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Photography has changed the way I see the world around me.

Through it I discover new things and rediscover old ones. Like my island, New Caledonia.

This blog is just me sharing my world through my photography.

Hope you enjoy.

Posts in New Caledonia
THE BREAKTHROUGH OF DAWN

La Roche Percée, Bourail

This time last year I was at La Roche Percée with a friend who was minding a house just beyond those trees on the far side of the beach. I took advantage of the opportunity to try out the Sony a7 III with the Tamron E 28-75 mm ƒ/2.8 Di III RXD standard zoom lens, that I had bought the month before. No dramatic nor spectacular sunrise that morning but, nonetheless, came away with this tranquil black & white image.

To get to La Roche Percée, you need to go to Bourail first, which is about two hours drive from Noumea, on the west coast. From there you head west by making a left turn onto a road situated just after the bridge (at the entrance of Bourail village) and opposite the Hotel La Nera. Then just follow the road till you see a sign for La Roche Percée and the Bonhomme de Bourail. There’s also a sign at the bridge for the turn off. The Bonhomme de Bourail is a landmark in New Caledonia and so is the beach but also the, actual, pierced rock. A cliff side situated next to the landmark with a, well, whole in it. At low tide you can walk through to Turtle Bay on the other side. The far end of La Roche Percée is popular with surfers and boogie boarders. It’s one of the rare beaches in New Caledonia to have waves. Another reason for me being here, apart the one mentioned above, was the hope to see, at least, one turtle lay her eggs on the beach. It was the time of season and the peninsular is THE place for this event. Up to three hundred turtles have been recorded to nest here in one season. Just amazing. Apart from seeing a few nests around, I didn’t see any turtles at all. My friend and her kids, on the other hand, saw baby turtles race to the water. So lucky. Yes, I’m jealous.

Because it had been raining on and off for the last few days, I had hopes for a dramatic sunrise. Of course, it was nothing of the like. Apart from a few clouds rolling in from the east, it was clear skies everywhere else but I took a few photos nonetheless. For this image I used the Lee Little Stopper (a 6-stop Neutral Density filter) to get a long exposure and a Lee ND.9 Soft Grad. (a 3-stop Neutral Density soft gradient filter) to tone down the bright sky. I don’t have a lot of filters and this was probably my second time using them. I had to try them out and get used to them if I want to take full advantage of it. I was pretty happy with the results. I didn’t do a lot of editing, just adjusted my White Balance before converting to black & white then I just dropped the Highlights and brought out the Shadows. Brushed a bit of Texture over the rocks in the foreground to make them stand out more and a Radial Filter with a bit of Exposure to lighten up just a touch the bottom two thirds of the image. That’s it.

The black & white conversion made for stronger and prominent features. In colour, the image was bland and not very pretty. The conversion also seem to make the image more peaceful, isolated, minimalist. There’s nothing great about this shot but there’s something about it that makes me like it.

 

SONY A7 III

24MP Full-Frame Mirrorless Camera (Body Only)

TAMRON 28-75MM Ƒ2.8

Sony E-Mount Lens

LEE LITTLE STOPPER

6-Stop Neutral Density Filter

LEE FIRECREST ND.9 SOFT GRAD

3-Stop Neutral Density Soft Gradient Filter

 
 
New CaledoniaCHRIStophe Robert HERVOUËTa7 3, a7 III, b&w, beach, black & white, bourail, christophe hervouet, christophe robert hervouet, dawn, gouaro bay, long exposure, monochrome, morning, new caledonia, nouvelle caledonie, plage de la roche percee, province sud, roche percee beach, rocks, sony, south province, tamron e 28-75 mm f2.8 di iii rxd, the breakthrough of dawn
VERTEUIL SUMMIT

Vallée des Colons, Noumea

Back in 2016 when I didn’t have a camera of my own, my friend Roro lent me his gear. A Nikon D7000, though I didn’t know he had one, it was a camera I had hoped to use one day. And to go with that was the Nikkor 70-300 mm zoom lens, which I was quite impressed with. I’d never used a telephoto zoom lens before and to have only that as your gear, I quickly realised my wide angle landscape photos were no more. But it did open my eye to more detailed shots. Not only in landscapes but also portraits and even macro photography. I’ll explain how I came to photograph this scene in a bit.

I had parked my car and was about to go for a walk when I saw this scene. What captured my eyes was the mountains in the background then all the houses and apartments in the foreground. The mountains are the Réserve Naturelle De La Vallée De La Thy and the Réserve Naturelle Intégrale De La Montagne Des Sources. They were so beautifully lit and even though sunset was still two and half hours away, they had an almost golden colour to them. The trees in the foreground is Ilôt Artificiel (Artificial Island). An oval, man-made island built to naturally circulate the sewage that exit between it and the front of those buildings. The area is commonly known as Sainte Marie because of the bay and another (natural) island of the same name, but this is Vallée Des Colons, one of the oldest suburbs of Noumea. The photo was taken from La Promenade Pierre Vernier towards N’Géa. A beautiful walkway and bike track along the shoreline of Noumea’s southern suburbs. Very popular with the young and old alike.

