Issue #4
Roving-Eye Gallery update and newsletter for July 2020

Hello to all and thank you especially to the new subscribers this month.. welcome aboard!

Everyone's support and interest means such a lot to me.. there have been quite a few challenges to deal with this year in particular and it's always been a calming haven to have photography and to be able to share it amongst interested people magnifies that hugely.

I very much hope you have some take-aways from the monthly updates to bring you pleasure as well!

Go check out the latest images, 17 in all, in case there is something there that really piques your interest for that special and original gift!

This month there was a natural focus on stormy weather but also some B&W, a starscape and even a cityscape managed to get in!

https://www.roving-eye.com/whatsnew

The tally was a bit down this month due to several big weather events that gave days of grey skies, high winds and rain.. not a great combination to have much inspiring light to work with!

At least the stormy weather can have some silver lining as the saying goes.. or should I say coloured lining? A single storm alone generated 7 out of the 17 images because of the great drama and light that happened in and around it so I'm grateful for that!

It was a very fast moving storm front that I did get good warnings of from the weather apps I use to keep track of storms and lightning in particular but even then it was a mad dash across town to get it as it crossed the coast with huge rain with it.

I managed a drone panorama of it coming towards town then the dash to beat it (with an intervening errand) only a single shot was possible as it scudded across the tree tops before it came down.. and then I got the late afternoon light after it.. my favourite part of storms is the intense colour and contrasts with that this side lighting gives.

With a trip to Sydney amongst the bad weather I also only got 1 night cityscape between the rains.. I so had plans for many more.. maybe next time!

The downtime from the camera did however allow me to bone up on a colouring in Black & White  technique I had a client order and special request for. This is where the computer plays such a vital part in modern photography and it's as vital a piece of equipment to achieve such end results.

I've created a "Creative" gallery label to hold images where some kind of significant manipulation has occurred beyond the very typical exposure and other basic adjustments, small corrections or subtle focus creation to highlight the subject of the image.

Photography is after all a creative medium and the tastes amongst clients varies hugely so I like to do my best to provide as broad a repertoire as I can manage and acquire the skills for over time as I really enjoy the challenge and any successful outcome!

By having galleries clearly labelled as "Creative .. " (if it wasn't obvious from the appearance of the image itself) it makes a clear separation from the more literal, dare I say "authentic", style of capture of a landscape.

There are some creative styles that call for wholesale sky replacement (for example) that I don't want to do as a rule. I fear it may "dilute" the "real" landscapes where chancing upon and capturing the colour of a special sky is a very memorable and to me, a valuable, event so I very much want to keep creative imagery to a clearly labelled and defined style only and not impact on the core of the genuine fine art landscape genre.

Last but not least I have moved into some new gear which won't be obvious to start with but as I get up to speed with how to use it to full advantage it will slowly unshackle me from some technical restrictions which very much applied before.

As an example in the current update there is a silhouette of a Pandanus palm at dawn.. what's remarkable about this is the 4 second handheld exposure that was used yet the image is pin sharp! Unheard of for conventional camera designs but it is what this new generation camera body is capable of.

What that means is much greater access to capturing images since it can be done impromptu as some situation presents itself and no tripod may be available or can be done from some unsteady platform, say a kayak on the water at low light, or from a tripod that is being being shaken by buffeting wind or rushing water.. I've had plenty of situations where all of the above has happened and the results have been less than perfect and unable to be printed.. but no more! I will now be able to get more images from increasingly extreme situations which is an awesome thing!

Well time to sign off as the next month is already in full swing and so far the weather has been perfect.. I have a lot of time to make up for so hope it continues!

Don't forget.. all newsletters are available in an indexed archive so you can go and (re)read everything published to date at any time! .. just go to https://www.roving-eye.com/whatsnew-index

'Till next time.. take care!