New Zealand - Mt Cook

[David]

Hi All - I'm back from a trip to South Island, New Zealand. I've taken quite a few snaps as I travelled round. I thought I should post some of these images highlighting not only aspects of the extraordinary scenery in New Zealand, but also noting any technically interesting points. Unless otherwise noted all shots were taken with a Canon 40D fitted with 24-105 mm EF zoom lens. Unfortunately, I could not take a tripod with me and thus shots are normally either hand-held or obtained using a monopod. The image below is an exception in that the camera was balanced on a flat rock to ensure stability.

As befits New Zealand, this first offering is of Mt Cook. The day was overcast with showers, but while at the snout of the Tasman glacier, the sun came out and allowed reasonable shooting conditions. This image is of course downsized for the Web and some noise has been introduced. Otherwise, the image was processed using Canon's DPP software, with principally sharpening and contrast enhancement. I think the main problem is that although the grandeur of the mountain comes across, there is no foreground reference to scale. But, otherwise, given the short duration of visit and window of opportunity I'm reasonably satisfied.




Comments and critisms are, of course, always welcome.

Cheers

David

PS Did you know that Mt Cook is 30 feet less high than it was when first conquered? A bit fell off from the summit a few years ago causing a major landslide. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

[carregwen]

A good eye lead-in along the ridge from the rock on the left to the peak on the right, Exposure seems good between the dark rock and the snow, but you can get a lot more detail and colour by reducing the highlights in Photoshop. I can post edit if you wish. It makes a real difference to what is a very good shot.

Did you meet Colin when you were out there?

[David]

Hi Rob - By all means weave some Photoshop magic. I didn't get a chance to meet Colin. It turns out NZ is bigger than you might expect, partly because you can't go very fast on roads. Thus, my itinerary could not include Nelson, although Colin kindly offered to show me round his studio.

David

[carregwen]

I just used image/adjustment/highlights/shadows and adjusted the brightness of the mist/snow, It's a very nice shot, sorry if I messed it up.

[Colin Southern]

Hi All - I'm back from a trip to South Island, New Zealand.

And you didn't even stop by to say hello

[Shadowman]

David,

Doesn't matter whether the photo is a peak or the entire ridge, the image is spectacular.

Hi All - I'm back from a trip to South Island, New Zealand. I've taken quite a few snaps as I travelled round. I thought I should post some of these images highlighting not only aspects of the extraordinary scenery in New Zealand, but also noting any technically interesting points. Unless otherwise noted all shots were taken with a Canon 40D fitted with 24-105 mm EF zoom lens. Unfortunately, I could not take a tripod with me and thus shots are normally either hand-held or obtained using a monopod. The image below is an exception in that the camera was balanced on a flat rock to ensure stability.

As befits New Zealand, this first offering is of Mt Cook. The day was overcast with showers, but while at the snout of the Tasman glacier, the sun came out and allowed reasonable shooting conditions. This image is of course downsized for the Web and some noise has been introduced. Otherwise, the image was processed using Canon's DPP software, with principally sharpening and contrast enhancement. I think the main problem is that although the grandeur of the mountain comes across, there is no foreground reference to scale. But, otherwise, given the short duration of visit and window of opportunity I'm reasonably satisfied.




Comments and critisms are, of course, always welcome.

Cheers

David

PS Did you know that Mt Cook is 30 feet less high than it was when first conquered? A bit fell off from the summit a few years ago causing a major landslide. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

[David]

Rob - Thanks for the edited version. I'm going to look into this in greater depth using, perhaps, Raw Therapy when I get time. At the moment I'm doing a first trawl through about 1300 images taken over about 4 weeks (some in Seoul!!)

Shadowman- Thanks for the nice comment.

Colin - I could not get to Nelson in the time available. Having had a run-in with the Tourist Tax officials of your fine local constabulary, I decided that doing any more than 50 kph was a no-no.

Cheers

David

[Geoff F]

While Rob's edit is more dramatic, I think it has amplified a bit of noise in the sky. So perhaps just a little bit less when working on the original would be a good compromise.