Out and About around Australia - Jan-Feb 2014

Touring and Travel Photography ONLINE magazine for Australian Writers and Photographers

Volume 1, issue 4, January/February 2014

READER’S PORTFOLIOS

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JOURNEY TO BLUE WATERHOLES

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CENTRAL VICTORIA AND ALPINE COUNTRY

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PHOTO ENHANCEMENT with Photoshop Elements 11

Volume1 issue 4, January/February 2014

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The concept, design and layout of this publication is © Roger Neal Photography.

All rights reserved. No content can be reproduced, re-purposed or reused without prior written permission from the publisher.

Opinions expressed in Out and About around Australia, are those of the individual authors and not necessarily those of its editors or publishers.

Published by Roger Neal Photography, 32 Kielli Drive, Warrnambool, Victoria 3280, Australia.

Email: rnp@iinet.net.au http://www.rogernealphotography.com.au

Out and About around Australia invites contributions featuring travel and vacation stories and/or tourism photos of places and locations throughout Australia.

Contributions should be forwarded via Email to: rnp@iinet.net.au Copyright ownership of manuscripts and photos always remains with the author.

Manuscripts should be supplied as Word (.doc) or Text (.rtf) files. Photos should be supplied as sRGB (.jpg) files.

Click here to get PDF (143kb) of Contributors Guidelines.

Out and About around Australia regrets that it is not able to accept responsibility for the safe arrival of any transmitted files, under any circumstances.

Please note: Contributions will be acknowledged but will not be returned to the author.

Non-acceptable works: We do not accept any work that is abusive or vilifies anyone, or that may expose the author or publishers to suing for defamation or any other legal proceedings. Images containing nudity (explicit or implied) will not be displayed.

Indemnity: All works submitted must be the sole creation of the author.

Administrators of Out and About around Australia accept no responsibility whatsoever for the accuracy or authenticity of works submitted. By submitting works, authors agree that they indemnify the administrators of any legal action which may arise.

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Cover Photo: “Pools of Blue and Aqua”. Crystal clear rock pools on Pulu Maraya, Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

Photograph: © Karen Willshaw - http://www.redbubble.com/people/karengerhard BUY PHOTO ART - CLICK HERE

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Photo this spread: “Island in the Blue”. Wilsons Promontory National Park, Victoria Photograph: © Bette Devine - http://www.redbubble.com/people/bdevine BUY PHOTO ART - CLICK HERE Out and About around Australia - Volume 1, issue 4, January/February 2014

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We have a slightly new look!

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These changes were not planned - the application used for creating and laying out this magazine died on us! We couldn’t afford to replace the app, so we’re now using a far less expensive option.

While not quite as sophisticated, this new option (Apple’s ‘Pages’) does allow us to create layouts which can include links to authors websites and web pages - which is one feature we did not want to loose.

As always, we continue to promote photographer’s and writer’s works. So please keep submitting your travel stories and photo portfolios for publication.

We hope that both our regular and new readers like the revised look of Out and About around Australia.

Roger Neal rnp@iinet.net.au

8 Blue Waterholes Down the Hume Highway Kosciuszko N.P. … Yass, in New South Wales was the start of my journey, with my mate Bill, to Blue Waterholes…

16 Central Victoria & Alpine Country Bright, Seymour, Castlemaine and Maldon Bright in autumn is one of the most beautiful places to visit in Victoria’s alpine country, but…

12 Basic photo enhancement using Photoshop Elements 11 Here’s an easy way to add a bit of ‘punch’ and some believable sharpening to a photo.

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Eastern view of Griffith Island Lighthouse, near Port Fairy, Victoria, Australia

© ROGER NEAL

6 Bette Devine -

Yarra Ranges N.P, Wilsons Promontory N.P. Bette shares some of her scenic photos made at these and other iconic locations around Victoria.

10 Karen Willshaw Cocos (Keeling) Islands, a Territory of Australia.

Karen makes beautiful photos at her home base of Cocos (Keeling) Islands, located in the Indian Ocean.

18 D-GaP (David) Northern Territory, Victoria and Perth.

David lives in Albury, New South Wales and has a huge collection of images from all over Australia.

14 Protecting your images from theft on the world wide web …once the images are released online they are in many ways out of your hands.

Out and About around Australia - Volume 1, issue 4, January/February 2014

© ROGER NEAL

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Reader’s Portfolio

© Bette Devine

© Bette Devine

© Bette Devine

© Bette Devine

Selection of scenics by Bette Devine

Images featured on these two pages were made by Bette Devine, who lives in Victoria, Australia.

