mattzpixz
FollowA long night over Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast, Australia
A long night over Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast, Australia
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Awards
Action Award
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Top Shot Award 21
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Contest Finalist in City Views Photo Contest
Member Selection Award
Contest Finalist in Monthly Pro Vol 25 Photo Contest
Runner Up in Celebrating Reflections Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Celebrating Reflections Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Lapse Of Time In The City Photo Contest
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Contest Finalist in The Beauty Of My Hometown Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Understanding Light Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Yellow, Orange And Red Lights Photo Contest
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Behind The Lens
Location
This image was taken on the Gold Coast, Australia. I wanted to showcase the vibrant nightlife that is Surfers Paradise. It gets busy and bright!Time
I shot this right after sunset, as all the colours really start to pop along the sky line. I also wanted a long enough exposure to get some light trails happening. This image was shot at 7:03pm on 03/07/2015Lighting
I remembered seeing a cruise boat go past a few times in the past and noticed the light colour scheme matched and fit in to the colours of the city backdrop. So lighting and colour played a huge role in this image as it is a key role to tie it all together. I also had a mini flashlight to light paint the rocks in the foreground!Equipment
I shot this using a Nikon D810, Nikon 24-70 2.8 @24mm, Gitzo GT3532LS Tripod with a RRS BH55 Ballhead, Nikon MC36A Intervalometer, 1x mini flashlight for light painting.Inspiration
I wanted to showcase the Gold Coast's heart and popular holiday destination during the evening glow. The city is so vibrant at night and gets quite busy, so I wanted to show the busyness by including some movement with both the boat and the clouds. The Gold Coast is one of Australia's most popular holiday destinations!Editing
I used both Lightroom and Photoshop for this image. I always start with Lightroom to fix any lens distortion and to set my white balance. From there I will always bring down my highlights and open up my shadows. Set my white and black points and tweak the colour as I see fit. I then head to photoshop and remove any sensor dust that I might have as well as any distracting objects that appear on the edges of frame. I will then go and straighten the buildings and make sure they are vertical by using the adaptive wide angle filter. Then I will dodge and burn to draw some attention to different areas of the photograph. From there I will go back to Lightroom and sharpen the image, add some vignette and I am done!In my camera bag
My bag is usually packed! My motto is, its better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it! Can be a pain at times though! My normal landscape shooting bag contains a Nikon D810 for its amazing shadow recovery and huge 36mp files! All Nikon lenses, 14-24mm 2.8, 24-70mm 2.8, 70-200mm 2.8. Nikon Intervalometer for those long exposures. Hoya variable ND filter and a B&W 10 stop ND. 1x Nikon SB910 speed light. A Really Right Stuff MPR-CL II nodal slide which corrects parallax when shooting panoramas. All of this is held inside a Lowepro backpack!Feedback
You definitely want some sort of shutter release cable as you will be shooting for longer than 30secs to get all the light trails of passing boats. It's a very nice sight to be seen so make sure you take them to sit and take in the view with your eyes and not just through the viewfinder!