earlcook
FollowThis photo was taken in Manukau Harbour, across from Otuataua Stonefields. I had to wade in thick mud and through mangroves to get to the harbour’s edge.The t...
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This photo was taken in Manukau Harbour, across from Otuataua Stonefields. I had to wade in thick mud and through mangroves to get to the harbour’s edge.The thing that stuck out the most was the seeming silence of it out there with only the mud popping, and yet it's only 30 mins drive from the CBD”. This was one of his first shots with a DSLR camera and it “pretty much got me hooked as a photographer.”
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was shot in Manukau Harbor Auckland New Zealand , this was close to were I live and I was interested in getting the reflections of the sunset off the harbor , I got lucky with the location, sunset and tidesTime
This is one of my earlier and by far favorite images I've shot, I planned it with The Photographer's Ephemeris to get an idea where the sun was setting and find an un-obscured view of the harbor , somehow everything came together and the sunset fired almost on cue , its hard work getting out to this spot and it pays to be careful around the mud but the resulting shot made the trek through the mangroves, ripped leg from barbed wire fences and mud was well worth itLighting
I wanted to enhance the drama of the sky so used a soft grad on the sky also I bracketed 3 shots and processed them as an HDR in photomatix which gave the image a lot more pop and pulled out detail on the lone mangrove treeEquipment
This was 3 shots at f 8, focal length 11mm on a sigma 10-20mm wide angle lens the 3 bracketed shots were 1/4 1/6 and 1/8 at ISO 100, the camera was a Nikon D3100 with a cokin P system graduated filter , and a tripod , entry level gear which proved to me it often has very little to do with high end gear unless its specialized images such as astroInspiration
I love shooting sunsets and guessed if I could get the sunset to reflect it could look even better , looking at google maps I found this area in the harbor that seemed perfect , in hindsight going out here on my own at sunset was a bit risky especially as I didnt know the area wellEditing
This was 3 images bracketed in Photomatix as mentioned before , I was happy with the results from this so it didnt need any further post processing done other than straightening the horizon in PhotoshopIn my camera bag
I shoot now with a Nikon D600 and Nikkor 24-85mm Tamron 17-35mm and Samyang 14mm 2.8 (for my astro images) My tripods are Benro and Giottos I use Cokin Z pro , Hitech and Lee hard and soft grads , Hoya 9 stop and a B + W 6 stop neutral density filters , I often shoot with filters and find them invaluable for seascapes for both enhancing drama in sunsets and slowing down the water movement giving a nice looking flow around rocksFeedback
My advice is follow others on social media that inspire you , always ask question.. more often than not they will enjoy giving advice, find out how to get the most from your shot , learn how to use filters , learn how to get the most out of your camera, if the conditions arent right keep going back until they are Experiment, and find a way to fuel your passion and practice as much as possible