Monthly Archives: March 2015

What a great week! A short break in Sydney and a chance to attend the one-day ProBlogger Event and photo workshop sponsored by Olympus. Not only did I learn a lot about blogging (and I’ll be introducing those in time on this blog…) but I also gained some great insights into photo practice with a professional photographer at the photography workshop.

I had a chance to meet with Darren Rouse who is the driving force behind both ProBlogger and the Digital Photography School – that I have followed with great interest for some time. The main event will be held on the Gold Coast in August – and I already have my ticket. These events are so popular that they sell out quickly – the first 400 tickets went in just ten minutes!

Anyhow, after the photography workshop I thought I’d try some long exposure night shots – great for smoothing out water, removing the people and bringing out the architectural details. And where better to practice this than on the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House!

You can see how the water has been smoothed out by a 30 second exposure. I achieved this by keeping the ISO at 100, stopping down to f/11 and using a neutral density filter to control the exposure. The canon 60D was mounted on a tripod and I used a remote trigger to reduce vibration.

I liked the leading lines in this one, and it shows how people become ghosts in a long exposure (20 secs) – only the woman paused over her phone for long enough to remain sharp in the image.

More Sydney photos soon!