April Photowalk & Some EXCITING NEWS!

Our April photowalk was located at Eve's bush and Orewa beach. Now I think so many Aucklanders really underestimate Orewa. We tend to see it as one of those places you stop at on your way north , or on your way home. But its actually a really nice beach., its spacious and there is a good sized grass area where the play ground is and space for volleyball and basketball. It's not half bad if you ask me! I must admit though., its not my first choice when deciding on a beach to visit but I do like Orewa.

So here are some of my favourite shots along with the usual blurb...

Oh and just a little aside note., its a definite no no to go into the bush wearing only ya jandles LOL. I learnt my lesson the hard way haha. Got eaten alive (mozzies). But it was worth it. I got a few cool shots I think ;-)

I used the wide angle end of my lens for this shot below and was therefore able to capture the maximum amount of scenery that was in front of me. I have to be careful using the wide angle end, as I tend to go a bit extreme sometimes and it can often have a distorting effect. But I still like how this turned out :-)

Ok so all day I was trying to get those cool lens flares in my shots. I didn't quite get it (haha FAIL) but I like this shot. I like how I have one trunk in the front but you get the sense its one of many from the blurred background.





Could be my favourite pic of the bunch. This shot is bathed in light. . .loooooove. To get the spider web in focus I used the manual focusing ring. The auto focus just can't hack it :P





I took two different exposures of this one., and chose the lighter one. Sometimes I think that its too light., but I like this anyway. I like the rounded bokeh. . . awesome... I tried to keep that moss in focus as well.




I love pink so this picture just speaks for itself. ;-) gorgeous colour. This didn't really need to be enhanced or tweaked at all.





Waiting for sunset. . I like this photo because of the repetition of the trees and how it goes from big to small. . Couldn't have arranged it better myself.





Daisy pointed this out to me., the seagull on the pole and I thought., yeah its cool but I wouldn't be able to pull it off., the light being too low and it was quite far away. . But I think I did ok! The gull was making a good ol racket up there so I waited till it had its beak open again and took the shot. Before hand I increased the exposure compensation because I knew otherwise it would be too dark. This way you can still kind of make out some detail of the bird and the weathered pole.





I LOVE FLUFFY GRASS. Does anyone know the name of this yet? ANYWAY., originally I hadn't thought to put this shot in black and white but Joy mentioned it might look good - and she was right! I just converted it to B&W in iphoto then increased the contrast slightly as well to really make those fluffy heads stand out.





So we waited., and waited and waited., no sign of a sunset. SIGH... "oh well guys lets go home.," and just as we started walking back to our cars, THIS HAPPENED. How cool is that ? Just when you think it was going to be another FAILED sunset.




Never give up., you never know how things can turn out. ..

And on that note., I would like to re-announce that I passed my Foundations exam!!! (Previously PCE1). This is a professional accounting exam that you need to sit in order to become a Chartered Accountant in NZ. There's still one other exam to be sat., but the fact that I didn't pass PCE1 first time around makes this victory all the more sweeter. . . I was kind of shocked actually!! But BOOYAH lol. I passed the workshop and all 3 exam questions. They have made it harder this year (changes to the curriculum), so I'm just sooo stoked I made it through.

Just want to say thank you to my family and everyone who has been wishing me luck and praying for me. All my hard work and late nights paid off!! I'm so glad. :-)

“What we can or cannot do, what we consider possible or impossible, is rarely a function of our true capability. It is more likely a function of our beliefs about who we are.”

—Tony Robbins

TRUE THAT! Enjoy the rest of your week pebbles :-)

Pacific flavoured ART

Ok., so quick update :-) Yesterday I had the privilege of helping out my friend Ernest Auora to get some shots of his artwork to send off for an exhibition. It was very last min as the deadline was today!! But we got it done just in the nic of time ;-)

I decided it was best to take the pix outside as there was more light., and the fact that it was a little cloudy really gave some favorable lighting conditions. His artwork is awesome and I just love the vibrancy of the colours. I hope that he is happy with the result! I thought it went pretty well... Below are some of the pix I took.

For reference purposes his Facebook page is here.

Its really hard to get a feel for the size of these pictures because of how small they show up on this blog., but they are actually quite big.. about 2 x 1 m (rough estimate) but you get the idea.









If you are interested in purchasing any of these prints., please email Ernest at trunesian@gmail.com.

Random fireworks... I'll have some of that!

So I was sitting in my living room eating dinner when I heard fireworks. I turned to my right and there they were. Not the pitiful ones you get from the warehouse but the proper professional type!! Talk about midweek excitement! (ok so it was monday).

