Tranquil geometric sunset

This photo captures a moment of tranquillity from the 6th-floor balcony of the flats we stayed at during our vacation. As I stood there, watching the sunset unfold over the ocean, I was struck by the way the architecture seemed to blend seamlessly with the natural beauty of the scene. The curved lines of the balcony rail guided my eyes towards the horizon, where the sun was slowly dipping into the water, casting a warm, golden glow that contrasted beautifully with the cool blues and greys of the building.

I loved how the glass panels and reflective windows played with the light, mirroring the sunset and ocean waves, creating an illusion of endless sunsets repeating in the glass. The reflections echoed the building’s curves, blending reality with reflection in a way that made the scene feel layered and multidimensional.

For me, this image is all about contrasts: the sleek, modern lines of the building against the organic, timeless beauty of the sunset. It’s a peaceful and meditative moment that invites you to pause and take in the fleeting magic of the day’s end—a perfect blend of human-made structure and natural wonder. Standing there, I felt a sense of calm and appreciation for the quiet beauty that can be found when you least expect it, high above the everyday hustle of life below.

Sony a5100, Tamron 17-70mm f2.8 Di III-A RXD, Focal length 17mm, Exposure 1/200sec at f6.3, ISO 100, AF on, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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Violin Girl

As I wandered through my local Saturday street market, the lively buzz of vendors and shoppers filled the air, but my attention was drawn to this girl, standing alone by the shopfront, lost in her own world. She held her violin delicately, bowing random notes as if searching for something in the sound—perhaps tuning, perhaps perfecting a melody that eluded her. Her face was a mix of focus and quiet frustration, not aimed at the crowd but at her instrument, like a conversation between the girl and her violin that no one else could hear.

The light fell on her, highlighting the contours of her concentrated expression and the loose strands of her hair, framing her in a glow that contrasted with the shadows around her. It was as if the world around her had faded, leaving just her, the violin, and the unspoken story of her moment. Passersby seemed oblivious, wrapped in their own routines, but to me, she was the heart of this bustling street—a silent artist, grappling with her art.

I watched her for a while. She didn’t play for applause or attention, it was a private moment made public. As I left, I slipped some money into her case, a quiet acknowledgment of her presence and the connection she unknowingly made. This photo is more than just an image, it's a snapshot of human resilience, the delicate dance between struggle and passion, and the unspoken bond between an artist and her audience.

Sony a5100, Tamron 17-70mm f2.8 Di III-A RXD, Focal length 70mm, Exposure 1/500sec at f6.3, ISO 100, AF on, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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Lazy lazy

The Cape fur seal is a subspecies of the brown fur seal and is commonly found along the coast of southern Africa, from Namibia to the southern tip of South Africa. These seals are well adapted to the rocky shores and islands of the Cape Town area, where they form large breeding colonies. Cape fur seals are characterized by their thick fur, which provides insulation in the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Males are significantly larger than females, with males weighing up to 350 kg (770 lbs) and females up to 120 kg (265 lbs). They have a robust body, pointed snout, and external ear flaps, which distinguish them from true seals.

I found these two seals basking in the sun at the Kalk Bay Harbour near Fish Hoek. They were pretty tame, barely noticing people walking past them. This must be a spot they frequently visit.

Sony a5100, Tamron 17-70mm f2.8 Di III-A RXD, Focal length 70mm, Exposure 1/3200sec at f4.5, ISO 100, AF on, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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Blueberg Sunset

I love a good sunset. We were out on a walk down the seaside before sunset and I was unsure if the incoming front would cover up the sunset or not. Well, I hurried back to our AirBnB when I spotted what looked to be a break in the clouds that my allow the narrowest of opportunities to caputure a golden sunset. I barely made it back in time to get my camera and take this shot, Needless to say, I am very pleased with the result. 

Sony a5100, Tamron 17-70mm f2.8 Di III-A RXD, Focal length 58mm, Exposure 1/500sec at f5.6, ISO 100, AF on, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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African Dream

I have discovered that Cape Town South Africa is a photographer's paradise. On vacation one day we drove around Cape Point from Fish Hoek to Hout Bay. I came across this little boat wreck at the Hout Bay marina, along with very interesting locals with many fishing stories to share. Come to think of it, I should have asked around to see if anyone knew the history behind this little wreck.

Sony a5100, Tamron 17-70mm f2.8 Di III-A RXD, Focal length 37mm, Exposure 1/1600sec at f5.6, ISO 100, AF on, VC on, Flash none, Filter none

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Smiley Bollard

As I walked home the other day using a route on the waterfront I don’t always use, I almost passed by this bollard without noticing its peculiar features. Luckily the corner of my eye caught this amusing face someone drew on the bollard. You will see I shot the picture on f5, so for effect the blurred background is thanks to Lightroom.

