Rotorua Museum, New Zealand

The Museum in Rotorua, New Zealand.  

Rotorua is a magical place.  Besides culture, iconic scenery, and great places to visit, it has a great deal of surface geothermal activity.  We were there about 10 months ago, and I wish we could have stayed longer.  Although our time was short, we were constantly amazed by the wonderful vistas laid out before us.  It was a feast for the eyes, as well as the heart.

The above photo was taken with a full frame DSLR utilizing a polarizer filter.  Even though the sun is directly in front of me when shooting (notice direction of light pole shadows) I managed to get a good exposure.  The polarizer managed to prevent much of the reflected blue sky from altering the colour of the photo.  Also, shooting in raw allowed me to post process the image to improve the details in the shadows resulting from the backlighting. 

I like this photograph because of the contrast between the horizontal lines (the museum in the background) and the vertical lines (trees, light posts, and sidewalk).  The lines of the walkway also draw your eye into the photo making it even more compelling.  I had to make sure the foilage of the trees did not interfere with the roofline.  Too close and the trees would be cropped, too far and the roofline would be compromised.

Even though photos can be captured in the blink of an eye, it generally takes time to get the image exactly the way you want it.  Time of day, position of camera, the presence or absence of people, and the various camera and lens settings all require attention.  I find a lot of joy in exploring an environment with my camera; walking away with some wonderful shots is just icing on the cake.

Thanks for reading.   www.ericspix.com