Australian Geographic – July-August 2019

July. August 111

By late morning we’re back at camp and gather together to

share the morning’s images and learn a few image processing tips

and tricks from Canon professional Jay Collier, and from each

other. Everyone seems grateful for the downtime to process pho-

tos, charge batteries, eat, and explore the William Creek precinct.

In the afternoon we’re in the air again and this time Trevor

Wright is at the controls. Trevor’s a trove of local information

and keeps us entertained with his witty anecdotes and stories

of his 35 eventful years at William Creek. He knows the lake

well and f lies us around even more of its jaw-dropping immen-

sity. He explains how the wind can move the entire body of

water from one part of the shallow lake bed to another. The

putty-coloured water ripples gently in today’s light breeze and

the numerous islands and crusty shorelines provide interest,

colour and texture for our photos.

T

HE CLEAR AUTUMN sky above William Creek is perfect

for stargazing so later that night when the Moon’s up,

Steve and Jay lead us beyond the lights of the little

township to a rusty disused former Ghan railway bridge to

learn the art of astrophotography. I point my tripod head and

camera at the sky and snap away, adhering to the expert instruc-

tions, but can see nothing at all on the playback screen in the

inky darkness.

t t e l

with Jay Collier

Try to opt for open-

door aircraft if you can.

Shooting through windows

not only restricts your view

but often results in images

that lack sharpness, clarity

and detail. It’s not always

possible, however.

Ideally carry two

cameras and two lenses to

save changing them.

This allows you to capture

a variety of shots at wide,

medium and long focal

lengths. A wide-angle

zoom on a full frame DSLR,

such as the Canon

EF24-105mm f/4L IS,

and a second camera with

a longer lens, such as the

Canon EF 70–200mm

f/2.8L IS USM III, is a

good combination.

At lower altitudes,

up to 500 feet, the ground

moves faster, whereas at

higher altitudes of more

than 1500 feet ground

speed is reduced. The

lower you are, the faster

your shutter speed needs

to be. In general, a shutter

speed of 1/2000th will

freeze ground motion at

lower altitude. At higher

altitude, shoot at 1/500th

to 1/800th as a minimum,

although in all cases,

if there’s plenty of light you

can always afford to shoot

faster and eliminate all risk

of motion blur or vibration

caused by the aircraft.

Set the camera to

manual exposure and use

auto ISO. This set-up allows

you to select your desired

shutter speed and the

camera then automatically

shifts ISO to maintain the

correct exposure as you

pass over different areas

and light sources. Use

exposure compensation to

allow your images to be

brighter or darker. Shoot on

autofocus but select

AI Servo.

Mirrorless cameras are

a good choice for aerials.

Canon’s new EOS R

features a digital view-

finder that shows exactly

how the image will look

before it’s taken, giving you

confidence to press the

shutter and nail that shot.

For more info visit

canon.com.au/collective

How to shoot aerials

WINa trip to Lake Eyre with

APT. See page 123 for details

Heavy rains that fell in QLD during February 2019 recently began

infi ltrating Lake Eyre (top). Jay Collier reveals a few photo processing

tricks and tips to Heather Rose, Onofrio Deserio and other members

of Canon Collective (bottom). Sobrina Pavan from Perth takes her

turn to shoot through the open door of the airvan as it approaches

the Painted Hills (right).