Sony a5100, Tamron 17-70mm f2.8 Di III-A RXD, Focal length 26mm, Exposure 1/80sec at f5, ISO 100, AF on, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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A Gull's Perspective

Beautiful sunrise today on the Wellington waterfront. I am still shooting the Tamron with what I consider safe settings just until I can get to grips with the quality and capabilities of the lens at more extreme settings. Aperature was set at f5 at 25mm, and I am very pleased with the resulting depth of field. At the same time I have a new camera to learn. I love the size of the Sony a5100 and the flip up screen is real useful to take pictures from angles other than the typical eye level photos. Oh, and have I mentioned how quick focusing is with this little camera! One downside is that it does not have any manual dails on the camera like my Fuji X100T has. Everything must be set via the menus and rotary dial. Not ideal, but with practice I am sure I will master this.

Sony a5100, Tamron 17-70mm f2.8 Di III-A RXD, Focal length 25mm, Exposure 1/60sec at f2.8, ISO 250, AF on, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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Fountain sunset

It has been 10 years since I posted on this blog. In celebration of my return, I took the photo below with my new Tamron with my recently purchased secondhand Sony a5100. It is early days, so I cannot yet offer any feedback regarding this camera and lens, but keep visiting this blog to learn more about my experience with these new photography tools.

Sony a5100, Tamron 17-70mm f2.8 Di III-A RXD, Focal length 17mm, Exposure 1/160sec at f2.8, ISO 2000, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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Libertia ixioides

Took this photo in wind the weekend while my kids were injoying a play at a park. I just love the colors of the background and how focus causes your eye to automatically be drawn to the little flower. Image taken at very shallow depth of field to force a high shutterspeed to make up for the movement due to the wind. The added benefit is that the rest of the photo is not too distracting due to the narrow focus.

I believe this specific veriety is Libertia Goldfinger. "A native NZ plant. Stunning all-year colour! This Libertia ixioides selection is named for its bright golden strappy leaves. White flowers nestle among the leaves in spring followed by golden seed pods which remain on the plant for some time. Planted en masse it makes a sensational landscapr feature especially when used as an underplanting for slender natives such as lancewood and cabbage trees. Grows to 80cm Height 80cm."

The very good vibration control on my lense helped a lot as well since I've had to take a funny stance to be able to make the shot.

Canon 7D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD, Focal length 270mm, Exposure 1/800sec at f8, ISO 400, Focus auto, VC on, Flash external, Filter none.

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Tiger Lilly Stacked

Played with focus stacking in Magic Lantern on my Canon for the first time. Not my best photo but posting so I can share how useful this tool is. Subject is a bunch of flowers I had to get my wife after I did something I shouldn't have. That plus 2 boxes of chocolates got me back into the green :-)

So what is focus stacking you may ask?

Well, when you take closeup photos of subjects like flowers and insects your camera has a very shallow depth of view. The higher the magnification the less foreground and background you will have in focus. I've shot many photos where my depth of field is no more than 1-2mm! Sometimes this is desirable but more than most not. The lilly below would have had some of the background and possibly deeper bit in the inside of the flower out of focus. To rectify this I set my camera up on a tripod and took 7 photos each one 2 focus steps deeper than the one before starting from the front of the flower slowly working deeper.

Now, this would have been difficult with a manual lens but, with an autofocus lens en Magic Lantern installed on your Canon, you can let the camera do all the calculations, change the focus and take the shots for you. All that is left is to do some basic exposure and saturation editing in Lightroom, then import the photos as Layers into Photoshop. Use the Photoshop Auto Align tool and then the Auto Blend tool to stack the photos by focus point.

The end result is a close-up photo where the whole subject is fully in focus!

Canon 7D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD, Focal length 54mm, Exposure 1/60sec at f5, ISO 1250, Focus auto, VC off, Flash external, Filter none.

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Te Papa Seagull

Another 15 minutes lunchtime trip to have a play taking bird snaps. There is this nice area behind Te Papa museum where seagulls and other birds come together to bathe and drink in a fresh water stream flowing into the sea.

Canon 7D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD, Focal length 85mm, Exposure 1/1000sec at f13, ISO 1000, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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1895 Benz

This charming vehicle is the oldest New Zealand car and has been restored to its original condition by Daimler Benz museum in Stuttgart and is one of only two remaining models in the world!

This photo is a 5 shot HDR to pull in the background taken at the Southward Car museum.

