Burning Brush
Mount Taranaki as seen from Pouakai Tarns on a beautiful clear morning
Mount Taranaki as seen from Pouakai Tarns on a beautiful clear morning
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Aug, 2016Views
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Contest Finalist in Anything Reflections Photo Contest
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BrianaK
August 22, 2016
Beautiful shot. I love the warm colors and the clarity of the scene. Perfect foreground as well.
Alfredo_Jose
May 21, 2017
Excellent work! I love all the elements of the photo, from the reflection on the water to the color palate of the landscape. The light is the icing of the cake, truly a master piece!
Rookrush
June 09, 2017
I can't help but keep coming back to revisit this image, it gives me such a sense of peace and tranquility, 10 out of 10 doesn't even come close to my thoughts on this image, its absolutely superb. I simply adore every element of it. well done.
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
Pouakai Track, North Island, New Zealand.Time
This image was taken just after dawn in mid October. I had hiked to the nearby hut to base myself for a few shoots here and spent a magical sunset, night and sunrise shoot viewing this scene in various plays of cloud and light.Lighting
The emphasis of this image was for side lighting . As I saw the light creep across this scene from left to right, I could see that at some stage, these grasses would be illuminated by the light while the rest of the foreground was in shadow. I tried to retain that with composition curving into the side lit mountain.Equipment
Canon 5dmk3, 16-35mmF2.8 II lens, Benro triod, CPL, 3 stop soft edged GND.Inspiration
The phrase 'lonely mountain' comes to mind when viewing isolated volcanos such as Taranaki. There are literally no other mountains in the surrounds apart from the foothills so the composition lends itself to that phrase. Given that the conditions were still, there was a great opportunity to have a mirror like reflection of the mountain from this position.Editing
There were several exposures taken for this shot but in the end, three were used. One image captured all the beautiful side lighting hitting the reeds and mountain but was affected by sun flare. A second image was taken with my hand obscuring part of the light source hitting the lens from the left to eliminate the foreground flare and a last image was used from before the sunrise for a clean left hand side of the image in the foreground.In my camera bag
While hiking, I try to carry all of my gear in an ICU. For multiday hikes, I really have to rationalise what I'm carrying due to the weight of the gear. In that scenario I would carry 16-35mm , and a 70-200 F4 lens as well as a selection of filters that I really need. When it is just an overnight hike, I am far less selective with my gear since my backpack is not weighed down with food and clothes (nor a tent if there is a hut available). For this particular hike, I added the 24-70mm and carried my whole Lee filter kit.Feedback
Taranaki from this spot faces due south. Except in summer, most of the lighting on the mountain will be a sidelight. At dawn, this type of shot is possible whereas in the evening, the reeds won't be lit from here due to a mountain on the right. It's approximately 5km to the hut with almost 1000m elevation, then a further kilometer from the hut to this location. It would be very useful to scout this position prior to ensure you have good composition, particularly since it is an increasingly photographed location. Use the side lighting to your advantage and try to attain flare free images by combining some images together from before the light or perhaps with the light source obscured . There are also plenty of other small tarns in the vicinity.
