So my lady and I decided to head to New Zealand for a short tour around the North Island. We drove a bit over 1000km and got to see some pretty amazing sites. I thought I’d share some of my shots…
For those who are not that familiar with NZ, it’s referred to as the land of the long white cloud. This proved a constant challenge for me to get good shots as the sky was either blown out or the landscapes were plunged into darkness. I got around this in two ways; composition and HDR. Using ‘creative’ compositions in some shots meant I could limit the amount of sky in the shot and allow the camera to expose the rest of the image correctly.
The second method, HDR (High Dynamic Range imaging) meant I could combine (using software in post production) three bracketed images (-ev, 0 ev and +ev). Basically, each image would have a part of the scene correctly exposed, and when combined you end up with a blended image all elements at the same exposure level. There are lots of great sources on the web about HDR, some people are not fans as the image can look dreamy/faked etc. Personally, I quite enjoy them as they can be quite striking, plus they allowed me to make the most of an overcast situation 
.
These first few photos were taken at North Head, which was a Naval installation up until 1996.
Continue reading →
