Pictures are up from SnRSeattle's OZ TWO trip
 

We got some recommendations over on the Fodorite's Lounge for Picasa as a platform for posting our pictures on the web. It took a bit of work, but we have some ready for viewing. We, of course, have tons more pictures, but we only put up the representative 82 in this album. Photos of Fodorites not included, but I think the people and places album might be the next to be created (with permission, of course.) Here's the website:
http://picasaweb.google.com/rhs8453

Happy viewing and questions happily answered.
Sally in Seattle, where it snowed yesterday but rained all day today

By the way, we have Pat W. to thank for nudging us to get hopping on posting the pictures. Thanks, Pat!
S in S

Wow Sally, what amazing pics!

And what a brilliant Oz Two trip you cobbled together. The aboriginal rock painting and underwater shots were superb - so pleased you had the snorkelling adventure you were hoping for.

Brought back such fond memories of our trip through the region; thanks to you and Randy ((f)) for all the time taken to post your detailed reports and the superduper pics with equally detailed captions!

Well done, SnR :D

Jackie

Great pictures Sally! Are you using an underwater camera or do you have a housing for your regular camera?

Sally,
Your pictures are absolutely wonderful! Amazing in fact! Thank you so much for sharing them. Having read your trip reports, they really make the whole journey come alive!

I, too, am especially amazed by your underwater pictures. Did you use a special flash? Everything looks so clear and bright!

Thanks for the compliments on the pictures. We have a case for our Panasonic Lumix TZ3. The best pictures underwater were because of excellent conditions--shallow water and sunny. Some of the pictures were enhanced with Photo Shop Elements (contrast and brightness.) Randy takes 99.9% of the pictures, so I'll pass on the compliments to him.
Sally in Seattle, wishing we were taking more pictures in Oz right now

Great to see your shots, Sally. And compliments to Randy.

I did nudge you a bit to post your pics because its so refreshing to find people who will "get off the beaten tourist track" as you two did. Love the shots of the Quinkan rock art, in particular.

I know you've more up your sleeve, so keep them coming...

Sally - Great pictures, but where are the pictures of the cassowaries?

Oh, I forgot - never mind.

Thanks for sharing! We also have a Panasonic Lumix TZ3 with an underwater case, but we haven't used it yet. Any tips or problems with it? Did you use the underwater setting for the camera or a faster shutter speed, or did you just ask the turtle to stand still for you?

Barbara, I hate to tell you this, but we had all kinds of trouble with our camera, and had to buy a new one in Australia, and now IT is being flakey. I think it might have been the charger not working properly with the plug converter because the electronics got messed up and the camera refused to work after we had charged the batteries in Oz. It worked perfectly for us in the States from April when we bought it until October when we went to Australia. We bought a new camera there since we had the underwater case after much anguishing about the price. We tried the new battery in the old camera but it wouldn't work. But guess what, it works now! The local camera store said that we should still send it in to Panasonic since the electronics might still be messed up. The new camera won't open completely--the handy dandy built in lens cover has to be opened the last step manually. I think my advice to you is to buy an Australian charger as soon as you get there (but I don't really know if that is the problem, or if we just got a dud.) This is really weird because camera people have told us that this camera is the best one out there. And as you can see it takes great photos. We used the underwater setting and just got lucky with some of the shots. Randy also took many, many pictures! That turtle was luck, wasn't it? Also we went in the water so many times that we were bound to get at least some good pix out of it! The camera is really sweet when it works and I hope that yours works well for you.
Sally in Seattle, which was flooded most everywhere yesterday

We also had camera problems in Australia and N.Z. I brought our newer camera with me and it wasn't behaving (even after buying a new battery in Australia), so I had my husband bring our other camera when he joined me a couple of weeks later, and it stopped working. We, too, finally bought a new camera. We got one that takes AA batteries. Have others had this problem?

Wow - that's discouraging about the camera. I guess I'll have to plan my whole trip around getting the dive pictures first while the batteries are still charged and working - I have a spare, so that should help. We'll have to do Cairns first and then Sydney.

Did you use a silica pack everytime you used your underwater housing?

Thanks!

Barbara

Such a co-incidence; we too splurged on a new camera for our rtw trip, and after weeks of intensive research by BP – who’s the photography expert - acquired a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 through duty-free in Sydney. (The refund was immediately spent buying duty-free booze ;) so it never left the airport.)

The camera itself is made in Japan, but interestingly, the battery recharger included with the camera, is made in China.

We had no problems recharging, armed with an arsenal of adaptors, at any of our destinations and had no problems whatsoever with Sir Lumix. Achieved some amazing pics, and gallant BP even voted one I - the photography ignoramus - took of the Waipio valley from Polulu Lookout on Big Island as the Best in Show.

And thanks Pat, for nudging the SnR's to post the pics ... now I'm pondering if I should post a 'representative' selection of our trip. How easy was that picasaweb to work with, Sally?

