Cicada - Zealandia

I've discovered Zealandia in Wellington today. And even though our trip was poorly planned and quite short, I've managed to capture a couple of nice pics of birds, landscape, architecture and insects. Now that I have a feel for the reserve I will make plans for a re-visit that will be more focused and hopefully also produce more photos :-)

Below a cicada on a wire fence. It was taken with a +4 macro filter on my Tamron zoom lens. Lighting was added to with my popup flash covered with a simple diffuser.

Click to enlarge.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 270mm, Exposure 1/100sec at f18, ISO 800, Focus auto, VC on, Flash popup, Filter none.

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Australian Water Dragon

These are pretty amazing little lizards. The National Aquarium in Napier has quite a number of them in a large display. The images below were shot through "glass/perspex" (I did not check), and was taken using natural lighting at ISO 3200. Post processing was mainly aimed at noise reduction.

The Australian Water Dragon consists of two sub-species. The photos here are of Physignathus lesueurii lesueurii the Eastern Water Dragon, as is evident in the black band behind the eye. Australian water dragons are extremely shy in the wild, but readily adapt to continual human presence in suburban parks and gardens. They are fast runners and strong climbers. When presented with a potential predator, they seek cover in thick vegetation, or drop from an overhanging branch into water. They are able to swim totally submerged, and rest on the bottom of shallow creeks or lakes for up to 90 minutes.

Click to enlarge.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 70mm, Exposure 1/60sec at f5.6, ISO 3200, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 142mm, Exposure 1/40sec at f5.6, ISO 3200, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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National Aquarium

These statues can be found just alongside the National Aquarium in Napier. As a matter of fact, I've shot this photo so that part of the amazing roof structure shows in the image. The photo was taken in the morning with predominant sun coming from the front. But, some increase of shadow details in Lightroom helped to add some highlight and detail to the front facing figures. The shadow slider in Adobe Lightroom and Camera RAW, is an valuable tool especially in HDR simulation.

Click to enlarge.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 23mm, Exposure 1/300sec at f14, ISO 200, Focus auto, VC on, Flash popup, Filter none.

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British Car Museum - Intro

Just to the south of Napier, you will find the British Car Museum. I can state that it is not what I have expected. Let me explain. I love old cars and as a result I've been to the Southward Car Museum, outside Wellington, a couple of times. If you compare the two museums, I am sure you will agree with me, that you cannot get any greater contrast. The one is organized, well lit, and clean, and the other is an amazing mess of adventure! To fully photograph the British Car Museum, I would need a couple of dedicated days with my tripod shooting multi exposure photos with HDR in mind. It is a fantastic treasure trove for the amateur photographer.

Over the next couple of weeks I will post some of the photos I have taken on our quick visit to this museum. The owner and I believe curator, is a pleasant gentleman who took a keen interest in my two boys, showing them and my wife some old pianos, even letting them operate one! Next time you are in the area, you simply must go and visit this delightful museum.

The image below is a taste of what can be found at this museum. Due to limited natural lighting only, I had to shoot most images at ISO 3200 as I did not have my "good" flash with me. My post processing in Photoshop was mainly focused on noise reduction and sharpness. Click to enlarge the photo.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 18mm, Exposure 1/80sec at f5.6, ISO 1600, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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Freshwater Long-armed Shrimp

This is the first of my set of images I will post over the month taken on my trip to Napier at the National Aquarium. This has been the first time I've shot at ISOs over 800 and it has been a bit of a learning experience. The reason for this is that a flash causes way too much reflection in the perspex and glass displays. Because of the lighting in the aquarium most of my shots there were taken at ISO 3200 or ISO 6400. At such high ISO levels color noise is visible on my camera. Oh how I would love one of the more PRO level cameras that can more easily handle high ISO images.

BUT, I must say the Tamron 18-270mm PZD lens really saved the day, because even at ISO 3200, most shots were taken below 1/60sec which means camera shake becomes an issue, but with the brilliant optical stabilization of the lens I could make shots slower than 1/20sec at f-stop levels that at least guaranteed some depth! With another lens I would have had to open the lens to max which not only would have sacrificed depth of field, but would in any case have resulted in more photos lost due to camera shake.

