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Convergence

Posted by
Darkelf Photography (Perth, Australia) on 12 February 2024 in Landscape & Rural.

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When we went to New Zealand last year, we were able to go on an overnight cruise through Doubtful Sound in the Fjordland National Park. It is an amazing part of the world, still very wild and rugged in most places. I took a lot of photos during the cruise, mostly for personal memories, but also some which I thought might work as black and white impressions. The weather was perfect for us as tourists. Blue skies, calm water, and clear sunlight. For photography, I almost wished it was dark and stormy. That would enable for some moody photos to be taken with an addition of numerous waterfalls forming on the steep walls of the sound. However, I was still intent on making the most of any opportunities that presented themselves, no matter what the conditioned were like.

The first day was all that as I just described. The next morning brought some high clouds, and then as the day progressed more low level clouds appeared. That quickly sparked my interest, as it added much needed texture to the sky and water. The morning part of the cruise was also the most interesting. We sailed into a couple of deeper coves, where it was less windy and definitely more still. The boast sailed in very slowly which allowed for less disturbance and movement. I can still vividly remember how quiet and peaceful it was out there.

From previous visits to similar regions, I knew that the surrounding mountains and cliffs offered interesting layers and shapes. I was on a lookout for these features as we travelled through the sound. When we went into one of the coves, I noticed this scene opening up in front of us. I loved the converging lines of the cliffs, the different layers getting progressively brighter into the distance, and the reasonably clear reflections which provided wonderful symmetry in this image. I positioned myself as far forward as I could, and took a number of shots, hoping that one of them would be sharp enough to process later. Even at slow travelling speed, perspective changed quickly, and what I saw one moment was gone the next.

It was still reasonably early in the morning and sun was quite low over the horizon. Not too much light was coming through between the peaks, and it was dark in the lower section of the sound. The dynamic range was on the higher range of the scale, which would make processing a little tricky later on. I could not really bracket exposures because of the constant rocking of the boat. I also needed to keep the shutter speed fast enough to get a sharp image, while keeping the ISO low because I knew that I had to dig out deeper shadow details when developing the image.

I have not worked on a black and white photo for a while and it was really good to do that again. I used NIK Silver Efex plugin to do the original conversion and then worked mostly with contrast adjustment, and dodging and burning, to emphasise the tonal contrast and depth in the scene. I was so glad that I was able to get enough detail in the highlights, as well as in the shadows, to work with here. I feel that this detail lofted the scene further. It is not a spectacular scene by any means, but I love the subtle progression of light and tones, and the overall balance in the final image.

Canon EOS R5 1/160 second F/8.0 ISO 400 45 mm

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This image has been featured in 2 Remix collections.

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