Pretty as a Rose...

    f 6.3 1/200sec ISO 100


Last flower pic for awhile, I promise...
Taken using a Canon 100mm macro with a 430 EXII flashed into a foam core board from the upper left of the subject.

Flower

    f8 1/200sec ISO100


A macro shot of a flower that Em received for her birthday. Because I only get a chance to shoot at night, this shot was lit by flashing a 430EX against a foam core board at close range. I used a Canon 100mm macro and some Kenko extension tubes.

Orange

    f22 1/8 sec ISO200 


The above is a shot of a slice of orange shot on a piece of glass. I shot a flash from the bottom and the resulting shot is the light being reflected through the slice.

Still enjoying the macro...

Small Things...

    f2.8 0.3sec ISO200

Time to go macro!! I have always found macro photography interesting and with my birthday approaching I was thinking of getting a macro lens.

My dad (Denis Toh) has lent me his lens (Canon 100mm f2.8) for me to give macro photography a try.
The above image is the first shot I took.

It is of a Canon G9, lit by a candle :) The color version gives it a nice warm feel; however I liked the b&w version as it makes the focal point of the image pop a little more.

My New Hat

Little Choppy in the bath... Our little girl is growing up so fast.
Soon the adorable little baby will be a tantruming two-something toddler; but we'll still love her all the same :)

Not much color in this shot. I didn't think it worked that well in black and white so i just desaturated it a bit. Haven't quite decided if I like it or not, but I needed to post something!!

Line in the Sand

    f4.0 / 1/1600 ISO 100

A point beyond which, once the decision to go beyond it is made, the decision and its resulting consequences are permanently decided and irreversible.

Saturated

                         f18, 2 sec, ISO 100


Somersby Falls (Top falls)

Impassivity

    f/11, 2 sec, ISO 100


Somersby Falls (lower falls)

100 RPM

    f2.8, 1/20, ISO 200


This is the front wheel from my road bike.
I am participating in the MS Sydney to Gong ride in November this year and I need a profile shot for my page so I began playing around with various shots of the bike.

Smokin!!

                          

                             f/8, 1/200, ISO 100

First try at smoke photography!! I finally had an hour free and I have wanted to try this out for a long time. 

                    f/8, 1/200, ISO 100

Happiness

    f2.2, 1/125, ISO 400

It has been a long time sine I posted anything as I have been quite busy of late.
This shot is from the archives and I think it shows something quite special...

Funny faces

   f/4, 1/20th, ISO 1600

I finally got a lighting kit this week and this was my first real chance to play around with it.
Standard one strobe setup here with my 430EX shot at 1/4 power into a white umbrella at about 1.5m from AJ, 45 degrees left.
As you can see, still toying with the high key image look...

The face really makes the shot :)

Young and Free

                      f/13, 1/400, ISO 200

Australian flag; shot along the banks of the Nepean River, Penrith.

Mmmm... Ice Cream

   f/2.2, 1/320, ISO 100
Happy Mothers Day to all those Mum's out there!

The whole family headed to the banks of the Nepean river for a picnic today to celebrate Mothers day. This shot is of Sienna enjoying and ice cream; technically not the best shot ever taken but it makes me smile every time I look at this shot. Notice the bites taken out of the middle of the cone before she has finished eating the top... so cute :) She certainly loves her food.

The kids were well behaved all day (even Chelsea after a sleepless night) but made up for it in the car on the way home... hmmmm.

Rouse Hill Recreational Park

   f/20, 1/15, ISO 100
Rouse Hill Park stables taken at sunrise.

Got up early again this morning to get this shot (and many others that will never see the light of day...)
I arrived at the park well before sunrise and surprisingly the gates were wide open. Since i had some time to spare I thought I would kill time by attempting some light painting on the 4x4. The shots didn't work very well as I only brought an LED headlamp and the beam was too concentrated to cover a wide area.

The above shot was taken about 10 mins after sunrise. There was enough sunlight to light the stable and leave the foreground a little darker.

Sydney Opera House

Got up EARLY this morning to get to Circular Quay before work.
I set my alarm for 4:30am as I had to leave the house by 5am; however after my alarm went off, I decided to lay in bed for another 2 mins. Bad idea. Opened my eyes and the clock said 4:53am.
I still managed to shower, shave, brush teeth and get dressed in 7 mins. Record.

The clouds were quite low this morning, which meant that there would only be a short amount of time for the sun to be shining. This was one of the last shots that I took before it started to rain...

Baby in bath!!

Little Chelsea in the bath... She loves bath time and this was an opportunity for me to get some rare time shooting our new addition to the family.

Camera: Canon EOS 7D
Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/4.0
Focal Length: 45 mm
ISO Speed: 200

Floating Feather

Lovely warm Autumn day today; took the kids to the local reserve for a ride.
We were watching some ducks pottering in a pond and I spotted these lone feathers floating around and thought that the contrasting colors of the white feathers and the background would make a pleasant shot.

Shot with the 7D; f/4 @ 1/640 ISO 400.

Funny faces

Having some fun with the kids in the cubby. I love the face AJ is pulling...
this was taken after AJ was giving us a puppet show with Elmo and Possum.

Fired remotely using the Canon RC-1 trigger.

Always Coca-Cola

It has been awhile since I have had time to shoot and tonight was no exception, so I decided to take 30 mins tonight to try and get a shot of SOMETHING. Although the can was not perfect (notice the dent at the bottom) it was the first thing that caught my eye as I scanned the kitchen and the red coloring of the can gave me a good excuse to break out the blue gels :)

Read more to see how this shot was taken...

To leave a footprint in the sand...

AJ walking along the beach at Kiama.
Went to visit some of Emma's uncle and aunt who have a beautiful house at Kiama near to the beach. It was cold and rainy when we left the house this morning; however after lunch the sun came out and we all went for a walk to the beach which the kids really enjoyed.

