Kuto, Isle of Pines

A beautiful morning on Isle of Pines, also known as the Island Closest To Paradise. My night photography wasn’t a big success but this sunrise shot from the beach at Atchu Camping is probably the best image I came home with. Once again, not a soul on the fresh, breezy beach.

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I don’t think my night photography wasn’t a failure but judge for yourself, checkout my blog posts Atchu Way and Starry Atchu. It was a beautiful morning with a fresh breeze and cool sand between my toes. Apart from the tiny waves crashing on shore, it was very calm and tranquil. A very relaxing moment alone, watching the sun rise. It didn’t look like there was going to be a colourful or dramatic sky and there wasn’t. I captured this brief moment, just before the sun rose above the horizon, thinking there may not be another opportunity. And I was right. Once the sun showed itself, all colours disappeared apart from the blue sky which stayed all day.

I went with quite a long exposure of a minute and a half to get those clouds streaks and silky smooth water. The Lee Little Stopper (6-stop Neutral Density filter) helped me achieve that exposure and the Lee Polariser filter helped reduce glare on the water and pop the colours a touch too. Love the colour of that water. In fact, the filters inverted the movement in the scene. The water was a little choppy and the clouds were moving very slowly. The filters changed the motion and mood of the scene, making this image calm and tranquil yet giving the notion of time passing by. Editing was minimal, using mainly the Basic panel and the real magic happen within the Calibration panel, where I accentuated the colours. Ninety-five percent of my editing is done within Lightroom. I love it when I don’t have to spend a lot of time editing.

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SONY a7 III

full frame mirrorless camera (body only)

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TAMTON E 28-75mm ƒ/2.8 Di III RXD

standard zoom, E-mount lens

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VANGUARD TRIPOD

VEO 235AB Tripod with TBH-50 Ball Head

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LEE FILTER HOLDER

100mm square filter holder system

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LEE LITTLE STOPPER

ND1.8 (6-stop) neutral density filter

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LEE POLARISER

100mm polariser filter for Lee Filter Holder system

Bourail, New Caledonia

When I got my new camera, the Sony a7 III with the Tamron 28-75, at the end of last year, I was eager to try my hand at astrophotography. I wanted to capturing our Galaxy, the Milky Way, in all it’s glory. The opportunity came in early February when my best friend, Géraldine, was minding a house in Bourail. A two hour drive from Noumea. A beautiful little beach-house situated only metres from the Roche Percée Beach. So I stayed there over two weekends, wandering off in the middle of the night, shooting the stars. I was quite lucky to have clear skies and the Milky Way close to where I wanted it. Especially for an unplanned shoot.

The very first thing I realised was that 28 mm wasn’t wide enough. I needed a wider lens, 21 maybe even 18 mm, but it’s all I have so I had to make do. I didn’t count on the moon rising from that direction either. And almost a full moon too. Not to mention the very bright star/planet but, that, I actually like. It took me a few trials and errors to get the exposure I needed to avoid star-trails. For this scene it was around 5 to 8 seconds of exposure with an ISO of 6400 and a wide open aperture of ƒ/2.8. It’s the best image I came home with, out of the half dozen I took over the two weekends. It’s not a large portion of the Galaxy but I’m happy with it yet definitely not satisfied with the results. I had a very hard time editing it and had to do some research on post-processing these kinds of images. I need more practice and experiment more with astrophotography. Never stop learning, right?

The beach at the bottom of the image is Turtle Bay and behind the cliff is Roche Percée Beach (very popular with surfers). Both are well known for turtle hatching which we were right in the middle of. Unfortunately, I didn’t see any but Géraldine and her two girls did. Every year, hundreds of turtles lay their eggs here, which produce thousands of baby turtles. It takes 45 days for the eggs to hatch so both beaches are patrolled every night for about six to eight weeks. Making sure the turtles, the nests and babies aren’t interfered with in any way. Keeping this area a sanctuary for these incredible creatures.

Carved from the natural erosion of the waves, the weird looking rock formation at the end of the cliff is Le Bonhomme. A landmark in Bourail and New Caledonia. There’s a lookout at the top of the cliff but unfortunately part of it is closed off now due to erosion at the base causing the edge to collapse. Still worth the walk or drive up there as the views are just magnificent.

I haven’t had the chance to photograph the stars since but I hope to in the next month or so. Fingers crossed.

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28 mm, 5 seconds @ ƒ/2.8, ISO 6400

Kobe, Japan

We don’t eat a huge amount in the morning so paying for a buffet breakfast at the hotel wasn’t worth our while. The problem though, most places open around 8 am. No matter, we went for a stroll around Meriken Park and Kobe Harborland and checked out a huge shop that opened at 7:30 before coming back here, to Starbucks, for a simple breakfast.

