A few from Kinloch & Lake Wakatipu, New Zealand (8 images)

[Odille]

Kinloch (http://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=Kin...44014&t=h&z=11) is an absolutely exquisite little spot - you couldn't even call it a settlement as there is basically just a lodge and camping ground there) at the head of Lake Wakatipu (north of Queenstown) on the south island. Kinloch Lodge has been the jumping off point for trampers on the Greenstone, Routeburn and Caples tracks since the mid 1800s, originally accessed by steamers, and then a road was built in the 1950s.

I had long wanted to visit there and planned it on our 2009 trip but misfortune intervened and I didn't make it that far. So I went back in May 2010 and did a 3 day landscape photography workshop with the Queenstown Centre for Creative Photography, run by pro togs Mike Langford & Jackie Ranken.

Naturally, as locals living at Queenstown, they know all the great spots and it was a very useful, informative and eye opening workshop. It showed me some new 'ways to see' and started me off experimenting more in mono conversions.

So here are some shots (all linked from my RedBubble):

Queenstown & Lake pano


The SS Earnslaw which still plies the lake as a tourist attraction


Blue Lake Patterns - from about halfway along the Queenstown-Glenorchy Rd, along the eastern side of the lake


By Road or Lake - another from the same spot as above


Kinloch Lodge - accommodation from lovely private rooms to YHA rooms. There is a lovely communal kitchen and recreation room with a roaring fire and TV, internet access etc.


Blue Dawn - from the jetty at Kinloch looking north


The Old Jetty - same morning, a little later, showing the remains of the old jetty and just a corner of the new to the left


Lake Wakatipu Ducks - an afternoon shot looking east across the lake to Gelnorchy on the opposite shore

[FrankMi]

Hi Odille, looks like your photography workshop was a success. These look as good as any picture postcards I have seen.

[dje]

Lovely shots Odille, looks like the weather was kind to you.

Dave

[Steve S]

Beautiful shots odille, each and every one, are excellent.

[Colin Southern]

Hi Odille,

Nice shots, but I have to say that in each and every one, my eye was yanked out of the normal flow through an image towards your name. Having it in the image like that just ruins it in my opinion.

My standard advice is - if you really must have a name or copyright / watermark info on an image then put a matte around the image and put it as part of that.

[ilovelucydog]

Hi Odille,

What a great set of shots! They certainly make me want to visit NZ. The ferry one draws me in for some reason - to me it has a sense of nostalgia to it... it's just something about the old wooden ferry's... the coloring, the look etc. Nice job.

Your watermark doesn't bother me in the least... it is simple and subtle enough and does the job that it is intended to. Sometimes people's watermarks get a bit over-the-top and they are a distraction. And some people get sidetracked by them... I guess I don't. Either way... awesome set of images.

[Sahil]

That's really a very beautiful place, Odille!

[RockNGoalStar]

Some beauties there Odille!

I particularly like Blue Dawn and the Old Jetty! Well done

[KeithH]

A lovely series Odille and I am especially taken with the Blue Dawn image What a beautiful place it is.

[Odille]

Hi Odille,

Nice shots, but I have to say that in each and every one, my eye was yanked out of the normal flow through an image towards your name. Having it in the image like that just ruins it in my opinion.

My standard advice is - if you really must have a name or copyright / watermark info on an image then put a matte around the image and put it as part of that.

It's because I linked from RedBubble - it applies the watermark. Doesn't show when you sell with them, of course.

And thanks everyone for commenting. I took about 7,000 images over 24 days in NZ, I'm STILL finding ones I missed one previous go throughs!

[Shadowman]

Nice shots.

[Seriche]

Like others here, I like Blue Lake Patterns very much, but there's something about Lake Wakatipu Ducks that appeals most of all. Always good to see NZ shots. I love my home country, but NZ is the only other place in the world I've ever wanted to live in

Seri

[Wirefox]

Odille

Blue lake is simple and beautiful you have got the island on the third and it makes for a very well balanced image. If you are shooting raw the image will have tolerated a little more noise reduction. Its not a huge problem but it reduces the quality enough to be noticeable.

The old jetty is nicely photographed and should work but I think the composition is off. The first thing is my pet hate for this month....spindly branch framing. All the most desirable images are simple in form and framing such a gorgeous view with branches adds a complexity that does nothing for the scene. A few paces forward and to the left would have reduced the intrusion or at least made cloning out a viable option. Second, there is not enough of the jetty at the left of the frame. It possibly needs to be there but we need to see more of it. Either that or not at all. Third, the lead in - between the two most prominent posts is out of balance and I feel as if I need to duck around the trees on the right to get to the visual lead in. The jury is out on the centreline horizon I think it works but the other distractions make it had to visualise.

