Kaikoura sunrise Photo

Photographer’s Note

Continuing on my 3,000km trek around New Zealand's S Island, I stopped for a day at Kaikoura, 185kms N of Christchurch, on the eastern coast. The Kaikoura Ranges reach almost 3,000 metres in height: the small township is a thriving tourist destination, and famous for whale watching and their delicious local crayfish.
My apologies for waking everyone in the campground as I started up the campervan's noisy diesel motor at the first hint of dawn - but I wasn't going to miss these beautiful pastel lights!
From a RAW image, cropped & resized, highlight and shadow adjustments in CS3.

elkab, clarityDC2, RobBarron has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

chicken (1781) 2007-10-23 11:50

Great colors and interesting juxtaposition of the bare dark rocks against the white mountain tops.

rshrestha (270) 2007-10-23 11:54

nice color effects.

Orixas (469) 2007-10-23 11:59

Good shot, great colors, great composition!

Thanks for sharing it!

npecanhuk (16416) 2007-10-23 12:11

A wonderful place wonderfully photographed!
I intend to go there next year!
Congratulations!
Neyvan Peçanhuk - Brazil

elkab (3408) 2007-10-23 12:20

Great composition, beautiful light.

regards e

Medorra (148) 2007-10-23 13:21

A wonderful shot with wonderful sharpness, colors and composition!

alentejo (1954) 2007-10-23 15:18

Hi Jeff !
Great picture :-)) The light is beautiful and the colors as well. It is really sharp. I hope to have the opportunity to visit that place one day because it is far from Europe. The rocks on the foreground gives a good depth to the shot.
Congratulation Jeff.

clarityDC2 (157) 2007-10-23 16:11

i love the colors, i have one question though....im assuming you had a tripod to get that kind of sharpness at 1/15....why did you shoot at f/2.8? this is rarely the sharpest point of any lens and landscape shots are normally shot at much smaller apertures...maybe you know something i dont... :)

puella (259) 2007-10-24 3:58

Hi,
It is a great capture. It is from New Zealand where I really want to travel one day. Composition and colors are also beatiful.
Emel

maltagirl (554) 2007-10-24 4:02

Hello Jeff,
What a beauty!! If only I could witness such a scene myself.
Very well captured, sharp and lovely colours.
My compliments. Regards.
Marthese

RobBarron (4) 2009-08-26 15:22

I am going to New Zealand next week for the first time in my life and Kaikoura is my No1 place to visit. This shot is absolutely magnificent and has really whet my appetite so thanks Jeff. I'll even consider getting up early if this is the kind of sunrises they have!

I've had a look at a lot of your Kaikoura shots and they are excellent so thanks for showing them. I just hope I can capture some worthy shots during my trip. I am sure going to try!

Cheers,
Rob