Issue #6
Roving-Eye Gallery update and newsletter for September 2020

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

This month was a record equaling 33 images, a higher than normal count helped by a number of animal shots which are easier to get than equivalent quality landscapes! In fact 6 pelicans, 2 koalas and 2 Rainbow Lorikeets made the grade.

Check them out at https://www.roving-eye.com/whatsnew

It's always a pleasure to add wildlife when it presents itself and I never pass up the opportunity no matter how many previous shots I may have done of a particular species because you just never know when you're glad you had "the" shot in your portfolio!

This month I made a determined effort to do more shooting around Laurieton, (a town 30 minutes drive to the south of Port Macquarie) which has always been a good market for sales but I really wanted to add more new shots to bolster the local content that appeals to people from there.

On one cracking sunny day I took the drone high over the river for awesomely clear panoramas with all the varying depth sand patterns visible while the sun was high and the tide was low and since posting them online have gathered a lot of admirers and interest! It might be a little while before I can turn them into product but it is most definitely waiting there for the next opportunity to do so!

Typically high sun is avoided in traditional photography because of the hard unflattering light and deep shadows.. but that is the perfect time for drone shots into water because of the trillions of candle power at your disposal and aimed right where you need it!

The life of a modern photographer is truly blessed because at nearly every hour of the day or night there is a subject you can capture (if you have a mind to!) because the latest generation of equipment is so diverse and so capable it means you can break so many traditional "rules" and previous barriers and sets you free to create unlimited possibilities!

At the other end of the day, and on just one day per month, you can get the full moon setting at a handy angle above the horizon with good potential to place it with the colours of early dawn and with a landscape feature and makes for another great drone subject.. as long as you can see the moon on that day and in a relatively narrow range of time of course!

On this day I made sure to get up very early for the drive to the location and then immediately fly out to sea to get into position for the shot I wanted, all the while anxiously watching the cloud cover as it was looking as though I might miss it and that would mean "no shot" for another month!

I was able to get the one definitive shot I was after before the clouds closed in and covered the moon and the perfect colour and light was lost after that! Phew, just made it.. well worth the effort to get up early and race here though and that exact image framed and printed sold promptly at the recent ArtWalk markets there!

2 other highlights of the month came from continued experimenting with varying camera settings and post processing to achieve an artistic effect as good outcomes from otherwise ordinary situations. 

That is one key message that keeps coming back and reinforcing time after time with me as I work on building my portfolio, look for the beauty within the seemingly ordinary and don't be discouraged by what you are seeing if it doesn't immediately jump out at you.

It doesn't have to hit you in the face with amazing light and colour (although that is nice!) before you press the shutter.. look at any scene and just imagine the possibilities if you did "this", or did "that".. it doesn't always happen but more than likely you will surprise yourself with what is possible! 

The first situation was with late afternoon light on waves hitting the rocks.. the waves were a bit lumpy and random and chaotic and although the strong side light was effective if the waves were captured "as is" it wouldn't amount to much despite the ideal light.. time for some creative slow shutter speeds and see what happens instead then!

I find there's a bit of an art to selecting a slow enough shutter speed for any water flow situation.. let's call it the "goldilocks" zone.. not too hot or not too cold! You need to take a lot of shots playing with that and also the timing.. out of a hundred you may get 2 or 3 that you think really nailed it and captured the magic you were looking for.. so worth all those other "wasted" shots though!

The other situation was an overhead drone beach shot of a couple walking on the beach.. what really lined up well here was that the beach had a very smooth and uniform texture sand on the land side, the distance of the couple from the waves was just close enough for a small wave edge to be prominent and the last piece in the puzzle, a late afternoon sun, was casting perfect crisp shadows of the people (who you can barely see from above) but their shadows defined them so well!

While I didn't search for such a shot it came to me while flying around doing other shots.. it came out just fine as a colour shot but because of the minimalist elements and textures it was a brilliant candidate for what's called a "high key" black and white.

The really nice thing about all of that is this opportunistic black and white could then be added to an updated portfolio for a current client query for a 2nd apartment building here in Port to feature a set of large format black and white local shots (that was their brief) after they were so impressed with how well the first building turned out with the same!

Last word for this newsletter..

The 2021 calendars have arrived and look great!

In a square desktop format and measuring a compact yet convenient 20x20 cm this can easily sit on any desk and is a perfect size & weight for sending to friends as gifts!

Cost per calendar is just $15 for local pickup/delivery in Port Macquarie or postage extra to elsewhere!

You can see the images at www.roving-eye.com/calendar-2021

All images are taken in the past 12 months since the last calendar cutoff.. My policy for calendars is to contain only fresh and new shots!

These are strictly limited run editions and won't last long so get your order in!

If necessary I will order in more in very small batches to fulfill orders so there may be a small delay in shipping if that is the case but there won't be any excess stock held or large numbers printed so get in quick!

Thank you again for being a subscriber and I hope you are enjoying the images coming out to the gallery each time as much as I am enjoying capturing them!

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!

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