Disreputable Youths

This work by Adam M is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

These guys looked like they were up to no good. They were all clustered round some strange device, down in the poorly lit back of a parking section behind a building. Very shifty types. Be sure to notice the guy lurking in the shadows behind the tree, I think he was the ringleader.

Pentax K-x - 1/3 sec - f/2.8 - ISO 400 - ~35mm

Lit by really dingy street lighting sort of stuff.

Used GIMP to scale and watermark.

The white balance is off deliberately, because that's what it looked like (by which I mean, I set the white balance to daylight). The lights were just that dodgy, and I think it adds to the feel I was wanting.

All Roads

This work by Adam M is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

A main road heading toward the city at night. I'd been eyeing off this vantage point ("my carpark") for some time, and had even identified this particular part of it as a good spot for this shot with my wide angle lens. This is pretty close to what I had in mind, which makes me pretty happy.

Pentax K-x - 30 sec - f/22 - ISO 200 - ~15mm

Night time, city/street/car lights. The bright blue lights are traffic lights, all mixed together (I think).

Used GIMP to auto-adjust levels, scale, cropped, blurred out a logo and added watermark.

I had a couple turn out really blurry because the camera had slowly been drooping on the tripod, slow enough not to notice, but fast enough to cause problems over the course of a 30 second exposure. My tripod really isn't that great, and is missing a screw now.

Chess II

This work by Adam M is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

Once more, I'm shooting the chess board because it was handy, but this time I put more effort and technique into it, and didn't somehow massively underexpose it.

K-x - 1/180 sec - f/11 - ISO 200 - ~60mm

Lit with an Achiever 300DX high and to camera left. I pointed it so that there'd be very little light past the end of the chess board.

Used GIMP to adjust levels (crush black, lift the light a bit but not too much), scale and watermark.


I'd like to do less levels, or less severe levels adjustments. It seems to me that its got to be reducing image quality.

Aye Aye

This work by Adam M is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

A close shot of my eye.

Pentax K-x - 1/180 sec - f/11 - ISO 200 - ~82mm

I used my new flash cord to get my Achiever 300DX off to camera left, very close to the eye.

Used GIMP to auto-adjust levels, scale and crop.

This sort of texture in the eye is brought out using a hard side light, I think.

Colleges

This work by Adam M is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

I looked out the window of the lab and thought the light on the colleges across the lake was pretty cool. Unfortunately I couldn't find a good vantage point, despite running from floor to floor and trying all the balconies I could find.

Canon A720 is - 1/60 sec - f/4 - ISO 400 - ~35mm

Setting sun.

Used GIMP to auto-adjust levels, scale and watermark.


This was a good experience of how quickly light can change, and how useful it is to know where good light will be, and where a good spot for it will be. Not so important here, but when I'm hiking I need to make sure I'm working this stuff out in advance.

Rainbow Ribbon Cable

This work by Adam M is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

Just something colourful lying around the lab.

Canon A720 is - 1/20 sec - f/2.8 - ISO 400 - ~35mm

Fluros.

Used GIMP to scale and watermark.

Auto levels adjustment made no difference.

Attention!

This work by Adam M is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

Some multimedia assignment resulted in this being stuck on the doors to the title. I'd just like to point out that walking up and down stairs is unlikely to result in an improvement in your biceps.

Pentax K-x - 1/25 sec - f/2.8 - ISO 800 - ~35mm

Indoors, fluros.

Used GIMP to straighten, crop, scale and watermark.

The canon A720 is much easier to carry around, but it doesn't have the low light performance of the pentax.

Software Check

This work by Adam M is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

A student supports the quadrotor while software changes are checked.

Canon A720 is - 1/50 sec - f/4.8 - ISO 800 - ~50mm

Window light behind, reflected by room, plus fluros.

Used GIMP to auto-adjust levels (made only a very small change), scale and watermark.

Bridge

This work by Adam M is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

A friend on the bridge, wearing a new hat (she's starting to collect hats).

Pentax K-x - 1/1250 sec - f/0 - ISO 800 - ~75mm

Overcast daylight.

Used GIMP to adjust levels, scale and watermark.

Demo

This work by Adam M is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

A student demonstrates his thesis.

