Lake Cawndilla

Mick Fagan
Posts: 412
Joined: 24 Sep 2015, 21:20
Location: Melbourne

Lake Cawndilla

Postby Mick Fagan » 29 Jan 2017, 13:59

This was taken at Lake Cawndilla in Kinchega NP NSW in our last summer trip to that region, 2010/2011

I tried a few variations of this tree in my mind before taking this exposure. We were camped very close to this spot so I was able to see when it was going to be more photogenic. I was quite surprised to find that around high noon, was the best. That time showed the limbs at their best, at least in my opinion. In fact, I strolled to the tree just before lunch for a casual look and was surprised at how good it was, I then rushed back to camp to get the camera to get the shot. I went back after lunch and the tree was pretty much a silhouette, I was grateful for that pre-lunch stroll.

This negative scan, is very close to the cropping of the 30x40cm print I have at hand; which was printed in the six months after the trip.

Shen Hao HZX45-IIA, FP4+, 4x5", 150 Fujinon 6.3, polariser, F/22 at 1/15, along with a reasonable amount of rise for me for a landscape shot, 23mm.

Mick.

4x5_Lake_Cawndilla_Kinchega_NP_2011_002_Finished_150_Polariser_FP4_22mm_Rise_Drowned_Tree_web.jpg

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Barry Kirsten
Posts: 230
Joined: 27 Feb 2015, 11:13
Location: Brookfield, Vic.

Re: Lake Cawndilla

Postby Barry Kirsten » 30 Jan 2017, 16:18

Great shot, Mick. Beautiful detail held in the branches. I love old dead trees with their beautiful
forms and textures.

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Maris
Posts: 882
Joined: 27 Jul 2012, 16:02
Location: Noosa

Re: Lake Cawndilla

Postby Maris » 31 Jan 2017, 08:41

Good one Mick! That's beautiful subject matter and highly accomplished camera-work. Those foreground sedges sticking up in right front of the lens are pretty sharp and the distant trees are sharp too. This well balanced depth of field is only just possible at f22.

Maybe your scanner is being treacherous. There are dark spots in the sky near the branch tips of the big tree. I've never scanned a neg so I'm just guessing wildly.

Mick Fagan
Posts: 412
Joined: 24 Sep 2015, 21:20
Location: Melbourne

Re: Lake Cawndilla

Postby Mick Fagan » 31 Jan 2017, 15:01

Barry, I was very interested in retaining as much detail in the limbs as possible, until I got home and checked the neg out with a loupe, I wasn't too sure. Luck was riding with me all the way for this shot, by happening to go for another stroll before lunch, to placing my polariser in my bag; normally I only carry a red and orange filter for an inland holiday. It was the form of the limbs that first pulled me to this tree, working out when and where to shoot it, was the hardest problem.

Maris, the reason the foreground sedges are more or less in acceptable focus, was the deciding reason to change from a 210mm lens to the shorter 150mm. And yes, f/22 was a requirement to get them acceptable. As for the negative scan possibly having problems, I think you are correct. I have just checked my print, clear; checked the negative, clear. As this is about the 10th negative I have scanned in my life, I put the blemishes, which are there in the web version, but not in my squillions of MB original file, down to my scanning technique and post scanning saving technique.

I know very little about scanning, my previous Aldi flatbed scanner giving up the ghost around 4-5 years ago, I haven't been able to convert anything for electronic viewing since. I picked up an Epson V800 scanner in December last year. The better half spent the rest of December and the first half of January scanning around 1,000 slides from around 40 years ago. I have only really had use of the scanner for a couple of weeks; she gets the scanner back for the next installment of slide scanning shortly.

The best part about that scanning wait, was that it enabled me to spend a fair amount of time in the darkroom catching up on a few printing jobs, immensely pleasing.

Many thanks to both of you.

Mick.

smbooth
Posts: 405
Joined: 29 Jul 2012, 00:20

Re: Lake Cawndilla

Postby smbooth » 03 Feb 2017, 16:51

Beautiful image Mick, its hard to go past dead trees in water, although last time i was in that sort of environment I was more concerned about the black snakes running around....

Mick Fagan
Posts: 412
Joined: 24 Sep 2015, 21:20
Location: Melbourne

Re: Lake Cawndilla

Postby Mick Fagan » 04 Feb 2017, 09:34

Thanks Shane, I don't know about black snakes, unless you mean Eels, we did however have some little snakes around the camp each evening, not sure where they were headed, but they more or less went along the same route each evening; never saw them in the morning.

Mick.

alexgard
Posts: 100
Joined: 08 Mar 2015, 02:00

Re: Lake Cawndilla

Postby alexgard » 21 Apr 2017, 22:33

Nice image Mick. I'm a real sucker for dead trees in water.


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