Owhiro Bay, New Zealand

[AlastairMoore]

Owhiro Bay (pronounced Oh fear oh!) just outside Wellington on the south coast of the North Island of NZ. Am very lucky to have this on my doorstep (almost literally - 5 minutes drive away).



Nikon D700, f11, 4 seconds. Hard 3 stop ND grad.

Was having a little trouble with the exposure on the section of the image just below the rocks. ND grad was used above the horizon, metered off the middle rock. Any advice?

[bradleygibson]

Hi, Alastair, welcome!

Gorgeous scenery--we're all jealous!  You've reminded me that I must get down to NZ.

Before reading the text below I came to the conclusion that you'd used a hard grad, as (I think) I can see the line.  Might be that that's how the rocks look, but I suspect I'm seeing the GND's hard filter edge.

With such gorgeous light on the clouds, it's a shame the highlights are still blown.  I do like the shutter speed you've chosen for blurring the water motion, so it would be nice to see a little more filtration on the sky, to hold those highlights.

Compositionally it would be nice to give the elements of your scene more room to breathe.  Specifically, the large rock on the right being cropped so severely creates a fair bit of edge tension, which to me, feels somewhat at odds with the tranquility of the water and light of the scene.

None of this is advice, really, as everyone visualizes a scene differently; it's better to say that these are some of the things that I would be exploring in my own work.

Thank you for sharing, Alastair,

[AlastairMoore]

Hi Brad!

Thanks for your comments, definitely some things to keep in mind. I've been making an effort to head down to the sea front every night if possible to try out different ideas and learn from mistakes I've been making. I think progress is being made though! I'm having a slight problem with my tripod head (a Gitzo 1370m - doesn't make for easy portrait orientation!) though which while doesn't excuse the blown highlights, does make me frustrated and so I end up rushing a shot! A new ball head is in the post though I think you're right about the rock on the right. Part of me didn't mind it but when I look at it again, it does look a little uncomfortable.

I'll head down again tonight if we have a nice evening and have another go!

Thanks again!

Alastair

[bradleygibson]

Awesome!  I once spent the better part of a year travelling an hour each way trying to get a unique shot of the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco.  It finally paid off for me, and I'm sure you'll do the same with your shot too.

I hope you'll share it once you've got it.

Best regards,

All the best,

[Rendezvous]

Very nice image, glad to see some more NZ scenery shared.

[PeterAit]

This brings back fond memories of my trip to NZ a few years ago (follow link below if you're interested in my photos). It's gorgeous scenery, but I must say that the photo looks "phony" to me. I am not sure how you did it - HDR, ND filters, or what - but the evenness of the light across the entire scene just does not look like anything you would see in reality. If this is what you were after, then you were very successful - and of course you should take photos to please yourself. But, this sort of effect is something I see a lot and it has become a pet peeve of mine, so I hope you don't mind the comment.

[AlastairMoore]

This brings back fond memories of my trip to NZ a few years ago (follow link below if you're interested in my photos). It's gorgeous scenery, but I must say that the photo looks "phony" to me. I am not sure how you did it - HDR, ND filters, or what - but the evenness of the light across the entire scene just does not look like anything you would see in reality. If this is what you were after, then you were very successful - and of course you should take photos to please yourself. But, this sort of effect is something I see a lot and it has become a pet peeve of mine, so I hope you don't mind the comment.

Hi Peter,

Thanks for the comment, interesting as it is! Phony? I did indeed use ND filters and did a little post processing (contrast, levels etc.) but that's as far as it went. Certainly no HDR there, I'm far too lazy for that!

Cheers,

Alastair

[PeterAit]

Sorry, I really shouldn't have used "phony" because it's not what I meant. The image looks to be over-processed, to my tastes, and I would have bet that HDR was used. But, it wasn't, so you must have found a very unusual scene!

[Kenneth Sky]

Just a minor correction - Wellington is on the south end of the North Island.

[AlastairMoore]

Just a minor correction - Wellington is on the south end of the North Island.

Yes, you're quite correct! I have no idea why I put south island.

[wirehunt]

Cause your another north islander that dreams of living south  :D

[LandLordOfLand]

HOLY! The photo is amazing. I'm going to start uploading some photos on this forum myself. I think you'll like them. I'll let you all know. I'm just getting started with this website.