'what a meal I'm about to have'). Everything has to eat.

Can't ignore an Eriophora at sunset, can I?

2010-12-11T16:22:00.001+11:00

Eriophora at sunset_0592a-sm
Originally uploaded by gtveloce

Such a beautiful sunset yesterday, I went spider-hunting in the gathering gloom...

Pic of a grasshopper helping me hang the washing

2010-08-25T15:20:00.001+10:00

Grasshopper_0161
Originally uploaded by gtveloce

Well it was a keen observer, anyway. I turned around to hang some more clothes (prosaic I know) and there it was. I was face to face with a hopper. Naturally I took a pic.

Another view of a Krefft's dwarf snake

2010-08-24T09:22:00.001+10:00

Krefft's dwarf snake_0150
Originally uploaded by gtveloce

This is our 2nd snake find in our Central Coast garden. Although we have seen many 'nearly legless lizards' (a seeming cross between a skink and a snake) this Krefft's dwarf snake is a rarer find. This one was lurking under a plastic clamshell sandpit. I happened to move said sandpit and the tiny (15cm long) elapid leapt at me. It seemed a bit dazed and confused and its aim was poor (I should say the fangs are tiny and unlikely to work on a human target anyway). If I had been a skink however I think I would have been dinner.

So our small suburban Saratogan garden has so far (in the last 7 years or so) revealed 2 Krefft's dwarf snakes, several geckos, 1 blue tongue lizard, a bandicoot, umpteen skinks and semi-legless lizards and a host of birdlife. Beats my old Marrickville haunt by a gazillion, although inner-western Sydney is getting some wildlife back I hear.

Arguably abstract

2010-05-10T15:25:00.002+10:00

almost_abstract_2086
Originally uploaded by gtveloce
This image started as a photograph... I isolated one section and went crazy with layers and filters. Voila! It's now... something else again....?

King parrot in flight

2010-05-10T15:20:00.001+10:00

King parrot_0830a
Originally uploaded by gtveloce

Finally I get the (manual) focus right - or very close! This male King parrot is coming in closer for a feed and (at last) I have got the focus and shutter speeds right(ish). With some help from a small flash.

My last analog camera...Pentax MX

2010-05-10T12:42:00.001+10:00

Pentax MX_0777
Originally uploaded by gtveloce

Just for the record I dug up my old Pentax MX (fully manual, match needle metering) and shot it with a Nikon DSLR. Museum piece?

Well it still works, so maybe one day...

Golden Orb Weaver (Nephila)

2010-05-10T12:38:00.001+10:00

Golden Orb Weaver (Nephila) stocking up for the Aussie winter... yum, yum (images!)
Originally uploaded by gtveloce

Stocking up for the Aussie winter... yum, yum. Well that was a dargonfly I believe. It's now considered lunch.

Full-flap landing

2010-02-15T09:41:00.001+11:00

Some pics of local central coast cockatoos including full-flap landings at my seed bowl (OK, their seed bowl)
Originally uploaded by gtveloce