The Last Blog for 2012!

This is the final blog for the Smoking Camera for 2012! 

What a busy year it has been...so I'm having a couple of well earned weeks off over the Christmas and New Year period to go out and take some photos. I'll be back on Monday the 21st of January 2013 and I hope you'll all re-join me then.

Here are a few jelly fish photos to enjoy...

  I hope you have a good break as well and look forward to seeing you in 2013!

Macro Photography

Sorry about the late post today but I've been struck down all week with kidney stones and for anyone who has ever had them you will know why I didn't get this post completed on time.

Today I'm posting some Macro shots. I've always been intrigued by the amazing Macro close ups I see in magazines and on the web. The smallest object captured to show all its detail that otherwise escapes the human eye in real life. 

I recently purchased a Canon 100mm Macro lens to use. I had already purchased a Canon 2x extender in the past and wanted to use the two together to get super close up shots. You can imagine my annoyance when I discovered that the two don't fit together! 

Having gotten online I discovered that this was a fixable problem, I added an extension tube between the two and off I went.

The photos I'm posting today are my first time at trying macro photography, these were taken in our very small front garden,

Enjoy and i'll see you next week for my last post of the year!

Las Vegas

This weeks blog is featuring photos from sin city...Viva Las Vegas!

Vegas is a fun place to visit in the USA. At night it's a great place to take photographs...if you're not at a casino. Each casino has it's own unique theme and attractions, including a live lion, roller coasters, mind blowing water fountains and anything else you can think of you'll find it.

Enjoy the photos and i'll see you next week.

Paris Casino

The Venetian Casino

Inside the Venetian Casino

Caesars Palace

Sunset on the Strip

Japan Panoramas

Today I'm posting a few of my panoramas I took when I was last in magical Japan. The three panoramas are all from different areas of japan, under totally different conditions and times of the day.

Todays three panoramas are probably three of my favourites. The Nagano panorama was taken during a snow storm. The Osaka panorama was taken at night utilising time exposure and the third panorama was taken through the thick reflective glass of my hotel window.

Enjoy and I'll see you next week.  

Nagano

Downtown Osaka

Tokyo skyline around Tokyo Tower

Killer Whales at Sea World

Today I'm posting photos I took of the Killer Whales performing at Seaworld, Orlando. 

I used the camera on a faster shutter speed with a larger aperture to capture to movement and action of the whales leaping in and out of the water.

These shows are great for fantastic motion photography. Below are 5 of my favourite photos.

Enjoy and I'll see you next week.

Buildings

Today I'm posting some photos of various interesting buildings I have taken whilst travelling. The photos capture the inside and outside of several buildings. 

The first two photos capture the outside of several buildings in Osaka, Japan at night. While the third photo captures the inside of the casino in Singapore looking directly up.

Osaka, Japan

Osaka, Japan

Singapore

Enjoy and I'll see you next week!

Underwater Photography

Last year, I headed to Orlando, Florida for holidays. While we were there I headed to the brilliant Discovery Cove park. This gave me the opportunity to use my Panasonic Lumix camera under water photographing the vast array of marine life.

Today I'm posting some of the underwater photos I took of the fish, sharks  and stingrays that you swim with in the coral reef pool.

Enjoy and I'll see you next week.

Black & White & Color

One of the great things about Photoshop (or Lightroom) is the ability to transform everyday photos into something a bit different with click of a few buttons.

I love photographs that are predominately black & white however they have certain objects in them that are color to give it more attention or a more dramatic effect.

This week I've posted a couple of photos I took in Vegas, they are of every day things in this case shop signs. 

 First I ran them through Photoshop, creating layers,  then I used a product from Nik Software called Silver Efex Pro to make them black & white and then simply erased the areas I wanted (the color layer below) to be exposed and there you have it.

In these two cases, photographs that I normally would not show my friends and family have suddenly become photos that are in my trip slide show. 

Please dont forget to vote for me in the Japan Photo Contest (see my post on the 22nd of October 2012). 

To vote for me and view my photos click here and this will take you to my section.

Enjoy and I'll see you next week!

Japan Photo Competition

I have entered a photography competition called the Japan Photo Contest and are seeking votes for my photos. 

To view my photos click here and this will take you to my section.

Baby japanese snow monkey fight over snowballs

I have posted 30 photographs on the Japan competition page so far and will be posting more in the next week or two. I have posted a lot of photos on the competition page that have not been posted in my blog.

Enjoy the photos and I'll see you next week!

iPhone Panorama Photography

Now days every one has a smart phone of some description.

 The cameras on the smart phones are getting more and more advanced to the point where amazing photographs are more likely to be taken using mobile phones instead of a camera...there are even photo comps for mobile phone taken photographs.

I love taking panoramas and when I went to Canada in 2009 I used my iPhone and a couple of stitching apps to take the photos below.  Once I had stitched these I opened them in Photoshop and adjusted the light, contrast etc.

Enjoy these and in the future I'll post some more.

Banff, Canada

Niagara Falls, Canada

Skydome, Toronto

Tigers

 One of my favorite animals to photograph are tigers.

 Today I'm posting a couple of photos I've at various zoo, the top photo was  taken at Australia Zoo in Queensland and the bottom two were taken at the Melbourne Zoo.

Enjoy and I'll see you next week.

 

Banff

If I could live any where in the world I think I'd pick Banff, Canada. When I went there in 2009 I was hoping to see snow covered mountains and clear blue lakes...it delivered but only better.

I stayed in Banff for 4 days however I should have stayed longer.  The Rockie mountains were mind blowing in their size and stature and the lakes were sunning in their colors that change as the light changes...just talking about this makes me want to go back...

I've blogged a few photos from my trip, these were taken with a small compact camera I had at the time.

Enjoy and I'll see you next week.

Moraine Lake

Takakkaw Falls

Chicago

Chicago is one of the USA's hidden secrets. It's old school architecture is amazing and city park land is spectacular. It completely caught me off guard for what I was expecting and not expecting...

As a baseball fan one of my favorite things it to visit new baseball stadiums and Wrigley Fields was amazing...although the Cubs lost. Wrigley Fields is over 100 years old and has none of the modern features of other stadiums but that's what makes it so special.

If you ever get the opportunity to visit do so it's worth it.

See you next week.

Chicago Theater

Millennium Park

Jay Pritzker Pavilion

Wrigley Fields

View from Skydeck Chicago

More New York City

Today I'm posting some more photos from the city that never sleeps...New York City.

 I have so many great photos from my trips to the big apple it's hard to select just a couple to post, however I have selected a couple.

Enjoy and I'll see you next week!

Wall St

Brooklyn

TriBeCa

Times Square

View of Central Park from the top of the Rockefeller Building