markemirali

Conrwall Park May 5 2016

Cornwall Park, Auckland, New Zealand

Cornwall Park, Auckland, New Zealand
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Canon EOS 5D Mark II

upload_date

May, 2016

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163

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Behind The Lens

Location

I drive past Cornwall Park in Auckland, New Zealand every day when I travel to and from work so know the location well. Sometimes I quickly turn off the road and check out conditions. I have some preplanned locations when it's foggy - then it's just luck of the draw if anyone is around or something is happening to include in a frame

Time

I've certainly learn't the hard way you always need to have a camera handy so I have either a DSLR or smaller point and shoot available at all times these days. May, June seem to be the best times for fog in Auckland so I am "extra ready" for days like this e.g. leave a tripod in the boot, watch weather reports etc. This frame was taken at 8:27am on 5th May 2016, just don't tell my boss why I was late in that day :-)

Lighting

The fog was dense and high so I didn't get the rays coming through the trees I had hoped for but there was still a nice more subtle light from the sun still being reasonably low in the east, this made me want to capture the way it really was - softer, more flat and a surreal feel. I do occasionally go " virtually" around the park with the Photographer's Ephemeris app just to remind myself where the light will be at that time of the year, it’s certainly useful tool.

Equipment

I was in a bit of a hurry so no time to mess around with a tripod, and when including people I often find it's simply easier to go handheld. I used my 5D MkII, 24-70mm f2.8L lens. I pushed the ISO to 800 to allow me to set a smaller aperture for a touch of DOF and have a shutter speed that would freeze the walker a bit more.

Inspiration

Like many people my first photographic passion was landscapes and then I discovered street photography which gave me ideas around including and how to include people in landscapes to give more human association, scale to the viewer. I also love taking pictures in foggy conditions as it reduces the scene to its base elements, provides a dreamier feel and hopefully prompts imagination. To me fog also suits monochromatic imagery which is a preference for most of my pics. For the image itself, I saw the frame of the trees and when this lady walking her dog stepped smack bang into the middle of it I was very lucky. I had to wait for a few cars to pass by on the left and also for the dog to finish it's morning constitutional (which happened just as I was about to take the pic :-) so I was getting worried I had missed out, but it all came together for a second or two then was over.

Editing

I keep processing simple now, I was guilty of over processing in the "old days" so this was shot in RAW then converted to monochrome in Photoshop just by adding a black and white layer, then another layer for some light curves work and that was it. I felt the scene needed to be shown the way it was - subtle and not over contrasted.

In my camera bag

Most of it's aging a bit these days like me, but I have no reason to upgrade to be honest. My "go to" camera is the Canon 5DII and the lenses are all Canon. The 24-70 f2.8L lives on it by default. I also pack the 17-40 f4L, and my "treat lens" is the 70-200 f2.8L (I just love the quality and shallow DOF of this beast :-). These lenses cover most of my requirements but I also have a Canon 85mm f1.8 and my point and shoot is currently a Fuji X20 - I love the way Fuji has installed a bit of film soul into it's cameras.

Feedback

Yep, Be prepared by checking conditions in advance, knowing the place you want to shoot well - that takes some of the guess work out when you have limited time. Take 1000's of pictures and learn from other styles, for example whilst I struggle with street photography I have learn't way more from that style than any other and can filter that into landscapes, portrait , whatever as often Street photos are making something out of nothing or being incredibly patient waiting for something to happen. Gear is secondary to vision and preparation.

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markemirali

markemirali

Conrwall Park May 5 2016

Cornwall Park, Auckland, New Zealand

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow markemirali

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