View her extensive galleries of Photo Art at: http://www.redbubble.com/people/bdevine Out and About around Australia - Volume 1, issue 4, January/February 2014

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© Bette Devine © Bette Devine

© Bette Devine

© Bette Devine

Clockwise from top left: “Mountain Haunt”, Whitehouse Creek, Victoria; “Keppels Falls #2”, Yarra Ranges N.P. Victoria; “Unfrequented”, Mornington Peninsula N.P.; “Nursery Mother”, mangroves in Westernport Bay; “inquietude”, Mt Oberon & Tidal River, Victoria; “Triplet Falls #3”, Great Otway N.P. Victoria; “Deep in the Forest”, Yarra Ranges N.P. Victoria; “Millers Landing”, Wilsons Promontory, N.P. Victoria.

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Travel and Touring

© Terry Everson

Journey to Blue Waterholes

Above: “Coolamine Homestead #2”. Located just off Long Plain Road near Blue Waterholes in the northern section of Koscziusko National Park, this preserved homestead and buildings are a reminder of rural living in the 1800`s.

A quick trip down the Hume Highway to Yass in New South Wales was the start of my journey, with my mate Bill, to Blue Waterholes, located in the northern section of the Kosciuszko National Park.

By TERRY EVERSON Yass is just one of the many towns now bypassed by the Hume Freeway. It is a town worth visiting with a streetscape of many colonial style buildings. The Tourist Information Office, fronting a well manicured park, has very helpful staff and a host of information on the town and district.

Leaving Yass we took the Wee Jasper road passing through beautiful undulating farmland and a crossing of the Murrumbidgee River. This road is very hilly at times with some steep sections to negotiate. You approach Wee Jasper by a classic wooden bridge over the Goodradigbee River.

Whilst there is not much of Wee Jasper, there is a garage come general store.

At the ‘T’ junction just after passing through the town you have a choice of two ways to drive to Tumut. We chose the left turn, which took us to the delightful Micalong Creek campground where we ended our first day. Serviced with toilets, cold showers and a scattering of picnic tables the camp area is well grassed on both sides of the creek with plenty of room for kids to play. Campfires are

permitted bring your own wood. A small fee is payable but no ranger came to collect and there did not appear to be a self-registering option.

A couple of interesting walks fan out east and west of the camp ground. To the west is Micalong Creek Gorge with numerous cascades, and toward the end a bit of rock hopping and climbing, where, in a couple of places there are handrails built into the rocks.

In warm weather, take your bathers as there are a couple of waterholes in which to savour a refreshing swim. To the east of the campground another interesting walk leads through a delightful forested area to the junction with the Goodradigbee River.

After a leisurely pack up the next morning we made our way to Tumut. There is a steep climb away from the campground and the gravel road can be a bit rough but once you reach the plateau it is an easy and enjoyable run into Tumut.

Just be aware that logging trucks use this road.

Tumut is a delightful town nestled beside the river of the same name. There is a beautiful walking

Out and About around Australia - Volume 1, issue 4, January/February 2014

track beside the riverbank and a number of fine, manicured parks with picnic facilities. It is especially picturesque in the autumn when many deciduous trees area blaze with colour. There is also a fine lookout overlooking the town.

For more information see www.visittumut.com.au Leaving Tumut we bypass Talbingo. Situated on the shores of Jounama Pondage and surrounded by beautiful mountain scenery, it is one of those towns built during construction of The Snowy Mountain Scheme.

Adjacent to the town turn off is Jounama campground, a pleasant spot well off the road. We begin our climb into the mountains along the Snowy Mountains Highway with spectacular views over the backwaters of Blowering Dam. After 85km we reach the turn off to Long Plain Road which is on the left. The road is a well maintained, gravel road suitable for most vehicles, but is closed during the winter months.

One used to be able to drive all the way to Canberra but in recent years the northern section has been closed.

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Above: This narrow path alongside Cave Creek at Blue Waterholes leads to Cave Creek Gorge, located in the northern section of Koscziusko National Park, NSW.

most of the campground was full we backtracked up the hill about 500 metres to Magpie Flat campground and had the place to ourselves.

The area around here is popular with cavers as well as bushwalkers, with a number of limestone caves to explore. The Nichols Gorge track has the most accessible caves.

Photographers will delight in the sheer limestone walls, the scenic views along the creek and the walk to Cave Creek Gorge is not to be missed, despite having to rock hop across the creek on stepping stones.

