I shot hand-held and from quite a distance but managed to capture 50 or so shots I was happy with. Photography isn’t permitted during the performance so these are images of the warm-up.

The lighting was tricky but led to some great effects where the dancer’s shadows really add interest to the composition. Anyway a few of my favourites are below.

What do all those sliders really do and more importantly which ones should you be using and when…

A critical step is my digital workflow is to ensure my photos are “light & bright”, typically using the Exposure slider in Lightroom. However the tutorial below has changed my thinking forever. I recommend everyone check it out.

What you should know:

• Exposure slider affects highlights more than shadows
• Exposure slider is great to darken/bring down highlights
• Brightness slider affects image tones evenly
• Brightness control lightens evenly (less risk of blowing out highlights)

Now the fireworks were great, but what made this year special was the backdrop. Before the show even started dark clouds started to roll in, then almost on demand a lightning storm erupted as the fireworks began.

I have to say though it is far trickier capturing fireworks when you are trying to keep the camera lens clear of raindrops with a couple of dinner plates!

Having never tried to capture lightning before I found it surprisingly frustrating when major strikes occurred between exposures. Ahhh. I decided to hang around a little while after the skyshow and had much better success. It’s nice to have caught a few good lightning strikes over Perth.

Check out the rest of the shots on my Flickr site or in my Gallery.

If so you have come to the right place. With the abundance of stock photography on the web these days it can be difficult to carve out a niche.

Fortunately content is king! Living with an artist means I have access to unique and interesting subject matter you’re unlikely to find anywhere else.

Keyword search art terms or just follow the link below to the photo gallery:

http://gallery.wiesevisuals.com/g/stock_photosart

I photograph predominately sport (outdoors with good light) but am always up for a challenge so happily agreed. I had initially planned to do a lot of flash work as both venues were indoors and the first (a rehearsal) was at night. Things started that way with some off camera flash.

Fortunately however the new Nikons are fantastic in low light so apart from a couple of portraits most of the 300 images were taken with just available light. This meant I was able to capture much more natural images of the musicians as a flash wasn’t constantly dazzling everyone and I wasn’t limited by the flash cycle time.

Plenty of other challenges on this one however. Really unexciting backdrop at the rehearsal venue, mixed fluro lighting and everyone was very serious. The concert shoot was actually much easier with some daylight via high windows, an attractive venue and good vantage points. Perfect really except for the fact someone turned on multi-colored stage lighting.

Even with photoshop I couldn’t get the purple light off the face in a great candid portrait. Only way I could save that image was a Black & White conversion (which actually worked really well).

Everyone was pleased with the results so it just goes to show you don’t have to rush for the flash with modern DSLRs. Save it for when available light just won’t let you catch the moment or for the really creative shots.

After such a large shoot, it was hard to pick my top five images….

Pictured are the soloist and conductor, all bar the colour image were action shots (ie- they weren’t staged). Off camera flash used for the first image, on camera flash for the last.

Not only do they add context, sometimes they can be a whole story in themselves. Just remember to zoom tight.

While I got some great portrait shots at this party, this remained one of my favourite images from the day.

Arranging still life objects isn’t one of my strengths, but I do have a keen eye for the interesting. I was also inspired here by a love of Star Wars. My first shots of Anakin had him as he originally appeared on the birthday cake. But the words “use the force Luke” kept running through my mind and I just had to adjust his arm (which was originally by his side).

The rules of portraiture still applied, focus on  the eyes and there you have it.

Funny though because I rocked up with the idea in my head that I’d be able to go click, click, click at infinitum. Alas the technology just isn’t quite there yet. No dramas capturing the nights events and the prize winners, but even with a 2-3 second cycle time you’ve got to carefully time just when to hit that shutter button.  An amazing amount can happen in 2 seconds (literally) so you have to pick your moment carefully to get that magic acceptance smile or hand-shake.

SB-900 Pros:

• Fast cycle time
• Powerful unit
• Much eaiser to use than the SB-600 (main switch on/remote/master)

SB-900 Cons:

• It’s BIG
• It’s Heavy
• It’s Conspicuous.

Pictured is Gillian K Peebles who judged the exhibition.

I received a request from Tino Foti of Foti International Fireworks a while back.

They are the team responsible for the Perth Skyworks and other national and international pyrotechnic displays. Tino spotted my images of their Perth show on Flickr and asked if Foti could use a series of the photos on their new website.

In the end 11 of my images made it onto their site. Below are a few of the images.

http://fotifireworks.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6&Itemid=5