The idea was to visit the gardens to see what they'd planted under their hibiscus. We've an area that we've just started to plant and thought hibiscus could be good, but what to plant with them? Where better to get ideas than Auckland's Botanic Gardens?
It was a lovely evening. I was sure there was going to be a sunset so headed to a place where I'd get good views. I was there ready, but the sky didn't seem to be doing anything worthwhile so I set off home. Walking down the hill the sky became quite dramatic, and I was now in the wrong place! Instead of atop the hill wit great views I was on the street surrounded by houses! The shot in this post is the best I could do at the time. Nine shot HDR processed in Photomatix Pro.
Next time, I'll wait for it to go dark before I leave my viewpoint :-)
Regular trips along the Southern Motorway heading north have presented lovely views over the estuary to the west. The clouds have been wonderful, but never have I had a chance to stop and take a photo. Monday night I had a chance. Not much time, and truth be told I made a complete hash of taking the shot! 50mm lens, and everything set manual. I was really looking for a multi-shot HDR image, but failed dismally on that score. The image you see is a single shot image (the best of the five). I noticed flare more prominent on some of the brighter images, so settled for a single shot picture. The colours aren't fake ... this is just as it was.
The dark area is probably best left as it is as it disguises the houses, roads and traffic signs! The water, I think, looks lovely. What do you think?
I usually walk all over these little shells on the way to something "more important". Bearing in mind my previous post, time to look at what you're racing past, there's often something of beauty or interest right underneath your feet. What do you think. Should I have kept on walking, or was it worthwhile stopping and taking a shot?
I've been trying to get to grips with my 50mm prime lens to see how it performs at different apertures and how capable I am at holding it steady at different shutter speeds. I'm not convinced my hands are as steady as they once were, or perhaps I've just become accustomed to VR? Using the 50mm lens made me think of doing the 50 shots in 50 days with a 50mm lens challenge. I'm still thinking. Do I modify the images, or do 50 uncropped, unprocessed images for 50 days? This seems like a good challenge!
I think you'll agree has detail lacking in the clouds. Surprising to me was that detail had not been lost in what appear to be blown out highlights. Perhaps that's the advantage of shooting RAW? You may also notice extra detail and texture in the sand (or mud).I took a few other shots whilst at the Telstra Clear Pacifica Centre. I've tried an HDR from a single shot on a few of them. The "totem pole" is an ideal candidate especially as the clouds are so dramatic. I;m not sure what I think of this image. Over the top perhaps? I've tried to modify things again in Photomatix Pro, but can't say I like any of the results more that the first attempt above. What do you think? A friend, who's judgment I respect, suggest the clouds are too grainy. All comments welcome :-)
There's a few interesting objects close to Manukau City's Telstra Clear Pacifica Centre. One of these objects is the large Maori carving. This is the tallest in the world and is quite impressive. The problem is that to get it all in without seeing the traffic on the motorway, electricity pylons or other modern day artifacts means you need a wide angle lens, but then the carving curves due to the lens's focal length. Furthermore, the stone carvings either side of the main carving are often missed.
The answer was a stitch! Five images were taken with an 18mm lens on a 1.5 crop factor DX format digital camera then stitched with Hugin software. This software is VERY impressive and worth investigating.
After playing around in Hugin I imported the resultant composite image (weighing in, believe it or not, at just over 800MB) to Adobe Lightroom. I cropped the image, then saved three TIFF images at -2, 0 and +2 EV to import into Photomatix Pro. Even before I arrived at Telstra Clear I was taken with the clouds and I thought I'd get a bit more drama into the image with a bit of HDR. the end result is as you see. Do you like it? Comments are welcome :-)
A short walk uphill and over a "wobbly" swing bridge leads you to this wonderful waterfall. The vegetation is quite dark, but the waterfall brilliant white. The problem is that you either overexpose the waterfall, or underexpose the foliage. What's the trick to getting a good image in a a situation like this?
I was really quite taken with this little "bothy" or workman's hut up near the entrance to Pupu Springs near Takaka, New Zealand. I've been quite intrigued with single image HDRs and thought this image may be an ideal candidate for a trial. Perhaps let me know what you think?
The original image was taken RAW and then two other images created from it using Nikon's NX2 at -2 and +2 stops exposure differences to give me three shots. These three shots were then aggregated in Photomatix Pro and twiddled a little in an attempt to increase the contrasts in the weatherboards on the hut.
All that seemed to happen was the skies became more dramatic and the colours in the foliage rather more intense. Overall I don't think it's that bad, but you may think otherwise? It's certainly a more interesting image than the original!
Why try a single image HDR? I suppose one of the issues I'd had was my inability to select scenes that remained static whilst I made my 5, 7 or 9 shots. The wind invariably moved the trees and bushes, people, vehicles or birds moved which all contributed to a muddy, out of focus imprecise image. Not the best really. So far I've been quite pleased - I wonder whether I'm better using RAW instead of JPEG, but I'll play with that and see what happens. You may have a comment on the relative benefits of RAM over JPEG in HDR images.
The image below was taken on Mount Roberts near St. Arnaud on a breezy day. There's considerable movement in the grass and leaves which leads to a poorly focussed image. Then again, you may like the effect?
On the way back to Pohara one evening we stopped in at Pupu springs near Takaka. The water here is wonderfully clear. In the image above you can see a turquoise area centre left that looks a little cloudy. This marks the site of the spring from which the clear fresh water originates. Apparently this water is some of the cleanest, freshest water anywhere on the planet. As such contact with the water is prohibited to prevent contamination. This wasn't always the case as can be seen in the images here.
The colours are quite amazing. The image above was taken on a cloudy and grey day yet the colours in the water were as you see in the picture. Very very beautiful.
Whilst at Wharariki Brach I was looking for different angles from which to take shots of the rocks. I stepped onto a rock that was quickly surrounded by water. Arggh! So I wait for the water to subside then step off, back onto the beach only to be chased by a seal! I was quite amazed by the speed with which they cover the sand ... and the size of their teeth. Very relieved, I have to tell you, that the seal didn't come out of the water earlier for an early lunch!
Besides being impressed with the seal's speed on land I was also rather impressed with their camouflage on the rocks and ability to climb up the rocks to a safe vantage point.
We saw quite a few birds whilst touring the South Island, but no where near as many as we heard. This heron was sitting in a tree in the central city gardens in Nelson. The evening light was quite nice I thought and the bird remained sufficiently still for me to get a photo.
Other birds we managed to see included the tui, bellbird, robin and tomtit. I'll add them to my flickr pages as I locate them out of the hundreds of images we took on our trip!
Not far from where we stayed at Pohara, Tata Bay on a warm sunny day. Today, back in Auckland, it's cool, wet and very grey. I think I'd rather be back at Tata Bay!
St. Arnaud was very quiet and peaceful. There's a few walks close by the Alpine Lodge where we were looked after rather well during our stay there. It's about a five minute walk from the Lodge to Lake Rotoiti following the stream (see left) that feeds into the lake. 
The weather was quite changeable and views across the lake could look very moody or menacing with grey clouds, or peaceful and picturesque. On arrival it was more of the former. Quite monochromatic and moody, but still captivating. 
There's three wharves that lead into the lake (Lake Rotoiti) and I think everyone with a camera that visits the lake stands on at least one of the wharves (the eastern most being the favourite) to take a picture.