That sounds all bad I dont mean it to be hypercritical but when you have got such good exposure and colours the odd bits in the composition become very noticeable. I am so glad you have not gone for fluffy water with these shots it means that the images have a beautiful glassy clarity. The other shots are really travelog and they fulfil that purpose very well.

[rpcrowe]

Great images... If I had to make a choice (which I am glad I don't have to) I would say that my favorites are #3 and #7. I love mono-hued color images...

[Lon Howard]

Blue lake is simple and beautiful you have got the island on the third and it makes for a very well balanced image. If you are shooting raw the image will have tolerated a little more noise reduction. Its not a huge problem but it reduces the quality enough to be noticeable.

Steve, if you don't mind, could you please clarify something for me regarding this comment? First, do you mean that the problem with the image is that too much noise reduction has been applied or not enough?

Secondly, does the comment stem from the belief that the image was shot in raw, or not shot in raw?

This subject is kind of important to me right now because I'm in the process of making my first attempt at restoring some old photos of my wife, and I have the impression I might've gone a little overboard on the noise reduction, as many of them are beat up and grainy. Thanks very much.

[Dave Humphries]

Steve, if you don't mind, could you please clarify something for me regarding this comment? First, do you mean that the problem with the image is that too much noise reduction has been applied or not enough?

Secondly, does the comment stem from the belief that the image was shot in raw, or not shot in raw?

Hi Lon,

I suspect Steve meant not enough noise reduction had been applied.

That said, I see the problem perhaps more that sharpening has been applied with too low a threshold and it has sharpened the noise too. On a fine detail image (e.g. bird feathers), you would increase noise reduction and stick with a low threshold on sharpening, but with one like the (excellent by the way, Odille) Blue Lake Patterns, just increasing the threshold would probably do.

The only other explanation I'd make is that if it was shot jpg (unlikely), chances are the sharpening was applied in camera and cannot easily/effectively be undone in PP, even with noise reduction - you're stuck with what you get.

This subject is kind of important to me right now because I'm in the process of making my first attempt at restoring some old photos of my wife, and I have the impression I might've gone a little overboard on the noise reduction, as many of them are beat up and grainy. Thanks very much.

To further clarify; the normal meaning of "gone overboard" would be 'applied too much' of something - and too much noise reduction would not give grainy, beat up pictures. It would give soft ones, lacking in texture.

Or are we at cross purposes?

Anyway, I hope that helps,

[Lon Howard]

To further clarify; the normal meaning of "gone overboard" would be 'applied too much' of something - and too much noise reduction would not give grainy, beat up pictures. It would give soft ones, lacking in texture.

Or are we at cross purposes?

Well (hee hee), WE are not at cross purposes, it is I who is crossed up, because now I need to clarify my own comment . What I meant to say is that the old photos I am working with are beat up, scratched up, grainy etc., and so to neutralize all of that mess I am having to apply significant noise reduction because healing and cloning - although helpful - just isn't getting the job done to my satisfaction. Now that I've done that, I see that all that noise reduction has has done a fantastic job of smoothing things over and in that regard I'm almost giddy. BUT, in my opinion, the skin tones and facial expressions have lost a small touch of 'humanness' (for lack of a more proper word), which I attribute to the noise reduction covering up some of the detail. It is very subtle and perhaps I am the only person who will notice.

That was just this morning, and it was just after that when I viewed Odille's images here. In the Blue Lake image, I thought I observed the same subtle lack of detail that I just saw in my own images, so I thought that Steve might be implying that too much noise reduction had been applied.

Obviously, I need to take a class or something to train my eye . And thanks much for your information regarding the use of the unsharp mask sliders. It was a real 'eye' opener. Horrible pun, just horrible!

[Odille]

They are all shot in raw.

Steve, I appreciate your thoughtful CC. I actually like the noise feel in the Blue Patterns one, I deliberately left it in.

Re the spindly branches, yes, I do have some without too, but I just like this image. We all have different tastes.

Blue Dawn is one of my favourite shots, it was recently awarded a prize from a semi-magazine here in Oz of a $310 Asukabook and 'Photo of the Issue' (it can't really be month as it is a quarterly mag). I was pretty happy with that.

[JohnC]

Very impressive quality Each time I see photos from NZ I'm struck by the beauty of the scenery there-you're very fortunate to have such locations on your doorstep. My nephew (a photographer who lives in Melbourne now) spent 3 days in the mountains on South Island NZ and got some great sunrise and sunset shots amongst many others.