So frantically I put down my fork and ran to the bedroom, trying not to bump into anything in the process. Rushed back with my bendy tripod and camera meanwhile I had no idea why there were fireworks or how long they were going to last. Its was almost torture seeing the beautiful fireworks and knowing there was a possibility that by the time I had my camera set up it would all be gone....noooooo. And no one would believe me if I don't get a picture right?!!! LOL.

I finally did get some pictures., some were crap and blurry so I had fun being arty with them in photoshop. Does anyone know what they were for?

2 days till the weekend people wooo :-)

I'm back! Well I've finished my exam but I won't get the result till later this month. So finger's crossed!! It takes so much energy to try and overcome something that you have failed in the past but I'm proud of myself for going back the second time :-) even if I'm not successful. I did my best, I studied hard and whatever happens , happens.

So thankyou to everyone that wished me luck and gave me support. It meant alot :-)

But boy I've been lacking in my blog! :(

It's been basically a whole month! SOOOORRRRY . I still haven't talked about the photo's I took on our 3rd photowalk with the gang (we have already completed our 4th!) It was lots of fun and our group has grown heaps :-) We went out to the Auckland Botanic gardens. It was lovely, there were so many different kinds of plants to try and shoot it was great!

So some of my favourite photo's are below :-) I accidentally had my ISO on a bit too high than normal but its sometimes necessary when the light is getting low to maintain a fast enough shutter speed to reduce blur. But actually I think I did ok! But let me know what you think in the comments. But of course its a good reminder not to over do the ISO.

Because my fellow members were slightly late this time (they had to come from the shore all they way to south Auckland!) I was able to take a few photo's before they arrived (haha cheating LOL hey its not a competition lol.) I took this. I love the green colour but also the way the grass reminds me of bamboo...

Below is one of our new memeber's doing his thang. hehe. I allowed the flax to be included in the foreground here to give that paparazzi feel. :-)

I got alot of positive feedback about the picture below :-) I thought it was good but didn't expect it to draw so much attention due to the fact it is so simple :-) But often simple works extremely well in photography! I also submitted this to my little online photography course that I'm doing (which I need to pick up again btw), and I got 100% as my mark. booyah LOL.

As the afternoon sun started to set, it provided some really nice warm even light to shoot with. I love this pic , simple for the light and the way it shows up the veins in the leaves.

There's a huge variety of cacti at the botanic gardens in Auckland and this was one of them. You all know how I love my clouds, so I incorporated them into this shot doing my very ametueristic method of HDR. haha. By using layers in photoshop elements I was able to merge 2 different photos to achieve a lighter exposure for the bottom half, and a darker exposure for the sky to enable me to show detail in the clouds. I should really have spent long on blending the two pictures but I was lazy lol but I still like this photo. This is something for me to work on! If you are wanting to know how I did that , post a message below or you can always do what I do and search youtube for tutorials haha.

The funny thing about the next photo is I thought it was ruined :( (due to my high ISO, there was visable noise when I was viewing on my computer). But a little bit of manipulation it actually turned out to be my favourite of the bunch. (Probably because its pink and green!! haha my favourite colours).

My tip of the week (month lol) is something very simple but very cool that I learned while out on our 4th photowalk (thanks to Steph lol). If you have a lens hood., you can almost always, turn them the other way around when you are wanting to store them (the whole time I have just been leaving them as they are - LOL NOOB). I was so excited when I found out you can remove it and put it on the opposite way so that its not sticking out so much and can fit in your camera back much more neatly!

April update

Well as you all now I've been extremely busy this month., unfortunately not with my photography :/ Audit has been on and my professional exam is only next week!! Its going to be tough but all I can do is do my best right?!

Anyway I thought I would make a quick update and just post up this link to the NZ online photography magazine. Its pretty cool and its free! They have lots of tips and tricks and educational articles for budding little photographers like us its quite neat! Have a look here if your interested.

For your info the website is: http://www.nzphotographer.co.nz/ and I believe they send out mags roughly every month. But have a look at back issues you might find something to your taste.

Anyway I hope you are all well and that you are making the most of the beautiful weather we have been having (beautiful and more to my liking dry!). Autumn is here and the leaves are starting to fall. Could make for some beautiful shots! I have my monthly photo walk next week. I'm so excited! And our group has grown so much too. It literally has grown out of nothing and its so cool. Steph is doing a great job of organising everything :-)

So that is my little update post. If your interested follow me on twitter! Its my new love :-)

Tip of the week: Don't forget to look up when your shooting. You might see an interesting cloud formation like this - I saw this on the way out one day. I thought it was kewl. And it again reiterates the point to always have a camera of some sort with you! I just love the reflection of the light off the apartment windows onto that wall. Its reminiscent of clothes on a washing line don't you think?

