Corrosive beach

During a work BBQ at Queen Elizabeth park, we took the kids for a stroll on the beach and my trusty Tamron 18-270mm VC PZD went along. One thing I have leaned is that the best HDR effect was obtained with the main subject well lit by the sun. I thought shots from the other side of the subject below having more dark and under lit bits, would do well in HDR processing but my results were average at best I am sorry to say.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 18mm, Exposure 1/60sec at f13 with +-2EV exposure bracketing, ISO 100, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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Wellington Cranes

There are some wonderful cranes on the waterfront  in Wellington. They do add to the atmosphere. I doubt if they are still serviceable, but that just makes them that much more interesting.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 155mm, Exposure 1/320sec at f10 with +-2EV exposure bracketing, ISO 200, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 42mm, Exposure 1/320sec at f10 with +-2EV exposure bracketing, ISO 200, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 42mm, Exposure 1/320sec at f10 with +-2EV exposure bracketing, ISO 200, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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Navy in Town

I love the sea and I love anything maritime. Having spent most of my life inland I find Wellington a fun place to live with a lot to see and do. At about tea time walking to my desk I noticed a navy ship coming in to port. Unfortunately I could not go out at the time. So I tried to make the most of it in the harsh midday sun at lunch time.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 42mm, Exposure 1/320sec at f10 with +-2EV exposure bracketing, ISO 200, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 18mm, Exposure 1/160sec at f10 +-2EV exposure bracketing, ISO 200, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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James Smiths Corner

Close to Courtenay Place in Wellington, you will find this pastel colored building. I still have a lot to learn when it comes to photographing architecture, so initially these pictures stayed in my library unnoticed. However, recently I came across them again and played around with the images in Photoshop to see what I could do. As you may know, shooting straight lines of buildings at wide angles will lead to distortion of the building due to your perspective. But in Photoshop I've now learned, that is easy enough to rectify.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 23mm, Exposure 1/800sec at f8 +2/3EV, ISO 400, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 33mm, Exposure 1/800sec at f8 +2/3EV, ISO 400, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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Full Moon

The other night, closing our curtains I spotted a beautiful moon rising over the horizon.

So, out with the tripod to shoot some moon photos. Trick is to select a slow ISO, switch off any image stabilizing on the camera, and shoot TWO shots. You have to cheat see. There is no way you will expose correctly for the foreground and the background.

I initially tried this using HDR but no matter what I tried the image just looked horribly artificial. So one shot exposed for the foreground and one exposed for the moon, an viola some Photoshop magic and you get this. Basically I put the underexposed image on the top, and using a mask exposed the correctly exposed bottom layer in the foreground regions.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 270mm, Exposure 1/5sec at f8 -2/3EV, ISO 100, Focus auto, VC off, Flash none, Filter none.

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Sunrise over Sealion

A revisit of some older photos and a little post processing and viola. Please read my how to on what you can do to breathe life into old photos here.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 21mm, Exposure 1/60sec at f8 +2/3EV, ISO 100, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 21mm, Exposure 1/80sec at f8 +2/3EV, ISO 100, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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Drag Truck

Who would think you can add two humungous turbos to what appears too be a three cylinder engine and thus turn a truck into something you can race with?

Well, this truck sure has a lot of "bling" and that caught my eye. This shot was taken without a flash, since that would have flattened the image too much. As you would by now have noted from my past number of posts of other images taken on the same day, I again selected to use exposure bracketing to save the day.

This image is a combination of three shots taken in close succession all 2 stops apart. That allowed for some slight HDR to rescue the highlights and under exposed areas. I am very happy with the results.

So, to those on the Net who are of the opinion that the Tamron 18-270mm VC PZD is not a good lens, all I can say is that it is not the lens that makes the photo, but rather the photographer. My word of encouragement to you the reader is that good photography is something easily obtained with a little perseverance. Most cameras will do. But, the key is to get out, shoot a lot, and shoot varying subjects. Challenge yourself.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 18mm, Exposure 1/50sec at f8 +2/3EV, ISO 400, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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65 Chevy Impala

Car photography is still tricky to me. It is difficult to take pictures with people walking about at a car show. Then on top of that the sky was overcast and colors were flat and contrast low. So what do you do?

Well, shoot with exposure bracketing, and hope you can save some pics in post processing. Pop over to a good HDR group such as http://www.flickr.com/groups/hdr_photos and you will see how effective a little HDR can be on man made objects such as cars. So, below my try at saving what is otherwise a pretty plain photo.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 39mm, Exposure 1/640sec at f8 +2/3EV, ISO 400, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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Hippo

Edit: Hippo (I thought it was Rhino but look closely on the font op the truck) just happens to be the name of this old truck. The image below is a 3 shot panorama of the truck. Who said panoramas are just reserved for landscapes!

At the truck show on the day there were a collection of modern trucks on display, however this old truck blew the competition away in terms of looks, character and pose :-)

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 30mm, Exposure 1/400sec at f8 +2/3EV, ISO 400, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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Buick at the Park

I think this is a 1955 Buick Special. I may be wrong. Please comment if I am. In any case, just in front of the gates of a local truck show, I found this beautiful vehicle waiting to be photographed. And it turns out the Buick delivered some of my best shots of the day.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 21mm, Exposure 1/40sec at f8 +2/3EV, ISO 100, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 46mm, Exposure 1/50sec at f8 +2/3EV, ISO 100, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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T-Bird Inside

I've been to a truck show over the weekend, and although my resulting truck photos are quite uninspiring, just as we were about to leave, about 8 or so classic cars pulled into the park. On the day the sky was overcast. Shooting in such conditions and also shooting man made objects, means you should shoot bracketed shots for post processing using HDR software. The image below is of a 1961 or thereabouts, Ford Thunderbird.

To comment on the Tamron, it again did me proud by showing off its versatility. It really is handy to have one lens do the job of two kit lenses. A real time saver if you ask me.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 33mm, Exposure 1/160sec at f8 +2/3EV, ISO 400, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none, 3 shots bracketed at +-2EV.

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Coffee Gallery

Some HDR shots taken with the Tamron VC PZD of the Mojo Coffee house (first photo) and the The New Zealand portrait Gallery building (second photo) for your enjoyment. The original photos were quite desaturated even in the early morning sunrise. Simple saturation, vibrancy and tone adjustments would have made a huge difference but I've found shooting buildings is best done bracketed and then passed to good HDR software to make the most of the photo.

Don't you just love the tools available to the digital photographer these days. It makes me wonder how photographers of days past managed to process and publish the amazing photos they shot within the tools limitations they've had.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 20mm, Exposure 1/80sec at f8 +2/3EV, ISO 400, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 18mm, Exposure 1/160sec at f8 +2/3EV, ISO 400, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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What a start!

I just love Wellington. Yes, the weather may get pretty cranky in the winter, but, it more than makes up for that with beautiful mornings like today. It all started at home waiting for the lift club. After opening the front door I stopped dead in my tracks confronted with an amazing display of colors. So, out with the camera and tripod to take some snaps before the lift club arrive. (I will post those later)

Then a bit later in town and on my way to an early breakfast with a friend I took this and other pictures of the sunrise. Boy am I glad I took my camera to work today. The image below is a 5 shot panorama of the waterfront. Light metering was done towards the center of the image, and the camera dialed in to the f-stop and shutter speed as metered. Luckily I could stay on ISO 100 to minimize noise.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 18mm, Exposure 1/250sec at f8 +2/3EV, ISO 100, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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