Canon A720 is - 1/60 sec - f/3.2 - ISO 400 - ~50mm

Indoors, fluro lights.

Used GIMP to adjust levels, scale and watermark.

This was interesting, trying to not be obtrusive (he was being marked on this). The noise on the canon at high ISO was not so good, but the shutter is nice and quiet.

Night Lights Outside

This work by Adam M is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

Lights on the street, through my window.

Pentax K-x - 1/100 sec - f/0 - ISO 800 - ~75mm

Street lights, car lights.

Used GIMP to manually adjust levels by channel.

I like this picture better than yesterdays.

Tiled Wall

This work by Adam M is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

Stuck for time, I grabbed a shot of the textured light (from the glazed window) falling on the smooth bathroom wall.

Pentax K-x - 1/6000 sec - f/0 - ISO 200 - ~75mm

Window light.

Used GIMP to adjust levels (made the tiles white), scale and watermark.

Coming to this photo as I was going through my photos for post processing/posting was sort of a downer. Its pretty lame. I don't have a lot of time for shooting some days...

Run away!

This work by Adam M is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

An amusingly defaced OH&S booklet. The actual procedure for an alarm is to listen to some guy repeatedly tell us to "stand by" over the intercom.

Canon A720 is - 1/60 sec - f/3.2 - ISO 400 - ~35mm

Indoors, window light.

Used GIMP to mosaic over the university logo (mostly just for the fun of it) and blur out another trade name then scaled and watermarked it.

When I'm shooting for this thing, I should make sure I leave space at the bottom for the watermark. It looks like once someone started the graffiti, others joined in. The bottom line reads "Be afraid, Be very afraid", which doesn't seem to me to add a lot.

Chess

This work by Adam M is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

A chessboard that was handy when I needed something to take a photo of.

Pentax K-x - 1/125 sec - f/0 - ISO 200 - ~75mm

Indoors, fluro lights.

Used GIMP to adjust levels. The picture was almost black before I did so, hence the funny colours, noise and haloing. Scaled and watermarked.

I do not know how I wound up with a near-black photo. Probably didn't check my settings, but normally I'd at least have a quick look on the screen...

Silhouette at Sunset

This work by Adam M is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

Sitting around at sunset.

Pentax K-x - 1/640 sec - f/0 - ISO 200 - ~75mm

Sunset.

Used GIMP to manually adjust levels, scale and watermark.

I would have liked to try to bring the colours out in the sunset, but it would seem I don't know how to do that in GIMP. I'll have to have a look sometime.

Pre-flight Check

This work by Adam M is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

A student does final pre-flight checks for the quad-rotor, while everyone else stands back.

Pentax K-x - 1/2500 sec - f/0 - ISO 400 - ~300mm

Daylight.

Used GIMP to auto-adjust levels, scale and watermark.

I thought about going for the tight crop, but felt like having the extra space communicated that he was out in the middle of a field.
I made use of my narrow lens!

Fabulous

This work by Adam M is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

A friend, being fabulous.

Pentax K-x - 1/125 sec - f/0 - ISO 200 - ~75mm

Daylight.

Used GIMP to auto-adjust levels, crop, scale and watermark.

Its overexposed, probably I had that dialed in from whatever I was shooting last. I really need to get a hang of checking settings before shooting.

City Sights

This work by Adam M is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

This is a building under construction in the city, lit by light reflected off the glossy front of another.


MOTORAZRV9 - who knows what the actual setting were.

Early-ish morning, light reflected off a glossy building opposite.

Used GIMP to adjust levels, scale and watermark.

I'm impressed with the results from my phone.

Badly Tilted

This work by Adam M is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

It didn't really work. This is a road in the university which they've decided to semi-close, resulting in this guy standing there most of every day opening the road for a few cars that are allowed through.

Pentax K-x - 1/400 sec - f/0 - ISO 800 - ~50mm held in front of camera, at a slight angle.

Daylight.

Used GIMP to adjust levels, scale and watermark. Not a lot I can do here.

I've read a lot about how tilt-shifting works (If you've seen a stop motion video, or just photos where big stuff looks strangely miniature, that's likely to be how they did it). It turns out its a lot harder to get right than I thought. I'm not even really sure what I need to do to get it to work. Wider lens? Narrower lens? Bigger or smaller gap? Better light sealing? I don't know.

