emerald lakes Photo

Photographer’s Note

These emerald coloured lakes get their name and their colour from the rich deposits of minerals brought up to the surface by the geothermal activity that this area has a lot of.

It is on the Tongaririo crossing, an 8 hour walk across a volcanic landscape that sometimes gives the impression of walking on the moon.

This photo is taken whilst descending the red crater. I have not altered anything in this photo, apart from sharpening and resizing for the web. I wanted to give you the amazing colours of this place exactly as my camera caught them.

jp80, rich, cessy, PixelTerror, bazal, nilolabrador, Janice, jackwp, whereami, Tavo, ChrisJ, anakin, mightyweed has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

rich (1199) 2004-11-26 4:07

Similar to Keli Mutu on the Indonesian Island of Florea. Do the lakes change colour (you mention a red one in your note). Great landscape even without the green lakes; with them it is amazing!

jp80 (8437) 2004-11-26 4:08

Very nice colors for this shot. The crop is ok. We just feel lost in this blue ! Very interesting.

Pascal

cessy (13647) 2004-11-26 4:08

Excellent Steve, very nice angle and great composition, an awesome shot.

PixelTerror (88585) 2004-11-26 4:13

Hi Steve, mmmhhhh I like that, those emerald lakes create such a color contrast with their surroundings, I like your view too, the light is on and the view reaches far, excellent depth of field.
Impressive & beautiful place, Steve, wish I could have been there...

cyril (2748) 2004-11-26 4:16

Hi Steve,
This a great landscape.
Sharp details, bright colours and a nice composition.
The colour of these lakes are really like emerald.
Which I could go there once.
Good work
Cyril

bazal (7898) 2004-11-26 4:19

What an amazing place ! the composition is well balanced, the light is great and the colors are fantastic. Superb textures and contrasts. I like this shot ! Nicely seen and nicely done !

nilolabrador (1469) 2004-11-26 4:29

More turquoise than emerald but still beautiful. The very intense color of the lakes is oustanding in the middle of this kind of mountain surroundings. Compliments!

billabongx (1561) 2004-11-26 4:47

Nice composition and contrast! you are good in using thae camera! the landscape is nice, and your picture presents the landscape even nicer!

Janice (4386) 2004-11-26 5:11

Kia ora Steve. Great composition of the Crossing. So dry and barren and then you come across these emerald gems. Such amazing contrasts. Well done...

danby1 (3689) 2004-11-26 5:18

great landscape picture! the colours in the water are great, and as you mentioned it does look like walking on the moon or another planet, great picture, well done

Nottinghill (1085) 2004-11-26 5:52

I have been there twice. First time it was a fog and nothing could be seen (apart from the smell - you know what I mean), and for the secont time it was snow everywhere. Now I know how it does look in the summertime. well captured colors. thanks for sharing
Marek

jackwp (519) 2004-11-26 7:02

An excellent composition. Very colorful, clear and interesting. Looks like a very nice place to be. Well captured.

whereami (1451) 2004-11-26 8:08

Wow! That's the shot I never got. When I was here, the weather was so bad it was like being inside a toothpaste tube! So you got THE shot that everyone takes - nothing wrong with that. Your photo has great depth and clarity and obviously, colour. The composition is such that everything is needed and is complimentary. I guess you could crop away some of the left, but it's by no means necessary. A classic shot.

Tavo (586) 2004-11-26 17:51

Thank you, Steve, for this generous input into our exchange of views about presenting colors. So convincing that becomes unbelievable. Don’t you feel virtually offended by the possibility that someone can get the same effect artificially, easily, just by some clicks of mouse? And everybody would like it and praise "appealing" colours?
For me it’s quite strange that just your previous posting "tramp" was IMHO spoiled by colour enhancement in pp.
Actually I made a very similar posting to your lakes today having in mind our recent discussion, it happened before I have seen this one. Now I have to admit angrily that yours is incomparably better. It is good not only thanks to the colours and exceptional motive, but also because of a very specific light and spontaneous, pleasing composition

jemaflor (40669) 2004-11-28 6:03

Wonderful colors and contrast. Thanks for sharing.
Why NZ is so far from France ?

ChrisJ (71614) 2004-11-28 8:30

Hi Steve

Excellent sharpness, color, saturation, pov, & contrast / lighting. It looks like this volcanic area has been active fairly recently, juDging from the lack of vegetation. Well seen & captured!

colinbrenchley (6135) 2004-11-28 17:55

Fantastic detail on the volcanic rocks surrounding the emerald lakes which are a brilliant colour and add interest to the shot.

anakin (2775) 2004-12-09 15:46

Fantastic composition, i like this blue water .
Is very strange place well done Steve

singuanti (15240) 2005-01-06 19:22

what fantastic colors. its a little strange seeing all of that water in such an arid looking place, but it must come from the ground, like you said. congrats on such a fin pic!

mightyweed (1290) 2005-09-28 9:25

Fantastic contrast of color between the rock formations of vulcanos and lakes...This picture makes me want to visit the place...New Zeland must be awesome...

arnoud1976 (1191) 2006-07-18 6:17

haha, well done Steve, this one looks rather familiar to me :-).
good shot! cheers arnoud

Leia74 (843) 2006-11-27 4:35

Wow Steve,
this place is amazing... I'd love to visit New Zealand!
Ciao
Sabrina

Photo Information

Copyright: Steve Litchfeld (glitch) (759)
Genre: Places
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2002-12-29
Categories: Nature
Camera: Kodak DX 3900
Exposure: f/5.7, 1/512 seconds
Map: view
Photo Version: Original Version
Theme(s): 2 climate worlds in 1 shot, Clouds in the sky and of the colors, ciel et nuage, Lakes, Water [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2004-11-26 4:02
Favorites: 2 [view]