Author Topic: Glen Helen Gorge  (Read 1559 times)

Mongo

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Glen Helen Gorge
« on: April 14, 2018, 04:33:39 »
Glen Helen Gorge is one of the many remote gorges in central Australia worth travelling to. The surrounding area is as spectacular as the gorge itself. Waited until the last half hour or so of light to take the image. This helped transform and intensify the colours.

This was taken some years ago with a film camera (from memory perhaps a Nikon 801 ??) and Fuji slide film. The lens was Mongo's ever reliable, indispensable and travel everywhere, Nikkor 20mm f3.5 AI-s. The image was photographed through bellows and a nikkor 55mm f2.8 macro lens into a D800 at that time. Some hasty post processing (which, unfortunately, can be seen) but otherwise gives a reasonable idea of the area.


Ron Scubadiver

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Re: Glen Helen Gorge
« Reply #1 on: April 14, 2018, 04:53:23 »
Ron likes wetlands.

Akira

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Re: Glen Helen Gorge
« Reply #2 on: April 14, 2018, 05:17:26 »
Beautiful scenery!  The weed spotlighted on the lower right corner rounds up the total balance of the image.
"The eye is blind if the mind is absent." - Confucius

"Limitation is inspiration." - Akira

pluton

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Re: Glen Helen Gorge
« Reply #3 on: April 14, 2018, 06:30:15 »
Beautiful shot...and location.  Brings back memories of the days when you just worked with the knowledge that no shadow detail was going to be recorded.
Keith B., Santa Monica, CA, USA

Mongo

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Re: Glen Helen Gorge
« Reply #4 on: April 14, 2018, 13:22:17 »
thanks for looking in and your comments Ron, Akira and Pluton.

Akira, the PP included a little photographic licence including the small highlight on the reeds in lower right corner for balance as you have noticed. Mongo’s philosophy is, If you are going to PP an image, do not stop short of what might help make it a better image - that is why you are doing the PP for in the first place.

Pluton, interesting observation and one which Mongo had forgotten until you quite correctly raised it again.

Akira

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Re: Glen Helen Gorge
« Reply #5 on: April 14, 2018, 14:06:57 »
Akira, the PP included a little photographic licence including the small highlight on the reeds in lower right corner for balance as you have noticed. Mongo’s philosophy is, If you are going to PP an image, do not stop short of what might help make it a better image - that is why you are doing the PP for in the first place.

Pluton, interesting observation and one which Mongo had forgotten until you quite correctly raised it again.

Advice taken.  Thank you, Mongo!

One reason I liked underexposing Kodachrome 25 so much was that I could render the shadows in pitch black which could be effective as an interesting geometric element.  I also liked D7000 because its underexposed shadow was, again, pitch black with no visible noise grain.
"The eye is blind if the mind is absent." - Confucius

"Limitation is inspiration." - Akira

armando_m

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Re: Glen Helen Gorge
« Reply #6 on: April 14, 2018, 14:28:13 »
Wonderful, thanks for sharing it

how do you travel to this place ? by car ? looking at google maps it says it is 2800kms away from Sydney, and I'm guessing Mongo would have started the trip from there ?
Armando Morales
D800, Nikon 1 V1, Fuji X-T3

Randy Stout

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Re: Glen Helen Gorge
« Reply #7 on: April 14, 2018, 15:23:39 »
My first impression when I viewed the image is what Akira mentioned, the highlighted reeds give you the anchor needed for the image.

I have no problem with tweaking an image, as long as it is disclosed, so people can understand the creation of the image.

Cheers

Randy

atpaula

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Re: Glen Helen Gorge
« Reply #8 on: April 14, 2018, 15:49:12 »
I love the composition, light and colors.
Aguinaldo
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Jakov Minić

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Re: Glen Helen Gorge
« Reply #9 on: April 14, 2018, 16:01:27 »
How does one get to such a place?
I bet the silence was deafening.
Free your mind and your ass will follow. - George Clinton
Before I jump like monkey give me banana. - Fela Kuti
Confidence is what you have before you understand the problem. - Woody Allen

Mongo

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Re: Glen Helen Gorge
« Reply #10 on: April 15, 2018, 01:11:06 »
Thanks again all for looking in and for your kind comments.

Akira, Mongo was a Kodachrome 64 user until it was hard to get and eventually transitioned to Fuji film velvia but did love the Kodachrome while it lasted.

Randy, glad you take an open approach to post processing. Mongo agrees with you and has no secrets. Always happy to explain what serious tweaking may have been applied (and how) if asked by anyone or required to my rules of competition etc or if posting an image to demonstrate the post processing used as an exercise etc

Armando and Jakov, asked how to get there. Yes, it is remote but like so many other sites like this in the central Australia region, there are, for the most part,  sealed roads that lead to it or past it close enough to park and walk a few minutes to get there. If in an Australian main city, you can drive over a few days (motel overnight or use your motor home, caravan etc) or fly to the nearest main town like, in this case, Alice Springs and drive from there. There are innumerable tourist trips that will take you there and many fabulous nearby places on the way. In short, it is a long way but very doable.

Central Australia, the deserts of central Australia and the Kimberley region of Australia are amongst the most interesting and exciting Mongo has encountered anywhere in the world and in many way unique in that excitement. Sadly, due to their remoteness, the expense to an Australian of going there on a tourist arranged trip is usually many times the cost of travelling overseas as a tourist !! Yes, it is often far less expensive to travel half way round the world than it is to see your own country. Of course if you drive yourself and arrange your own accommodation, it can be a measurably different story. Hope this helps explain.

Jakov, yes the silence is very deafening and wonderfully welcome. One huge bonus is the clarity of the sky - it is mind-bending ! During the day, the blues in your images (particularly with wide angle lenses) are almost dark indigo (as if you had a polariser fully dialled up). At night, it provides the most perfect situation for night sky /astro photos you will get short of the Antarctic.

Fons Baerken

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Re: Glen Helen Gorge
« Reply #11 on: April 15, 2018, 09:45:25 »
Beaytiful film image ;)