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Macdonald Nature Photography

Name: Macdonald Nature Photography
Address: Jazz Court, Caboolture, QLD, 4510, AU
Telephone: +61497369805

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Caboolture, QLD
Macdonald Nature Photography

Based in the beautiful Southeast of Queensland, Australia, where I have some spectacular locations and wildlife at my door step.

Join me on the adventure, as I discover and explore these exquisite locations in Australia and overseas.

12/02/2022

Booloumba Falls

Dodged rain showers and waited for the light to get this difficult shot....

I really liked the light on the branches of the tree that is coming in from the side. In order to get that light I had to wait for the sun to come out between rain showers. When the sun was out there was a huge amount of contrast. I metered off the water fall to ensure that it would not get blown out. However the shadows are darker that I would have liked. I could have used N- development but I did not think about it at the time.

Behind the camera

A CPL was used to help control the highlights and a ND8 (3 stop) filter was used to extend the shutter time to smooth out the water.
Tachihara 4x5 Field Camera
Fujinon SW 65mm f8
Ilford FP4+
F32
8 sec Exposure

05/02/2022

Looking back up Booloumba Creek from the Breadknife.

I would really like to see a large print of this image as the small size of the computer screen does not really do it justice. You can follow the water all the way from the back as it flows and cascades its way through the creek combining at the end in one huge waterfall.

Behind the camera
This was an easy shot with a simple 1/4 sec exposure to keep some detail in the water.

It could have done with some more detail in the shadows but I did not want the water to end up being blown out.

This is what I enjoy about large format photography. It would have been easy to take multiple exposures and blend in photoshop but with film you are trying to capture it in one shot....

Tachihara 4x5 Field Camera
Fujinon SW 65mm f8
Ilford FP4+
F32
1/4 sec exposure

15/01/2022

Booloumba Creek Cascade

This little waterfall is just off the side of the walking track to Booloumba Falls.

Behind the Camera
While it is a simple shot it still took around an hour to get it as I had to wait for cloud cover in order to make get the correct exposure of the water.

I used a polariser to reduce the glare on the water a bit and also a ND8 (3 stop) filter to extend the exposure to 8 seconds to smoothen out the water. I did not want to go too long of an exposure and loose all detail in the waterfall.

Tachihara 4x5 Field Camera
Fujinon SW 65mm f8
Ilford FP4+
F32
CP and ND8 filters
8 sec exposure

10/12/2021

Coomba Falls at Maidenwell

We visited here a couple of months ago and there was not a drop of water flowing over the falls.

I managed get a couple of shots and fly the drone between rain showers, while narrowly missing some storms that caused flash flooding in some of the surrounding towns.

Behind the camera
There was a lot of foam in the water so I took 2 shots of this with different shutter times. One was a 1/4 second exposure and then this one at 15 seconds. I liked the way the foam was more blurred in this shot.

I metered off the water to ensure it was as bright as possible while still retaining detail. That gave me a 1/4 sec at f16. To extend the shutter time I went to f32 and used an ND4 (2 stop) filter and that gave me 8 sec. With reciprocity failure the exposure time was 15 sec.

I tried the 65mm lens but it was far too wide angle and made the waterfall look too small in the image so I went with the 150mm. Something in between would be good.....

Tachihara 4x5 Field Camera
Fujinon SW 65mm f8
Ilford FP4+
F32
15 sec exposure
Tiffen ND4 filter

03/12/2021

Wow... Kinbombi Falls was roaring after the rain..... Every time we have visited it has been just a trickle.

We had a great family day out stopping at the awsome Goomeri Bakery for lunch and then heading out to Coomba Falls in the afternoon.

Behind the camera

This was a very straight forward shot. I metered off the water to ensure that it would be as bright as possible in the finished image while still retaining some detail.

Tachihara 4x5 Field Camera
Fujinon SW 65mm f8
Ilford FP4+
F16
1/4 sec exposure

Standard development times where used.

05/11/2021

Lower section of Cedar Falls at Mt Tamborine

Behind the camera
This shot turned out to be deceptively complicated.

This is one of the times that I was glad that took a second shot. The first shot the wet rocks next to the upper section of the falls had no detail due to the reflection from the sky. The clouds must have moved into a a slightly more favourable place for the second shot as there was detail in those rocks. I could have used a polarizer but I liked the wet look of the rocks in the foreground.

I hade to use an ND4 (3 stop) filter to extend the exposure time to 1/4 of a second as it was the middle of the day and the scene was quite bright.

Tachihara 4x5 Field Camera
Fujinon SW 65mm f8
Ilford FP4+
F16
1/4 sec exposure
Tiffen ND4 filter

Development was standard as contrast was already fairly high.

22/10/2021

Curtis Falls at Mt Tamborine

I am slowly beginning to venture out on some slightly longer walks again. It was great to finally be out with the camera again.

Behind the Camera
This was a bit of a challenging shot as the camera was precariously balanced on the rocks and the sun was streaming though the trees causing harsh highlights on some of the leaves around the waterfall.

I metered the shadows under the waterfall to get an exposure of f8 and 0.4sec but I wanted some more depth of field so I changed f-stop to f13 which gave me an exposure of 1.5 sec including reciprocity failure.

Tachihara 4x5 Field Camera
Fujinon SW 65mm f8
Ilford FP4+
F13
1.5 sec exposure

Development was standard as contrast was already fairly high.

17/09/2021

Coonowrin Long Exposure

Due to ongoing back pain problems I have not been limited to short walks and roadside photography.

This shot was taken just off the side of the road.

Behind the Camera

It was pretty much a blue sky day with just a couple of clouds moving through so I thought I would go with a long exposure to try to make something of the other wise boring sky.

Tachihara 4x5 Field Camera
Fujinon SW 65mm f8
Ilford FP4+
F32
15 minute exposure
Tiffen Red filter and 10 stop filter

I metered the shot for f45 but after taking into account the filters and reciprocity failure the exposure time would have been about half an hour. So I opened aperture one stop to halve the exposure time.

I tried something a bit different with the developer using 1:14 ratio with extended development time to further increase contrast.

The image came out quite flat with not much contrast so I am not sure whether it was the changing light as the clouds moved over or if it was something to do with the filters or exposure time.

03/09/2021

For my first outing with the camera in nearly 4 months I went to Gardners Falls near Maleny in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland.

Along the short 300m walk I came across this scene. I liked the way the backlit tree and the grass in the foreground framed the cascade.

Behind the camera
Tachihara 4x5 Field Camera
Fujinon SW 65mm f8
Ilford FP4+
F16
3 sec exposure
Tiffen Red filter

24/07/2021

This shot of Kondalilla Falls was taken in December last year. I have been debating whether or not I like it that much. I would have liked the tree to stand out from the background a bit more. What do you think?

Behind the camera
Tachihara 4x5 Field Camera
Fujinar-W 150mm f6.3
Ilford FP4+
f16
1 second exposure

I took 2 versions of this scene. This one I used a red filter and the second I used a CPL. I was much happier with this one as there was a bit more separation between the tree and the background.

Development was standard as the dynamic range was already fairly high.

16/07/2021

Another black and white conversion of an old image of Purling Brook Falls.

I am hoping to be able to get out next week with the 4x5 and get back into it...

09/07/2021

Not a film shot but trying to get some inspiration by converting some of my old digital photos to black and white, for when I am able to get out again.....

This is one of my favourite shots of Artists Cascades in the Conondale National Park.

Address

Jazz Court
Caboolture, QLD
4510

Telephone

+61497369805

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