kporiginal

Huka

Flowing into the powerful Huka Falls, the colours are like a glacier, the swirls and the speed mesmerising.

Flowing into the powerful Huka Falls, the colours are like a glacier, the swirls and the speed mesmerising.
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NIKON D3S

Aperture f/2.8 ISO 200 Shutter 1/2500

upload_date

Feb, 2014

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2605

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+1k

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Absolute Masterpiece

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Top Choice

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Outstanding Creativity

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Peer Award

+24

All Star

+14

Magnificent Capture

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Great shot. Congratulations.

Thanks.

Congrats on your feature!

Thanks. Quite a surprise!

Beautiful shot.Congrats!

Thanks.

Write a commentWonderful photography do you have a youpic profile?upload this into youpic website world best photography place

Thanks. I've never heard of youpic. Is it widely used?

Platinum

Wow, great capture!!! Congratulations on your feature.

Thanks. A place I really enjoyed!

Congratulations!

Thanks. A place I really enjoyed!

Great capture . Congrats

Thanks. Sorry I didn't acknowledge your comment earlier: I didn't look until fairly recently. It's a stunning place.

Gorgeous!!! Makes me want to kayak down this run!

I'm hoping that some of you will remember how much you liked this shot when it comes to voting! But I know there are many really good ones out there....

Congrats on your feaature !

Premium

Beautiful shot. Congratulations.

Very impressive!

Thank you!

Great shot- love the Huka Falls!

these falls are extremely difficult to photograph, as you say the banks are so dark. have tried many times to get the right shot. but being a south islander dont get to the north island often. well done teresa1944

PRO+

I've stood on the bridge over the Huka Falls, the amount of water rushing through is amazing. This is a very good capture.

See all

Same photographer See all Behind The Lens

One of New Zealand's most inspiring sights.

Looking straight at the camera-proud to be me!

Minuscule people on the top left of this imagine demonstrate the size of the Falls and their power is evident in the height the water rises after hitt

A glorious afternoon followed a very grey morning. What a difference a few hours makes!

A chance shot from the south bank on a clear Summer's evening.

Amazing variety of colour on a stormy evening in New Zealand

Behind The Lens

Location

The photo was taken at Huka Falls on New Zealand's North Island near Lake Taupo. The Waikato River, normally up to 100 metres wide, abruptly narrows to just 15 metres as it crosses a hard volcanic ledge. When I took this shot in 2010 the Falls were said to be one of the most popular natural attractions, but there was no commercialism. http://www.newzealand.com/int/feature/huka-falls/

Time

Although we had spotted the Falls on our way to Lake Taupo one evening, we decided to return in the morning - so it would have been about 10.00a.m. and, as it was December, we had Summer light.

Lighting

The biggest challenge was the contrast between the darkness of the banks and the brightness of the river. I imagine I would have used matrix metering to deal with that. I knew that I could adjust the darker areas in Photoshop if necessary.

Equipment

The shot was taken with my trusty D3s, using a Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 lens set at 24mm. The ISO was 200 and the shutter speed was 1/2500 which made it possible to handhold the camera and to isolate the movement in the area nearest the front of the image.I focussed about a third of the way into the frame to get as much of the front section in focus as possible. A circular polariser was almost permanently on the lens during this trip.

Inspiration

I think it was the variety of movement alongside the power, beauty and drama of the place. The contrast between the swirls at the front and the smoothness of the water passing over rocks towards the back of the frame and the brightness of the crazy turquoise swirls contrasted against the brown volcanic rock are quite mesmerising and made me just keep shooting until I had a range of images I was content with.

Editing

No, I don't think I did. The image was shot in both RAW and JPEG but this was just a conversion of the RAW file.

In my camera bag

When this was taken I had a Nikon D3s with the Nikkor 14-24, 24-70 and 70-200. I was on a fairly long trip and usually it was the 24-70 that was attached. I decided a while later to go for a lighter bag and bought one of the early micro four thirds cameras regretting it almost immediately. Now I am fortunate enough to have acquired a D4s which I love using the same lenses as before. I have just bought the Nikkor 80-400 and am finding that a joy to use. I do own a tripod and flashgun. I'm becoming more adventurous with them!

Feedback

Be patient (I'm not always, but I think I was with this shot). Spend time just looking - not necessarily through the viewfinder - until you see what you want. Experiment - sometimes rules are made to be broken! Try different camera settings and compositional angles. One of the joys of digital photography is that disasters can be deleted and so cost nothing.

See more amazing photos, follow kporiginal

kporiginal

kporiginal

Huka

Flowing into the powerful Huka Falls, the colours are like a glacier, the swirls and the speed mesmerising.

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow kporiginal

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