January 2019 - Various

"Male King Parrot, Eudlo, Queensland."

A morning sun briefly peeking out from behind clouds casts a pleasant modelling light on this fella. The differential focus adds a little more depth as well. (Nikon D750, 150-600mm Tamron zoom lens, Nikon SB 900 Speedlight flash. Orton Effect - a blend of softening and sharpening - and some vignetting via Luminar 2018.)

"Male King Parrot, Eudlo, Queensland. Impressionist painting."

Here's a version I painted in Topaz Studio that I slapped up after posting the previous photo and then thinking an acrylic, oil paint or palette knife artist would love a subject like this. Some masking was used to bring back details.

"Gull Wings."

The geometry of the wings of birds, to my eye, includes some of the most beautiful and elegant lines and curvatures in all of Nature. Look closely at this image and see if you agree. (Original image re-worked using an Analog Efex Pro 2 Classic Camera filter from the Nik collection.)

"Receding Storm, Pinnacles Desert, Western Australia."

Rather than retreat to shelter, I chose to get soaked and waited until a rare rainstorm passed to get this shot. Photographed in 2013, our plan is to return there (and points north like the Kimberley region) this year in Rosie the mighty Land Rover Discovery and Aretha the Franklin caravan. WA is full of such wild beauty but have only seen a fraction of it.

Dragonfly, Broken River, Queensland.

The dragonfly is set against a sandy stretch of Broken River, via Eungella, north Queensland. (Original photo given a slight grunge effect in Luminar 2018.)

Platypus, Broken River, via Eungella, north Queensland

Broken River is a good place to see a platypus in NQ. Platypuses are crepuscular animals i.e. most active around dawn and especially dusk. They can be nocturnal or diurnal though, depending on water temperature, breeding, human activity and food supply. This one was seen around 6 p.m., about 500 metres downstream from the car park.

"The Hills of Arkaba, Flinders Ranges, South Australia."

The Arkaba Hills in the foreground, with the massive ramparts of the Elder Range towering behind, were a favourite subject of Sir Hans Heysen (1877 - 1968) and feature in some of his finest work. Heysen had a great love for the Flinders Ranges where, in his own words, he found " . . . the bones of nature laid bare." (Pano stitched from four separate shots in Photoshop CC 2019. The sky was cloudless - the bane of landscape photographers - so I replaced it with one from my library of cloud pix. Message me if you want my 12 step notes on how I do this for landscape skies, or backgrounds of portraits, in about two to five minutes by efficiently capitalising on the latest Photoshop CC tools.)

"The Hills of Arkaba, Flinders Ranges, South Australia."

Re-worked using Prisma Gothic filter on an iPad.

Set to soar on a warm wind, Flinders Ranges, South Australia.

"Arkaba Hills, Elder Range, Flinders Ranges, SA."

(Original photo rendered using an iPad loaded with Prisma Gothic Filters - both SD and HD used and blended selectively in Photoshop - followed by more work on an iMac: including selective partial cloning in of original image, enhanced with Golden Hour effect from Luminar, and final sharpening.)

"Doe Sketching at the Mouth of Margaret River, WA."

Impressionist swirled paint effect created using Topaz Studio.

'Gull and Passing Storm.'

Cape Leeuwin, Western Australia. It was here in December 1801 Capt. Matthew Flinders R.N. sighted land in H.M.S. Investigator and commenced his mapping of the Australian coast. (Original photo re-worked with Impressionist brushes in Studio Artist with a little masking via Photoshop CC2019 to restore some original details.)

"Old Man Emu and His Chicks."

Photographed in a creek bed north of Bunyeroo Gorge, on the way to Wilpena Pound, in the Flinders Ranges. Unlike most birds, emus breed in winter and not spring. And in another reversal, it's the broody males that spend uncomfortable winter weeks on the nest, without food or drink, before doing sole parent duty for the next year and a half! (Edited in DxO PhotoLab.)

"Old Man Emu and His Chicks." Uncropped.

"Townsville Strand and Cape Pallarenda by Early Morning Light."

The oblique rays of the rising sun, rather than the more orthogonal beams of later in the day, reveal and soften the contours of Cape Pallarenda. (Original photo captured on my Olympus OMD EM1 and painted with a swirled brush in Topaz Studio, with further tweaking in ON1 Enhance 10.)

Full Moon January 20 2019

Full Moon - With Embellishments.

Meditate on this if you are up for drifting into a contemplative mood. (Combined an ocean vista, with a touch of fog, and a white comet image with a snapshot of last evening's full moon. Nikon D750, Tamron 150-600mm. Processing: iPad Pro, Reflect and Alien Sky apps.)

Blue Comet, Shooting Star, Full Moon & Foggy Sea.

16:9 format.