This shot was taken a couple of hour beforehand though. Just before I headed back to the room. I liked the reflection of the sun in the front glass panels and having the Port Of Kobe Tower in the frame, gives the viewer a location. A destination.

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28 mm, 1/25th second @ ƒ/11, ISO 100

ROTORUA

Wish I had more time to visit Rotorua. There’s so much to see here. Click here if you haven’t seen the video of day 7. There are a few things on it that I haven’t taken photos of.

My morning started early with a stroll where I found myself on a sulphur plateau near the Puaranga Stream. It was overcast when I arrived but then golden hour just exploded through some clouds just long enough for me to setup and capture it. Not the best of compositions but better than nothing in my eyes. It covered up again for the next few hours. I saw a path heading into some bushes along the sulphur plateau and thought I’d follow it in hopes of capturing more photos. Not a lot to photograph but a very nice path nonetheless.

So once we all had breakfast, we headed to Kuirau Park & Mud Pools. I was surprised to find different hot water springs in such a small area. Black water, aqua water, green with white bubbles not to mention the light and dark brown mud bubbles. Very interesting. There was an area where you could dip your feet into the hot springs as well, which the girls took to right away.

After the park we took the Skyline to the Volcanic Hills Wine Tasting Room. The Skyline is a must just for the amazing views. Before the alcohol though, we visited the Jelly Belly Store where we tasted some very bizarre flavoured lollies. Then Alain luge raced before we all had lunch. I don’t have any photos of the wine tasting but check out the video or the link just above to see what the place looks like. The wines were very good and the whole experience was great.

Our last visit of the day was the Ohinemutu Maori Village. Here you’l find amazing carvings decorating the buildings. A very peaceful area on the shores of Lake Rotorua. My photos don’t do justice to these beautiful buildings.

Our stop for the night was the Cosy Cottage Thermal Holiday Park. We were supposed to do the Redwoods Treewalk that evening but it started to rain pretty heavy and didn’t stop till late in the night. Very unfortunate because it looks like an amazing thing to do.

Day 7 is over. Tomorrow we visit a wonderland before heading to Taupo. Hope to see you then. Goodnight.

p.s. thanks to Alain and his wife, Manu, for the use of some of their photos and videos.

ROTORUA

day 7

Day 7 presents us with a full day of visits. Day 6 was easy going, which helped us recover from a lot of driving and walking of the pass couple of days.

An early start for me this morning, as I was hoping to capture sunrise. It was very cloudy but I got a break in the clouds just long enough to capture golden hour. The composition wasn’t great but glad I got something. It was overcast for the next few hours. I found myself on a sulphur plateau on Lake Rotorua near Puaranga Stream. There were thousands of seagulls, very protective of their environment. I had a few flying very close around me, screaming or what those birds do. It reminded me of a Hitchcock movie. There’s a path that leads into the bushes among the sulphur. It’s a nice walk and I got a couple of photos.

Our first visit of the day was Kuirau Park & Mud Pools. A beautiful area with ponds, hot waters, mud pools and flowers. There’s an area where you can dip your feet in hot water, which the girls took advantage of. 

Next, we took the Skyline to the Volcanic Hills Wine Tasting Room. Before the tasting we visited the Jelly Belly store, bought some lollies and ate some very bizarre tasting Jelly Bellies. Then Alain and I did a luge race before we stopped for lunch. Alain went back to do more luge afterwards while his wife, Manu, and I went wine tasting. A wonderful room with amazing views. And so is the wine. I didn’t know New Zealand had so many wineries and good wines. Our hostess was lovely, taking the time to chat with us yet giving us time to savour the wine. Very nice experience.

At the end of the afternoon, we visited the Ohinemutu Maori Village. Beautiful buildings with amazing carvings for decorations. We were the only ones there and it didn’t take long to visit. Worth the stop.

The Cosy Cottage Thermal Holiday Park is where we stayed for the night. We needed to secure a spot for the night as we intended to visit the Redwoods Tree Walk. Unfortunately, the weather turned grey and it rained heavy pretty much all night.

That’s it for day 7 my friends. Thank you for watching and, please, come back for the next video where we visit a wonderland and head to Taupo. Goodnight.

p.s.   a big thanks to Alain and Manu for the use of some of their photos and videos.