I tested out my balance before taking my camera equipment across and fell in filling my boots with water. I then put on my wading boots and waded across very smartly because, I might add, the water was very cold. <

© Terry Everson

Back on Long Plain Road it is only a couple of kilometres to the turn off to Blue Waterholes.

Between here and the end of the road is the major attraction of the historic Coolamine Homestead.

The original buildings date back to the late 1800`s but they have gradually deteriorated over time.

In 1983 a grant by the Heritage Commission assisted in the restoration of the three buildings.

A walk around the homestead both inside and out will give you an insight into how the early pioneers lived. Children will find delight in the many kangaroos that inhabit the property.

It is only four kilometres now until you reach the end of the road and the walking tracks around Blue Waterholes. The campground here is small and has basic facilities. As

© Terry Everson

It can still serve as a through road for 4WD’s via Broken Cart Fire Trail. A feature of this road on the way to Blue Waterholes is the historic cattleman huts and the beautiful restored Coolamine Homestead.

The first hut, built in 1916, is just three kilometres from the junction and one kilometre off the main road. This is the very substantial Long Plain Hut after which the road is named. The huts are opened for visitors to inspect and you will find the walls lined with historic newspapers.

There is a campground here with basic facilities. Twelve kilometres further on, and just off the main road, is Cooinbil Hut and the campground here is popular with horse riders as there is ample room for them to camp out and allow their horses to graze.

© Terry Everson

© Terry Everson

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Above: View of the Blowering Dam, taken from the Snowy Mountain Highway between Tumut and Talbingo. This is part of The Snowy Mountain Scheme, NSW.

Above: “Long Plain Hut”. Located just off the Long Plain Road in the northern section of the Kosciuzco National Park southern NSW, Australia.

Above: Micalong Creek Gorge is an interesting walk from the camp ground at Micalong Creek just south of Wee Jasper in southern NSW, Australia.

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Cocos (Keeling) Islands by Karen Willshaw

© KAREN WILLSHAW

© KAREN WILLSHAW

© KAREN WILLSHAW

© KAREN WILLSHAW

© KAREN WILLSHAW

Reader’s Portfolio

Images featured on these two pages were made by Karen Willshaw who lives on Cocos (Keeling) Islands, an external Territory of Australia. View her extensive galleries of Photo Art at: http://www.redbubble.com/people/karengerhard Out and About around Australia - Volume 1, issue 4, January/February 2014

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© KAREN WILLSHAW © KAREN WILLSHAW Clockwise from top left: “The Surfboard”, day’s end at ‘The Spot’; “Light of Dawn” on Yacht Club beach; “Jetty of Dreams”, at Daydream Island; “A Walk on the Beach” abstract image; “No Means to Escape”, a corridor in abstract; “Peek-a Boo”, pink Anemone fish; “Just Fish”, schooling yellow-spot bream.

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Photo Ideas

Basic photo enhancement using layers in Photoshop Elements 11

In our November/December issue we showed an easy way to make panorama images, finishing up with a final image composed and cropped the way we wanted it.

However, that final image could do with a little bit of ‘punch’ and sharpening added. Every photographer will have their own way of doing this but, here is one easy way, using layers in Photoshop Elements (PSE).

Re-open PSE in ‘Expert’ mode and open the master .psd file of the final panorama.

One way to do this is by darkening or intensifying items at top and bottom of the frame.

Go back to the Layer drop down menu and choose Layer>New>Layer. You will be presented with a New Layer window. Name this ‘gradient top’ and click the OK button.

A new gradient top transparent layer is added to the Layers pallete.

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Go to the Layer drop down menu and choose Layer>Flatten Image.

The Layers palette now shows all layers merged together as one Background image.

We want to cause viewers to focus on the islands (our key subjects), by making them appear to be brighter within the frame.

Now choose the gradient tool from the DRAW panel in the tools menu.

Ensure that Black is the foreground colour selected at bottom of tools menu and that settings for this tool match the image below. The cursor will look like a small cross.

Position the cursor centre and just outside frame of the image then drag cursor down across the image until about one third of the way in. Let go of the cursor and you should see a graduated Black overlay on the image, similar to the following example.

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At this stage I prefer to blend the gradient into the image, rather than leave it as a black overlay. Click on Normal at top of Layer palette to access blending modes and select Soft Light.

Choose Layer>New>Layer again and repeat the above steps to create a ‘gradient bottom’ on the image.

Your photo will now look similar to this.

To change the intensity of a gradient, click on and highlight the layer then, either enter a value into the

percentage (%) box or click the arrow to right of this to access a slider which enables you to vary the intensity to suit your preference.

