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I took the girls on some short bushwalks over the weekend and we headed out to a couple locations around North Head on Sydney Harbour.

In the morning we headed out to the Fairfax Walking Track which is at the very tip of North Head near Manly.

It's a relatively short walk around the walking track (30 mins or less to just walk the circuit) and there is a very level paved path so it's an easy trip for anyone. The views out to sea and into the harbour towards both South Head and the city are spectacular. We had a very bright almost summer sunny day so the conditions were very contrasty photographically however we had some very interesting clouds in the sky and if you're in a location like this you have to take some pictures surely

Any comments welcomed (especially for the last two for which I felt like I was onto a good thing at the time of capture but not so much in post but not sure why)...

This first image is a wideish panorama view towards South Head and the Sydney CBD

Blue Spring Day in Sydney


and this next is a telephoto view towards the city in the distance

Harbour Curve


My girls and I enjoying the view (the seaplane was a happy self timer coincidence )



We had a pleasant lunch in Manly and then took a short drive to Balgowlah Heights and walked down to Castle Rock Beach.

The girls played along the beach while I took a few photos including a play with the 10 stop ND filter to try for some moody daytime long exposures on the waters edge

Rising from the Sand


Within the Mist


when we'd climbed castle rock and had our beach explorations we followed the (30 minute) Grotto Point Walk and headed out to the Grotto Point Lighthouse, then we had the return walk and it was off to have ice cream

Nice to hear you had a great day out with your girls (camera included ).

The second image would be my pick, the first doesn't grab me. It could be the scaled down size or just the lack of subject matter. The UWA gives the cloud formation a very nice leading line to the shore but the landmass feels like it's floating (no pun intended) in the middle of nowhere for me in the image. I would like to suggest a pano crop with a bit of ocean and have the landmass at the bottom, or do an even crop where the landmass is in the middle.

Did someone say ice cream?

I love the last of these. There is no sense of scale, and it could very easily be an aerial shot of a couple of islands. A wonderful case of deception.

PiroStitch wrote:The second image would be my pick, the first doesn't grab me. It could be the scaled down size or just the lack of subject matter. The UWA gives the cloud formation a very nice leading line to the shore but the landmass feels like it's floating (no pun intended) in the middle of nowhere for me in the image. I would like to suggest a pano crop with a bit of ocean and have the landmass at the bottom, or do an even crop where the landmass is in the middle.

Thanks for the feedback (note that the firs wasn't taken with a UWA - just the 17-50 @ 17mm (26mm equiv)). I'll try those crops and see what it look like but I understand about the land and city looking too insignificant (probably why I switched lenses to the 70-300 for some closer shots).

I cropped only the bottom of the original image so the land is in the middle in the original shots but I felt like it had too much ocean at the bottom and it was the clouds I found interesting. Here's the original crop as shot:



I had also tried a shot angled upwards - more sky and the land near the bottom - but in PP I wasn't feeling it - but here it is pano cropped:

Yeah, not feeling it too Rodney

gstark wrote:Did someone say ice cream?

Yes and it was good

I love the last of these. There is no sense of scale, and it could very easily be an aerial shot of a couple of islands. A wonderful case of deception.

Thanks Gary - I wasn't sure myself how these would go down - and with this second whether it was too sort of abstractish or even not enough

PiroStitch wrote:Yeah, not feeling it too Rodney

Ouch

Great series, and the second also is my favourite. What great clouds! Also, the timing of the seaplane is amazing. Reminds me of a photo I took years ago of Stephanie Gilmour (world women's surfing champion) at Duranbar beach, Gold Coast. A dolphin leapt out of the water just as I clicked the shutter. Unfortunately, I lost the image somehow. At least that is my excuse.