This week’s blog post is a look back at the shots taken in the Australian Botanical Gardens over the last few weeks over Christmas. I didn't get to go out with the cameras as much as I would have liked to over the break as back on the bathroom renovation works again, tiling the second Bathroom floor, so only got out twice during the time off. 

First up I started a walk from the plant bank along the board walk, in the small ponds at the start of the woodland area is some bulrushes and I noticed some movement in there. So looking closely I found this red-bellied black snake (Pseudechis porphyriacus) in the water swimming around after a while it came out and into the grass around the pond.

A few Superb Fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus) were about in the area but not to much else of not for the day around the stole Generation memorial area

A few Superb Fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus) were about in the area but not too much else of not for the day around the stole Generation memorial area. I did meet a couple on their last day in Australia from Scotland (Philip and Sheila) who said they had seen some Tawny Frogmouths in the Banksia Garden, Not having got a shot of one of these yet in the gardens I decided that was my next stop. So after not finding anything else here I drove down to the Banksia Garden area. I got a good description of where to look so went straight there. First think I found was  a few Australian King Parrots (Alisterus Scapularis) abut so I managed to get this shot of a female from a distance.

Then exactly where I was told the Frogmouths were I found them, three of them. You can certainly see how they camouflage themselves to look like tree branches. I managed the first show with the eyes open, but the rest are partially closed.  Still happy with these shots.  

On the last day of my holidays I went back into the gardens to see what I could find after a few cooler days and some light rain I was hoping for some mushrooms this time round. Been a while now since I had found any in the gardens. First up another new bird to cross of my list a Rufous Whistler (Pachycephala rufiventris) high up in the canopy, I’d spotted it last time but didn’t get a good shot, this week a little better but still not the best quality, I’ll have to keep an eye out for these in the coming visits to see if I can get a better shot. Hopefully they will come a little lower to the ground.

This shot captured it in full song.

This next shots taken in the dam opposite the plant bank and is of a young Dusty Moorhen on the hunt for reeds at the bottom of the dam.

While walking along beside the cannel there I spotted this young Fan-tailed Cuckoo (Cacomantis flabelliformis), I didn't see what the host bird to this one was after waiting a while, would have made for a good shot if its still being looked after. Another thing to look out for next trip. 

The woodland areas and most of the gardens are full of these next ones the Willie Wagtails (Rhipdura leucophrys) Theres not to many places in the Gardens you don't find these filtering about. collection insects as they go. 

A small family of Variegated Fairy-wrens (Malurus lamberti) are often found around the area where the stolen generation memorial is located in the woodlands. 

This ones not the cleanest shot but shows the broad shoulder patches across the the back as it flys up to the next branch, been better getting a cleaner shot with out the sticks in the way, maybe next time round.  

In amongst the Variegated wrens are a few Superb Fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus) Missing the brown patch of the Variegated wrens, thou still quite colourful and just as timid.

After all the hot weather of late a few cooler days and some rain as well seemed to have bought out a few mushrooms, well two anyway. So I made the most of these two doing three setups with different lighting and angles to get these three shots of these ones. 

So thats it for this weeks blog a round up of the shots for the last two weeks with only two days of shooting, but still some good shots this time round, good to get back into the mushroom shots again after so long with out. 

Thanks for dropping by my blog this week, I'll be back next week with the usual blog post. Till then take care. Back again next week. 

Glenn. 

As I've done for the last few years, following on from Martin Bailey’s Podcast each year when he creates his top ten shots of the year, again I've done the same. This task each year doesn't get any easier and I can see the improvement in my work over the years reviewing the previous imaged compared to this year’s work. 

This year I went on my first photography workshop / photo tour with Steve Parish in Central Australia, it was a great experience and some amazing landscapes out there. The only Landscape shot in my top ten came from this tour, there was so many images for the tour I would have liked to include but only ten images so only one for that trip may my top ten for the year. Again, this year Mushrooms and Bird shots made up the bulk of my shots this year and mainly in the Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan. Which is only a few minutes’ drive from my place. In fact, only the Central Australian Landscape shot was the only one not taken in the Gardens.

This year along with Google plus which is still doing great with my mushroom collection now having 83000 plus followers, Where I post a mushroom shot each week. I've also started to post in Instagram now, something I kept clear of for some time, but it’s now starting to gain some traction. The Gardens have found my work on Instagram and have asked me to run a workshop in November which we've now done, my first workshop that I've run. Seemed to go OK from what I can tell and everyone said they learnt something from it. So, happy with that there should be more this year, So all up a good year for me Photography wise. 