As the final step in adjusting a photo, and to ensure it looks good when printed on photo paper, the file should be ‘sharpened’. Ink jet printers are the most common form of output device used to obtain quality prints of photos.

However, any ink-jet output will always look a little bit ‘less sharp’ when compared to what you see on

your monitor, therefore some degree of sharpening is necessary. But, excessive or obvious sharpening can spoil rather than enhance a photo.

An alternative to using any of the Sharpen filters in PSE (or Photoshop) is to apply a Hi Pass filter effect to the image. This gives the appearance of a sharper image without any halos of fringing being accidentally added.

Highlight the Background layer and duplicate it (Layer>Duplicate Layer) re-naming it as Hi Pass (or leave it as Background Copy). Then choose Filter>Other>Hi Pass.

In the Hi Pass window insert a value in the Radius box for the pixels. I find a value between 6 and 12 suits

most images. If a high value looks wrong don’t worry, the effect can be reduced by reducing the Opacity of this layer.

Click the OK button. Your image will now look something like this (with preview size enlarged).

Change the blending mode to Overlay, Soft Light or Hard Light – which ever you prefer – and adjust the Opacity until the effect looks good without being too obvious.

When happy with your adjustments, do a Save As in .psd format, re-naming the file so as to not overwrite the original panorama .psd file. <

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Photo Ideas

Protecting your images from theft on the world wide web

Despite the time, care, and effort that goes into crafting your images and protecting them as best you can, once the images are released online they are in many ways out of your hands and unleashed upon the whole spectrum of morality found on the Web. So how do you give your images their best fighting chance of remaining your images once they are online?

The first step is to use image management software before uploading. This involves tagging your images with appropriate metadata such as copyright, author, website URL, and contact details.

A specific copyright notice that the images are unauthorized for use without licensing is also advisable so that anyone who downloads it knows that a) it is not free to use and b) they know where to find you if they want to see more.

law regarding orphan works, which effectively serves to strip photographers of the standard copyright protection traditionally afforded to their work.

The new law states that if a work is found online and the author is not apparent, a ‘diligent search’ must be performed to track down the rightful owner. If the owner of the image cannot be located after this search and if the image hasn’t specifically been registered, the work can be considered an orphan work available for free use for almost any purpose without the owner’s knowledge or approval. (It is not impossible that other countries may choose to follow the UK’s example. Ed) Uploading your images at a lower resolution with a watermark in place is certainly recommended, as this ensures that high quality prints cannot easily be made from the files.

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Above: Example of Metadata to include in an image file

As thorough as you may be at entering this data, though, many photo-hosting (and social media) sites strip this from images during the upload process, making the efforts to protect the work before uploading fruitless.

For UK photographers in particular, this is a poignant topic in light of the new UK copyright

This is a heavily edited extract of a blog originally published in Zenfolio’s “Photographers Corner”.

Learn more - read the full article here: http://blog.zenfolio.com/blog/2013/10/ photographers-corner-protecting-your-images-onthe-world-wide-web

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Out and About around Australia - Volume 1, issue 4, January/February 2014

ROGER NEAL

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Do not let your images be stolen from social media websites

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Travel and Touring

Central Victoria and alpine country

© ROGER NEAL Above: Morses Creek, public park and picnic area just a few metres stroll from the centre of Bright.

Bright in autumn is one of the most beautiful places to visit in Victoria’s alpine country, but in the middle of a hot summer we needed somewhere cooler.

By ROGER NEAL Bright in autumn is one of the most beautiful places to visit in Victoria’s alpine country, but in the middle of a hot summer it was not one of our favourite places.

We had made the most of our stay at the Bright Holiday Park, sightseeing along the Canyon Walking Track, picnicking on the banks of Morse’s Creek,

© ROGER NEAL Above: Ovens River and The Canyon Walking Track.

playing tourists in the town centre and generally having a welcome, relaxing time. Weather conditions were becoming too hot for us so, after two delightful nights we were beginning to think about moving on and finding somewhere cooler in central Victoria.

Also, when a couple of blokes on a site not far from us proceeded to light a wood fire for no purpose other than to sit there looking at it during the night we became concerned and made the decision to definitely move on. The grass and surrounding trees at their location was tinder dry and could have burst into flames at any time.

After checking weather forecasts for the next few days we decided to head to Castlemaine where temperatures were predicted to be marginally cooler and I would be able to catch up with an old work colleague.

