Tag: Green

Kitekite Falls

KitaKita Falls

My last posting from the Piha area, for now. Krishna asked yesterday if I had any shots of the Kitekite Falls. With the beautiful green and dense growth on the surrounding track to the falls, it was hard to get a clear view. I did find a slight clearing however and took today’s shot. Aside from this walk I had taken my filter set with me all morning – it would have been ideal here also to assist with the blown out grey sky.

As can be seen in the image, the falls in full are made up of a number of units. The final being about 40m, the other 40m is built from several smaller falls, gathering into pools.

In post processing I adjusted the levels a little and lightly tinted the blown out sky. There was nothing there to rescue, so its all I could do with limited time.

I think the final image really highlights well the lush green environment of New Zealand bush.  A great place to visit when in the area!

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Out from the Kitekite

river runs in

About a 5 minute drive from Piha is a track leading to the Kitekite Falls – a 40m drop waterfall (or 80m if you count the 3 tier of pools above it). A beautiful, well maintained bush walk, well worth visiting whilst in the area. There are several tracks to choose from, the shortest taking one about 20minutes of fair pace walking to reach the falls. Here you can take a cool dip in the chilled fresh water.

The falls were used once in attempt to transport felled trees downstream for processing. A fairly commonly used method in New Zealand, dams were built at the top of falls and rivers, logs floated, dams opened, and logs rushed down to the mouth of the river. This practice always damaged a number of logs, but in the KiteKite case, more logs were ruined than saved and it was not used again in the same manner.

Today’s image was shot downstream on my journey back. Leaning out at a corner, I focused upstream and captured the river straight on, disappearing into the bush. Using Gimp, I cropped the aspect a little, adjusted the levels and used the ‘National Geographic’ plug-in.

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Looking out at Whitford

Whitford

What was to be a few hours in the morning trip to view a car, turned into a full day out at the south eastern beaches of Auckland. On our way there I stopped at a high point, looking down at an area called Whitford and out into the harbour.

In hand I had mobile phone and Pentax 35mm SLR – of which both took some shots, but I have yet to finish the 35mm film off.

Aside from mentioning it was a fairly hot, and beautiful day, not much else to add for today’s image.

Shot on the Samsung Galaxy S2 using Vignette on Polaroid mode. Wording added in post processing with Photoshop CS5.

Hmm…looks like I forgot the year also…

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Beside the Bombay Hills

Bombay

At the southernmost point of Auckland is the Bombay Hills. For Aucklander’s they signal one is leaving ‘town’ and heading into the country. For non-Aucklander’s, it signals they are approaching the big city. Whilst mostly tongue and cheek, there is a bit of a division between Auckland and some other areas of the country. Its widely said not to say you are from Auckland – in reality I have never had a bad experience from it, just some friendly jesting from one Kiwi to another.

A popular area for various crops, what I love about the Bombay Hills is the amazing view one can get when driving south. Different seasons give a completely different, but equally magnificent view. Today’s image was just to the left, along a small road.

Shot on the Ricoh GRD IV(28mm) in bleach bi-pass mode, aside from resizing, I made no edits – its straight from the camera.

Not many days left in 2012 now!

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Up the River

Up the River

Prior to visiting Motat with work on Friday, I had some lunch at Western Springs – the large freshwater springs next to the venue. Once upon a time Western Springs was the primary water source for much of Auckland (Like the Pumphouse on the North Shore I have written about). Now days it makes a popular place for a walk, run or to have a picnic and feed the ducks.

Surrounding part of the springs is a little river where the water flows. Armed with my Sony Nex 5N and 210mm lens I got as central to and low as I could and shot into the distance.

In post processing using Gimp I slightly cropped and straightened, added a cross-processed filter, pushed the contrast a notch and desaturated by several points.

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Green and Pink

Last week I managed to get some extra shooting time in, which was great, but possibly a signal that I would not be able to do so much this week. Misfortune would have it that the day after my half marathon I stood on a nasty big rusty nail, which has left me limping around home on meds. My cameras are looking at me, but I cant get much further than the front door… the weather is amazing also!

Not much of a story to tell for today’s image, shot on the Nex 5N. Close up of some bright pink flowers with the kit lens.

Catch you you tomorrow!

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Mondays End

Mondays are usually a busy day for me. Its back to work, and then training with the fire service in the evening. Today was particularly busy with me setting up for some employer awards. End result of all of this being no time for taking some images (although I did get a few shot at the awards)

‘Mondays End’ was shot the other weekend on the Olympus four thirds DSLR I borrowed. A nice simple and relaxing image shot laying in the long grass with the telephoto lens.

Only resizing done in post processing, with the colour etc. straight from the camera.

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Above the Grass

Down here in Auckland New Zealand we are still experiencing the changeable nature of spring. One minute it is sunny, the next rain. Temperature wise its mildish. NZ Band Crowded House once sung the song ‘four seasons in one day’. It really can apply here!  Its all a signal that summer is on the way though…I think…

Shot on my Sony Nex 5N @54mm, ‘Above the Grass’ is a simple capture of these beautiful little flowers standing out in the green grass field.

Aside from resizing, I didn’t do any post processing work on this image. I love the simple soft and peaceful summer like feeling it creates.

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The Epiphytes

The other week I took a journey through Smiths Bush. To one side of Smiths Bush is a main highway, and on the other side of that is what I assume is the far ‘lost section’ of the bush. A very short 5min walk from one end to the other, its mostly used by school kids as a short cut from their school to the nearby road I suspect.  In saying that, it was well kept and void of any rubbish and litter some might expect to come from a bush area so close to a school.

Being such a short walk I started scanning a little closer to the ground and trees, looking for something to get a shot of. Like the larger Smiths Bush, the trees were full of an array of epiphytes- mostly way up in the canopy, well out of detailed reach of the 28mm Ricoh. Across the trunks of several trees however sprung a collection of smaller leaved plants. I framed them up and caught today’s image.

Using Gimp, I then pushed the contrast and saturation up one level each and resized for the web.

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New Life

Walking along a small bush path I came across a fern with a number of seedlings growing from its leaves. From memory I don’t recall ever seeing this before. There were a number of similar ferns around, but this was the only one with seedlings on it. Getting up close I caught this image. Its not crystal sharp, but I like the softness of it combined with the limited colors and dark background.

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