John's Top 10 Series 5

Having recently updated my computer and photo processing software, I now have access to more photos taken in the last ten years or so. 

This is a randomn selection of my memorable shots taken in various places during our recent travels. I little commentary on each one is included with each photo to make it personal and why it should be another of my "Top 10."

My previous Top 10 series started with the first in 2010 followed by the second in 2011, then the third in 2012 and the fourth in 2014.

The desert near Al Ain.

This photo of the desert near Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates is more less how it came straight out of the camera. The dramatic lines of the dune crests, the ripples in the sand and the lonely plant make a impact in this shot. The sky colour in the Middle East is rarely a clear blue colour with loads of fine dust giving this a rather hazy look.

Cemetery cherub

This is a colour photo! It has not had anything done to convert it to monotone. We visited the Timaru Cemetery as part of our club monthly "shoots". Some light painting yielded some interesting results with this one my best of the night.

Steel wool fun.

Another club shoot down at Moeraki introduced me some creative ways produce images with long exposures. This makes a change from car trails at night. It took a number of takes to work out what exposure setting to use.

Fes Tannery workers.

A trip to Morocco included a visit to the tannery at Fes. What was memorable about this was the thought about the workers here and possible skin problems. However, what photos cannot convey is the smell! it was too much for me and we didn't linger long here.

Muriwai gannet

Trying get good photos of birds in flight can be a challenge. A steady hand and long lens usually being necessary. However, I chanced upon a good location at Muriwai Beach and was able to look down from the top of the cliff as the birds circled in the strong breeze blowing around the cliff edge.

Colourful rock layers

One doesn't often see colourful rock layers like these on the Musandam Peninsula in Oman. The highly folded strata on the left being indicative of massive tectonic upheavals here.

Restored historic cottage

This recently restored cottage at Pipiriki on the Whanganui River showed the benefit of choosing the correct colour balance rather than auto.

Roman theatre at Leptis Magna

Some of the best Roman ruins are to be found in Lybia. This photo appears in my first ever blog after we had returned from Tunisia and Libya before the troubles began.

Beginnings of autumn.

This photo taken above the Pareora Gorge near Timaru shows the benefit of using graduated neutral density (ND grads) filters to hold back the sky to give more colour and bring up the clouds too. 

Wadi Rum moonrise

The last of my random collection is from Jordan. We were on our way down from Amman towards Egypt. After Petra a detour to Wadi Rum was a must, particularly as this area was made famous by filming Lawrence of Arabia here.

My previous Top 10 series started with the first in 2010 followed by the second in 2011, then the third in 2012 and the fourth in 2014.