Thread: Summer in the Victorian Alps.

G'day....just wanted to share some shots I took over these most recent summer holidays. Took these up in Victorian alpine country, a part of Australia that I try to visit 2 or 3 times a year...and more if its a good ski season. It's a stunning piece of country, much of it untouched and pristine and nestled in the valleys beneath these mountain ranges are some gorgeous little towns, many of which in recent years have reinvented themselves as gourmet food and wine destinations. I tend to come up this way for a spot of wild trout fishing, snowboarding and even when nothing is on, I'll still come up with friends just to get away from the big city and I've been doing so for 20 years. Unfortunately though, much of the area you now see is currently being ravaged by a massive bush fire which has been raging for a month and has already taken several lives. I plan to go back this coming Easter.

These mountains form the bottom tip if what we call 'The Great Dividing Range' which continues for well over another 1000kms to the north.


All images with the EM5 and lenses as marked.



1. EM5 & PL Summilux 25mm

Rollasons Falls swimming hole. by Livnius, on Flickr




2. EM5 & PL Summilux 25mm

Rollasons Falls. by Livnius, on Flickr




3. EM5 & PL Summilux 25mm

Razorback Ridge to Mt Feathertop. by Livnius, on Flickr




4. EM5 & PL Summilux 25mm

Derelict shed. Dinner Plain. by Livnius, on Flickr




5. EM5 & PL Summilux 25mm

Country mail box. by Livnius, on Flickr




6. EM5 & PL Summilux 25mm

Mt Hotham lookout. by Livnius, on Flickr




7. EM5 & PL Summilux 25mm
(This town is currently on the fires front line. 2 firefighters lost their lives here only days ago.)

Harrietville Church. by Livnius, on Flickr




8. EM5 & PL Summilux 25mm

Ovens Valley windmill. by Livnius, on Flickr




9. EM5 & Oly 45

Ovens Valley fence. by Livnius, on Flickr




10. EM5 & Oly 45

Stoned. by Livnius, on Flickr




11. EM5 & PL Summilux 25mm

Alpine Hang-glider. by Livnius, on Flickr




12. EM5 & Pana 14mm

The Gorge. Looking down. by Livnius, on Flickr




13. EM5 & Pana 14mm

Lake Catani. by Livnius, on Flickr




14. EM5 & Pana 14mm

Mt Buffalo Backcountry 2. by Livnius, on Flickr




15. EM5 & Pana 14mm

Horn lookout 2. by Livnius, on Flickr




16. EM5 & Pana 14mm

Mt Buffalo Backcountry. by Livnius, on Flickr




17. EM5 & Oly 75mm

Stud Bulls. Buckland Valley. by Livnius, on Flickr




18. EM5 & PL Summilux 25mm

Cattle farm beneath Mt Buffalo. by Livnius, on Flickr




19. EM5 & PL Summilux 25mm

Rollasons Falls Flora. by Livnius, on Flickr




20. EM5 & Pana 14mm

Ladies Baths Falls. by Livnius, on Flickr




21. EM5 & Oly 75mm

Sinclairs Hole. by Livnius, on Flickr




22. EM5 & Pana 14mm

Ladies Baths. Ante & Alana. by Livnius, on Flickr




23. EM5 & PL Summilux 25mm

At the foot of Mt Buffalo by Livnius, on Flickr

great shots, and i really like your processing!

Great shots and indeed, great processing (how on earth did you do that?!) of a stunning place. If only it wasn't so very far away and full of bitey things!

Joe, as always, you take some stunning photos! I enjoyed looking at all the photos. Sad to hear about the two firefighters who lost their lives ...

The processing is awesome as well. But processing is only good if the image is good to begin with. Well done mate!

Given all the compliments you get all the time for your work, how about a thread with step by step directions on how you process some of your photos? Inquiring minds would love to learn!

What a time you had! I'm going to look more deeply as I can via your Flickrstream. Clearly your summer was fantastic!

Very nice photos Joe. I love the clean lines of the B&W church and also the light and contrast and spirit that comes through in the 2 ladies bathing. Looks like a great time. Although that guy perched out on that rock is terrifying to look at!

-Ray

Love love love them, Joe. Aussie summer beautifully portrayed. Its not always about the beach and you have captured the rest of it wonderfully.

Really like #5 and 13 and another thumbs up for the PP - a very nice look you have going.

Thanks guys...appreciate the feedback.


@Heather.
Don't let the odd Red Back spider, Tiger snake, Great White shark or Bluebottle jellyfish scare you off from paying us a visit ;)

@Sue.
Agreed, our beaches are great no doubt and I do like to spend a few days at the beach each summer, but I'm drawn to mountains, summer and especially winter too.

@Ray.
Yeah that guy was a trip, he was so chilled kicking back on that edge, listening to some tunes and taking some iphone snaps...he didnt seem to be phased at all by that 200 foot drop ! The shot below is another take and perhaps put the scene into better perspective.



Stoned (ii) by Livnius, on Flickr





@Armando.
Thanks mate. I usually process my images in the same way. Once the RAW files have been imported into lightroom and I've selected the keepers I'll individually go through each image, crop and make highlight/shadow adjustments. By this stage I've got a good idea of the type of look I want so I'll apply the preset that most closely represents that look...lately my flavour of the month has been a preset called "Fuji Tone" that came with the VSCO Film pack I recently purchased. Once the preset has been applied I will tweak quite a lot...NR, sharpening, saturation, curves, color channels, clarity etc...essentially i tweak until I've cooked up something I like. This now customized preset becomes my base formula and I will then batch apply it to the whole set. Every image is different so I most likely will have to re-tweak the odd thing a little again. At this point i will probably begin applying the adjustment brush where required to finish an image off, perhaps a little clarity/structure on clouds or select dodge/burn, here or there just to accentuate something (or hide something even). Depending on a whole host of things I may run an image through one of the Nik plugi-ins. Even though I do like to keep a relatively common PP theme to a set every so often an image screams out for something different like #7 from this set which worked out quite well in mono and the final image where a slightly more moody/dark look was applied. I suppose many people would think my process to be over the top perhaps, but I actually enjoy the 'digital darkroom' aspect of creating an image.

Wow, amazing photos, amazing country! Love the mail box, Oven's Valley fence and Sinclair's Hole.