So on with the top ten shot, this first shot was the shot from the Steve Parish workshop photography tour in Central Australia. This shot is taken for a Helicopter, my first time up in one, the doors were removed to enable a cleaner shot and certainly happy with what I got out for that. I've had printed two of the shots from this flight at 1 metre long. This one is my current favourite, the other one has the most amazing geological shape but I like this image better.

Again a lot of the shots this year was of mushrooms in the Australian Botanical gardens and this shows the spores falling, little golden dots under the cap you can see them on the left side more easily then you can pick them up on the right once you know what your looking for. I used two off camera speedlites and the second light was behind to give back light which lit up the spores.  

The next shot was a lucky shot, well planned but lucky, I was shooting a mushroom on the ground but had set the bird camera (Canon 7DmkII with Sigma 150-600 Sports Len) to focus on this dead tree stump hoping something may come along as it’s a favourite perch for a lot of birdlife, so as I was taking a focus stack of a mushroom this Golden Whistler (Pachycephala pectoralis) landed on the stump which was only about 4 metres away, so I slowly got up to take this shot, I managed about six shots this being the better of the six. Happy with all the detail in this shot. Really liking the 7dMkII and Sigma 150 to 600 Sports lens combination.

Again this year I got into Focus stacking of the mushroom shots with two off camera speedlites. Still using the Canon 60D for these shots, as the articulating screen is great for lining up the shots with the camera on the ground, saves me getting so low. I like the light and shade in this image as well as all the detail. 

This image of the Yellow Thornbill (Acanthiza nana) as it sat and watched me frame up the shot is again one of my favourites with the leaves framing up the shot and the little piece of moss growing on the branch lower down offsetting the bird. The sun behind the bird adding the rim lighting on the right and eliminating the greenery behind, normally you want the brightest part of the image to be the main subject but in this case I think it works well with the bird being a little darker than the background. 

This year has been quite dry towards the end of the year so not much in the way of mushrooms about but as I spend most of my time in the botanical gardens hard not to take plant shots as well. This ones of a Red Waratah the New South Wales State flower. This one was taken in full daylight but again using the speedlite to light the flower and underexpose the image to loose the background. These flowers are always eye catching and to see them in the bush late October these bright red flower heads is really something. 

This next shot was again something special with a pair of young Welcome swallows (Hirundo neoxena) being feed by the parent. The Parent bird made regular trips over the lake collecting insects then fly back without landing to feed the young. The one on the left looks to be saying “Hey, what about me” as it watches the other bird being fed this time around, it was feed not long after. 

This next image of an Eastern Yellow Robin (Eopsaltria australis) again taken in the Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan, shows the catch it just made, these little ones are usually sitting on a branch or side of the tree studying the ground looking for something to feed on, this time a poor lizard was the victim, it flew away with its catch to feed its young. The gardens are alive with these pretty much year round. 

This next image or a pair of Long-Billed Corsellas (Cacatua tenuirostris) was picked up by the ABC News facebook page as its image of the day and ran as the ABCs banner image for the day on the new facebook page. The ABC got the image from Instagram after I tagged them. This one if you look around the edges you can see the results of the post processing I did to create the effect of a painting, from the comments on the ABCs facebook page it led to some confusion from some not noting if it was a painting of a photo, one thinking it was a photo of a painting. This was something I picked up from the workshop earlier in the year. The Image was taken again in the Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan. 

The last image in this year’s top ten shots was taken just after my first workshop in the Gardens. The gardens asked if I would be interested in running a bird photography workshop with them in the gardens, after seeing my shots posted on Instagram, so we gave it a go, after the workshop I went back in to the gardens, with a few from the class. Walking around in the gardens we came across this Lace Monitor (Varanus varius) as it went about its business looking for bird nests in hollows.  You can see the large claws these have to climb trees with, this one was looking around exploring then after the photoshoot casually climbed back down and went in search else where. 

So that rounded out this year’s top ten shots, this year I took 32466 images but these soon add up when you start to use focus stacking where one mushroom shot is made up of 20 odd shots stacked together then three or four different lighting set ups and you’re at 100 images from the one mushroom. Similarly, birds in flight shots soon add up. First step in getting to the top ten was a short list of 98 images this year, then cutting it down to ten, the first few were pretty easy to remove but after that by the time you get down to the last 25 shots each shot you remove you feel guilty for taking that shot out, shots that missed out were my first ever milky way shot taken in Central Australia another aerial shot, several mushroom shots and birds in flight shots, all of which have been covered in the various blog posts throughout the year if you’re interested. But happy with this year’s quality of shots and I’ve already booked on for another photo tour in a month or so’s time again with Steve Parish in Tasmania this time in Mid Feb. Looking forward to that.

