Happy New Year!
Southern Boobook Owl Triptych, Mindarie, Perth
Cheers,
The Ever Changing Colours of the Perth City Skyline – 2
Golden Hues, Perth City Skyline, Western Australia
We spent a lot more time in South Perth recently when my brother visited from the UK so I got the opportunity to view & capture many different colours & sunsets of the Perth City Skyline during November.
This second image in my Perth City Skyline series was taken at 5:15pm as the sun was starting to set. Again we were blessed with a nice amount of cloud coverage picking up some of the colours from the sunset however the difference in how those colours played out compared to my previous shot (see below), taken at a similar time of day, was mind blowing.
Afternoon City Glow, Perth City Skyline – Western Australian Landscape Photography
The light was less diffused and the colours much stronger making for a much more striking scene with rich golden hues reflecting off the buildings. You really never can tell how the natural colours of a West Australian sunset will evolve.
Original Stitched Image in Lightroom, Perth City Skyline, Perth, Western Australia
As before I had my camera mounted on a tripod oriented vertically with my 70-200mm lens set to 70mm. This time I reduced the number of images I was taking by reducing the amount of overlap between each image to about 1/3rd resulting in only 5 images being needed to create the same size 35MP panorama. I also didn’t bother with exposure bracketing as the light variations were much more even.
One thing I love about Lightroom is that when you stitch your images together the resulting image is still in RAW format allowing all of the processing to be done after you have successfully created your stitched image,
Initial Processing in Lightroom, Perth City Skyline, Perth, Western Australia
My current workflow involves initial processing in Lightroom followed by some adding some effects in ON1 Photo Raw with some final tweaking in Photoshop, the Master File is then imported back into Lightroom from where I can export it in any format as required. All 3 tools have their benefits and work well together to produce a final image that is extremely high quality and suitable for any purpose.
Effects Added in ON1 Photo Raw, Perth City Skyline, Perth, Western Australia
ON1 Photo RAW has been a great addition to my workflow over the past year. I have built up a decent set of Effect Presets which I will be making available through my new online store in the near future. Each new image I process generally starts off from one of my existing Presets and evolves into a new set of effects and eventually a new Preset. It’s such a simple way of creating amazing looking images.
Final Processing in Photoshop, Perth City Skyline, Perth, Western Australia
Photoshop is where everything in the image is held together and the final tweaking is done. My Master File consists of the Lightroom image, the modified ON1 Photo RAW image & any additional changes I make in Photoshop to finish off the image. I am a big fan of non-destructive editing and like to be able to re-visit any part of my post-processing steps at any time in the future which is exactly what this workflow provides.
Final Image in Lightroom, Perth City Skyline, Perth, Western Australia
Once my Master File is complete I flatten it, import it back into Lightroom & add appropriate keywords and meta-data. From within Lightroom where I can export it in whatever shape & format I require in the future. I have many export Presets saved in Lightroom so whether I’m creating a Fine Art Print, a Greeting Card or a Tote Bag I know I can go to Lightroom and create the exact file I need quickly & easliy.
2:1 Zoom into Elizabeth Quay, Perth, Western Australia
Finally a quick 2:1 zoom in Lightroom shows just how much detail is available in such a hi-res image, if you look closely you can even read the “Mini Golf” banner near the entrance to Elizabeth Quay …
Image Details
Location: Perth City from South Perth
Date: 27th November 2017
Time: 5:14pm
No. of Images Stitched: 5
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mk11
Lens: EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM
Camera Mode: Manual
Exposure: 1/13 sec at f14
Post Processing
- Lightroom (Click Here for Free Trial or Purchase)
- Photoshop (Click Here for Free Trial or Purchase)
- ON1 Photo RAW (Click Here for Free Trial or Purchase)
Buy Prints & Photo Products
It’s a proven fact that being out in nature is great for your mental and physical health.
While you won’t get the full health benefit from our range of prints and photo gifts they are always a great reminder of where you’d rather be.
So be sure to check out our range of Fine Art Prints at madcat.com.au and our unique photo gifts (scarves, wall tapestries, beach towels, tote bags and much more) at madaboutwa.com.au.
Cheers,
Dave
The Ever Changing Colours of the Perth City Skyline – 1
Afternoon City Glow, Perth City Skyline, Western Australia
We live in one of the cleanest & most beautiful cities in the world here in Perth and we think it’s time to showcase just how amazing the Perth City Skyline is.
We are currently in the enviable position of having access to a flat on Millpoint Road in South Perth with stunning views of the Perth City Skyline throughout the day. It never ceases to amaze me how much the colour & quality of light changes as the hours and days go by.
In this series of posts I’ll be showcasing unique images of the Perth City Skyline in all it’s glory and variety.
Afternoon City Glow, Perth City Skyline, Western Australia – Lightroom
This first image was taken last week just before sunset. There were plenty of clouds in the sky with many gaps through which the sun streamed as it approached the horizon.
I had my camera mounted on a tripod oriented vertically with my 70-200mm lens set to 70mm. The plan was to take a series of images and stitch them together in Lightroom to make a very high resolution image, it turned out to be 35MP in this instance. I set my camera up to take 3 bracketed images for each shot as the dynamic range looked liked a potential problem. Ironically I ended up only using the first image from each set, the dynamic range of modern camera’s has come a long way but it never hurts to be safe 🙂
Blowup of Elizabeth Quay from the Final 35MP Image to Show the Detail
To the West of the city the golden sun was filtered through the clouds providing a surreal golden glow that slowly faded towards the East into the cooler blue tones. The difference from one side to the other was enormous and simply breathtaking.
