Tag: Ricoh

Passage of Pine

I managed to take a short stroll in between out of office meetings today. In a newly built suburb in Albany on the North Shore of Auckland, I happened across a small hill that lead to a rugby/football field. Separating that and the houses was a ‘Passageway of Pine trees’ As usual during the week, armed with my Ricoh, I got right down low and took a few shots through the passage. Avoiding any houses and a wind break material on one side, I love how the final image gives off little clue I am in the middle of suburbia.

In Gimp post production, I cropped slightly, upped the saturation go highlight the green and get a little blue in the sky. Upped the contrast a notch and applied a light sharpening layer. Done!

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Kennedy Park Erodes

After being stuck inside all day, with OK weather outside, I took a stroll after work at a place called Kennedy Park, found on the coastline of the North Shore. As I got out of the car it started spitting rain, and the last of the days light slowly began to retreat. Walking through the park, on the cliffs edge, I sank up to my ankles in mud – it was pretty boggy. Following the coastal path I ventured down a long set of stairs to the beach below. To no surprise, the sodden land had given away in places, and I caught this image of one of the land slips.

Its not a totally unusual occurrence along the coastline, and as the multi-million dollar houses remove their trees for a greater view, the cliffs seem to give way more and more with nothing to hold them up. Even areas with trees will eventually give as the wild weather of mother nature washes away the mostly muddy sandstone cliffs of the area.

Initially shot in bleach bi-pass mode on the camera, I reduced in size and switched to Black & White in post production in Gimp. I think it gives the image a bit more dramatic depth.

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Cheltenham at Dusk

A misty rainy day today left the sky a washed out white, and the constant drizzle was less then ideal for my walk after work with camera in hand. I took a stroll down Cheltenham beach in Devonport from dusk to dark looking for some interesting images. Again with the Ricoh, I used my mini tripod, found some semi-sheltering foliage and took some 30-60second exposures with the lens stopped down. I love the effect long exposures have on the ocean, or moving water. As the sky was washed out I decided to convert the image to B&W in post processing, and cropped the image to give us more of a panoramic feel.

My new-old Juipter-8 arrived in the post today. It looks and feels pretty good, so I will hopefully give it a test out on the nex some time later in the week.

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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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Bridge by Night

Last night whilst waiting to meet friends for dinner, I took a stroll down by the waterfront in town. After last weeks long exposure success with the Ricoh, I wanted to give it another go. Auckland Harbour Bridge was built in the 1950’s and opened in 1959. By 1969 it was deemed to small already (someones bad forward planning) and we had to add two extra lanes on each side of the bridge – the “Nippon Clipons” – named due to Japan getting the contract to make them. In the 1990’s we added a center barrier, due to a high number of fatal head on collisions. Unsurprisingly, since the clipons were added, traffic flow has grown immensely. As with many bridges around the world, its an ongoing piece of maintenance to keep in critical day to day use for 170.000+ motorists each day.

Captured on the GRD IV, with an exposure of  60 seconds at 100asa / f7. Aspect cropped a little in post using Gimp, and contrast bumped up one notch.

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The Old Boat

Wandering down at the beach with the tide out I came across a dinghy that had seen better days. I imagine its been anchored up and abandoned at some stage. The hull was full of water, so i’ll have to check to see if it even floats when the tide is in next time I visit.

Taken with the Ricoh, I got reasonably close up so the viewer can see the wear on the old vessel, but also so we can see its anchor line exiting into the sand/mud. Just a image that creates a quiet, end of day (end of boats life) feeling on a Friday afternoon.

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Fading Day

A long day = a short blog today, but i’ll let the image do most the speaking. Hills or Wenderholm, 50km north of Auckland City. The Sun was getting low and the hills were covered in shadow. Also due to the angle of the sun, it was a tricky exposure (in addition to getting the snap from a moving car!)

 

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The Great Wall of Mt Cambria

So in reality, todays image is of no great wall, and not really a mountain either. I had been look at some photos of the Great Wall of China the other day, and the winding path on todays stroll reminded me of it. Now as far as a mountain goes, Mt Cambria, found is Devonport is placed between our two other volcanic cones, Mt Victoria and North Head. Unlike the former two however, Mt Cambria is little more then a elevated park now days. Once a small mountain in its own right, early settlers to Devonport turned it into a quarry, and did so from ~1883-1985.

Taken on the Ricoh (as usual), I like images where paths lead away into the distance and you have to imagine where they are taking you next. Post photo I rounded corners and reduced in size, all in Gimp.

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Evening Coastline

Whilst I know my Sony Nex 5N is fine for taking long exposures, I had never tested out my GRD IV to see how it would cope. Being a much smaller sensor then a APS C (Ricoh is 1/1.7 inch) there is the general risk of noise and hot pixels more so then larger sensor cameras. I didnt have much time this evening, but headed out with the GRD and tripod in hand. Just out of the city, on the way to the suburb of Mission Bay I stopped on the corner of the road and clambered down the wall to the rock wave breakers. Setting the exposure to 60 seconds at 100asa, this was the result.Its motivated me to give it a bit more another evening and possibly invest in a remote shutter control.

I must say, the Ricoh never fails to impress me for the size and type of camera it is. It has full manual controls and a fast 1.9 lens. It fits into your pocket, focuses fast and is built tough, as far as digital cameras go. The menu system is one of the best I have used also. Built in filters and effect options are not for everyone, but I think Ricoh have done pretty good with theirs – plus virtually everything in the setting can be tweaked. For many of us camera fans out there, image sensor size is always a hot topic. I think there are pro’s and con’s to the various different sizes. At the end of the day, capturing the image one wants to convey is what its all about isn’t it?

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The Leaf With Holes In It

Taking a short stroll close to home to get some fresh air after work I caught todays image ‘The Leaf With Holes In It’. I had been mucking around with some of the built in camera editors, todays image taken in a bleach mode, with warm tones. In the unfocused background we can see the beach (bordering on a mud beach), with the sun just prior to setting as it glows around the leaf. Theres something calming about todays image. As a viewer I am looking into the background, wondering where it leads to…home I expect.

Catch ya tomorrow.

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