Taking our time we arrived at Seymour and were able to get a nice site in a caravan park right on the banks of the Goulburn River. Seymour is a bustling town about 1.5 hours drive north of Melbourne. It services the surrounding agricultural industries (mainly

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© ROGER NEAL Above: The Goulburn River at Seymour

cattle, sheep and wine) as well as the nearby military base of Puckapunyal, which is an important training centre for the Australian Army. For our overnight stop we were quite happy to relax and enjoy our views of the river.

Continuing our journey we took the road to Bendigo past Puckapunyal Military Training Facility.

Road conditions were excellent, which I am sure are due to the location of the military here. Stopping in Bendigo for a coffee and comfort break we were

pleasantly surprised to find free parking between parklands and the central shopping precinct.

Castlemaine is a pretty town with many buildings of architectural and historical interest. It also has a thriving cultural heritage that attracts many creative people to make their homes here. Anyway, we caught up with my friend and had a great time chatting over a hearty, inexpensive meal at the Railway Hotel. This place is so popular that bookings are essential – even with sittings at 6.00pm and 8.00pm each evening – we were very lucky to get a cancelled booking.

Castlemaine is an excellent base from which to make day trips out to other historical towns and villages. The most popular of these is a visit to Maldon, only 20km west. Maldon is reputed to have more buildings listed by the National Trust than any other town in Australia. Apparently it was also the first settlement in rural Victoria.

A visit to the information centre gave us a walking tour map of all the main points of historical interest within Maldon, so armed with that we set off to walk the streets and discover these sights for ourselves.

About two hours later we had seen and photographed everything we wanted to see so decided to call it a day and return to our campsite in Castlemaine.

One of our fellow travellers at the park was walking around with video camera in hand, so I asked him what he was shooting. He explained that a tourist steam train travels between Maldon and Castlemaine twice a week and was due to come past us at any moment. So we lined up to try and get some shots as it came past too. We managed to get about three frames each before the opportunity was gone <

Key Links to places visited in this story.

Bright - http://www.brightvictoria.com.au Seymour - http://www.seymourvictoria.com.au Castlemaine - http://www.visitvictoria.com/Regions/ Goldfields/Destinations/Castlemaine Maldon - http://www.visitvictoria.com/Regions/ Goldfields/Destinations/Maldon

© DENISE NEAL

© DENISE NEAL Above: War memorial and rotunda, Maldon.

Above: One example of many stately homes in Maldon.

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A collection of Australian images by D-GaP

© D-GaP

© D-GaP

© D-GaP

© D-GaP

Reader’s Portfolio

Images featured on these two pages were made by D-GaP (David) who lives in Albury, NSW, Australia. View his extensive galleries of Photo Art at: http://www.redbubble.com/people/d-gap Out and About around Australia - Volume 1, issue 4, January/February 2014

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© D-GaP © D-GaP Clockwise from top left: “Lake Argyle Island”, a breathtaking part of the Northern Territory; “King’s Canyon - Base”, overlooking a dry creek bed; “Dry Creek Bed - Eastern McDonald Ranges NT”, a lovely location in the Northern Territory; “Fairy Plant”, experimenting with a macro lens; “Reflections of Autumn”, dry pond at Mt Beauty, Victoria; “Macro Flower 1”, taken in a Perth garden.

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Useful links to sites featured in this issue

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Bette Devine’s Art Photo Products: Greeting Cards, Postcards, Photo Prints, Framed Prints, Canvas Prints, Mounted Prints, Matted Prints. http://www.redbubble.com/people/bdevine

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Karen Willshaw’s Art Photo Products: Greeting Cards, Postcards, Photo Prints, Framed Prints, Canvas Prints, Mounted Prints, Matted Prints. http://www.redbubble.com/people/karengerhard

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D-GaP’s Art Photo Products: Greeting Cards, Postcards, Photo Prints, Framed Prints, Canvas Prints, Mounted Prints, Matted Prints. http://www.redbubble.com/people/d-gap

Tumut Visitors Centre, NSW (Blue Waterholes) http://www.visittumut.com.au/

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Bright - Victoria http://www.brightvictoria.com.au

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Seymour - Victoria http://www.seymourvictoria.com.au

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Castlemaine - Victoria http://www.visitvictoria.com/Regions/Goldfields/Destinations/Castlemaine

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Maldon - Victoria http://www.visitvictoria.com/Regions/Goldfields/Destinations/Maldon

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Zenfolio “Photographer’s Corner” (Image theft) http://blog.zenfolio.com/blog/2013/10/photographers-corner-protectingyour-images-on-the-world-wide-web

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