Rodney Campbell's Blog

Part two from Sunday evenings Milsons Point to Kirribilli Sydney Photo Walk organised by Ben Fewtrell of On3Legs and Rob Potter of Photography Hot Spots.

Once the sun had set it was time to get ready for some twilight shots of the city – I wanted to do a wide stitched panorama including the Sydney Opera House, the city and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I tried a few different compositions and focal lengths but settled on the most zoomed on my 16-25/4 (35mm) as my preferred look.

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 slideshow gallery viewer.

The following two images ended up being my favourite panorama sets from the evening – both were taken around 8:30PM (just over half an hour after sunset) and both are the result of stitching 10 vertical frames (50% overlap) taken at 35mm and 30 seconds…

Of course these panoramas look much better bigger and even more awesome is the detail you get when zoomed 100% into the full 130 megapixel master images (you can see people walking around the harbour foreshore)

Blue Hour over Sydney Harbour

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 35 mm, 30 sec at f/11, ISO 200

Sydney Harbour Lights

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 35 mm, 30 sec at f/5.6, ISO 200

When it had gotten quite dark and twilight was about at it’s end we were about to pack up and go have dinner before heading home (my daughter was getting pretty hungry by this stage :)). There were a few others still with me where I was shooting on this little rock causeway, and I asked if they wanted to do a little quick lightpainting… they were keen so…

Most of it didn’t work out (the city itself was too bright and I’d only brought EL wire and no leds or other light painting instruments). However here is a little EL wire painting by my daughter (her first time effort :))

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 16 mm, 60 sec at f/8, ISO 100

and I then borrowed an off camera flash from someone and we setup this little scene which actually worked out pretty well I thought

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 16 mm, 30 sec at f/8, ISO 200

I attended a leisurely Sunday evening Milsons Point to Kirribilli Sydney Photo Walk organised through Google+ again by Ben Fewtrell of On3Legs and Rob Potter of Photography Hot Spots.

…although given the trek from Luna Park around to Kirribilli was all of a few hundred metres I’m not sure “walk” is quite the right word for it 🙂

Thankfully the dire predictions of rain and bad weather did not eventuate and we had a lovely evening – the sunset itself wasn’t as stellar as the previous evening but the 50+ people who attended had a great time out I’m sure.

I brought my eldest daughter along and she was happily snapping away with the micro 4/3rds and even assisted as a model for our brief end of evening impromptu light painting session on the harbour.

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 slideshow gallery viewer.

First up some images whilst the sun was still up and I’ll follow with some images taken after sunset during twilight…

The obligatory Luna Park face shot…

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 16 mm, 1/50 sec at f/5.6, ISO 100

and a little self portrait on the harbour framing the SOH

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 26 mm, 1/4 sec at f/11, ISO 100

the sky in the opposite direction from the setting sun was actually a lot more interesting than the sunset itself and we had these lovely pinky purple clouds in the sky. I decided to try some BigStopper 10 stop ND (+0.6 GND and CPL) with this – I did one take – 4 minutes at f/11 and ISO 100 and I was reasonably happy with the end result

Blue Velvet

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 19 mm, 240 sec at f/11, ISO 100

there was no time to try another because we had to rush around to Kirribilli where we were going to shoot sunset with the sun behind the bridge and then setup for some twilight action. Here is one of the shots I don’t mind, which was taken in this sort of pit where the stone sea wall is all broken down. I reckon this place would be much better with a higher tide so the water was streaming in.

Sydney Rocks

NIKON D600 + @ 19 mm, 2 sec at f/11, ISO 100

After our visit to the interior of the Sydney Opera House for the Google Plus Sydney PhotoWalk 2013, hosted by Elia Locardi I ventured outside with the trusty umbrella and tripod and tried a quick sequence of frames for a stitched panorama (around 7:30PM). This view is the result of 8 vertical frames taken at 16mm and represents about a 250 degree field of view taking in the city and circular quay on the left past the overseas passenger terminal and the Opera House and it’s forecourt.

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 slideshow gallery viewer.

SOH @ Dusk

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 16 mm, 1 sec at f/9, ISO 100

I attended the recent Google Plus Sydney PhotoWalk 2013, hosted by Elia Locardi.

For the event we were granted special group access to the Opera House Concert Hall Northern Foyers – with tripods and cameras to shoot, which was a rare opportunity. Nearly 300 avid photographers turned up for the event and I’m sure everyone had an excellent time.

Unfortunately the weather wasn’t forthcoming and by the end of our time inside the Opera House it was raining consistently and all hope for a nice sunset was lost in thick heavy clouds and rain.

As part of the Chinese New Year celebrations the Opera House sails were to be lit bright red from the Overseas Passenger Terminal (the same location as for Vivid Sydney). Unfortunately there was a massive cruise liner at the OPT which had not left and thus the light show could not go ahead on time. A few brave souls along with Elia braved the weather to walk around to the other side of circular quay to the rocks side in the hope of catching some images of the Opera House from that side.

Around 8:30PM the cruise liner started moving out into the harbour and soon after I headed up towards the deck of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the hopes that the light show might start. As luck would have it when I arrived at the bridge steps the Opera House lit up – it was still raining but it was time to head across to the middle of the bridge and I spent an hour trying some different compositions.

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 slideshow gallery viewer.

Blood Red Sails

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 18 mm, 30 sec at f/8, ISO 100

Streaking into the Quay

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 22 mm, 25.00 sec at f/8, ISO 100

I was starting to pack up from my very wet position on the middle of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and was just about to leave for the night when fireworks started further down the harbour so I figured since I was here I’d setup again and take a few images which included the fireworks.

Tripple Threat

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 17 mm, 12 sec at f/8, ISO 100

Nuclear Skies

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 35 mm, 5.60 sec at f/6.3, ISO 400

Went for a walk up to Sydney’s Central Station one lunchtime and took a few images whilst there…

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 slideshow gallery viewer.

The sun and bright sky weren’t kind for this image but I liked the composition potential so I might go back in better conditions

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 22 mm, 1/25 sec at f/11, ISO 1100

I liked the potential of the dark reflections here – I only wish there was more water on the ground…

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 16 mm, 1/15 sec at f/11, ISO 100

and lastly in the park outside the station

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 16 mm, 1/30 sec at f/8, ISO 280