Good Morning

It's been a while since I last got up early and tried photographing a sunrise.

Due to a few good sunrises during the week, I decided an early start on Saturday was worth a try.

Not the best sunrise in the end, but it was good to get up and give it a go. Everyone should take some time to watch the sun rise every now and again.

The Moon and the Sun

3 posts in 3 days! I'm doing well. This time a photography related post.

Lee txt me last night to the say the moon was looking good and the tide was in, so we popped up the road to take a few shots from the hills overlooking Shelly Beach.

Here is what I got...

Most of my shots across the estuary didn't turn out so well, but at least I got one nice one. The sculpture was fun to play around though :)

I tried some bracketed exposures too. This one below is a combination of exp -1, 0 & +1. Combined using Photoshops automated HDR merge. Doesn't really look too much different to my eye...

Finally, just a little bit of fun with long exposures... imagine if there were really 3 of me... :)

I'd already planned to up early today to catch the sunrise. Since I've still got a couple of days of leave left, I figured it would be worth the effort at least once.

Not the best sunrise this morning, still I'm happy with what I got. I started at the same spot as the night before, but didn't really like the angle based on where the sun was rising, so I quickly popped down to Shelly beach before heading back up for a last shot.

Now it's back to bed for a nap I think... :)

Thanks for reading.

Sunrise Photography

After the sunset photography earlier in the week, I was keen to head out with Lee to try another sunrise at a local spot (the last time I tried involved a very early and very long trip to Miranda and resulted in a very poor sunrise!).

The weather overnight was looking dubious, but with the wind, we figured there was a good chance it would all blow over during the night. So, alarms were set and an early night was had.

At 5am... I woke to the sounds of heavy rain.... Luckily it was just a shower, so since we were up, we decided to chance our luck and go have a look anyway.

Unfortunately the weather and sun didn't come out to play, but I still got some nice shots in the early morning light.

Set the camera on Av f7.1 initially and f/11 later. Iso was in the range of 100 - 400. Exposure times were very long....

The Sea Scouts who camped there overnight must certainly be some hardy souls with all the heavy rain we had overnight.....

Sunday Photography Lessons

The best way to learn about photography is to just head out, try different settings and push the button. So, that’s what I did today. Rob agreed to head out with me to do some shooting and impart some advice on what settings to try. I think this is going to turn into a loooong post! :)

We’d been keeping an eye on the weather all week as it had been pretty changeable with fine spells then heavy showers all week (typical Auckland weather really!). The weather forecast for today was good and with the high winds overnight…. we believed the forecast,…. Based on that, we decided to head out to Miranda to catch the sunrise and then see what migratory birds were around at the sea and shore bird sanctuary. After taking photos of the sunset at Muriwai, I’ve been keen to try photographing a sunrise. As it turned out…. we should have known better about trusting the weather forecast…!!!

But anyway, after getting up at 4:30am (I’d forgotten that hour existed), we met up and headed off to Miranda to meet the sunrise at 6:40am. The wind was still blowing pretty strong (and did for most of the morning we were there), so I’d hoped it would clear any cloud away. Unfortunately some cloud seemed stuck on the Coromandel peninsular and refused to budge meaning the sunrise was pretty average. Still, I think I managed some nice shots…

 

One of the things I’d wanted to try and adjusting the white balance to aim for some warmer colours. Previously I’d just left AWB set on auto, but changed it to shade for a number of shots to bring out more yellow/orange therefore making the shot look warmer. Definitely prefer the shots using AWB on Shade.

 

At that time in the morning (and with the weather), there wasn’t a lot of wildlife around. But… as the sun came up things started to stir. Pied Stilts where the first up and headed out for breakfast.
With the light still low, I thought I’d try a few photos with the Stilts flying past and being silhouetted against the low sun….

 

 

They never really came close enough for me to be able to use my 55mm to 250mm lens, so Rob let me have a go with his 400mm lens. Definitely took a bit to get used (and not just the weight of it!) as it was great for the close-ups, but much harder to find the subject and track it… Overall, the low light, wind and constant showers passing through made photography difficult, but all good fun. Here’s some of the better results:

 

 

And there was certainly a few Pied Stilts around….

 

 

 

I’d hoped to also try getting some good reflections of the birds in the water, but it was low tide and too windy. I did get one good one though…. breakfast is served!

 

And the other wildlife that joined us later….

White-faced Heron

The Heron were pretty wary and weren't keen on us getting even remotely close.

 

Geese

 

And these little fulla’s…. poor guys were flapping their wings against the wind and going nowhere or just straight up before darting down and around the grass. Felt a bit sorry for them :)

 

One bird I have been keen to photograph is a Hawk, but they tend to be quite elusive and quick to escape when spotted. It’s almost like they don’t want their picture taken!?! There was one around coast, but it disappeared quick. On the way to the next stop, we spotted another, but were too slow to react. Third times a charm though…. helped by the fact I was ready with keeping the camera ready to go on my lap :) Not the best focused photos, but still….. I’m happy:

 

 

Seemed it was too busy having a bit of biff with a Magpie to notice us…

 

Last stop was Hunua falls. With heavy showers over the last day or so…. the falls were pretty cool to see......

 

 

Whoever came up with idea of the setting up the picture frame deserves a pat on the back:

Rob suggested I lower the shutter speed to give the water the look of movement…. makes quite a bit of difference:

Whilst we were at Hunua, the local Corvette club popped in… here’s some of the nicer ones. Boys and their toys…

 

Finally…. I had another go at some panoramic sets during the day and was actually pretty happy with the results. I used Photostitch to merge them. Unfortunately you can make out some of the merging of the photos in the sunrise ones as it’s hard to merge them with the light changing quickly. Still… much easier than trying to do it on Photoshop. Thanks Photostitch! :)

 

(The first picture is this post is also a panoramic set.)

After all that it was home time as I was in serious need of a nana nap. A nap and a good workout at the gym brought me back to life this evening ready to look through my photos and update here :)

Total photo count – 756….. still definitely only a beginner.

All in all, not the best day for photography…. could have stayed in bed! But… a good oppourtunity to play around and learn what some of the settings will do before the really good weather comes along. Overall, I’m happy with the results. Next time I’d probably try and check the best time/time of season to be at the sanctuary to see more wildlife! 

Hope you enjoyed :)