pauljones_8057

Muriwai Beach, New Zealand

Our plans for today fell apart and we were left deciding what to do. On advice from a friend we went to check out Muriwai Beach. Ended up staying for sunset and...
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Our plans for today fell apart and we were left deciding what to do. On advice from a friend we went to check out Muriwai Beach. Ended up staying for sunset and what a cracker it was!
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Mar, 2016

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Awards

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Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken at Muriwai Beach near Auckland. After a couple of nights in Bay of Islands with my partner we stopped off in Auckland for the night before our flight back to Queenstown.

Time

It was taken at around 18:30. We spent the day at the beach and weren't even going to stay for sunset as I normally like a nice cloudy sky for my sunset photos but we decided to stick around and it was worth it!

Lighting

This sunset happened to be the best I have ever seen without clouds, so very glad we stayed about for it. The rays from the sun were amazing, the sky just kept getting better and better.

Equipment

Nikon D7100, Tokina 11-16mm, Tripod and my partner - she is a fantastic tripod caddy!

Inspiration

I saw this little rock pool earlier in the evening but couldn't get a decent shot. So when the sky popped with colour and the rays appeared I went straight back over as I thought it would make the photo more interesting. I love the addition of people in sunset photos too, I think it adds so much to a photograph.

Editing

This was a raw file edited in Photoshop with only minor adjustments. Shadows brought up slightly, highlights brought down. Curve adjustment, lens correction. I made a duplicate of the photo, converted it to Black and White and changed the blend mode to Luminosity, then reduced the opacity to suit. This seemed to bring out the details in the rock and rays a lot more. Noise reduction then sharpened using a high pass filter. All in all it took under 10mins to process.

In my camera bag

I always have my camera body! Nikon D7100. I seem to have got out of the habit of forgetting my memory cards which is good! I alway carry a remote shutter release if I'm using my tripod. I have a Nikon 18-200 lens which i will normally use for day to day photos to save me having to change lenses all the time but my 11-16 Tokina lens rarely comes off. Filters, I no longer carry...after spending a lot of money on Hitech filters I didn't look after them and they are all scratched but these would normally be in my bag too.

Feedback

Get out there and even if the sky isn't looking like it will be putting on a show, stick it out. Some the best sunsets I have seen have been from the car window as I'm driving away thinking " Well nothing is going to happen here" or thinking I have seen the best of the sunset....but then it gets better!

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pauljones_8057

pauljones_8057

Muriwai Beach, New Zealand

Our plans for today fell apart and we were left deciding what to do. On advice from a friend we went to check out Muriwai Beach. Ended up staying for sunset and... Read more

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow pauljones_8057

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Our plans for today fell apart and we were left deciding what to do. On advice from a friend we went to check out Muriwai Beach. Ended up staying for sunset and...
Read more

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