Rodney Campbell's Blog

My eldest daughter and I took an evening trip down to Balls Head Reserve on Sydney Harbour for an hour of photographing the sunset and twilight over the harbour and city.

Situated on the northern foreshore of Sydney Harbour, this popular picnic spot combines natural beauty with spectacular views. It is located at the southern end of Balls Head Drive, Waverton.

Until 1916, the Balls Head area was frequented by the local Aboriginal community and sites including middens, art sites and rock engravings remain today. The Aboriginal name for Balls Head is Yerroulbine.

The Reserve is named after Lieutenant Henry Lidgbird Ball, Commander of the ship Supply in the First Fleet of 1788. Balls Head was the original foreshore land included in the large Wollstonecraft Estate. In 1912 the Australian Army claimed the land and a Quarantine Depot was established in Berrys Bay to service the boats operating to and from the Quarantine station at North Head.

Strong public protests in the early part of the 20th century resulted in Balls Head becoming public parkland (rather than being used for commercial or residential purposes as was mooted) in 1926.

Note: These images (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay gallery viewer.

From this location we have magnificent views over the city and harbour and the setting sun to the right. Unfortunately the view towards the Harbour Bridge is spoilt by Blues Point Tower directly in the middle of the bridge! 🙁

7:56PM and the sun is about to set in the next ten to fifteen minutes, we had a nice cloudy sky which lent some nice colour to the sky.

NIKON D90 + 8.0-16.0 mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 8 mm, 1/10 sec at f / 16, ISO 200

This is an exposure blend of two bracketed images at 2/3EV and -1 and 1/3EV

NIKON D90 + 8.0-16.0 mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 11.5 mm, 1/6 sec at f / 16, ISO 200

This is an HDR from 3 bracketed images at 2/3EV, -1 and 1/3EV and +2 and 2/3EV

NIKON D90 + 8.0-16.0 mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 8 mm, 1/4 sec at f / 16, ISO 200

8:11PM and the sun has just set – it was actually my daughters idea to take a more closeup view of the horizon where the sun had just dipped over.

NIKON D90 + 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 135 mm, 1/15 sec at f / 16, ISO 200

8:43PM and the end of twilight but there’s still quite a bit of deep blue/purple colour in the sky on this long exposure.

NIKON D90 + 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 40 mm, 30 sec at f / 16, ISO 200

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