My post processing was mainly focused at improving sharpness and removing some of the color noise in the photos. The image below is of a freshwater long-armed shrimp.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 30mm, Exposure 1/25sec at f4, ISO 3200, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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Napier Port

I've taken the family on a  short notice vacation to Napier, and I am glad to say I've almost filled 2 16GB SD cards! There are a lot of attractions and as usual our time was way too short. I will plan a followup trip for the future.

Below an almost 180 degree panorama taken of the Napier harbor from the lookout point where two 6 inch cannons used to stand during the first world war. The panorama is made up of 8 images.

Click the image to see a larger version.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 18mm, Exposure 1/250sec at f10, ISO 100, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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Bison Moth

I would never have guessed that I would be describing a moth as furry, but this little critter has a mane like a lion :-) I've tried to identify the specific moth, but to me all NZ moths all looks the same. I suppose someone with a trained eye will tell the difference.

Before I forget again. I've learned some valuable lessons for getting the most out of my macro filter:

1. Don't focus at infinity. Set the lens to manual and make sure it is at its closest focal distance.
2. Shoot at an angle. The diopter (macro filter) goes out of focus at the corners and this is pronounced when shooting a flat surface, like shooting something from the top. However, shooting at an angle, like I've done below, hides the focus drop off as normal depth of view.
3. Shoot manual. With my DIY popup flash diffuser, I can get good lighting at 1/125s at f20 at ISO200. At this f-stop I can make the most of my subject. In bright light I will stop down even further.
4. Leave the lens's image stabilizing on. It help TONS!

Click to enlarge.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 270mm, Exposure 1/125sec at f20, ISO 200, Focus auto, VC on, Flash DIY popup diffuser, Filter +4 macro.

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Jumping Jack

My wife's comfrey plant is a good base for posing insect on, that is if they do not decide to enjoy the sun from that location on their own. This locust with it colorful body made for a good subject for the Tamron with the +4 macro filter since it really fills the frame nicely. I do not typically shoot macro at such a lower magnification, so for your pleasure I have included a sample taken of the same species using one of my reverse mounted lenses.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 270mm, Exposure 1/125sec at f16, ISO 800, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter +4 macro.

And a much closer view taken with a reverse mounted manual zoom lens.

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Another Bzzzzz

OK, let me be frank, I hate flies. They are pretty annoying especially this summer since I now have two neighbors with dogs. But, these little critters are sometimes pretty willing subjects and it really helps to practice my macro photography on them. And now and then I manage to get a pic that is worthy of posting to the blog. Even if it is just to make a specific point.

So what makes this image pretty special is that it is one of my first real macro shots with a lens that is not supposed to go this close. Some of you may have seen my really close up work such as this one: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8035/8038502363_4a53b648a6_m.jpg

That was taken with an old Vivitar 28-70mm manual zoom reverse mounted to my camera. But, with the addition of some basic macro filters to the Tamron, I can get close enough to take useful macro shots.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 270mm, Exposure 1/250sec at f17, ISO 400, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter +4 macro.

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Bumblebee in Love

My wife (bless her heart :-D ), decided last Sunday she wanted to get two more pots for the garden, so to make the trip less boring I decided to drag my camera along, and I am pleased I did.

I've always found bees very difficult to photograph especially with many flowers around, because they just keeps zipping between flowers the whole time. The Tamron has good close up abilities and the photos below were shot without any macro filters attached. I should also point the out optical stabilization of the lens helped a lot due to my frequent moving and refocusing trying to catch the bee on the Echinacea during a "quiet" time.

The images where taken in natural but diffused light due to overhead semi-transparent roofing. I just love the way the bee seems to hug the flower in the first pic. Click to enlarge.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 270mm, Exposure 1/200sec at f20, ISO 800, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 270mm, Exposure 1/200sec at f18, ISO 800, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.

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