MUSIC :

Pokarekare Ana by Ukulele Mike Lynch

Pokarekare Ana from polkadotpants

As I was waiting for my golden hour shot, I wanted to take a photo of these blue buildings before the end of blue hour. And I love those pillars so much I had to include them once more. They do make a great foreground. Love those purple windows too. At the end of the pier and the bottom of the buildings is the beginning of the Newquay Promenade which runs to the left of the photo. It’s a nice stroll along the pier and you can dine in wonderful restaurants and stay in beautiful residential apartments. And a great place for photos too.

As I mentioned before, the pillars make a great foreground, leading the eye to the buildings. I decided to compose my shot in between the pillars so as to show more of them and these were the only ones with crossbars. I was hoping for a more golden sky on the right side but I guess it just wasn’t time yet.

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0.4 sec @ ƒ/8, 18 mm, ISO 100

As golden hour slowly arrived, my extremities slowly thawed. If you have no idea of what I’m talking about, check out my last post. By the time the sun rose above the horizon and illuminated the top of Bolte Bridge’s pillars, I was able to push the shutter button painlessly. Capturing this photo made everything worthwhile. So glad I waited and didn’t head back to the hotel to warm up.

I shifted my composition a little to concentrate more on the foreground and the bridge but I think I should have placed the pillars of the bridge on the left third of the image instead of the right. The photo doesn’t seem balanced and it bothers me a little. I have to be more careful with my compositions but I’m still very happy I captured this photo though.

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1/30 sec @ ƒ/8, 55 mm, ISO 100

I got up early on my first morning in Melbourne (Australia). I was eager to get some sunrise photos of Docklands. There are two areas where you find these pillars. They’re divided by the Central Pier. Unfortunately, on the left side of the pier, the water is quite dirty with rubbish. Such a shame. I was surprised to see this side was so clean. Might have something to do with the currents. My composition was pretty obvious or so I thought. I wanted these poles in the shot as well as the bridge.

My original shot was a 3:2 which included some of the Central Pier on the left side of the image. It didn’t look right to me though so I decided to get rid of it and ended up with a square crop. I like it better but it still looks unbalanced with the buildings on the right. But I like the buildings… Long exposure to smooth out the Yarra River, as there was a little breeze, and to capture a better reflection of the posts and the lights from the bridge. No drama in the sky but I think I like it that way as it reflects the calmness of the water.

Talking about a little breeze. It was freezing! I didn’t have any gloves and anyway, I thought my jacket pockets would be enough to warm them up. Nooo! Not at all. It got so cold that it was painful to manipulate the camera buttons. I’ve never experienced anything like it. And I don’t think I ever will again. I bought gloves that morning. Not before the sun came out though. I got blue hour, I had get golden hour.

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6 sec @ ƒ/8, 25 mm, ISO 100

In this photo you can see in the background, the buildings from my last post. From a different angle though. This is Jones Bay Wharf in Pyrmont (Sydney, Australia). There are a few restaurants and cafes with other businesses located in those warehouses. The old warehouses is what grabbed my attention with the modern yachts around it. If you’ve read my last post, you might have guessed this photo was also taken from the top deck of the P&O Pacific Pearl cruise Ship.

 I tried to get the shot centred but I missed it by that much. A simple, hand held exposure (except for the timing of the shot, apparently). The photo is nothing to brag about but I like the subject and it’s not every day you see things from this perspective.

Again, if you would like to see more photos of the cruise, just pop over to my Instagram @christopheroberthervouet or to www.christopheroberthervouet.com which will direct you there as well.

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1/200 @ ƒ/8, 38 mm, ISO 200

This photo shows the choppiness of the water that I mentioned in my last post. You can’t tell how windy it was down here at the Coogee Life Saving Club (Coogee Beach, Sydney, Australia) but you can see how rough the water was. Now that I think about it, I can’t remember seeing any surfers out. I’m not a surfer but I can guess it was because the waves were breaking very close to the shore.

With this photo I wanted to show motion in the water as well as a bit of drama in the waves. It was impossible to freeze the action of the white-wash and the splashes as well as getting motion in the foreground but I think I got a nice balance between the two with the half a second shutter speed (I don’t know why I closed down my aperture further though). I did bracket the exposure but I only used the normal one for this photo. It was enough for the results I was after.

The sun was going to pop it’s head over the horizon in about fifteen minutes and I left about twenty minutes after that. There weren’t any clouds in the sky and the colours disappeared quickly too so I packed up and left to get some breakfast. Coogee has so many great cafes and they open pretty early too. It took me longer to choose one than to eat my breakfast. Mmm so delicious!

