Ewie's Blog

Auckland Nightlife

2008-06-04T19:18:00.003+12:00

It's seems that there are a few people that actually read my blog. Wow! and I thought I was the only one. Thanks to those (you know who you are) for encouraging me to make more regular posts.

So this shot goes back to early May and was taken during a local NZFM Flickr group meetup in downtown Auckland. We took several photos on the night and had a great time doing it. There's more to see here if you're interested.

I think this one is my personal favourite from the night as I love the colours of the sky and foreground. Besides a small amount of cloning to remove a distracting handrail in lower frame right, it's pretty much as shot.

The scene is the Waitamata Harbour, Auckland. Taken from Princes Wharf looking over the maratime museum.

Here's another one from later in the night, a shopfront window in Queen St.

Being a lighting designer (by day) I loved the way the window dresser had used the fluorescent tubes to create something special.

Night Photography Meetup

2008-04-28T07:41:00.002+12:00

Starlit Shipwreck-2, originally uploaded by Ewie_NZ.

Ok, so I took this over a week ago and am only just blogging it now.... I'm still kinda new at this.

It was a nice clear night and a full moon, perfect for night photography, so a couple of guys from the local Flickr group and myself met to go exploring around the Manukau foreshore here in Auckland. Philternz had been to this spot before and lead us to an isolated little beach where this old boat had been grounded.

As with anything that sits still for too long in this part of town, the local hoodlums had tagged the hull and burnt out the stern area totally. All this made it an interesting subject in the moonlight, so the three of us spent the better part of an hour trying out different techniques to get the best shot.

I used the opportunity to try out some of the tricks I'd read about on Strobist.com to boost things a little. I wanted to give the bow area some extra light to highlight it better against the darker background. The full moon was doing a great job in providing plenty of ambient light and shadows and I didn't want to totally kill it with too much flash, so after setting the strobe to 1/2 power and adding a snoot, I placed it on the ground aiming up toward the bow.

For this shot, the flash was in the middle of the scene so I set the flash to fire at the beginning of the 30 second exposure and as soon as it had, I moved into the scene from frame left and quickly removed the strobe. Thanks to the ong exposure and low ambient light, I don't appear in the shot at all. Neat trick huh?? Honestly, I was not sure that it would work but am very glad it did.

Score!!

2008-03-13T09:39:00.005+13:00

For those who didn't know, I've taken up an online Diploma Course in Professional Photography. Online because I can work it around my hectic and often chaotic work schedule. :o)

Just recieved my results for Assignment 4 - 10/10 Woo Hoo!!

Thats 39 out of a possible 40 so far. Maybe there a future for me behind the camera afterall? Next assignment is relating to colour and light which I should also do well in, this is lighting design 101.

In the beginning...

2008-03-12T14:31:00.005+13:00

Rewind to last Sunday 9th... we loaded up the car and headed off to an out of town dog agility show. As we approached Orewa, a small town north or Auckland, the sky started to lighten, dawn had begun. Within minutes the sky started to go from black to purple and then an incredible redish-orange. We pulled up at a siding and I leapt out of the car, trust camera in hand, and managed to take two or three shots before the colours faded.

It's amazing what mother nature can throw at us sometimes.