Waitaki Valley Trip – Day 3 Highlights

The 3 days trip came to an end so quickly. The last leg of the trip had us travelling from Twizel to Christchurch. We had a quick lunch at Lake Tekapo, then visited Tekapo A and B power stations before motoring to Christchurch.

One thing I have learned from this trip is to wear a pair of photo gloves if taking landscape in winter.

The most important is to enjoy the trip, even thou I have probably missed a dozen of good photo opportunities in this trip.

Twizel skyline

High rise riverbank

Southern Alps

Lake Tekapo

Church of the Good Shepherd

Waitaki Valley Trip – Day 2 Highlights

Day 2 of the trip sees us travelling north in the early morning from Oamaru to Twizel. Along the way, we visited several hydro power stations. Unfortunately, as much as I wanted it to be, this is not a photography trip and I was unable to capture some of the spectacular views. I have probably missed a dozen of good shots due to the tight schedule.

A capture of the Southern light early in the morning

As we keeping driving up north, we are getting closer to the snow mountains far ahead

We spent most of day 2 at Waitaki, Aviemore and Benmore power stations.

Spectacular view around transmission tower

The spilling continues at many Hydro stations.

Hydro station spilling

At the end of day, we continued the trip travelling north and ended the night at Twizel.

Southern Twilight

Waitaki Valley Trip – Day 1 Highlights

After a night at Dunedin, the next day we headed out to the Macraes gold mine, but on the way the snow was getting heavier and we were feared that we might get stuck in the snow, so we decided to skip it.

Plenty of snow on the way

We continued the trip to Waitaki Power Station, passing thru Oamaru where we will be staying for the night.

On the way, we drove passed a mountain of Limestone

Also we passed the Takiroa rock art site

When we arrived at the Waitaki power station, first thing we noticed is the spilling. The spilling could fill an Olympic pool in 4 secs.

High rise of the river near Waitaki Power Station

At the end of the day, we headed back to Oamaru for the night.

Looking out to the Blue Penguin Colony

Oamaru township

Waitaki Valley Trip - Road Updates III

Day 3 - Twizel - Christchurch

We continue our trip heading towards Christchurch. No problem with the weather today, except it is freezingly cold (feels like -5C). We stopped at Ohau and then at Lake Tekapo for lunch before motoring to Christchurch.

Here is an image taken at Ohau spillway

Road updates

Waitaki Valley Trip - Road Updates II

Day 2 - Oamaru - Twizel

I am now at Twizel. The weather is much better today. It was abit chilly, but sunny in the morning, then became cloudy in the afternoon. We drove up of the Waitaki river which passes several hydropower stations, Benmore, Aviemore and Waitaki. Spectucular views of the water spills at the three stations. Also snow mountains in the background along the way.

Road updates

Waitaki Valley Trip - Road Updates

Currently I am on a Waitaki Valley road trip. Photography gear brought to this trip were

Nikon D700+MB-D10

Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8

Nikon 50mm f/1.4

Filters and Monopod

Day 1 - @ Dunedin - Oamaru

The weather has been hectic... Rain, frost, snow, hail, sun ........
We had to bypass some places due to road closure caused by the snow.

Road updates

Wide Angle 14mm, 20mm & 24mm Comparison

These images were taken at the Old St. Paul’s using Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8.

All numbers are referred to FF format (35mm).

Ultra wide angle @14mm, picture angle on FF is 114 degree. At 114 degree, this is actually wider than the angle of view of human eyes. Perspective distortion becomes an issue at such a wide angle. As I recalled, this image is wider than what my eyes saw at the time.

Ultra wide angle @20mm, picture angle on FF is 94 degree. This is pretty much the same angle of view as human eyes, except human eyes have a magnification that is equivalent to a focal length of about 43mm and aperture of f/2 - f/3.4 (max) to f/8 – f/11(min).

Wide angle @24mm, picture angle on FF is 84 degree. This is a typical focal length seen in many standard zoom lenses such as Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8, Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 and Canon 24-105mm f/4.

Remark

Ever happened to you that an image you captured looked so different to what you see? Try taking a panorama using a 35mm or 50mm (with AE lock) to cover an angle of view of about 94 degree. This should mimick what our eyes see. Alternatively, shoot at 20mm, but pay attention to the distortion.

Wide Angle HDR

14-24mm wide angle @ Skateboard Arena

A prefect day at the Skateboard Arena. This is a good place to have some wide angle fun with my Nikon 14-24mm.

Graffiti Arts @ 14mm wide angle

Speeding along the track with Nikon 14-24mm

Wide angle portraits @ 14mm

How are the photos taken?

Behind the scene with D700 + 14-24mm f/2.8 + Gorillapod

Nikon D700 climbing the handrail

14-24mm Wide Angle @ Chinese New Year’s Eve

Went to Yum Cha and movie on Chinese New Year's eve. Also tested out the Nikon 14-24mm lens. The lens is very wide, capable of pretty much fitting everything in the frame. Rule of thumb is to get up close and fill the frame, but pay attention to distortion and DOF.

Yum Cha @ Regal

14mm Wide angle inside Regal

Getting up close @ 14mm

Make use of perspective distortion to exzagerate your objects creatively.

雞批 and 蝦餃

How many dim sims did we have?

We then went to see "Yes man" by Jim Carrey @ the Readings

Coming Soon: The Tale of Despereaux

Extreme shot @ 14mm, ISO6400, f/2.8

Waiting for the movie to start