A couple of reference links.

Martin Baileys website where you'll find links to his podcasts

https://www.martinbaileyphotography.com

Steve Parish's website where you'll find links to what Steve is up to and his work. 

https://www.steveparish-natureconnect.com.au

Thanks for dropping by my blog this week, I’ll be back next week with the regular walk through shots from the last week or so.  Have a great new year everyone.

Glenn

This week blog post covers the shots taken last weekend in the Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan South west of Sydney. This week I thought I may have had better luck on the mushroom front as we had a few days of decent rain here last week. But that was soon to be found to be not the case as I didn't find any yet again this week. So on with the bird shots for this week with a few floral shots thrown in to keep the speedlites running. 

First up this week, not the best shot but the best one so far of the Dollarbird (Eurystomus orientalis) These birds are migratory and are only in the country from few months of the year. At the moment, I've spotted them in the woodland area and also in the connections gardens so seem to have made the gardens home for now. Look high in the tree tops for thee you will hear them before you see them most times, a very distinctive call. Still need to work on getting a better one of these, though they seem to be staying high up in the Canopy so not so easy so looks like it’s a waiting game for these. This one was taken in the woodland area. 

Next up I walked along the stolen generation walk and came across a small group of Variegated Fairy-wrens (Malurus lamberti) This one was happy to pose for a little bit. Very unlike these. They usually see you and are off. 

From there I headed up to the connections gardens hoping to find mushrooms there after n luck in the woodland area. But again, no luck. This first shot here’s of a common blackbird (Turdus merula) There’s a few of these about in the gardens but seem to be more in my garden.

So with no luck on the mushroom front and a few weeks now of carrying the speedlites about I thought I’d better put them to use before I forget how to use them So this first shots of Xanthorrhoea macronema, it’s like a mini grass tree. With one flash used in a small soft box of to the right, taken in full daylight, under exposed them re-light with the speedlite on low power to give the effect.  

This next version of the same shots after playing around a little in post processing to see what effect I could give it, this one I've toned down so only a little difference in appearance this time. 

While taking these a crested pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes) was watching on. In this shot you can see the lighting conditions the last shot was taken in. It gives you an idea what you can do with the camera just playing with exposure and lighting. 

Next while I had the speedlites out and the 60D camera set for the Tripod I gave a Flannel Flower ((Actinotus helianthi) a go with the speedlites. Again same lighting conditions as the shot above. But concentrated the light on the one flower in this case. 

From there I took a walk down around the lake to see if anything interesting was going on there, only a few Little Pied Cormorants (Microcarbo melanoleucos) sitting around with this one having yawn. 

In the lake was another one, this one on a fishing expedition, thought looks like its catch was a bit small and should have been through back, it nearly was as it was dropped and had to have a quick dart to re-catch it. But made short work of that.  

The last shot for the week Was this rainbow Lorikeet (Trichoglossus haematodus) sitting amongst this bunch of flowering blossoms (Corymbia ficifolia) (I remembered this week to get the plant names) The colours of these flowers is so orange. The shot is ok but still not there so in this case I thought I’d try a little extra on it to see what I could do with it, after several attempts I like the last one best.  

The first is the original.

This next one added a painted effect while leaving the bird alone. Still not happy with it. 

So gave it another go picked a different style and this time added in a canvas texture to the shot making it look more like a canvas painting with again the bird bought back to the photo image untouched. Think its the best of the three here, feel free to add which one you prefer in the comments section at the bottom here on this post. 

Well thats it for this weeks blog post, and nearly the end of the year again. Next week I'll do my best of for the year picking my ten best shots as I've done the last few years. Not an easy task working out only ten images from the year, so we'll see what I come up with this year and how it compares to last year. 

Last week’s viewers of my blog were again world-wide with Russia again taking out the top spot for number of views well above anyone else with the USA next down by a factor of ten nearly then Australia, followed by France, Croatia then Italy. The number of views this week was down a little compared to last week, but still a health number of readers each week. 

Wishing every one a happy Christmas and a great new year out there no mater where you are. All the best of the new year. 

Thanks for dropping by my blog, this week, I'll be back next week wiht my best of shots from 2016. 

Glenn.