My instincts for this shot was to go wide but the widest I could go was 70 mm. But I didn’t like the framing at 70 mm so I thought, ok, let’s zoom in. Let’s get in tight and eliminate all the distractions without loosing what caught my eye in the first place. My focal point was obvious, the orange apartments that stood above all the other buildings. The framing came when I was judging the amount of clouds and water to include. And this, is what I ended up capturing. I did try vertical shots but it gave me too much sky and water and that wasn’t pleasing to me. The exposure was straight forward, ISO 100, ƒ/10 aperture and 1/80th shutter speed. Should’ve used a tripod at that speed but, I admit, I was lazy and took the shot hand-held. Thank goodness for the Vibration Reduction (VR) on the lens which helped me get a sharp image. For the focal length used (121 mm), I should have been at 1/125th shutter speed to avoid blur. Post-processing was also straight forward though I did accentuate the golden highlights. I did it by going into the Split-Tone module and using the Highlights eyedropper to select the colour of the clouds and used that to add to the highlights of the overall image. I didn’t touch the Shadows at all. Now the image was a lot closer to what my mind’s eye saw. I like this photo quite a lot.

 

NIKON D7000

16Mp Crop Sensor DSLR Camera (body only)

NIKKOR AF-S 70-300 MM ƒ/4.5-5.6 IF-ED VR

Nikon Telephoto Zoom Lens

 
 
New CaledoniaCHRIStophe Robert HERVOUËTapartments, baie de sainte marie, buildings, christophe hervouet, d7000, golden hour, houses, ilot artificiel, mountains, new caledonia, nikkor 70-300 mm f/4.5-5.6, nikon, noumea, nouvelle caledonie, province sud, réserve naturelle de la vallée de la thy, reserve naturelle integrale de la montagne des sources, sainte marie bay, south province, vallee des colons
DAM BLUE HOUR

Yate Dam, Yate

For the life of me, I can’t remember why I didn’t participate at the photo contest for which I took this photo for. I like this image quite a lot though it did take me a long time to find the right edit for it to be so. That’s probably the reason why I didn’t participate.

The hydroelectric power generated Yate Dam isn’t the largest, tallest, the most power generating nor the most beautiful dam in the world but I still find it very impressive. Probably because I haven’t seen many dams in my life. Still though, for a small island like New Caledonia, it is quite an impressive achievement. And I do find it quite beautiful lit up with Yate Lake behind.

I was quite lucky to get this shot as those dark clouds rolled in pretty quick and it started to rain. It actually rained all night and through the next morning. There were a couple of clear occasions but not long nor good enough for a nice photo. This image dates back to 2018 when I was using the Canon EOS 1300D/Rebel T6 with the kit lens. An Entry level, crop sensor DSLR that I had won from a local photo contest. And very happy that I did because at the time I was borrowing a couple of friend’s cameras. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of my Nikon D7100 (which got stolen a year or two before) but it did the job well enough. Of course it does have it’s limitations and I did have a problem with the auto-focus not being on point but when manually focusing at 100%, I couldn’t go wrong. Which is what I did with this long exposure shot. Very little editing on it but what made all the difference was adjusting the Hue of the dam lights. That alone added a more appealing colour contrast to the image. It took me a long time to figure that out but that slight adjustment changed everything.

I’d love to photograph the dam when they open the spillway. I don’t know if they publish times and dates for the occasion though. I’ll try to find out.

 

CANON EOS 1300D/REBEL T6 + KIT LENS

16MP crop sensor DSLR camera with EF-S 18-55 mm ƒ/3.5-5.6 IS II lens and accessories

 

NIKON D7100

24MP crop sensor DSLR camera (body only)

 

NIKKOR AF-S DX 18-105MM Ƒ/3.5-5.6G ED VR

Nikon crop sensor zoom lens

 
 
New CaledoniaCHRIStophe Robert HERVOUËTartificial lake, barrage de yate, blue hour, canon, christophe hervouet, christophe robert hervouet, dam, ef-s 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 is II, evening, lac artificeil, looking down, new caledonia, nouvelle caledonie, photoshop cc, province sud, south province, yate, yate dam, yate lake, lac de yate
LE ROOF IS ON FIRE

Ouen Toro, Noumea

Another oldie I found in my collection. This one dates back to 2014 when I was using the Nikon D7100 with the Nikkor 18-105 mm. Again, I was trying my hand at long exposures. I’ve always liked this image but had completely forgotten about it. Goes to show you, it’s worth going back through old image catalogues. You never know what you’ll find.