Fresh Groceries

Just came back from Thursday night grocery shopping and thought it would be a good idea to use some of the fresh ingredients I picked up. I wanted to use some of my basil in this shot also, however the plant is looking a bit miserable due to lack of watering. Oregano had to do...

This shot was taken with a single 430EX II fired via Cautus V4 triggers.

HI Key

Chelsea during playtime just before her morning nap... She is getting so big so fast!
We actually kept her up a bit too long this morning so it was hard settling her again; should have known better with this being child #3...

Sitting on the Fence

Taken at Euroka Picnic area in Glenbrook National Park.
The whole family went on an outing this afternoon to soak up the rays with a picnic outdoors, riding bikes and bushwalking. A great time was had by all (except Chelsea who cracked it on the way home).

An escalator can never break: it can only become stairs.

This shot was taken from the top of Lennox bridge in Glenbrook first thing in the morning.

I was actually hoping to get to Knapsack bridge but unfortunately Mitchells Pass was closed and this was as far as I could drive. Ah well, maybe another morning...

A mirrored pool of thought

This shot was taken at Blue Pool in Glenbrook. 

I set out early in the morning to catch the sun relatively early; however I don't think it made too much difference to the shots I got in Glenbrook valley ;) Love the reflection in the water although I think this would look better on a bright summers morning...

This is an HDR image that is propagated from three images bracketed a full stop apart with the mid point starting at -.067.

"If you want to know how much I love you, count the waves."

Took Alyssa and Sienna to North Narrabeen this afternoon. It was a lot of fun and the girls had a blast pottering around on the shore. The tide was going out so there was plenty of ankle deep water for them to get up to no good. I would have thought the water to be colder than it was but there were a fair number of swimmers enjoying a lazy Saturday afternoon dip.

Sugar and spice and everything nice

Nice sunny afternoon and with the kids playing outside it was a good excuse to take the camera out of the bag. I have quite a few shots of the kids now and I have been looking for a unique view that is not often seen.
I only got a couple of shots of the kids lying on the grass as they have quite short attention spans but I think this one turned out quite well

Beginning of a person

This is the newest addition to the Toh family, little Chelsea. With newborn babies sleeping for most of the day, I find it quite difficult to get some time to take some shots. I managed to squeeze this one in during some awake time after a noon feed.
This photo was taken with a 430EXII  boundced from the celing in a room with little ambient light.

For there is no friend like a sister

AJ loves her baby sister and is always looking to have a go at cuddling Chelsea.
Again, this shot was taken with Emma holding the flash and pointing it directly at the celing. If I could shoot this again, I would probably like to have lit Alyssa's face a *little* more as it has came out a little underexposed; however the way it is shot puts more focus on Chelsea and she is supposed to be the focus of the shot anyway.

Everything moves in circles

This shot was taken on the Valley of the Waters walk at Wentworth falls in the Blue Mountains.

Another point of view

Carve out a path

This is Empress Falls found at the bottom of the Valley of the Waters walk at Wentworth Falls. If you have not been to visit this site, I would highly recommend it. Photos do not really do the size these falls justice as there is no real point of reference to judge the size of the rock face.
I would have liked to bring a wider angle lens along to fit more of the pond in at the bottom of the shot and remove the rock from the bottom left hand corner. Note to Santa: Canon EF-S 10-22mm please...

I shall wait beneath the moss

This shot was also taken along the Valley of the Waters walk at Wentworth Falls.
In the week prior to this shoot there were some heavy rains along the Blue Mountains and I thought this would be an ideal opportunity to shoot some cliche slow shutter waterfall shots.
This mossy bridge was at the base of Sylvia Falls. If I was not so pressed for time I would have liked to spend some time in this area with a macro lens to capture some closeups of the earthy greens and browns found at this site.

And she's buying a stairway

For some reason I love these shots with paths or stairways leading off into the distance.
This shot was taken on the Valley of the Waters walk in Wentworth Falls. It is along the stretch of track that leads down to Sylvia Falls after the first lookout.

Smile. It's easier than explaining why you're sad.

When the kids get tired there is no reasoning with them. As I recall in this case Sienna was on a rocking horse and AJ tried to steal it from her but failed. The above scene is the resulting disappointment.

AJ

A summers day, this shot taken just after lunch and ready to let the kids run wild in the backyard.
Not much else to say really...

Up's and Down's

Again, this was my first day with the 7D so I gallantly offered to take the kids to the local reserve and let the darling wife rest for the remainder of the morning.
Funnily enough about 30 seconds after this shot was taken. both girls were crying as Alyssa forgot she was pushing the swing, walked two steps forward and Sienna's head swung back and clocked her squarely in the cheekbone. I ran over to stop the swing on which Sienna was wailing too when AJ picked herself up from the ground and ran into the back of the swing AGAIN. Lots of tears, lots of stares from neighbouring picnics and definately lots of memories. The up's and down's of life and the playground...

Hello

AJ is such a poser :) Which is great for me and my new 7D!!! Woohoo!!
I think this was one of the first 10 shots taken with my new camera.
I saw Alyssa playing on the rug and thought it would be a good idea to try a low shot using the coffee table as a background in the image.

Storm in a Teacup

This shot was my second attempt at capturing droplets. I started with water into a red tupperware container then moved to milk droplets as I wanted to see how the thicker density liquid would react. The first few shots were disappointing as it was hard to see the white droplets layered on top of the white milk in the mug.

So to counter this, I added some red food coloring to the *dropper* (nasal aspirator used for sucking snot from babies noses, hehe) and the results are seen above.

The tricky part was conserving enough milk for breakfast the next morning and avoiding the wrath of the lovely wife :)