Capture the Moment

with UNCLE DICK STEIN

We Love Photography

SUE JOUBERT - WITHNELL POINT, DIRK HARTOG ISLAND, WA

Well done Sue! You’ve won a

There’s no more satisfying feeling for a travelling photographer than capturing a good sunrise or sunset - apart from the one when you finally get off the World’s Worst Track with your sump and diff intact. But you can read the rest of the magazine for that … The winner of this issue’s Camera Electronic voucher is Sue Joubert who captured this beautiful panoramic image at Withnell Point on Dirk Hartog Island. If you Google this as I did you’ll find it on the eastern side of the island looking onto Shark Bay. Keep looking at the map of the island and note that it is not just wilderness - there is an airport, camps, beaches, and a number of tracks running to various points. It’s still an island, however, so if you wanted to get a 4WD over to it you’d need to go to the barge landing and ferry over.

$200

GIFT VOUCHER

from

Or take a boat, as in the picture. If you want to trail your hand romantically in the water, remember that it is named Shark Bay for a reason. Now the picture. It’s true panorama as it has an aspect ratio of 1:2.2. Sue has been extra careful to get the horizon level - one of the still-mechanical aspects of digital photography - and positioned the boat perfectly to add interest to the scene. The colours are everything we want from the meeting of sea, sky and sun, and fortunately her camera has enough dynamic

range in the sensor and processor to avoid blowing out the sunburst. The black of the foreground is natural and perfect, and there is still a hint of atmospheric haze in the distance to give an impression of space. Now the selling begins. If Sue got to Dirk Hartog in a 4WD on the barge, she might have taken her camera in a gadget bag, and quite safely, too. Modern bags can be very well-constructed and provide good protection against road dust and knocks. But if she arrived on that little boat - chased by sharks or not - she needed a bit better protection for the electronic gear. Cameras and water are natural enemies. Sue, would it be a good idea to spend your Camera Electronic voucher on a Pelican case? You can get small ones that will protect just the camera, medium ones that will take it and an extra lens, or really big ones that can carry complete computers, cameras, batteries, and video rigs. The writer of this column has a really, really big one that he uses for pro gear that’s so tough he can stand on it to shoot over crowds. If ever he was thrown off a boat with it, it would be a life raft. Pelicans are pretty near indestructible and mean that your expensive photo gear inside them is safe.

Send us a photo for some tips and you could win a

$200 VOUCHER from

Email photos to: submissions@western4wdriver.com.au

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