Mystique
The usual magic at Motukiekie even without some amazing sunset to accompany it.
It is one of my favourite places for photos in the West Coast but t...
Read more
The usual magic at Motukiekie even without some amazing sunset to accompany it.
It is one of my favourite places for photos in the West Coast but tides and weather have to be in your favour before you can even consider a trip out!
Read less
It is one of my favourite places for photos in the West Coast but tides and weather have to be in your favour before you can even consider a trip out!
Read less
Oct, 2015Views
2934
Likes
Awards
Creative Winter Award
Curator's Selection
Legendary Award
Summer 2020
2020 Choice Award
Contest Finalist in Our Amazing Planet Photo Contest xpozer
Contest Finalist in Around the World Photo Contest By Discovery
Featured
Contest Finalist in Amazing Sceneries Photo Contest
Curator's Choice
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Top Choice
Outstanding Creativity
All Star
Magnificent Capture
Superior Skill
Top Ranks
Top 10 rank
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 1
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 1
Categories
Discover more photos See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
This is a magnificent beach called Motukiekie situated just north of Greymouth, New Zealand. It is a location sought after by photographers for the sea stacks, amazing West Coast sunsets and a starfish colony.Time
This was taken just as the sun was setting around 6pm. It is a fussy beach which can only be accessed about 2 hours before and after low tide. From a roadside park, you also need to walk back along the beach 20-30 minutes so going out here requires careful planning.Lighting
This was taken on one of those days where the sunset and low tide times fell together. However, the weather didn't look particularly great but I thought to go out and have a look anyway. Lucky as I was, the clouds hadn't quite all moved in around the beach and I got some nice light from the falling sun behind the clouds.Equipment
This shot was taken with a Nikon D5200 with a NIKKOR 10-24mm DX lens on my trusty Three Legged Thing Eddie tripod. There probably was my LEE 3-stop hard grad filter in there too.Inspiration
This is a place I'd been going out as much as possible to get photos of the seastacks at sunset featuring the starfish in front. This particular day, I noticed these green seaweed just starting to crop up on the mussels on the rocks. I had not seen it before and thought it would make a good foreground subject whilst I shot the seastacks from further afield than I usually had been. It turns out that the new green seaweeds had browned when I went back 2 weeks later, so it was a lucky shot indeed.Editing
There was simple Lightroom adjustments to bring out the colours a bit more. Nik Colour Effex Pro was also used to bring out some detail (Detail Extractor) and I played around with the Bicolour Filter. The original image has a blue-gray sky so the pink in the sky is actually the bicolour filter effect. I liked how the pink complimented the green foreground so kept it.In my camera bag
I normally carry around my Nikon D5200 with a few selection of lenses (AF-S DX NIKKOR 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5G, AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-140mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR and AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G). Having said that, I use my 10-24mm lens 90% of the time for my landscapes. I have my LEE filters (3-stop hard grad and normal ND, a Little Stopper which recently smashed to bits and a Big Stopper).Feedback
Some places like Motukiekie need careful planning for the trip as you can only access the area at certain times, so make sure you know how long you have on the beach you get caught out! Don't be afraid to get down low on the foreground with the tripod. My tripod is rarely fully extended on seascapes like this so that I get close to the foreground subjects.