Sunset Over Chemistry Building

This work by Adam M is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

I'm not sure if its actually a chemistry building, but I see bunsen burners going through the windows sometimes.

Canon A720 is - 1/640 sec - f/4 - ISO 100 - ~80mm

Sunset.

Used GIMP to adjust levels, scale and watermark.

Fuzz

This work by Adam M is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

I didn't shave for a few days.

Pentax K-x - 1/200 sec - f/0 - ISO 200 - ~75mm

Window light.

Used GIMP to auto-adjust levels, scale and watermark.

Slats

This work by Adam M is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

The louvres at the front of the house.

Pentax K-x - 1/800 sec - f/0 - ISO 200 - ~75mm

Indoors, window light.

Used GIMP to adjust levels manually.


I was trying to use catch-focus to do a self portrait. It wasn't working.

Helipad

This work by Adam M is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

A new helipad.

Pentax K-x - 1/10 sec - f/5.6 - ISO 800 - ~34mm

Dusk.

Used GIMP to adjust levels on each channel individually, scaled and watermarked.


This was a good chance to use my high ISO.

Not a UAV

This work by Adam M is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

Another student got toy aeroplane thing at a careers fair. He glued a couple of motors to it and sort of made it fly.

Canon A720 is - 1/800 sec - f/4- ISO 100 - ~80mm

Daylight.

Used GIMP to crop, reduce saturation on a sign in the background, scale and watermark.

Clouds

This work by Adam M is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

Just another cloudy day.

Canon A720is - 1/1500 sec - f/6.3 - ISO 100 - ~35mm

Daylight.

Used GIMP to adjust curves (dropping the foreground to black and bringing a bit more blue to the sky.

Lakes

This work by Adam M is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

I snapped this unimpressive image of the lakes during lunch. At this point in time I was very busy with thesis. I'm going to call it an achievement just to get the camera out.

Canon A720 is - 1/200 sec - f/4 - ISO 100 - ~35mm

Overcast daylight.

Used GIMP to auto-adjust levels, scale and watermark.


I think the lakes are nice to wander around at lunch, but I couldn't come up with an angle that actually looked interesting. I'm sure it was mostly not trying hard enough. I'd like to improve on this one.

Lake

This work by Adam M is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

Grabbed a shot of the lake while having lunch.

Canon A720 is - 1/200 sec - f/4 - ISO 100 - ~35mm

Overcast daylight.

Used GIMP to adjust levels, scale and watermark.

A bit more time and I might have found an angle I was happier with.

Dramatic Lighting!

This work by Adam M is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

My package contained a manual flash with optical trigger capabilities. This meant that I could finally put my flash wherever I wanted, such as just to my left. I could make the background not get lit, and have a very shadowy picture! Also, there was a remote, so I could take pictures of myself easily!
Very exciting.

Pentax K-x - 1/180 sec - f/32 - ISO 200 - ~82mm

Pop up flash (still needed to do optical triggering) and a YN460 to my left. Pop up flash was set to -2 exposure (trying to kill it as much as possible).

Used GIMP to adjust curves to kill the little bit of background and to clone out a hair on the lens. Scaled and watermarked.


I accidentally ordered an extra, lesser flash unit instead of a flash cable, so it'll be a while before I get real freedom, but this is exciting.

"Slide"

This work by Adam M is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

I met a mate in a park to pick up a package of photo gadgets. While waiting it occurred to me that playground equipment is very small these days.

Canon A720 is - 1/125 sec - f/4 - ISO 100 - ~60mm

Overcast daylight.

Used GIMP to auto-adjust levels, crop, scale and watermark.

At Intersection, Turn Left

This work by Adam M is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

An intersection near my place, the yellow streaks in the foreground are from a car's indicator.

Pentax K-x - 15 sec - f/11 - ISO 200 - ~15mm

Night time.

Used GIMP to auto-adjust levels, scale and watermark.

I wasn't really happy with the composition. I'd shot here before and thought a really wide angle lens was a good idea, but I'm not so sure. Perhaps I should have had only a mildly wide lens, and gone for a higher angle.