Cape Woolamai | VIC | Australia

Sunset at The Pinnacles in Cape Woolamai, Victoria, is a magical time. I love this place. I feel like I have completely escaped the modern world and have transported to some sort of pre-historic place millions of years in the past. It helped that I was the only person here at the time (which from a safety perspective is not great). A part of me wanted to pack the camera away, sit on a rock with a drink in hand, and just watch the sun set over the horizon, with the fresh sea breeze caressing my face.

Speaking of sea breeze - this is not the cleanest image when pixel-peeping as I was shooting directly into the oncoming sea spray, which softens the image somewhat. I also had the camera at ISO 200 as I read that this gives more dynamic range in the highlights, which I thought might come in handy for the sky frames when HDR bracketing/blending. I forgot to put it back to base ISO (100) so all the frames were taken at ISO 200. Not the end of the world - with a bit of luminance noise reduction and selective sharpening in Lightroom, the results have come up reasonable for the 2048px I upload at.

It was on this shoot that I really fell in love with the super-wide 14mm perspective which is super handy for seascapes. It convinced me to throw down money for the Sony 14mm f/1.8GM (smiley face). The Samyang lens has been great - especially for how little I paid for it - but will now go off to a new home, courtesy of eBay.

Tags:   16:10 2048 Australia Gav Owen Pinnacles Samyang 14mm f/2.8 IF ED UMC Sony A7RIII Victoria cloudy dynamic flow foam glow golden golden hour iconic lichen ocean rocks saltwater seascape sunset sunstar warm waves Cape Woolamai geo:lon=145.34311944 exif:lens=---- exif:make=sony exif:model=ilce-7rm3 geo:country=australia camera:make=sony geo:location=pinnacles exif:iso_speed=200 geo:city=cape woolamai geo:lat=-38.55933889 geo:state=victoria camera:model=ilce-7rm3

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Wilsons Promontory | VIC | Australia

The warm morning light illuminates the split rocks overlooking the Northern end of Little Waterloo Bay, in the Wilsons Promontory National Park. The undersides of these rocks are tannin-stained from tea tree which feeds into a nearby stream. When first light hits the rocks, they turn a rich copper colour. They are adorned with smatterings of red and orange lichen. Little Waterloo Bay is immediately to the left, and Waterloo Bay ("big" Waterloo) is in the background.

Looking at this photo, I want to go sit on that big square rock near the top of the hill which looks like a square cushion.

Tags:   16:10 3xp Australia Gav Owen HDR Little Waterloo Bay National Park Nisi 0.9 ND soft grad Sony A7RIII Sony FE PZ 16-35mm F4 G Wilsons Prom Wilsons Promontory beach blue calm cloudless first light flow glow glowing lichen morning morning light natural nature ocean outdoors polarizer rocks saltwater seascape serene split rock turquoise water Victoria camera:make=sony geo:country=australia geo:location=little waterloo bay exif:make=sony exif:lens=fe pz 16-35mm f4 g exif:model=ilce-7rm3 geo:city=wilsons promontory exif:focal_length=16 mm geo:lat=-39.06541389 camera:model=ilce-7rm3 geo:lon=146.43211667 exif:iso_speed=100 geo:state=victoria exif:aperture=ƒ / 16

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Wilsons Promontory | VIC | Australia

A lone tree miraculously survives and even thrives on top of a mountain of sand at The Big Drift, Wilsons Promontory. I read recently that trees can communicate with each other via their roots. I wonder if trees can sense when they are all alone?

Tags:   16:10 2048 Gav Owen National Park Sony A7RIII Sony FE PZ 16-35mm F4 G The Big Drift Wilsons Promontory afternoon alone azure blue cloudless landscape lonely natural nature patterns sand sandy sky tree Victoria Australia exif:aperture=ƒ / 11 camera:make=sony geo:location=big drift exif:make=sony geo:lon=146.231034 exif:model=ilce-7rm3 geo:country=australia exif:focal_length=16 mm exif:iso_speed=100 camera:model=ilce-7rm3 geo:city=wilsons promontory geo:lat=-38.866451 geo:state=victoria exif:lens=fe pz 16-35mm f4 g

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Wilsons Promontory | VIC | Australia

Just before Easter I was fortunate enough to secure a tent campsite at Little Waterloo Bay in the Wilsons Promontory National Park. On the hike in, I met a great couple from Torquay, and it was only because one member of their party was a late withdrawal, that I was able to book a spot at such late notice. They are headed to Everest Base Camp in May, and since I am headed there later in the year, we had lots to talk about. As I was busy rock-hopping and taking sunset photos, they were busy taking photos of me! They had a good silhouette of me framed mid-stride as I lunged from rock to rock with camera and tripod in hand (a bit dangerous of me, but good light does not last long!) They said they would email them to me but unfortunately the photos never arrived (am still hoping that they do!)

The stream that feeds into the bay is heavily stained with Coast Tea Tree run-off which in turn stains the lower parts of the rocks in the foreground. Speaking of the foreground rocks, there is one there which to me looks like a smiling gargoyle with a fat nose - not sure if you see that too?

The next day's hike out of here was a bit of a struggle as I was loaded down with camera gear, and also had an extra 10kgs as they told me that Half-Way Hut had no water, and so I had to carry it in. Combined with the soreness from the previous day's hike in where I took the scenic route via Oberon Bay, I was pretty beat by the time I got to camp! For experiences like this, it is so worth it though, as Little Waterloo Bay is one of my favourite spots in the whole world.

Tags:   16:10 2048 3xp Gav Owen HDR Sony A7RIII Victoria Wilsons Prom Wilsons Promontory blue evening glow hiking peaceful pink relaxing remote rocks sand sea seascape seaside serene serenity stained rocks sunset zen Australia exif:aperture=ƒ / 11 camera:make=sony geo:location=little waterloo bay exif:make=sony geo:country=australia exif:model=ilce-7rm3 exif:iso_speed=100 exif:focal_length=16 mm geo:city=wilsons promontory camera:model=ilce-7rm3 geo:lon=146.431913 geo:lat=-39.065365 geo:state=victoria exif:lens=fe pz 16-35mm f4 g

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Flinders | VIC | Australia

I have previously shot this scene www.flickr.com/photos/gavowen/6087484069/in/datetaken/ focussing in that image on the wood and rust of the old boat slide with the wider angle, and the colour treatment. I was really loving the light on the water and sky and the way the boats popped on this day. I did a bunch of pano shots to the side of this, just focussing on the shoreline and boats, but none of them worked out. The issue was that the clouds were moving reasonably fast, and the light and reflections on the water just looked terrible when stitching. I'm only just getting back into the photography after a long pause and so lessons were learned - always take some single shots at a location, as the panos might not always come off! My new 14mm prime lens and new A7RV (on order) will help with that, as I'll now have the width and megapixels to do some pretty decent wide-angle "croporamas" as I like to call them.

Tags:   16:10 2048 Flinders Gav Owen Mornington Peninsula Sony A7RIII Sony FE 20-70mm F4 G boats calm cloudy flat jetty morning overcast pole rush sailboats saltwater seascape serene turquoise water Victoria Australia camera:make=sony geo:country=australia exif:focal_length=20 mm exif:make=sony exif:iso_speed=100 exif:model=ilce-7rm3 geo:city=flinders geo:location=flinders pier geo:lat=-38.475798 camera:model=ilce-7rm3 exif:lens=fe 20-70mm f4 g geo:lon=145.025198 geo:state=victoria exif:aperture=ƒ / 9.0

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