A Travel Blog - One photographer's journey with the Canon EOS 5 Series DSLR Cameras and Lenses

There are only three locations in Perth where you can shoot the city's skyline in all it's glory.  The first and most famous location is from Fraser's Avenue in Kings Park and Botanical Gardens.  However, that viewpoint has been shot to death.  Everybody who has ever been to Perth has already shot from that viewpoint.  The second location is from Sir James Mitchell Park in South Perth.  This viewpoint offers a different perspective of the city reflected from one of the three small lakes across the park.  The third location is from Mends Street Jetty, also in South Perth.


Mends Street Jetty is only a 10 minutes drive from the apartment that we always rent when we are in Perth.  Getting to Mends Street Jetty is only a matter of punching in "Mends St Jetty" in Garmin and the GPS will get you there in no time.  The view from Mends Street Jetty offers the classic view of the Perth Skyline reflected across the Swan Rivers.  I think the best time to shoot this location is during the weekdays at sunset.  Although the setting sun will not be in the frame, this timing is perfect as the lights from the buildings will be at it's maximum during this period.  Shoot this location during sunrise or weekends and you will find that the lights from the buildings will not be fully lighted.


The above image was shot at the Mends Street Jetty area during the autumn of 2012.  As the sun was setting behind me towards the left, it was impossible for me to include the sun in the frame.  I had waited for a good thirty minutes until the ambient light had balanced with the artificial lights of the building.  This had ensured that the contrast of the scene was manageable without needing any fanciful filtration techniques.  I was careful to expose for the brightest part of the sky without blowing out the highlights.  From there, the highlight exposure was pushed towards the far right as possible using the "Expose To The Right" or ETTR technique.  This had ensure that the details in the shadow or the darkest part of the scene had contained details and not rendered as pure black.


EOS 5D Mk II / EF 7-200 mm. F2.8 L USM Lens.

The view of Lake Tekapo, Mac Kenzie Region, New Zealand from the compounds of the Church of the Good Shephard.


EOS 5DS R / Lens EF17-40mm f/4L USM

Just two and a half hours drive south of Perth, the Busselton Jetty is situated at the northern gateway to the Margaret River Wine Region, in the seaside resort town of Busselton.  Extending 1.8 kilometres over the protected waters of Geographe Bay, the heritage listed Busselton Jetty is the longest timber-piled jetty in the Southern Hemisphere.  As one of the most popular tourist attractions in Western Australia, it is a must see for any visitor to the Capes Region.


The Busselton Jetty which is overlooking the Geographe Bay is a must visit destination everytime we are in Perth.  The journey to Busselton is not difficult - unlike Malaysia, the roads in Western Australia are relaxing, easy and most important, toll-free.  I woke up extremely early in the freezing winters of Western Australia just to shoot the sunrise at Busselton.  It was a ten minutes drive from our apartment to this location.  Due to the freezing temperature, I had the location all to myself.  Using The Photographer's Ephemeris (TPE) apps, I knew that the sun would be rising in front of me and behind the Busselton Jetty.  To get this angle, I had to wade half-way out of the sea - risking extreme frostbite at my legs due to the icy seawaters.


As I was constantly battling the extreme weather and winds, I had to complete this shoot as fast as possible.  If not, there would be one dead photographer floating on the shores of Busselton later.  Within 10 minutes, I had wrapped up the shoot and making my way out of the waters to head back home.  Any longer, I would have succumbed to frostbite and that will be the end of my adventures in Western Australia.


EOS 5D MK II / Lens 24-70 mm f/2.80 (L) USM

EOS 5D Mk II / Lens EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

The Indiana Coffeehouse in Cottesloe Beach is one of Western Australia's most famous viewpoints.  It is situated along the Sunset Strip overlooking the Indian Ocean.  To reach Cottesloe Beach, a 20 minutes drive from the town of Fremantle is necessary.  I have been to Perth four times in a span of five years and have never failed to visit this location on every visit.


This was my fourth time to this same location.  For this visit, I wanted to shoot the Indiana Coffeehouse during the blue hours of twilight.  I am extremely familiar with this location so much so that a recce was not necessary.  It was a 10 minutes walk from the parking spot.  I swear that I could still see my tripod marks from my three earlier visits.  The tripod was balanced precariously on top of slippery rocks just below the bridge at the far end of Cottesloe.  The coffeehouse was positioned off-center, using the Rules of 3rds compositional concept.  Sigh-Ray's 105 mm LB Warming Polarizer filter completed the set-up.  From there, it was a wait of around one hour for the sunset lighting to be almost perfect.  The very faint magenta tone in the sky was a bonus.


In Western Australia daylight ends pretty fast.  It was after dark when I had completed the shoot.  There was still another 10 minutes walk to the car park.  As temperatures were dropping pretty fast even during the summer, I wasted no time in packing up - the thought of walking back alone in the dark at minus 10 degrees Celsius did not appeal to me at all.  Since that summer in 2015, I had not returned to Perth ever since.  I have now shifted my sights to the South Island of New Zealand for more adventures.


EOS 5DS R / Lens EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM

The temple of Pura Luhur Poten in the Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park is situated in a vast plains halfway towards the volcanic crater of Mount Batok.  It was an arduous 40 minutes trek from the entrance of the park before we arrived at this location.  What had made this trek even more laborious was the choking sulfuric ashes that was spewing out of Mount Batok's crater - making this trek even the more impossible.  Our eyes were red and watery and our lungs felt like bursting just by breathing in the sulfuric fumes.  The freezing cold weather also did not help us much.


As with all Milky Way shoots, it was completely dark upon arriving at this location and we really did not know what was in front of us while making this shot.  We only knew that a temple was in front of us - the shape and size of the temple was an unknown element.  Manual focusing had to be made in pitch darkness.  Small torchlight was used to enable the camera to lock focus before switching back to the manual focusing mode.  Shooting the Milky Way is completely a "hit and miss" affair - I was just pressing the shutter with various combinations of ISOs, Shutter Values and Aperture Openings, just hoping that one exposure out of the hundreds would work.


In post processing, the White Balance, contrast and clarity of this exposure was adjusted to enhance the stars and the milky way.  A slight post sharpening using Nik's Output Sharpener was used.  Localized adjustment in Lightroom was used to selectively brighten the temple and to ensure that the temple had stood out from the completely dark background.


EOS 5DS R / Lens EF 17-40 mm f/4.0 L USM