Macquarie Pass NP

Some photos I got from our 7km return hike to some gorgeous falls and cascades... Oh, and that epic boulder!

This is an easy bushwalk in the Macquarie Pass National Park. The track itself is easy most of the way, but gets a bit rough and confusing towards the end. Keep looking and you'll find the track to the falls. It's worth it. Most of these photos were taken as we ditched our gear and headed further up creek, rock hopping and boulder climbing to avoid getting our shoes wet.

An incredible place so close to town, i'll definitely be going back! So much more to explore and discover in this place.

All images on this site are available for purchase. Contact me on coby.keys1@det.nsw.edu.au
Prices are very reasonable :)

Shooting the Milky Way

Milky Way attempt no.1

From what i've read it's not all to hard to shoot the Milky Way... We were staying in Wallabi Point on the North Coast of NSW and I figured it was the perfect place to try... Minimal light pollution.

I headed down the the beach at the end of the street around 10pm. It was a gorgeous sight. The Milky Way was visible to the naked eye. So bright, so clear, so perfect. The longer i was out there, the better the sky got. I saw about 9 shooting stars in the space of the 40 minutes I was there. That was special.

I knew I wanted to use my 10-20mm Sigma to get as much of it in as possible but I also knew my limitations with this lens only dropping down to f4.5... Having not shot the Milky Way before I did a bit of research, and knew basically; wide lens, widest apeture, 30 seconds, ISO around 1600. Well 1600 is as high as my old D40x can do, but the f4.5 was going to give me issues. I couldn't leave the shutter open any longer than 30 seconds. One, because on a 10mm lens any longer than 30 seconds you're going to get startrails, and 2 i don't have a remote shutter release and couldn't afford even more blurry images. Fail.

I threw on my 35mm prime which opened up to f1.8 and i got some brilliant bright stars, but with no foreground or focal point it may have well has been rain on a windscreen. I switched back to my 10mm and did a bunch of shots. The shot you see was the final shot i took that night, tweaked a bit in Photoshop to bring out the stars that my lens just couldn't see quite well enough.

Wallabi Point, NSW
Nikon D40x
Sigma 10-20mm @ 10mmISO 1600
30 seconds
f4.5
Self Timer

Clover Hill Road Trail, Macquarie Pass

Clover Hill Road Trail, Macquarie Pass

Coming Soon...!

Cave Creek, Hill Top NSW

Cave Creek, Hill Top NSW

So on Tuesday my aunty, brother, mother and myself found the easiest track possible in my "Best Bushwalks of the Southern Highlands" and made our way to Hill Top. We parked at the designated car park picnic area and headed off on our journey. Not long into it mum wanted to head back, but I pushed her through and it was an enjoyable walk, it took us about 50 minutes walking slowly inspecting the plants and our surroundings (as well as telling my aunty and mum to hurry up). The first fork in the track came to the left as we wandered down a metal footbridge into the "cave" section of the walk. It was quite damp and slippery and you could hear the rush of the waterfall but couldn't see it. Drew got a leech on his leg in this section of the walk, i'm sure you could explore further with gumboots and a torch!
We went back over the footbridge and continued on our path, it took us around and down, over some stairs and deep into the rainforest gully. It was beautiful. The sandstone cliffs towered above us and we walked beside the cliff and wandered down to the "creek" section to take photos. By this stage Mum and Carol had had enough and decided to head back as they couldn't see the trail going anywhere else. After they left and I got some shots i wanted me and Drew trekked on around the thin trail which followed the wall. About 20 metres up we came to a wooden bridge which crossed the creek, and low and behold we stumbled upon a magical waterfall in a cave (obviously where all the water was flowing to on the other side). It was gorgeous! After stopping to take heaps of photos (including the one above) we headed back. The walk back only took us 30 minutes as it was much quicker up. Carol and Mum were devestated they missed the best part and no doubt we'll be going back so they can explore :)

Big Stopper

Big Stopper

So i bought a big stopper (ND1000) on ebay the other week and hadn't had a chance to test it out yet.
I bought a cheap $30 one because i couldn't see the point in purchasing a Lee Filter kit right now while i'm just learning. So on Saturday afternoon the mrs and i headed to Austinmer to shoot the sunset... We left when it was raining (probably silly) but towards the coast it looked like blue skies. When we arrived the weather was fine and it was really windy, which i was happy about because i wanted some movement in the clouds. I hadn't been to Austinmer in ages and we unfortunately didn't leave much time to set up and get in a good spot. When we arrived (about 40 mins before sunset) the clouds had some decent cover and looked interesting. But by the time I found a good spot, set up my shot and figured out the timing calculations the colour was going so I just had time for some moody shots. Definitely found some gorgeous spots for sunrise probably over the holidays before the tide is too high. I discovered when we got there that my wireless shutter release is absolute crap when it's not inside with walls to bounce off, and holding the shutter down for any length of time with your hand in the wind is sure to create movement and blur (not happy). So next i'll be investing in a wired shutter release!

Here are a couple of attempts for your viewing pleasure

Straight out of the Camera (SOTC) vs Editing

Many people don't realise that every photographer, amateur or professional, we all edit our photos using Lightroom or Photoshop to some degree. It doesn't make us "fake". Skills are still needed prior to editing on the computer, if you get the shot wrong from the start, editing software won't save you!
They did it back in the days of the darkroom. Dodging, Burning, Double Exposure, Blending Exposures... It can all be done in the darkroom. And it's what we all do now.
Below is an example of a shot of mine SOTC vs Editing in Photoshop.
Cameras don't have the capacity to see the High Dynamic Range that our eyes can see. That's where blending exposures and dodging and burning prove necessary. Sometimes you might even be hopeless like me and can't line up your horizon...

The Worms

Glowworm Tunnel, Helensburgh NSW

Actually named the Metropolitan Tunnel in Helensburgh, this is an abandoned railway close to the new station off Tunnel Rd. It's a gorgeous place both day and night and a photographers dream. I'd heard about the glow worms and finally had a chance to head down and check them out last Friday. It was an incredible experience! The glow worms were so thick the deeper we went in the tunnel, it almost looked like "light at the end of the tunnel" even though there is a wall at the end. I got a few interesting shots but can't wait to go back and capture more.