Page 81 - Australian Photography - September 2017

IM AGE DOCTOR

MAGIC MOMENT
Henry Harding explained: “My cat, Puddy, rarely gets into
a playful mood, but when she does it is under the living
room rug. She likes to go right underneath and try and catch
anything that goes past. This photo just happened one day
when I was playing with her. She was very playful and then
just stopped. I managed to capture the moment between
moods (from overly excited to normal). Having a camera
handy is great on any occasion.”
This image is sharp and very cute. That eye is great and
the whiskers stand out well. It is a fabulous point of view
and by getting right down to the cat’s level takes us into
the cat’s world. Essentially this is a grab shot but a good
one. It would have been even better if you had been able
to move just slightly to the right and then turned to the left
to eliminate some of the distracting bright background
areas, but then you may have unsettled the cat and lost the
moment. These opportunities do not come at convenient
moments unfortunately! One thing that you could do is crop
some of the fuzzy foreground carpet, maybe up to the dark
line of rug on the left.
TITLE: Under the rug
SAIMA’S TIP: We don’t always have a camera on hand PHOTOGRAPHER: Henry Harding
for special moments but mobile phones often are close DETAILS: Nikon D3300, Nikon AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm lens @ 27mm focal length, 1/60s
by and can produce great photos as well - not just selfies. @ f3.5, 4000 ISO, adjustments to saturation, sharpness and clarity in Lightroom CC.

TITLE: Lonely road PHOTOGRAPHER: Orlando Howells

DETAILS, DETAILS, DETAILS
Orlando Howells created this photo while he and his family were When assessing the balance you need to make sure the lowest
holidaying in the Blue Mountains. He said: “One day we drove point of the road is centre frame and that those white road lines
down the Megalong valley. It was very cold and rainy, with a low are equidistant from the sides of the frame - while watching that
fog hanging gently over the mountains. I had my iPad so I took a the horizon line stays level. The bit of a bush that sticks into the
panorama shot of the place where we had stopped to look at the frame on the right also needs to be cloned out. There is also an odd
view while my wonderfully patient family waited in the car. I feel faint line running top to bottom left in the frame as if some image
that this photo really captured the mood of the valley that day.” stitching has been done. Some other colour would add interest to
Symmetry is the key to the composition of this heavily distorted the scene but then it would reduce the sense of emptiness that
panoramic image, and this is where it needs a bit more work. obviously appealed to you.
The road is slightly out of balance with the left-hand side sitting
higher than the right. You need to crop the left hand side and SAIMA’S TIP: Attention to detail is crucial in making adjustments to
rotate the image slightly anti-clockwise to get more symmetry. images that have different lines at different levels or angles.

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