Bare Island “spotlighted” from Waimarama Beach at sunset.

Nikon D90, Nikon 24-70 f/2.8 lens, Velbon Sherpa Pro CF 740 carbon fibre tripod, Velbon PHD-61Q tilt/pan head, cable shutter release

ISO 200, 40mm, f/16, 2.0  seconds exposure, aperture priority mode, manual focus,

RAW conversion, import sharpened, light and colour adjusted , layered for colour control, and lighting details Capture One Pro 8, with final detail editing in Photoshop.

Tangimoana Beach at sundown. Tide is on the way out.  No fish caught this evening but this sunset made the trip.  The thing with landscape photography is you never really know until you get there how the lighting is, what the sunset will be like, or the moon rise, maybe there are no clouds or total cloud cover.  Often it takes several trips to yield a nice result.

Nikon D90, Nikon 24-70 f/2.8 lens, Velbon Sherpa Pro CF 740 carbon fibre tripod, Velbon PHD-61Q tilt/pan head

ISO 100, 52mm, f/22, 1/30 seconds exposure, aperture priority mode, manual focus, cable shutter release

Sharpened, light and colour adjusted in Lightroom 4.  Layered 3 versions of the same image in Photoshop for control of highlight and shadow details.

Motuopa Marina at Lake Taupo taken on Christmas night 2013. Popular tourist and fishing destination.

Nikon D800E, Nikkon 24-70 f/2.8 lens, Velbon Sherpa Pro CF 740 carbon fibre tripod, Benro Ballhead, cable shutter release

ISO 100, 36mm, f/8, 20 seconds exposure, aperture priority mode, manual focus,

Raw conversion, import light and shadow adjustments in Capture One Pro 7. Std import sharpen and minor white balance adjustments. Further editing in Topaz FX Lab: one adjustment layer with cyanotype effect applied by Topaz Adjust.

Sunset from the sand dunes of Raumati beach with Kapiti Island in the distance. Positioned to capture the sun burst in the tops of the flax stems.

Nikon D90, Nikkon 24-70 f/2.8 lens, Velbon Sherpa Pro CF 740 carbon fibre tripod, Velbon PHD-61Q tilt/pan head

ISO200, 24mm, f/16, 1/8 seconds exposure, aperture priority mode, manual focus, cable shutter release

Import sharpened and colour balance in Lightroom 3.6.  Layered in CS5 for selective dodging and burning. Colour control points for cloud detail in Capture NX2.

Patong beach in Phuket, Thailand. Jet skis for hire are aligned at the end of the day and driven away as a road train behind a small 4×4, a tuk tuk or in this case a small motor bike.

Nikon D7000, Nikkon 24-70 f/2.8 lens, hand held

ISO 250, 24 mm, f/8, 1/100 seconds exposure, aperture priority mode, auto focus,

Sharpened, light and colour adjusted in Lightroom 3. 2 copies of the one image with 2Ev exposure offset to tone down the brightness of the sunset

Lovely evening pastels paint the clouds as Bare Island catches the last sunlight off Hawkes Bay’s popular Waimarama beach. About 30 kms distant from the Craggy Range and the well known Te Mata peak lookout, many enjoy Waimarama as a seaside recreational beach along with the 240 or so permanent residents.

Nikon D7000, Nikkon 24-70 f/2.8 lens, Velbon Sherpa Pro CF 740 carbon fibre tripod, Velbon PHD-61Q tilt/pan head

ISO200 , 24mm, f/16, 2 seconds exposure, aperture priority mode, manual focus using live view, cable shutter release

Sharpened, light and colour adjusted in Lightroom 3 …

Mists roll between the rocks and over the swells of Cape Turnagain on the rugged coastline of south-eastern Hawkes Bay. Herbertville township is only a few kilometres from the cape which is home to a number of fur seals. Time exposure and sunset colour make a pleasing effect in this image

Nikon D90, Nikkon 24-70 f/2.8 lens, Velbon Sherpa Pro CF 740 carbon fibre tripod, Velbon PHD-61Q tilt/pan head

ISO 100, 70mm, f/22, 2.5 seconds exposure, aperture priority mode, manual focus using live view, cable shutter release

Import sharpen in Capture NX2, shadow and highlight adjustments and some colour saturation for export to TIFF format

Castle Point is a small township / holiday destination 64 kms from Masterton on the Wairarapa coast of New Zealand’s north island with a fossil-rich limestone reef, lighthouse on the point and is just a wonderful and unique part of our coast line.

Nikon D7000, Nikkon 24-70 f/2.8 lens, Velbon Sherpa Pro CF 740 carbon fibre tripod, Velbon PHD-61Q tilt/pan head

ISO 100, 24mm, f11/, 1/25 seconds exposure, aperture priority mode, manual focus using live view

Import sharpen, colour and light balance adjustments in Lightroom 3. A second exposure adjusted copy of the original NEF file blended with the original in Photomatix Pro for enhanced light and detail.

The Maldives in the Indian ocean, a group of small island resorts. This is the island of Thullhugiri (not quite sure of the spelling) with a string of water bungalows set off a board walk, each bungalow set in the ocean on poles, with a glass top table looking down into the water, and yes fish are plentiful and you can see them. The steps running down into the water, from where this photo was taken, also invite guests to don mask, snorkel and fins and head to the reef about 40 metres out where marine life is abundant and wonderful. Sunrise and sunsets are beautiful and varied

Nikon D90, Nikkon 18-105 f/3.5-5.6 kit lens

ISO 320, 22mm, f/5.6, 1/125 seconds exposure, hand held, full auto with VR active

Initial colour and light adjustment in Capture NX2, minor noise reduction with Noiseware Professional plugin.

Nakalay Pier is an old pier running out from the shore of Nakalay Beach, north of the bay adjoining the city of Patong in Phuket, Thailand. Behind this pier are two resorts, one older and ill-maintained, the other is the Absolute Nakalay Resort and very up-market, stylish, comfortable and modern. Between this concrete bulk head and the beach, locals balance on the under beams of the pier to catch fish

Nikon D7000, Tokina ATX-116 Pro f/2.8 lens, Velbon Sherpa Pro CF 740 carbon fibre tripod, Velbon PHD-61Q tilt/pan head, cable shutter release

ISO100 , 11mm, f/11, 1/4 seconds exposure, aperture priority mode, auto focus,

Import sharpen in Lightroom 3, slight chromatic aberration and fringing removed and shadows enhanced. A virtual copy of this adjusted file was created and exposure adjusted by -1.5 then both original and virtual copy exported as tiff files into Photomatix Pro for blending to balance shadow and highlight detail.