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0.6 sec @ ƒ/22, 18 mm, ISO 100

I find it so hard to get up in the morning. But I did it. Headed down to Coogee Beach (Sydney, Australia) to shoot sunrise. I didn’t have any composition in mind but there’s plenty to shoot down there. I just needed a beautiful sunrise. I had shot here before a few years back so I wanted to find a composition elsewhere first but when I saw the waves smashing into the pool’s walls on the south end of the beach and over flowing it, I was just drawn back to it.

At first I used a fast shutter to capture the waves splashing into the air but there’s something about long exposures that give certain images a surreal look. So that’s what I tried here. I closed my aperture down further than I usually do to get a longer exposure. The chaos and drama the wind was causing in the water just disappeared to a calm and simplified scene. I wish there were more clouds in the sky, catching that morning light, I think it would have made for a moodier image. Sometimes less is best. Talking about the sky, because of the long exposure it was now blown out. I was bracketing my exposures so I knew I was able to recover it. Only needed two exposures, one for the sky and one for, well, the rest. I used Photoshop to blend and match the exposures then I jumped back into Lightroom to finish the edit. It was fairly quick and simple. Pity the photo is slightly out of focus though.

Ten minutes after I started shooting, people were arriving to take photos of the sunrise too. Some came with their smartphones, others with point and shoots and a couple with DSLRs but only one with a tripod. Lucky I arrived early. And no one impeded on my composition (Yoohoo!). The tripod dude and I left about twenty minutes after sunrise.

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6 sec @ ƒ/16, 18 mm, ISO 100

I though I’d share some photos I took last year in December while on holiday in Australia. This first shot was taken at Tamara Beach (Sydney, Australia). I arrived around five o’clock as sunrise was due at five-thirty-five but I was surprised to see a steady stream of runners and walkers passing by. There’s a path that runs from Bondi Beach along the coast to Maroubra Beach. I don’t know how many kilometres long it is but with breathtaking views along the way, I’m sure it’s worth the exercise. 

I bracketed all my shots that morning. I usually do that when there’s a lot of contrast in the scene. Bracketing is when you take two or more shots of different exposures. Your aim is to get a good exposure of the highlights and the shadows within those shots so that you have a higher dynamic range to edit with. Sometimes the contrast in a scene is too vast for the camera to capture in one exposure thus you either loose detail in the highlights or the shadows. I hope that makes sense. Anyway, I only ended up using one normal exposure for this photo. I’m not thrilled about this image though. I like it but I don’t find it captivating. I was hoping for a more dramatic horizon with clouds on fire but as you can see, no clouds whatsoever.

As you know from my last posts, I’m not much of a morning person but when I have gotten up for sunrise shoots I’ve never regretted it. It doesn’t matter whether I’ve gotten the shot I wanted or not. The air seems fresh and crisp, everything seems calm and peaceful, there’s not a lot of cars or people… though, I did head down to Bondi Beach after the shoot for breakfast and to my surprise, no parking available anywhere. The beach and the promenade were busy with people working out. It was a marathon of people doing exercises. Unbelievable! Anyway, I had breakfast elsewhere and I always think to myself, my day is just beginning. I have so much time to do more things. And I’ve just spent two hour watching a sunrise and taking photos. For me that’s like meditating and doing yoga. Landscape photography taught me to slow down and appreciate my surroundings. The moment. To notice the details, the subtle changes of light, colours and mood around me. It relaxes me. It’s therapeutic for my soul. And I don’t do it often enough.

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1/13th sec @ ƒ/11, 20 mm, ISO 100

I was lucky the rain had stopped so that I could photograph sunrise and if you look back at my last post, I think I captured a nice image. Overhead though the rain had come back and I quickly packed up my gear, as it’s not weather sealed, and took cover under a nearby tree. I was hoping the rain would stop long enough for me to head back to the camp site for hot coffee and breakfast. I was starting to get very hungry. The rain had almost stopped and I was about to make a run for it when this beautiful rainbow appeared. With the dark clouds and the sun hitting the top of them it made for quite a dramatic scene.

I had to try to capture it. I hurried back to the water and quickly setup my gear in fear the rainbow would disappear. With the top of the image and the foreground very bright, and the bottom of the clouds and background quite dark, I thought the contrast might be too much for a single exposure. I told myself to just take the shot so I at least have something and if I have the time, to capture two different exposures. One for the bright areas, the other for the dark areas so that I can blend them together later. I timed the shots to capture movement in the water as it was retreating over the coral/rock. I only caught the end of the rainbow as it was already fading by the time I had setup. Everything happened quickly but I’m glad I was able to get my three exposures.

So this photo is the result of blending the highlight and shadow exposures. The blending and edits were very quick and the photo is fairly accurate to what I saw. I did edit the single exposure as well but I wasn’t able to reproduce the same results. Well not in the same time frame anyway.

