Tag: Sony Nex 5N

The Field of Onion Weed

A quick stroll on the way home across the ‘river’ (not sure if it is natural or not) by the Lake House Art Centre I went to a while ago took me along a field near the motorway, and covered in onion weed. I had tried to get there on my last visit, but it was so boggy (as in more than what I often tackle) I had to wait for a drier day.

It was still too wet to sit down, but the onion weed field really brought a nice sense of spring to the otherwise cloudy and windy afternoon. Getting down into the grass I snapped off a few shots on the Sony, and chose the above for today’s shot.

In Gimp, I played a little with levels, contrast and cloned out a tall building from nearby Takapuna.

I also managed to finish the film in my Ricoh TLS SLR camera and develop it tonight. A quick look before going into the drying cupboard suggest I should have a nice shot or two I can share, so watch this space!

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MacGyver

When I was young I remember being a massive fan of the TV series MacGyver. An action adventure mega star, Macgyver hated guns, carried a pocket knife, and could get out of almost any situation with a pocketful of junk and some household items. Danger followed him wherever he went, and he always won the day.

I remember getting my first Victorinox Swiss Army Knife, a ‘Tinker’. I would make various things out of foam, cut bits and pieces, and unscrew all my toys. It was great fun. I think amongst a very hands on creative family, Macgyver was also somewhat of an influence as I grew up, always tinkering and fixing things. It great to be able to fix something on the go, with a limited set of tools.

Missing the sun after work, and pulling my pocket knife out of my bag, looking for an image, I reflected on my practical side and composed today image.I really need to get some better portable lighting at home some time – I had to hold the knife and book up to the room light in one hand and take with the other. In post processing, I used Gimp to add a vignette and push up the saturation.

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Land Ahoy

Making the conscious decision to take the Nex and Jupiter 8 out for some after work shooting today, I found myself struggling to get anywhere before dusk set in (I thought I had said summer was coming). Coupled with a blistery cold wind and temperature I cast my eye out to the ocean, which looked/felt to have a storm brewing.

Snapping some images I tried to capture the cold isolation the ocean can arouse, and imagined the relief of early discoverers as they sighted land in the distance.

Taken from North Head, on the North Shore of Auckland – its a great spot (but dress warm on cold windy days) to get a panoramic view around Auckland and its harbour.

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The Refinery

“The Refinery’ comes from yesterdays walk at the Chelsea Park – which belonged to the Chelsea Sugar works. Built in 1884, and added to later on, CSW is our biggest supplier of sugar. As well as being a bright orange in colour, I was drawn to mishmash of buildings, knowing that each serves a purpose in the production run.

Playing around in Gimp, I added a few cross-processing layers and slightly tweaked the colour balance. Lastly I added a light vignette.

Been a long day, not much more to add.

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Black Swan

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.

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Into the Storm

As I often state on weekdays, I just managed to get a bit of light after work on the way home. I had packed my Nex and its new lens into my bag, hoping to give it a test out. Whilst I did manage that, and got some nice shots (and some flat sundown ones) I wanted to post up something different to my usual nature/landscape. With the lens at 210mm I set about looking for some wildlife. It proved quite still and dull overall tonight.

Just as I was heading back to the car a few seagulls approached and I managed to get off a few shots. With low light and a long lens the autofocus just missed a number of shots, but I did like this one of the bird heading ‘into the storm’.

In post processing using Gimp all I did was push the contrast to make it look more menacing than it actually was. Shot at 210mm, 1/400sec at 1250iso the push also revealed the digital grain of the image. I’m a grain fan in photos (that old film appeal) so am happy letting it sit.

In about 3 weeks I’m off to Fiji for a week, which is pretty exciting as I have never been there. My current dilemma is do I take a bag full of cameras and lenses, or travel more lightweight (with the added benefit of not carrying so much money investment!). I’m leaning towards taking my Ricoh GRD and my Rollei 35. I’ll also have my smart phone to hopefully post a snap each day also. When I went to the South Island last year I only had my Ricoh and Mju 35mm – I think the compact allows you to travel with ease and think more about how to capture the image. What do you all do?

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Totem

As the weather forecasters promised, the weather packed in this afternoon. I had planned to go for a stroll after dropping into the mall, but unprepared for the rain just didn’t manage it today.

Looking over recent outings, I selected ‘totem’ for today’s posting. Located by the Lake House Art Centre, I am always drawn to totem or statue like creations. Rapanui/East Island is on my top five list of places I want to one day go – mostly to see the giant stone statues that dot the small island.

In post processing I made some adjustments with the saturation and color balance. I also tried out a plug-in filter ‘national geographic’, which does render an image reminiscent of the old National Geographic pages.

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Nature Wins

Whilst out for a walk the other day I happened upon a strange little bush area on the side of some industry. Curious I stepped over the chain fence and went to explore further. Initially it was mostly long grass and a lot of clay and topsoil that had been dumbed at some stage. As I walked in further the clay and topsoil had all grown over with lush grass, and the bush and trees got a bit larger. The area was full of Tui (New Zealand Birds) and there was little indication how close of the buildings and road one actually was.Looking a little deeper, it was obvious that the area had been a bit of a dumping ground over its time in the making and i found this wrecked motor scooter being covered in grass.

In its own little way it got me thinking about what things might look like if we went like the dinosaurs one day and disappeared. – Nature would slowly creep back and retake the earth. I’ve read some interesting articles about the Chernobyl area, where in ways this has partially happened with wildlife moving back into the areas now closed off to humans. Movies like I Am Legend portrayed it a little also, as have numerous TV Documentary series’.  Its an interesting thought anyway…

Taken on the Sony Nex  with my Jupiter-8. In post shot within Gimp I added some vignette, bumped up contrast, saturation and applied a little sharpening.

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Door to Wonderland

I took the Nex and Jupiter-8 for another stroll today, this time around the Lake House Arts Centre in Takapuna on Auckland North Shore. On the outskirts of the property I came across this awesome wooden carving. With a little imagination, one can dream that this is the entry door to Alice’s Wonderland, or a back door to Narnia.

In post production using Gimp, I did a bit of bluring, sharpening, desaturating and color balancing. I wanted to give the tree a bit of a stand out presence without totally ignoring its otherwise normal surroundings.

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Forgotten Days

Today we went for a stroll around the Auckland Domain, Winter Gardens and Museum.  I took the opportunity to bring along my Nex with the newly received Jupiter-8 lens. Overall, for an old legacy lens I was very happy with the results. Wide open it delivers some beautiful shots and stopped down is equally nice. Portraits look beautiful and general landscape was pleasing to the eye. I was using the Industar 61, but think this is my new favourite 50mm (film) lens.

The museum had the Wildlife photographer of the year 2011 display on, and I spent some time admiring the wide range of photos. What I also noted and liked was that not all the stunning images were captured on top line cameras. Many were, but some were right down to novice DSLR cameras, and one even a point and shoot (cant recall the model now I am home).

I also went for a stroll around the museum, and took today’s shot from a ‘times that were’ section, showing some of New Zealand’s cultural and social history. Wooden blocks and sewn dollys – not something you see in every home now days! As much as anything, it was a indoors test for the Jupiter – but I liked it enough to post up today.

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