Ride Sally Ride

My son the aeorospace engineer just sent me this link to an Italian-styled Mustang.

Mustang by Giugiaro!

The right tone...

I have been interested in the split toning process for some time. It is a traditional (wet) darkroom technique that produced lovely, but not always predictable, results.

There are functions for making split tones in Photoshop, but I have struggled to get the technique right. Mostly they looked overdone and heavy. That was until I came across The Light's Right Studio. Glenn E. Mitchell II (PhD) has produced a series of Photoshop tutorials and sets of actions. He makes these action sets available for download, and they are free. The Internet is a wonderful place.

One of the sets, TLR Split Toning, provides you with all the tools you need. The image at the head of this post is a re-working of the mist on the lake image in the Mist on the water post. I ran several of the actions in combination (can't remember specifically which ones) to produce the result above.

I will explore this and other TLR actions in the near future. Thanks again Glenn.

Mist on the water...

We have been having some very unusual weather for this time of year. After having one of the hottest October days on record, almost the driest October on record (Melbourne's average October rainfall is 67mm, we got 11), we then had a cold snap that produced snow in outlying areas of Melbourne.

To follow this up, yesterday we had a thick morning mist at lovely downtown Sanctuary Lakes. The mist on the water lasted til about 10.. am.

Let's do lunch...

Yesterday we had lunch at Breizoz in Williamstown. The chef, Jean-Marie Blanchot, makes crepes in the Breton style. The staff (thanks Catherine) are knowledgable, friendly and enthusiastic about the cuisine.

They also do a very nice line in traditional apple cider.

Jean-Marie is quite visible as he cooks up a storm in the kitchen.

The Rainbow Connection

The recent cold snap here in Victoria gave us a very nice double rainbow moment yesterday. The hail storm wasn't as quite as nice though.

More music, more music...

In a previous post I mentioned the work of Melbourne photographer Gerard Anderson. Gerard photographs local musicians in a live performance setting and produces superb images of musos at work.

Gerard is just back from the Wangaratta Jazz Festival and has posted a new gallery of his work. You can visit it here.

This time Gerard has surpassed himself. This is a superb collection of performance images.

Get your motor running...

A report in The Age on Saturday said that Victoria's new V/Locity trains were regularly exceeding the 160KMH track limit on country runs.

So, with Victoria now also having 'hoon' laws, does this mean that train drivers risk having their trains confiscated by police?

Climb every mountain...

I am just back from 4 days at Mt Buffalo. Along with a group of friends, we stayed at The Chalet for a few days. The Chalet is under threat of closure and it would be a shame to see this grand old guest house disappear. The staff are very friendly and the food is excellent.

The press release is here. The thought of this grand old building being 'renovated' by developers is not a pretty one.

The Chalet provides a comfortable base for exploring the surrounding area, including Lake Catani and the Horn. I will add more photos to the blog or the website as I process them.

This photo is of The Gorge, taken from the hang glider launching area. It has been lightly sepia-toned and given a bit of 'glow'.

And another one...

Here is the local fountain, in black and white.

I love the nightime...

Today I discovered the website of Andy Frazer. It contains some fantastic examples of night photography.

Mostly, you need light to take photos. Mostly, at night there isn't very much. But if you leave the shutter open long enough, eventually enough light arrives to register as an image.

In the old film days this was rather hit or miss. I tried a few times, but after waiting to develop the film then finding out my guesses were way off and I had a lot of blank film, I gave it away.

Now, with digital, you can see your results as you go and adjust accordingly. I haven't got a masterpiece yet, but I have only had the one try. This is the lake across the way. Taken at about 8.45 pm using 10 seconds at f/8.

Visit Andy's site. http://www.gorillasites.com/nightphotos/

I've looked at clouds...

Today's much-needed rain has produced some fantastic cloud formations.

They have been changing constantly as the rain squalls move toward the city.