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View Full Version : Blue Lake, Mt Tongariro tops, Central North Island, New Zealand



chris Bycroft
06-21-2009, 04:08 AM
A photo of Blue Lake amongst the summit craters of Mt Tongariro during a weekend tramping (hiking) in early April (autumn in New Zealand). In the background is Red Crater (the first lower red summit), followed with some of the high tops of Mt Tongariro. The dominant higher peak in the background is Mt Ngauruhoe. Part of Mt Ruapehu, the highest mountain in the North Island is showing behind to the right of Mt Ngauruhoe.

A mid-morning photo.

Camera: Canon 30D. Lens EFS 10-22. Taken at 17mm (before adjusting for 1.6 crop factor). ISO 200 f8 1:500 sec.

Comments welcome.

Tony Whitehead
06-21-2009, 06:08 AM
Good job, Chris. The colours are great and I like the comp with the lake centred in the foreground. Pity there were no clouds to add some interest to the sky. Did you use a polariser for this? Left upper corner looks darker as it could with differential polarisation on a wide angle.

Roman Kurywczak
06-21-2009, 08:52 AM
Hi Chris,
Considering the light.....nicely handled. I like the way you composed this with the larger cone placed nicely in the frame and the base with the nice colors of the lake. Good job minimizing the sky and as Tony mentioned.....clouds would have definitely added to the overall scene. It would be interesting to see what this would look like with some sunrise/sunset light adding shadows and depth to the scene but still as presented, nicely composed and exposed.

Mark Fuge
06-21-2009, 10:52 AM
I like the image, but as is common in the mountains, it is hard to find a horizontal line. I don't know if there are any here, but it appears that the upper left area, above the "Valley" and the lower left area of the lake are staight lines that could be used for horizon lines. What I show leveled the upper area, shown by the arrow.

I have shown in the attached the areas and suggested change. Unfortunately the sky is cropped. You may want to expand the canvas and the sky area to the prior amount above the mountains.

Just suggestions, as it is your image and you were there to find any horizon lines that existed! ;)

Otherwise, I agree clouds would have been nice here, but you can't fool with Mother Nature ... Except of course if you know Photoshop! ;)

Robert Amoruso
06-21-2009, 05:31 PM
Chris,

I am good w/o clouds in the deep blue sky as I think that causes it to balance very well with the deep colors of the lake. I also like the strong light here - making it look stark and unearthly looking - very graphic to me anyway.

My suggestion would be moving forward some (if possible) to get rid of the rock that intersects with the FG shoreline of the lake.

Juan Carlos Vindas
06-21-2009, 07:14 PM
Beautiful view.
Love those mountains and lake. I agree about the rock near the lake.

chris Bycroft
06-22-2009, 05:24 AM
Thanks for all of your comments.

Yes I did use a polariser Tony.

Thanks for your horozontal line suggestions Mark. I have cropped a bit from each side in the orginal photo so I do have some room there. The landform that is slightly sloping in the background is in fact sloping in real life. The area is what is called locally the 'Volcanic Plateau' and it does slope downslope as it land moves away from the volcanoes.

I agree Robert and Juan that I should have moved forward. My orginal idea was that I needed a foreground element, but I should have moved to the right a bit to keep it away from the lake and the shoreline.

Morkel Erasmus
06-22-2009, 05:45 PM
such beauty and desolation in one place! stunning image, like the contrasts and details. some good advice already given.

Gyorgy Szimuly
07-15-2009, 10:12 AM
Awesome scenery. Lovely colors on it. I would a bit lighten the image.

Szimi