The photo was taken from the well known Anse Vata Beach and what you’re looking at is Port Bélandre. It has three establishments, the classy restaurant Le Roof, Pop Light nightclub and to the left edge of the image is the bar/nightclub La Bodega Del Mar. The Pop Light nightclub has been refurbished to become the XO Club and opens before sunset whereas before it opened at 10 p.m.. La Bodega and XO are very popular night scenes in Noumea. I’ve never had the chance to try out the restaurant but from what I hear it’s very good. Oh and the women receive a menu without prices on them. Don’t forget your credit cards fellows. A little information you probably don’t want to know is the channel of water between the two rock stacks is actually a sewage outlet. Yep, and some people fish here. Would you?

Though I used all three exposures (2 stops apart) for this HDR (High Dynamic Range) image, I only really needed the 10 second exposure to get the same results. Well, technically, you would need a second image exposed for the “restaurant” sign of Le Roof to avoid the over-exposure of it in this photo but at the time I was more after a silky smooth lagoon than anything else. The images were blended and edited in Lightroom. As you can see by the red horizon, the photo was taken at the very beginning of blue hour. Which means it was brighter outside than the image shows. And that’s a creative decision I took. I wanted a slightly darker, contrasted and moodier image. And I think I’ve achieved that here.

 

NIKON D7100

24MP DSLR camera (body only)

Nikkor AF-S DX 18-105mm f3.5-5.6G ED VR

APS-C crop sensor lens

 
 
New CaledoniaCHRIStophe Robert HERVOUËTanse vata, blue hour, christophe hervouet, christophe robert hervouet, d7100, evening, la bodega del mar, le roof restaurant, long exposure, new caledonia, nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6, nikon, noumea, nouvelle caledonie, photophe, photophe.com, pier, pop light nightclub, port belandre, province sud, south province, sunset, wharf
HAPPY NEW YEAR !

Happy New Year For 2020 !

I hope everyone has had a wonderful New Year’s Eve. I wish you all the best for 2020, especially good health. May you realise your goals and dreams and find what you are looking for.

I’d like to thank you all for visiting my website and sharing my work, I appreciate it very much. It also encourages me to keep doing what I love and to do it better. I hope to improve my photography and the content of the website throughout this new year.

Thank you all and have a fantabulous year 2020.

New CaledoniaCHRIStophe Robert HERVOUËT
HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Place de la Marne, Noumea

I hope everyone’s had a fantabulous Christmas. Wishing you all a safe and memorable holiday season. May the joy and happiness continue through to the new year.

This is  another photo taken at La Place De La Marne. I prefer the Christmas tree in this photo than in my last post. Maybe because it seems more traditional in green. Another long exposure, 5 seconds this time at an aperture of ƒ/11 and ISO 100. A vertical shot which I like quite a bit. I left out all the distractions and captured just the tree and it’s illuminations. I got this shot at the very end of blue hour and was lucky no one was in front of me. Post-processing was very basic too. Nothing fancy, brought up the Shadows, dimmed the Highlights slightly, a bit of Texture and Clarity, a slight Camera Calibration and that’s it. Quick and easy. Very glad everything was captured in-camera.

Take care over the holidays everyone. Have fun but be careful on the road and, please, don’t drink and drive.

New CaledoniaCHRIStophe Robert HERVOUËTa7 3, a7 III, blue hour, christmas, christmas tree, christophe hervouet, christophe robert hervouet, crowd, evening, illuminations, lights, long exposure, new caledonia, noumea, nouvelle caledonie, place de la marne, place des cocotiers, province sud, sony, south province, tamron e 28-75 mm f2.8 di iii rxd, tree
JOYEUX NOËL

MERRY CHRISTMAS

A quick photo sharing before Christmas Eve dinner. I took this shot last night at La Place Des Cocotiers, where the City of Noumea has it’s Christmas illuminations. I have to say, they’ve done a magnificent job this year. I went with my friend and her two girls, and they were so excited and happy. You could feel the magic of Christmas, it was wonderful.

Now for those interested, this photo was taken at blue hour with a long shutter speed of 3.2 seconds. Everything is sharp at ƒ/11 except the crowd but that’s expected with shutter speed used. ISO 100 to keep things clean. Not one of my favourites, something is bothering me in this image and I don’t know what it is. The edit was pretty quick, nothing fancy. But all that doesn’t matter.

What matters is I wish every single one of you a very Merry Christmas. Whether you called it that or something else, whether you celebrate it or not, it doesn’t matter either, my wish to you is a merry one. And whether you spend it with your family, friends or strangers, I hope this moment together fills you, and them, with joy and happiness. And don’t forget the little ones, for this time of the year is magical so help them dream and be in awe. Let’s all be merry.