 Anyway, another souvenir of Poe Beach (Bourail, New Caledonia) captured and a unique one at that.

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1/16th @ ƒ/11, 18 mm, ISO 100

Even though my tent was only fifty metres away from Poe Beach (Bourail, New Caledonia) I set my alarm to wake an hour before sunrise. Hoping to capture an image during blue hour. Unfortunately the alarm woke me to rain. Now I’m not an early morning kind of person and going to bed late the night before didn’t help but rain?! Nooo!!! I was determined to capture images of Poé though so I stayed awake, hoping the rain would stop. And forty-five minutes later, it did. About ten minutes after that the clouds opened up. Time to shoot! Blue hour was gone and golden hour was in full swing so I had to hurry to find a composition.

I had to walk up the beach a little before finding this dead coral, I think it’s coral, rock? Anyway, it would make for an interesting foreground. All I had to do now was to wait for the water to wash over the coral/rock and snap a shot. The line of the water would lead the eye towards the surveillance cabin and then the sky. And it worked quite well. I’m very happy with the photo.

I wanted to take a few more shots but the rain came back and my gear isn’t weather sealed so I packed up and took cover under a tree. And guess what I saw?… Check out my next post.

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1/60th sec @ ƒ/11, 18 mm, ISO 100

Continuing on from my last post where I missed two potentially nice photos, I made my way to Magenta Bay in hopes of capturing a beautiful sunrise. Unfortunately, I arrived a little too late. The sun was already well above the horizon and there was no colour in the sky. You know that moment of the morning, after the golden hour, where everything seems bland and silverish. So I decided to give the welder’s glass filter experiment another go. 

After experimenting with a few shots and the sun hitting straight into the lens, I thought my best chance of capturing a descent photo would be to take multiple exposures to blend later. I kept the welding glass on and took three exposures with a two stop difference. I realised later though that I should have exposed darker for the sun.

I used Lightroom’s HDR option to blend the exposures and post-processed after. Converted to black and white and started working mainly on contrast. I mentioned in a previous post that the colour cast of the welder's glass is so strong that it’s very difficult, but not impossible, to get rid off. It’s just easier to convert to B&W. I tryied to darken the sky more but I was getting funky effects around the sun. It was ugly.

In the end, I’m quite satisfied with this image. The welder’s glass is quite a challenge to use but I do enjoy experimenting with it. I can’t wait for the opportunity to use proper filters. Hmmm more things added to my wish list.

2 sec. @ ƒ/11, 18 mm, ISO 100

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I came to Ngea (Noumea, New Caledonia) in hopes of getting a sunrise photo with the slipway. Unfortunately, there was a vehicle park on it when I arrived. I couldn't see a boat nor a trailer so concluded they were there to... watch the sunrise. I'm not an early morning person but now that I was here I wasn't just going to head back home because my intended composition wasn't possible. So I looked around and found this tree to use to frame the sunrise. I caught this fleeting moment of colour during the selfie shot and unfortunately didn't get a decent second image. High altitude clouds were rolling in and with the sky void of colour I decided to change composition. I'd seen a puddle on the sand a few metres away and thought if those clouds catch the golden light, it could be a great reflection to capture. So I’m all set up and waiting when I see a policeman on his motorbike stopped next to my car. After grabbing his attention and making him understand it was mine, he came over. He said I had fifteen minutes to move my car or be stuck for four hours. There was a triathlon that morning and the road was closed off for the running and/or cycling part of the competition. So after five minutes I packed up and headed back to the car. And what do I see catching fire? Yep, the clouds. It only lasted two minutes but it happened. A little disappointed but not ready to give up, I headed over to Magenta Beach. But that’s another story and photo.

3 sec @ ƒ/11, 18 mm, ISO 100

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I was in a hurry to get to work on time until I drove by this beautiful view. It's so rare to see the sun like this at sunrise, here in New Caledonia. A white sphere in the sky that you can actually look at without hurting your eyes. And the sky, a beautiful orange colour and the silhouette of those trees... how can you not stop to appreciate it. OK so I arrive 5 minutes late for work but what a rare site to capture. I admit, it's not the best of photographs but it's a nice memory nonetheless.

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Not a very good morning for spectacular sunrise photos but the video make you see things in a whole different light. I wasn't very impressed when I got up that morning and saw the sky overcast. Since I was already up, I convinced myself to head out anyway. I'm not an early morning kind of person so it wasn't an easy decision to take, you know. Glad I did though. Came back with this time-lapse and a photo I like very much that I titled Searching Mont Dore.