Canon 7D, Tamron 10-24mm f3.5-4.5 Di II, Focal length 10mm, Exposure 1/800sec at f3.5, ISO 1600, Focus auto, Flash none, Filter none.

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Pointon Rusty Old Austin

This rusty Austin was taken at the Pointon Museum earlier this year: www.pointoncollection.co.nz

HDR processing was mainly done in Photoshop CC as a 32bit image. Photomatix was used to add the final touches.

Canon 600D, Tamron 10-24mm f3.5-4.5 Di II, Focal length 13mm, Exposure 1/500sec at f8, ISO 400, Focus auto, Flash none, Filter none.

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Pointon Collection

The Pointon Collection is hosted in a self run museum in Masterton. See www.pointoncollection.co.nz. This museum is a fantastic trip out and you will not be left disappointed. The image below was taken inside, hand held and with natural lighting only. This is a panorama of 4 images stitched together and each individual image in turn is made up of 3 bracketed photos to generate HDR equivalents using Photomatix. Size is a constraint and I whish you could see the original!

Canon 600D, Tamron 10-24mm f3.5-4.5 Di II, Focal length 10mm, Exposure 1/20sec at f8, ISO 6400, Focus auto, Flash none, Filter none.

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Walden Guitar Saddle and Bridge

Got my secondhand 7D off trademe.co.nz and played a bit with my Nissen wireless flash and Tamron lens. This image would have been sharper using my nifty fifty aka. Canon 50mm f1.8, but, since this is a Tamron blog, it limits me to a specific tool set. Yes, a 7D can do with some high dollar primes or L glass but keep in mind I specifically choose my Tamron lenses based on flexibility/cost and not sharpness. In this regard, they truly shine. Between my 18-270mm PZD and my 10-24mm I've only spent about NZD1200.00 which covers 95% of the subject matter I like to shoot. I don't shoot for print or media, so the sharpness I can get based on web publishing is more than good enough for this self proclaimed photography fan!

Hope you enjoy my latest effort.

Canon 7D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 VC PZD, Focal length 130mm, Exposure 1/160sec at f13, ISO 400, Focus auto, Flash On Camera + Nissen Di622 Mkii, Filter none.

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1927 Austin 12/4 Saloon Interior

This delightful photo of the interior of a 1927 Austin 12/4 Saloon was taken at the Pointon Museum earlier this year: www.pointoncollection.co.nz

I would highly recommend a trip to the museum if you are in the area. The owners are so forthcoming with information, you will find you can easily spend a whole day there!

This image was shot using natural light without a tripod. Three images were taken with 2 stop difference between them. I've used Photomatix to generate a BW HDR from where some post processing was completed in Lightroom. I do hope you like the old school feel. This is my first attempt at mimicking the look and feel of a 100 old photograph.

Canon 600D, Tamron 10-24mm f3.5-4.5 Di II, Focal length 10mm, Exposure 1/125sec at f8, ISO 6400, Focus auto, Flash none, Filter none.

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Kruger Elephant

Due to the sudden death of my dad, we found ourselves back in South Africa on short notice recently. God was kind enough to make a mini vacation to the Kruger National Park possible. I hope to paste some pics of my Tamron performing at its best doing wildlife photography.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD, Focal length 92mm, Exposure 1/250sec at f8, ISO 200, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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Piano

A friend of mine got a Canon 1D Mk 2 to test as its owner had recently upgraded to the latest top of the range model. So during lunch time we went for a stroll on the Wellington waterfront. The piano below was just a quick snap, but I was pleasantly surprised at how it came out.

Canon 600D, Tamron 10-24mm f3.5-4.5 Di II, Focal length 21mm, Exposure 1/800sec at f10, ISO 400, Focus auto, Flash none, Filter none.

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Caged for Life

Sometimes I feel like this. All stuck and nowhere to go. Like my circumstances cages me up with no option of escape. I am just glad there is hope, something to look forward to. Escape is on its way...

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD, Focal length 270mm, Exposure 1/200sec at f7.1, ISO 200, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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Hikitia Crane Boat

One of first photos I've taken with my new 10-24mm Tamron. This is an HDR shot at midday. Due to harshness etc. I've decided to take a 3 shot 2 EV bracketed photo so I can get some good details pulled out during HDR processing. Even at 10mm I still battled to get the full crane in up close/

This 10-24mm Tamron rocks! (click to enlarge)

Canon 600D, Tamron 10-24mm f3.5-4.5 Di II, Focal length 10mm, Exposure 1/160sec at f10, ISO 100, Focus auto, Flash none, Filter none.

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