Love

Happy New Year folks! I am still processing my New Zealand photos, but thought I will quickly post this one. Over the Christmas + New year holiday period I went to on 4,500km roadtrip spanning 3 states in Australia. This one is from Batemans Bay, same location as this photo was taken, and this.

B+W ND110 and Lee polariser used.

Exposure: 271s
Aperture: f/11
Focal Length: 11 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Stairway to Heaven

The stairway down to Bridal Veil Falls. Information on how to get there here.

This photo was merged from 3 exposures, but instead of HDR I used luminosity mask plugins from Tony Kuyper. I think these masks generate more natural-looking photos than HDR.

Exposure: 1s
Aperture: f/11
Focal Length: 13 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Bridal Veil Falls (Top)

After shooting the beautiful Cathedral Cove on the Coramandel Peninsula, I made my way to Bridal Falls. Weather was getting overcast as I drew closer to Bridal Falls, which was perfect because I wouldn't have the sun hitting this west-facing falls.

Bridal Falls is one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful waterfall in North Island, New Zealand. To get there point your GPS to 38 Kauroa-Kawhia Road and you will end up at the parking area. A short 15 minutes walk will take you to this top viewing platform.

Just a short note - all the travel books and online guides to this falls warned of frequent break-ins. I didn't see anyone or anything fishy, but it's probably a good idea to bring all valuables down to the falls.

Used Lee 0.6 and 0.9 grad filters for this.

Exposure: 1/15
Aperture: f/11
Focal Length: 13 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Cathedral Cove

Left Motutara Beach just after dusk, made a pit stop in Auckland and I drove on to Cathedral Cove on the Coramandel Peninsula. Google Maps said it was a little over 2 hours drive from Auckland, but it turned out to be much longer due to extremely windy Kopu-Hikuai Road (State Highway 25A) snaking through the Coramandel mountains. It was impossible to drive over 50km/h.

Cathedral Cove is the poster boy for much of New Zealand's tourist pamphlets and websites, even more famous than South Island's attractions. What a lot of guides don't tell you is how long it takes to get this spot from the car park. It takes close to an hour of hiking, and I completely missed the sunrise photo I was dreaming about. Fortunately there was no one about when I reached there and the weather was just nice.

This place is breath-taking in person and my photo simply doesn't do any justice. You have to see it in person.

This photo was edited using 3 exposures: +2,0,-2. Instead of HDR I have used luminosity masks in Photoshop to get a more natural look.

Exposure: 1/50
Aperture: f/11
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Cape Reinga

Although I couldn't get the dusk shot that I wanted of Cape Reinga's lighthouse, the weather cleared in the morning and the sun began to light the lushness that is North Island.

This breathtaking view is on the eastern side of the lighthouse, where the rolling sand dunes meet the beach. There is small pathway (on the right in the image) which leads down to the beach. 5 photo stitch using Autopano Giga.

Exposure: 1/50s
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Cape Reinga Lighthouse

Ah Cape Reinga. Did you know I travelled 1,200km round trip from Auckland for this lighthouse shot? The aim was to get a dusk shot, with the sun shining the right side of the lighthouse. But a storm ravaged the place the whole night and didn't clear till 9am, and this is the result. Although I was a tad disappointed with the weather, the morning after was just gorgeous - as you will see in the next photos I put up.

This one is a HDR from 3 images: -2,0,+2 exposures.

Exposure: 1/30
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Whangerei Falls

After I left Bethells Beach, I headed straight to Whangerei Falls which is located in an suburban area, about 5 minutes from the CBD of Whangerei City! Honestly I was a little surprised that such a decent-sized could be located in a housing suburb. Imagine waking up to the sounds of falls every morning!

Alas city traffic slowed me and I couldn't get the twilight photo I was aiming for, I reached the falls well after twilight. Shooting in RAW enabled me to salvage this shot somewhat.

Exposure: 210s
Aperture: f/11
Focal Length: 13 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Bethells Beach

I left Kitekite and Piha about mid day on the second day of my trip and headed to Bethells Beach, a 45 minutes drive away.

The road to Bethells Beach is typical of New Zealand roads - long, narrow and windy, but my, the views make up for it. Rolling hills, sheep farms as far as your eyes can see, and weeks-old little lambs scurrying along to their mom at the sight of my campervan. The good thing is, you get to see all this again on your way back.

Bethells Beach is a long flat beach washed fine by black volcanic sand, almost ground coffee like. It's not so apparent in this photo, but you can even see it on Google maps. The beach is flanked by rolling hills - this is the one on the left.

This photo is a 14 image stitch, stitched with Autopano Giga. Lee soft GND filters used to bring out the clouds.

