photos and other things…
I was drawn to the patterns made by the sand and water as the tide was out for todays shot. The mangroves must be some of the few smaller plants around the area that have no problem in the drought type weather.
Shot on the Nex with 210mm lens. In post processing using Gimp I cropped aspect, slightly adjusted contrast, saturation and sharpness.
After what seemed like (and can’t be far off) all of 2013 to date being sun, and then drought, Auckland finally got its first reasonable drop of rain today. Unfortunately for the Volunteers at the Devonport Fire Station, it occurred on our open day – but all went well all the same.
Some of our other big cities in the country have a total outdoor water ban at the moment, so planning ahead, and doing my bit to conserve water, I laid out buckets in the ‘common drip areas’ around the property to collect the rainfall to use later in the week.
Just after the rain calmed, we were hit by a relatively rare, for Auckland, earthquake! a 4.0 on the scale and 5km deep, it was felt widely around the area, with mixed reactions from those I listened to calling in on the radio. One lady thought the washing machine was on, another thought the building was going to fall over…just image somewhere in the middle, lower it a bit, and you are about right.
Image wise for today – shot on the Nex with 210mm lens. Using Gimp I added contrast and resized.
A hot day out in the sun with Auckland’s Music in the Parks – a local government funded series of events bringing a variety of bands to the public.
There were a number of people there with their cameras, shooting the bands straight on, avoiding the audience. In todays shot, I looked for a slightly different perspective. Capturing the lead from I Am Giant over the girls shoulder, I think I have caught the moment of the band and audience, yet kept all in the photo relatively anonymous.
Shot on the Sony Nex with 210mm telephoto lens. Converted to B&W using CS5 .
It seems like an age since I have had a chance to head out with my Nex. In reality its not that long, but I have been pretty busy and using the camera on me – my mobile (Galaxy S2). Today I found some time and went out for a bike ride with the Sony and 210mm lens in hand.
The terrible cyclone that hit Fiji earlier in the week is due to hit New Zealand tonight (at a diminished power) and bring us rain for Christmas. When I headed out on my bike it was a lightly overcast sky. When I got home it had darkened up a sum.
Looking out to sea from the cliff top, I captured an image of a container ship leaving our waters, likely heading into the bad weather.
Using Gimp in post processing I pushed the contrast up a notch or two, desaturated all but the boat, added a light vignette and then added some ‘film grain’ before resizing.
All going well, I will head over to town this evening to look at the Franklin Street lights – possibly tomorrows Christmas Eve image!
Another two shot image today. I took ‘Here and Gone’ down at the Onepoto Domain on the North Shore. A great mid sized park with tracks to walk and cycle, a playground for kids and a like where hobby radio control sail boats are often raced. Its also packed with ducks, gulls, pukeko and pigeons.
Heading down with my Nex, I was aiming to look for some bird-life to get with the 210mm zoom. I did capture a number, but chose the above sequence for the simple there then gone story it tells.
In Gimp I simply put the two images onto one canvas and resized. Nice and simple for a Monday!
With a nice and clear, but cool sky, we took a stroll down to Chelsea Park. Walking a few tracks I didn’t cover on my last visit I brought along the Sony Nex and its new telephoto lens. When I tried it out earlier in the week the low sun, combined with hand holding and limited wildlife made me want to give it another go today. Down at the bottom of the reserve is a large pond full of ducks, seagulls, shags, geese and a few swans – so I was spoilt for choice and shot images of each.
I chose today’s image ‘Black Swan’ as I was drawn to the composition and the ripples of water softly emanating from the swan. In post production, using Gimp, I used the National Geographic filter set, making small adjustments to its use of sharpness, saturation and contrast. I also cropped the image slightly to remove the foot of the swan which interfered with the soft ripples of the water.
I’m quite happy with the result, and the performance of the lens at 210mm.
MikeHawkey.com 