NZPhotographer Issue 6, April 2018

and then boom, there it was, as close to perfect as
I could ask for. When it came to editing I removed a
few highlights, cropped the image slightly and dialled
the exposure down a minimal amount otherwise the
image you see here is quite literally what came out of
the camera.
This single exposure image was taken on a Canon
6Dmki paired with the Canon EF 16-35mm f/ 2.8
mounted on the Manfrotto 055. Edited in Adobe
Lightroom.
HUNUA FALLS – 1 MARCH 2018
Aerial photography has always been something I’ve
admired, be it from a helicopter or using a drone
I’ve fallen in love with the ability to revisit some of
my favourite places in New Zealand and capture a
completely different perspective of the landscape.
Hunua is a place very dear to my heart, I’ve spent
quite a bit of time here whilst growing up and respect
the land more than I can put into words. Recently
there has been a push to raise awareness of Kauri
Dieback and close some of Auckland’s greatest
trails in an attempt to save what little we have left so
it will remain for future generations. I saw this as an
opportunity to capture one of my favourite places
for potentially the last time in a long time. I wanted
something special, something different to really grasp
people in a way that had never been done before.
I was already happy with the composition in my mind,
all I needed was a ND64 filter to allow for the long
exposure effect I was after, something rarely done
with a drone. In order to do this I needed perfect
weather and yet weekend after weekend I’d fly up
to Auckland only to have it rain in what has probably
been the worst summer I’ve experienced in New
Zealand. Finally, the first day of spring came and with
it clear skies! I jumped in my car and raced east as
the wind was expected to pick up in the afternoon,
unfortunately for me it clouded over in next to no
time and rain fell from the heavens trying to get me to
turn around but I wasn’t having it, I’d committed now
and there was no turning back. To my dismay it was
raining at the Hunua Falls which literally dampened
my spirits, I decided to rattle out a few shots on my
camera since I’d made the effort to come so far and
then miraculously I got 15 minutes of dry skies, sent my
drone up in the air and got the shot I’d spent literally
months dreaming of.
This single image was taken using a DJI Mavic Pro
paired with Polar Pro’s ND64+PL filter and edited in
Adobe Lightroom.
I have to say all the struggles to get what should have
been an easy shot made the idea of finally capturing
it that much more satisfying.
F/2.2, 1/10s, ISO 100
April 2018
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