Choice

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As I regularly say to my daughter, you have a number choices which will lead you down different paths… in the case of the waterfall… into the same place, for my daughter 🙂 not always the same place :-/

I did like the twin flows here, there was very little water, but i think it gives the rocks a bit more limelight.. and really its about the journey over the rocks not the end destination right? 🙂 A really nice little set of falls at Mount Wilson NSW, Australia.

2 image shot, bracketed, just to capture those highlights and preserve the shadows, i could have done it with the underexposed version, however sometimes it's nice to be able to process with a full dynamic range there without having to wrangle the shadows too much.. shadows don't like being wrangled very much and tonight.. they deserved a break 😉

Exif love:
D750 coupled with Nikkor 16-35mm f4 @ 16mm Aperture: f16 and Shutter Speed: 30s (normal exp) 15s (underexpose)
ISO 100
Out front – Hoya CPL

Graveyard

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Not a bad place to end up I supposes, a head stone beneath a tree…providing the timing is right!

I have a number of shots from this spot hidden behind a little chapel in Mount Wilson but I really struggled to present what I saw on the day in the image – I did bracket all my shots since the dynamic range was too much for the camera, however in the case of this image, after using a automated HDR technique I came back to just a single exposure shot…I just could not get that HDR image to look the way I wanted – very frustrating.

So, I ended up with this, its a two shot panorama (there was meant to be another frame to make it wider but things did not work out for that 🙁 either ) using just a single neutral exposure. Its pretty amazing the level of detail/dynamic range you can get from the D750 and a single frame..

anyways, keen to hear your thoughts, love it, hate it, ambivalent? view large

Exif love:
D750 coupled with 24-70mm f2.8 @ 24mm Aperture: f/10 and Shutter Speed: 1/2s
ISO 100
out front – Hoya CPL

https://blog.avernus.com.au/graveyard/

Waterfall Reserve

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hidden deep in the gulley away from the blue sky, a trickle quietly creeps over the rocks

Its pretty cool when you can get to 30 second shutter speeds without filters and its 10am in the morning. Mount Wilson is well known for a few serious canyoning routes, this is not one of them 😉 however you can certainly see how the area is well suited to it. The walk down is pretty mild and access to the various little falls is easy and there is plenty to see and photograph, but what I did like was the sweet greenness of the rocks contrasting with the deep black of the rocks – fav combo right there so i forgive the falls for being only a trickle.

single frame, no gimmicks 😉 just alot of green rough balls..

Exif love:
D750 (yeah i know the embedded exif says D610 🙂 ) coupled with 16-35mm f4 @ 16mm Aperture: f/16 and Shutter Speed: 30s
ISO 100
out front – Hoya CPL

https://blog.avernus.com.au/waterfall-reserve/

Choose the path less traveled

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Chhose the path less travelled - (c) Gerard Blacklock

Mount Wilson, NSW

I remember my mum saying, why would you want to visit there, there is barely native tree in sight 😉 or words to that effect anyway. My mum is a pretty staunch supporter of native trees etc.

So, queue Mount Wilson from the left, this place is like a colour explosion against the dull grey aussie bush backdrop – apparently as history has it.. the early settlers of the area were pretty wealthy people looking for a retreat location, they of course wanted a bit of home (England) and hence planted all the usual oaks and elms and stuff (thats my technical term ’cause i have no idea really:) ) and its pretty well stayed that way since then 😉 pretty wealthy people and lots of retreats :)…

But I suppose its now quite the tourist location and of course the much loved destination for many a photographer, from the smartphone wielding high heeled ladies to the tubby 200mm f2.8 bashing pros 🙂 that may be a little stereotypical but…

I am not overly convinced that this experience, for me, was worth the stupid oclock wake up and mind numbingly boring drive up and back (the apple pie and coffee at Bilpin was pretty nice though) but in the interest of actually producing a image, this is probably one of my favorites from the morning. The early start means you can stand on the road for quite some time snapping away before getting run over 🙂 In fairness though the colour has not fully developed here and the recent rain has smashed alot of the leaves from the tree and muted the colours a bit. I was just expecting to drive down and have my socks blown off by the wondrous colour 😉

So, you choose your path and go on, view it large 🙂

This is a 5 shot panorama, with each frame bracketed, to be honest the bracketing is a bit of a waste of time here, the extra effort required to process it outweighs the increased dynamic range for only a very small (insignificant part) of the image.

Exif love:

5 shot panorama,
D750 coupled with 24-70mm f2.8 @ 31mm Aperture: f/10 and Shutter Speed: 1.6s (normal exposure), 1/5s (highlights) and 13s (shadows)
ISO 100
out front – Hoya CPL

Hairy Falls

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I would call it a waterfall, but its more like a trickle.

Waterfall Reserve at the end of Waterfall rd on the Waterfall loop walk, i suppose I better take a picture of the waterfall.

3 frames stitched together in +Adobe Photoshop
Exif love:
D750 coupled with 16-35mm f4 @ 29mm Aperture: f/14 and Shutter Speed: 25s
ISO 100
out front – Hoya CPL and lots of mud.

https://blog.avernus.com.au/hairy-falls/