Category: Blog 2018

24 May 2015

In January 2015 I knocked off another “must photograph” place on my list for China. The Lonely Planet rates the Yuanyang rice terraces as number 22 of the places to see in China from a list of 30.

We took a five day “Wing On” tour from Hong Kong. The company on the bus were all very nice people and all keen on photography-afterall the tour was advertised as a photographic tour. We all got on so well that a “Whats App” group was formed and even now its still going! The sights and scenery were very good although most of the rice terraces scenes were from viewing platforms and we were surrounded (literally) by hundreds of fellow photographers all shooting the same scene! It seemed that sunset and sunrise were the best times and we waited for hours just to watch the sun go down.  Dynamic range (too much) was a big problem and it would have been great to have a 400mm lens.

I took hundreds of shots and there were very few “keepers”. My “Whats App” group have published no photostudies either.

So with the hundreds of photographers shooting the same scene in extreme lighting, or flat boring lighting, it may become a battle of the “Post Processers”- to squeeze something out of the files with Photoshop or similar software. Glad I was shooting Raw files from the start and using a tripod.

In future should I return, I would like to spend time in the town of YuanYang and maybe walkup to the terraces or have a private driver. Sunset scenes would be best from the sides of the terraces rather than looking down.  Unique scenes can often occur on the way to the destination rather than at the end point. I also believe you can get “nice’ photos from a view point but not really exceptional or unique images.

So this is not the “Game of Thrones” but the game of the photoshoppers to win this crown!

1.  15 January 2015    Just some of the 100s of photographers

2.  14 January 2015    Nikon D3s    iso 200    24mm    f9.5    1/125sec

3.    14 January 2015    Nikon D750    iso 800    70mm    f16    1/250sec    70-200f4

4.    15 January2015    Nikon D750    iso 200    200mm    f5.6    1/180sec

5.    15 January 2015    Nikon D750    iso 200    200mm    f5.6    1/90sec

6.    15 January 2015    Nikon D750    iso 200    200mm    f5.6    1/250sec

7.    15 January 2015   Nikon D750    iso 200    145mm    f4.8    1/180sec

8. The original capture

16 March 2015

The preparation before the big event can sometimes be as interesting as the show especially from a photographic view.

The opera group were all very nice people and appeared to really enjoy their time in Wellington. They were especially tolerant of this geriatric photographer poking a big lens into their face!

Thank you  for the privilege of photographing you all and I really enjoyed the concert as well.

3.   14Feb2015    Nikon D3s    iso1600    200mm    f9.5    1/90sec    Nikon 70-200mm f4.0

4    iso 800    92mm    f5.6    1/125sec

5.    iso 800    200mm    f4    1/125sec

6.    iso 1600    70mm    f4.0    1/125sec

7.    iso 1600    125mm    f8.0    1/90sec

8.    iso1600    200mm    f6.7    1/90sec  

23 November 2014

The clothing stores have three recurring themes in Japan and Hong Kong: Atractive store front people to lure the customers in; dark stairway to lead the customers up and they then make there way down via the shop floors; moody dark lighting to provoke that nightclub “hip” feeling. In Hong Kong the marketing seemed to work judging from the number of “Hollister” bags leaving the store.

The Japanese store was amazing with the number of floors for shopping and the beautiful people inside. All that was missing was the alcohol!

1.    27 March 2013    Ginza    Nikon D3s    iso200    24mm    f2.8    1/4sec    Nikon 24-70mm f2.8

2.    28 March 2013    Ginza    Nikon D3s    iso6400    38mm    f2.8    1/45sec    Nikon 24-70mm f2.8

3.    4 April 2013    Hong Kong, Causeway Bay    Nikon D3s    iso 6400    24mm    f2.8    1/30sec    Nikon 14-24mm f2.8

4.   4 April 2013    Hong Kong, Causeway Bay    Nikon D3s    iso6400    18mm    f3.3    1/30sec    Nikon 14-24mm f2.8

5.    4 April 2013    Hong Kong, Causeway Bay    Nikon D3s    iso6400    14mm    f3.3    1/30sec    Nikon 14-24mm f2.8