Rodney Campbell's Blog

Day 2 of the week of panospheres and this addled little number is from Adelaide. The original panorama is Sweeping into Adelaide.

Addled

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 40 mm, 15 sec at f/16, ISO 100

Note: These photographs (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.

I blame Gerry…. 🙂

After posting one of my panorama images from our trip to Kangaroo Island (Western Panorama’s) his response was that I had to planetoid it…

So after a couple months hiatus on tiny planets the week of Panosphere’s (or Tiny Planets) is back ON!…

Up first of course is the planetoid version of the panorama in question…

Crucible of Life

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm, 1/200 sec at f/8, ISO 100

Note: These photographs (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.

It was to be our last evening at Cape Du Couedic so we all walked down to the arch for sunset.

Even on this rugged and exposed tip of land there’s abundant colourful natural flora. Right here off the side of the boardwalk from the carpark down to the cliffs at the end and then down under to Admirals Arch the plantlife clings to these rugged windswept cliffs for life.

Admirals Walk

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm, 1/15 sec at f/11, ISO 100

After shooting my last few shots down under the Arch I’ve come back up top for sunset. Here the sun is just drifting over the horizon on the left (8:33PM) and with the few whisps of clouds gone we’re left with a hint of pastel glow across the sky.

Cape Du Couedic Colour

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm, 1 sec at f/16, ISO 100

When we got back to our Lighthouse Keepers cottage to settle in for the night (well everyone but me :)) the skies started to really clear and the moon came into view with beautiful warm and cool tones in the sky from the remnants of the setting sun. It’s 9:15PM and with the long lens I’m trying some shots literally from the front door of our cottage 🙂

Crescent Shadows

NIKON D600 + 70.0-300.0 mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 300 mm, 1/1 sec at f/8, ISO 100

Sneaky Sunday on a long weekend… time to head somewhere new, some seaside location in Sydney I’d not shot before… and so it was I found myself at North Curl Curl rockpool.

Sunrise at this time of the year (winter) is a nice time to shoot here in Sydney. It’s basically not stupid o’clock when the sun rises – today it was a very respectable 6:54AM.

Curly Rock

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 20 mm, 71 sec at f/11, ISO 100

Note: These photographs (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.

I’d invited a few people to join me for this session but Gerry was out of town and Suren was sick so it was just Deb and I who ventured out this morning.

When we’d arrived here there were already a couple of other photographers setting up. On pair was setup on the far corner of the pool facing where sunrise would be on the left. We also had some rock fishermen setup on the rocks to the left.

Unfortunately no epic clouds or sunrise this morning… We had a thin bank of cloud right on the horizon which made for some early twilight colour with rich tones of red just as we arrived which soon converted to purples and pinks as it transitioned to pastels before sunrise.

It was also low tide so there’d also be no crashing waves or water spilling out of the pool. Our options it seems would be limited this morning. Still it’s nice to get out at a fabulous time of the day.

One of the most interesting aspects of North Curl Curl rockpool is that it has these two very large rocks coming up right in the middle of the pool. It’s something a little different to the typical rockpools in Sydney so I figured I should work them into the composition somehow.

With very little interesting going on in the sky other than the lovely tones of colour I was looking towards my feet for something interesting to point down at to include as foreground interest. This is normally pretty difficult with a pool since standing at the edge of a pool looking over it you’ve generally got just water nearest you.

At this corner of the pool where it meets the rock face to the left there’s some exposed rock here at low tide with some interesting pock marked surfaces which I’ve tried my best to work into the composition… however unsuccessfully :).

It’s still almost half an hour till sunrise with the first shot above. Whilst the sky is quite bright the rocks are still in shadow so I’ve used my new headlamp torch to light paint the foreground to lift it out of the darkness. Shot with the Heliopan CPL stacked with a 3 Stop Reverse Grad for a natural semi darkness long exposure.

Then a horizontal from further along the pool edge attempting to include the pool steps in the foreground and facing back around the headland towards where the morning colour was.

Gone Fishing

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 20 mm, 13 sec at f/11, ISO 100

Time to go back to a vertical composition facing the far corner of the pool and away from the now brightly glowing sky on the left where the sun will rise in ten minutes time. I’ve raised myself as high as I can go to try and provide some separation around the rock out in the water so it doesn’t merge with the other side of the pool. A little longer focal length to get the perspective and framing I wanted and then some more light painting of the foreground, and here we have…

Dawnish Colour

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 26 mm, 15 sec at f/16, ISO 100

Right on sunrise I’ve moved back a little and gone wide so I can see the rock directly beneath the tripod. It’s reasonably bright by this stage with the sun coming up so I have to work very quickly with the light painting down below to highlight this small section of rock I want to bring out. For this scene Aperture priority was getting the exposure totally wrong, so I switched over to full manual bulb mode and manually controlled the shutter length using the wireless trigger whilst light painting with the other hand :). Colours and shine courtesy of nature…

Mercury

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 18 mm, 6.3 sec at f/16, ISO 100

Some handheld panorama’s of the view at the fabulous and remote West Bay.

Note: These photographs (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 view from up top looking down into the bay, looks like we have the whole world to ourselves…

I originally took eleven (11) handheld frames for this but I chose in post to only use the more middle seven (7) frames for the final panorama stitch.

Western Vista

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm, 1/160 sec at f/8, ISO 100 x 7 Frames

Down on the beach looking out to the western sea. My daughter loved this “cloud rainbow” as she called it :).

Again I’d taken more frames than I needed or ended up using. I’d taken fifteen frames in a complete circle for a full 360 degree panorama but I liked the tighter view you have here rather than seeing what was behind so this smaller view encompasses just nine (9) of those frames stitched.

Western Eye

NIKON D600 + 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm, 1/200 sec at f/8, ISO 100 x 9 Frames