Apologies

Sorry peeps. March and April are going to be quiet months here on my little blog. But I promise to be back to normal after my exam on the 21st April :-) Stay cool, stay happy and hope you are all improving your photography - capturing those memories!

I really haven't had enough time to get out as much as I would like this month as its all about the study these days. BOOO I know but it must be done! Today was sooo cold! I can't believe it but such clear blue skies - beautiful! Hopefully this weekend I will get a chance to get out there and shoot even if its just for a little while.

Untill I can really get back into the swing of things you can follow me on twitter :-) If you're interested haha. I will be posting random favourite shots and flashbacks. Let me know if you're on twitter and we can join forces. Its my new obsession :D

And the photos of the blog are below haha. It was Doug's birthday last week so I took him out to dinner at Vertigo. It was on a top 10 list for Valentines Day so I thought it might be somewhere nice and romantic to take him. He of course LOVED it :-) The food was pretty awesome too.

Duck breast - YUM. Love the way they drizzle that sause around not only is it yum, its artistic hehe.

Doug had the Salmon - also very delicious :-)

Tip of the week: If you are wanting to use your flash on your compact but don't like the effect of a strong flash, highlight blowouts or shiny foreheads. Try putting a tissue in front of the flash while you take the shot. It will diffuse the light slightly, making it a much softer burst of flash. Sometimes you can even save those photos with too much flash by post processing them in sepia or black and white. Black and white photos love big contrast.

Shoot early, shoot late, shoot often

Hey guys. This month I'm going to be sooo busy. I have my (accounting) professional exams coming up in a month (just received the material) and so I really have to study hard. This means either shorter blog posts or less frequent blog posts - so I hope that ya'll forgive me :-) Sorry been watching too much American YouTube videos and I am now adopting the slang haha.

This weeks blog is titled shoot early, shoot late, shoot often. Some simple, but wise words. I borrowed this from one of the blogs that I follow - Thephotoargus. On this blog they share a cheat sheet of tips for photographers which I will also share at the end.

Shooting early and/or late in the day gives you a much more even amount of light and can really make your photos that much more dramatic. Try it! You can see a huge difference from photos that are taken when the sun is high in the sky to when its very early in the morning or when the sun is setting. The colour in the sky can often add that something special.

Compare this to when you take photos during the middle of the day, shadows are much harsher which can sometimes ruin your shot. In this case most photographers look for some shade to filter out the sun's harsh light. Or if you are clever, you can use your camera's flash to balance out the sun's light - but getting a natural result is often quite difficult. Don't be afraid to use some fill light though during the day though, it can often improve your photos if you use it sparingly. But even if you're an amateur like me, you don't have to take a technically perfect shot for it to be appealing. Don't be shy to try things even if its a bit out there. In this digital age we can afford to take those millions of photos. WOOP. WOOP. LOL. You might surprise yourself.

And again, you don't have to have the most expensive camera in the world to take the best shots. I've seen people take better shots with a point and shoot who know what they are doing than with people who have a fancy SLR but don't really know how to use it. So use what you have to its full potential!

Last Saturday I went out to Pt Chev with Doug & Dryke. The sun was just setting and so as per usual I grab out my trusty P&S and shoot away. Excitement plus! I love point and shoot cameras sometimes, sure the picture quality isn't always up there compared to my SLR, but I just love how convenient it is. I have posted a few of my favs below:

I like to use sepia now and then, I think it adds a bit of interest and I like the effect when you have the warm sunshine as well. The sepia enhances the sun's glow in my opinion. Oh and my glow hahaha whatever. LOL@ Doug's expression.

Doug working the foliage hahaha

I love deep blue skies. If you're camera has a vibrant colour setting try using this to bring out the colours. My canon also has vibrant green and blue which I'm yet to experiment with.


OOOOOO sun flare...wooooo

Silhouettes are pretty! A side note - try using a wide angle setting on your camera (if you have it) for landscapes. If you dont' have one, try cropping to postcard like dimensions. I like the dimensions of this shot below. Try 4x6 or even 3x6 to mix it up! I use iPhoto to crop my photos to how I want them to look. If you don't have photo software, have a look online or maybe have a look into picasa and see if it works for you.



And finally last tip from the header - shoot often. Practise makes perfect, and its no different with photography so I've heard! I'm still learning and still trying to "perfect my passion".


Tip for the week: This week's tip is a link of all sorts of tips. I sourced this from a blog that I follow. Take what you will from it. Author: Jason Anderson. Click here to download the sheet. There's some good stuff there even if it serves only as a reminder.