Thunderstorms and lightning here,
Jackie

Jackie - I definitely think the "Best in Show" needs posting. Along with any posing turtles you may have. I'm glad to hear you didn't have any problems. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Jackie, I am soooo happy to hear you didn't have trouble with your Lumix TZ3. Maybe there is hope once ours is repaired. Please post your pix for us to drool. Picassa is so easy (and free!) The fun part was attaching the "geotags" which put your pictures where you took them on Google Earth. I thought when DH suggested it, oh, what a geeky thing to do, but we both really got into it and zoomed in to put the pix in as close to exactly the place it was taken as we could. Other people's great pix are on Google Earth, also (though some people weren't as AR as we were about location--and I am sure that some of ours aren't exact, either). You first get Picassa (which whenever you open it, will zip through all your pictures on your hard drive, but dont' panic because it leaves them there, just somehow gets them into Picassa.) Then you download their Web Albums, but it is all easy and self-explanatory, I even did it myself. Then type in your captions, save, and tell us your URL! The hard part is deciding which photos will make the cut. We went back and forth between telling the story and photographic excellence, and I think some of the former got left out.
Sally

Thanks for all the info on the picasa website, Sally. Indeed, we had no problems - only joy - with our Lumix TZ3, but then again, we never ventured underwater! BP did have a second camera, an Olympus - and that one karked it with volcanic dust at VNP, with the lens stuck in extended mode for the rest of the trip!

You guys must have spent hours/days sorting, uploading, captioning, map-plotting etc – so if I go the picasa route, it’ll be ages before I’ve finished. So just for you and Barbara, I’ve uploaded the BP-acclaimed Bestin Show so you don’t need wait to see how our Lumix TZ3 functioned ;).

I should add, it was drizzling and windy, I was standing on a cliff edge at Polulu Lookout, holding the camera ‘round the corner’ and BP was muttering “That won’t turn out, it’s too dark, change your setting and take it from over here ...” which advice I ignored completely with a “so what - if it doesn’t turn out, I’ll simply delete it.”

His usual admonition of “hold the camera still” was no longer required with TZ3’s anti-jitter function, (love how it’s called Optical Image Stabilizer) which was one of the features that sealed the deal for BP. Although a couple of times it <i>almost</i> slipped out due to years of habit.

When we downloaded the pic on the mini-lappie, BP was stunned – he ate his words with supreme good grace, claiming ... so atmospheric, so other-worldly, and so – in his words – bloody brilliant. His blue-ribbon prize was probably influenced by the fact he didn’t expect it to come out at all; there are are many other more deserving ‘spectacular’ shots in the thousands that we took.

http://tinyurl.com/ynr6p3


But I am happy to wear the ‘Best’ mantle – although the pic itself will probably be a disappointment for others, who are fully entitled to go ‘pfffft’.

And yes Barbara, we have pics of turtles too ..... cousins of Sally’s mob up north, resting on the black rocky beach at Punalu’u.

http://tinyurl.com/2qrp23

I took this one too! BP pretty impressed I managed a sharp, clear close-up which I usually blur using the Olympus. I took the credit but really, it's Sir Lumix wot done it.

Sorry to hijack your thread, Sally - but turtles demanded it, lol.

Jackie

ooo, I love turtle pictures! I even have a turtle collection. Thanks for posting it, also the atmospheric lovely pix of Hawai'i. You have to tell us what BP stands for, though, I have been racking my brain. You don't have to do the geotags (although they are fun) and you can pick and choose among your pix for the uploads, so it shouldn't take too long--you could at least post a subset, like maybe the Australia and NZ ones for this board, hint hint. Yes, when the Lumix is working, it is really sweet.
Sally

Jackie - thanks for posting the great pictures. That turtle was huge!

I think you should post the geotag. I want to see you hanging over that edge! I didn't notice Sally's, now I'll have to go back and learn.

Randy, here, replying to Barbara in re using a silica pack with the TZ3 in the underwater case - yes, I did have one in place at all times. The camera never got wet and there were no signs of sand or other debris that might have contaminated it. I'm really stumped as to why the thing went flaky and then froze with the lens barrel extended.
And regarding picture quality, while Picassa does do a very nice job of enhancing, I found it dropped the number of bits (size of the file or resolution size of the pic) substantially. Not a problem for only posting on the web, but if you want to blow up a super shot for a large wall photo, you'd be much better off using Photo Shop elements and save in jpg (NOT Photoshop) format. The Elements version won't lose any resolution, and won't explode in size like the Photoshop format.
And as to the time I took culling and editing our pics, yep, 2300 + pics took quite some time, but it helped me relive our experience, and the end result was most satisfying.
Hope this helps.
P.S. Christmas holiday preps. will probably delay me, but I'm considering putting up an album of just Aboriginal are, from this year and 2004. We've lots of terrific shots that enthusiasts might enjoy.

Randy - thanks for the info. Did you buy more silica packs, or just reuse the same one. I don't really know where I would buy them.

Your pictures are fabulous Sally.
Thank you for sharing.
You certainly covered a lot of ground on your travels.
You and your husband have probably seen more of Australia than half the population.
Cheers.