Exposure: 1/15
Aperture: f/11
Focal Length: 35 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Kitekite Stream 1

On the morning of my second trip, I headed to Kitekite Falls, which is situated on the hinges of the beautiful coastal town of Piha, an hour's drive east of Auckland. I say beautiful because Piha is the only town in New Zealand where it slowly gets into view as you descend from over the mountains, and the Tasman Sea behind it grows majestic.

Kitekite falls is not on Google maps, to get to the carpark (which is the end of Glenesk Road), plug this coordinate into your navigation system: -36.952303,174.48404

All my shots of the magnificent 5 tier falls turned out to be duds - water spray, high position of the sun etc. So instead of that, I present to you - the charming Kitekite stream.

Used Lee 105mm polarizer and GNDs for this shot.

Exposure: 1s
Aperture: f/11
Focal Length: 11 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Kitekite Stream 2

On the morning of my second trip, I headed to Kitekite Falls, which is situated on the hinges of the beautiful coastal town of Piha, an hour's drive east of Auckland. I say beautiful because Piha is the only town in New Zealand where it slowly gets into view as you descend from over the mountains, and the Tasman Sea behind it grows majestic.

Kitekite falls is not on Google maps, to get to the carpark (which is the end of Glenesk Road), plug this coordinate into your navigation system: -36.952303,174.48404

All my shots of the magnificent 5 tier falls turned out to be duds - water spray, high position of the sun etc. So instead of that, I present to you - the charming Kitekite stream.

Used Lee 105mm polarizer and GNDs for this shot.

Exposure: 6s
Aperture: f/11
Focal Length: 14 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Hunua Falls

This was my first shot in North Island, New Zealand from my recent trip there in early October 2012. Hunua Falls is a relative unknown, but surprisingly it's just an hour's drive from the bustling Auckland.

Exposure: 0.5s
Aperture: f/11
Focal Length: 11 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Used Lee 105mm polarizer for this shot.

Gold Coast

Taken from a whale watching trip. Despite the sea's choppiness and swaying boat, the 55-200 still managed to capture a relatively sharp photo.

Exposure: 1/800
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 55 mm
ISO Speed: 200

Gold Coast at Dusk

Taken at Main Beach, same time this shot was taken.

Exposure: 30s
Aperture: f/11.0
Focal Length: 55 mm
ISO Speed: 200

Elabana Falls (Top)

This is Elabana Falls within the Lamington National Park near Gold Coast, about 1.5 hours trekking from O'Reilly's Rainforest Resort.

Taken from the top after a bit rock scaling, there was only a metre square space for me to stand on so I can't do much in terms of composition, which brings me to..

I am truly not happy with this photo. My mistake: I focussed on the flowing water. Direct sun on the flowing water meant everything else was underexposed. If I had focussed on the foreground (which was under the shadow of the canopy overhead) I would have gotten a better exposure overall.

Back home I was truly disappointed, though thankfully I had taken +2 and -2 exposures, so managed to blend them into this HDR.

Exposure: 30s
Aperture: f/11.0
Focal Length: 13 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Gold Coast Skyline

I have used the humble Nikkor 18-55mm for this instead of my favourite Tokina 11-16mm. Lately I have come to understand that the Tokina, although brilliant on its right, like every other wide angle it is limited in usage for landscapes.

For example, this image is stitched from 9 images, with no sharpening done in post-processing. The Tokina however would have given me soft images and I would have end up having to sharpen them in software.

Exposure: 30s
Aperture: f/8.0
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 200

Main Beach

This was taken at Main Beach, Gold Coast just opposite Sheraton Mirage. That driftwood you see, was dragged from the bush couple of metres away. I have a couple of shots without the driftwood, but giving the scene a foreground adds so much to the image.

Exposure: 3s
Aperture: f/11.0
Focal Length: 16 mm
ISO Speed: 100

The Calm before the Rough

There's a storm coming, Mr Wayne. Sorry, just felt like saying it.

This was taken at the same spot as this and this. HDR of -2,0,+2, blended in Photoshop instead of Photomatix. I think Photoshop's HDR engine gives a more realistic output than Photomatix, without too much tinkering. This photo is cropped to 3:1 from a single image.

Exposure: 1/8s
Aperture: f/11.0
Focal Length: 16 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Pink Hues

This is at Lake Burley Griffin, with the National Museum on the right. This location was inspired by Dean Katselas's photo. Taken with ND110.

Exposure: 180s
Aperture: f/11.0
Focal Length: 11 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Leura Cascades

This is taken at Leura Cascades in the Blue Mountains, as the name suggests there are plenty of mini falls from top to bottom.

Exposure: 0.8s
Aperture: f/11.0
Focal Length: 11 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Morning Dip

[If you're on Chrome, image(s) will appear more saturated then how I intended them to be]

This was taken on the same day as my previous, the day I went on a crazy 3 hour midnight winter trip.

Exposure: 303s
Aperture: f/11.0
Focal Length: 11 mm
ISO Speed: 100