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Paul Davey
01-14-2008, 05:13 PM
Taiaroa Head is a renowned promontory on the tip of Otago Peninsula in New Zealand. It boasts a relict population of the world's only mainland breeding colony of Northern Royal Albatross and a wealth of many other seabird species, including shags, gulls, terns and spoonbills, as well as New Zealand Fur Seals. Come stormy weather, numerous birds of Procellariiformes can be seen feeding off shore with spotting scopes.

In this photograph I like the stormy swells of the sea and the vertical composure along with the diagonal splash of colour offered by the iceplants. Next time I think I should arrive in the early morning/late afternoon period and photograph with a slow shutter speed and tripod - giving that it is a rough day like the one pictured here on October 26, 2006. In this image I have adjusted brightness and saturation.

The original can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pwhdavey/2165102094/in/set-72157603629408673/

Fujifilm Finepix S5600
Auto Mode
1/300 sec, ISO 200, f/5.6, focal length (optical zoom) unknown

Comments and critique always appreciated. Thank you,

Paul

Jason Hahn
01-16-2008, 07:06 AM
Looks like a beautiful and interesting place to photograph. The flowers in the foreground provide a great starting point to your composition, and I like the choice of vertical for this as well. The complexity of the cliffs and crashing surf provide a lot of interest in the image, the surf especially adds to the mood of the scene. I would love to see this in a little better light off a tripod, and I think you need a slight rotation of the image, the horizon line looks a little crooked.

Jason

Robert Amoruso
01-16-2008, 04:43 PM
Nice work on the composition in this image. I would have liked to see more of the flowers and if the ridge with the flowers continued over to the cliffs. As Jason mentioned, a vertical composition was best. For my more wide-angle suggestion, a horizontal composition would probably have been best. A tripod would have helped to get a sharper image. Also, if the camera allows it, reduce the aperture to a smaller number to get more depth of field.

Looking forward to seeing more.

Paul Davey
01-16-2008, 05:02 PM
Hi Robert and Jason

Thank you for taking the time to comment. Well, remember this is an edited version of the photograph to make it look more stormy. And of course with JPEG files they tend to lose quality rather quickly, especially considering my camera only has five megapixel capabilities. This may account for the lack of sharpness, but really, it is sharp and was taken at midday actually. As I said, the original unedited version can be found on my Flickr gallery: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pwhdavey/2165102094/in/set-72157603629408673/

Next time I will come at sunrise/sunset to oversee with event with a tripod and slow shutter speed.

Paul

Robert Amoruso
01-16-2008, 06:15 PM
Paul,

I regret not going to the flicker version. Bad me. Very sharp and good DOF. Nice job on that. Give the slow shutter speed water blurs a try, you might like the effect. Thanks for posting back to my comment.