Afternoon City Glow, Perth City Skyline, Western Australia – Original
Replicating such an effect can be very tricky in Post Processing, what starts out as a living atmospheric glow as light bounces of particles in the air all around you simply becomes a flat dull haze when the image is first loaded into Lightroom. You can see from the original image above there there was not a lot of “magic” to it at all.
As always Lightroom did a great job of the initial processing which I then transferred to ON1 Photo Raw to add some effects and then into Photoshop for some final touches and to create my “Master File” for this image.
Afternoon City Glow, Perth City Skyline, Western Australia – ON1 Photo RAW
Image Details
Location: Perth City from South Perth
Date: 4th July 2017
Time: 5:32pm
No. of Images Stitched: 7
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mk11
Lens: EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM
Camera Mode: Manual
Exposure: 1/25 sec at f11
Post Processing
- Lightroom (Click Here for Free Trial or Purchase)
- Photoshop (Click Here for Free Trial or Purchase)
- ON1 Photo RAW (Click Here for Free Trial or Purchase)
Buy Prints & Photo Products
It’s a proven fact that being out in nature is great for your mental and physical health.
While you won’t get the full health benefit from our range of prints and photo gifts they are always a great reminder of where you’d rather be.
So be sure to check out our range of Fine Art Prints at madcat.com.au and our unique photo gifts (scarves, wall tapestries, beach towels, tote bags and much more) at madaboutwa.com.au.
Cheers,
Dave
Photos – Chasing Ducks in Yanchep National Park
We heard that there are some baby Swans around Lake Wagardu in Yanchep National Park so we took a trip out there for our daily walk, sadly the Swans were a no-show but we did get to see a lot of other bird life around the Lake.
Abundant Bird Life, Yanchep National Park, Perth, Wester Australia
If you look closely at the above image you can see a Pelican and numerous other wading birds and ducks going about their daily business. The Park really is a natural wonder 🙂
Hungry Duck, Yanchep National Park, Perth, Western Australia
One thing Yanchep National park has in abundance is Ducks!
When we sat on a park bench to eat our lunch three Pacific Black Ducks waddled on over to see if they could get some crumbs. One was immediately chased off by the other two, obviously he wasn’t part of the “In-Crowd”!
Luckily for the Ducks we know more about what is good for them than they do so they weren’t very lucky in the food department. It is really important not to feed Ducks or any other wild animals as it can upset the balance of nature as well as causing serious health problems according to the Department of Parks & Wildlife.
The first couple of Duck shots weren’t quite so sharp, something to do with having a shutter speed of 1/40th sec I suspect 😳 However, you can get some interesting shots of animals with slow shutter speeds sometimes, the first 2 photos I took looked like the Duck was shaking and nodding his head …
Duck Says No, Yanchep National Park, Perth, Western Australia
Duck Says Yes, Yanchep National Park, Perth, Western Australia
Maybe he was just going Quackers 
Being Spring there were also a lot of incredibly cute Ducklings around this extended family of Australian Wood Ducks were gorgeous …
Duckling Creche, Yanchep National Park, Perth, Western Australia
Spring Ducklings, Yanchep National Park, Perth, Western Australia
Ducklings On Watch, Yanchep National Park, Perth, Western Australia
These two Pacific Black Ducklings cuddled up by the Lake were pretty damn cute too …
Twin Ducklings, Yanchep National Park, Perth, Western Australia
While on our walk around the lake I spotted this awesome carving on one of the tree stumps, no idea who did it but it looked cool.
Kangaroo Carving, Yanchep National Park, Perth, Western Australia
Hopefully we’ll spot the Swan’s Cygnets on our next trip to the Park.
All of these images were processed in Lightroom CC & ON1 Photo 10 & Photoshop CC. You can download free trials of these programs or purchase them from the links below:
- Lightroom Free Trial or Purchase
- Photoshop Free Trial or Purchase
- ON1 Photo 10.5 Free Trial or Purchase
Cheers,
Dave
Photos – Twenty-Eight Parrot in the Daisies at Whiteman Park
We went for a bush walk in Whiteman Park last week and spotted these two Twenty-Eight Parrots having lunch while being cleverly camouflaged by the yellow Daisies.
Twenty-Eight Having Lunch in the Daisies, Whiteman Park, Perth, Western Australia
Twenty-Eight Standing Tall in the Daisies, Whiteman Park, Perth, Western Australia
Whilst only found in Australia these guys are not considered endangered though they do compete for nesting space in the south west with the introduced Rainbow Lorikeets.
According to noongarculture.org.au the Twenty-Eight Parrot or darlmoorluk is the ‘guardian or protector of the camps’, not that that stopped them from being eaten when the need was high 🙂
You can read more about our Whiteman Park walk in Maggies blog post on MADAboutWA.com.au
Cheers,
Dave
A New Website and a New Lifestyle
Welcome to our New Website
Welcome to our new MADCAT Photography Website featuring the Fine Art Photography of Dave Catley (that’s me 🙂 )
Just Chillin, Yanchep National Park, Perth, Western Australia
We’re still working on getting the new content uploaded to this site so please bear with us.
To see what we’ve been up to recently and view some of our new images and products please visit our new sister site at MADAboutWA.com.au.
Deep In The Forest, a Rainforest Scene in Tamoborine Mountain in Queenslands Gold Coast
We’re embarking on a new and exciting chapter of our lives which you can read about in our MAD About WA blog post – “A New Brand and a New Lifestyle”.
Check back soon for lots of exciting new images & products!
Aussie Sunset, Claytons Beach, Mindarie, Western Australia
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