MERRY CHRISTMAS | HAPPY HOLIDAYS

New CaledoniaCHRIStophe Robert HERVOUËTa7 3, a7 III, arbre, blue hour, christmas, christophe hervouet, crowd, joyeuses fetes, lights, new caledonia, noel, noumea, nouvelle caledonie, people, photophe, photophe.com, place de la marne, place des cocotiers, province sud, sony, south province, street, tamron e 28-75 mm f2.8 di iii rxd, tree
TRANQUIL LEMONS

Noumea, New Caledonia

I was doing a bit of cleaning up in my Lightroom catalogue and came across this photo. It dates back to March 2018. I was using a Canon EOS 1300D with a kit lens that I had won in a photo competition. I remember I was out at La Baie Des Citrons (Lemons Bay) trying to capture a sunset. Nothing spectacular happened but I stayed through blue hour trying long exposures.

Blue hour, on the other hand, was beautiful. With everything blue, I remember imagining this photo in black & white before I even took the shot. I wanted a long exposure so I went with the maximum the camera would allow without a remote, which is 30 seconds. To get the cleanest image possible, a very low ISO is necessary, in this case 100. An aperture of ƒ/6.3 gave me the exposure I needed to capture the photo I wanted. The thin clouds are totally smoothed out, the water as well though it was already pretty still. Plain and simple.

Post-processing was a matter of simplifying the image further. Getting rid of all distractions like buoys, sail boats, birds, stars trails and dirt spots from my lens. All that’s left is the ruins of a wharf and the marker, perfect. That’s exactly what I wanted, a minimalist image. I might get this one printed.

All my research about this dilapidated wharf were in vain. The remnants show it used to start from the Four à Chaux (Lime Kiln) of La Baie des Citrons. I’m guessing it may have something to do with that. I would love to get some information on it so if anyone knows something, please drop me a message over on Twitter (@Hervouet) and I’ll update this post with the info. Thank you.

New CaledoniaCHRIStophe Robert HERVOUËTb&w, baie des citrons, bay, beach, black & white, blue hour, broken, calm, canon, ef-s 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 is II, evening, jetty, lemon bay, long exposure, marker, minimalism, minimalist, monochrome, new caledonia, noumea, nouvelle caledonie, peaceful, photoshop cc, province sud, ruins, seascape, sign, south province, tranquil, wharf
LA NUIT DES ILLUMINÉS DU BAGNE

THE NIGHT OF THE ILLUMINATED JAIL

Noumea, New Caledonia

This event was organised by Association Témoignage d'Un Passé, hosted by them and Site historique de l'île Nou, and held at the Centre de Rencontres et d’Échanges Internationaux du Pacifique (CREIPAC) in Nouville. An evening of music, lights, dance and comedy gave vibrance to this heritage site.

My objective for the evening was to capture the lights on these century old buildings. My mistake though was not arriving before blue hour. It would’ve bumped a couple of these photos a notch above average.

Historically, this place was a hard labour prison and is now a place where people from all over the world come to learn French. And I’m sure to discover the culture here and it’s people.

New CaledoniaCHRIStophe Robert HERVOUËTa7 3, a7 III, acting, acts, building, buildings, Centre de Rencontres et d’Échanges Internationaux du Pacifique, christophe hervouet, christophe robert hervouet, dance, dancers, entertaining, entertainment, entrance, entry, evening, events, heritage, improvisation, lights, new caledonia, night, noumea, nouvelle caledonie, nouville, nuit des illumines du bagne, penitentiary, performance, performers, province sud, reflections, sony, south province, tamron e 28-75 mm f2.8 di iii rxd, windows
FINGERS MITCHELL CULLEN

REPLAY-ing Live en Août

Noumea, New Caledonia

The last, but not the least, performer I went to hear and see at the Live en Août music festival was FINGERS Mitchell Cullen at the Code Bar. A very talented multi-instrumentalist performing as a one-man-band. A remarkable young man who, not only, sings but writes his own songs as well. He has a unique style that is also present when doing cover songs. Head over to his website to hear his music.

As with the previous bands, I used a shutter speed of 1/320th second with a wide open aperture of ƒ/2.8 and used the ISO to correct the exposure. I would’ve liked to have gotten closer to get those detail shots but didn’t have a long enough zoom lens.

Again, I’d like to give a little shoutout to REPLAY for the great work they did with lights and, especially, the sound.

New Caledonia, MusicCHRIStophe Robert HERVOUËTa7 3, a7 III, anse vata, artists, christophe hervouet, code bar, events, fingers mitchell cullen, live en aout, music, musicians, new caledonia, noumea, nouvelle caledonie, performers, province sud, replay, sony, south province, tamron e 28-75 mm f2.8 di iii rxd, team replay
THE FERGIES

REPLAY-ing Live en Août

Noumea, New Caledonia

As mentioned in my last post, the music festival Live en Août had great Australian performers this year. The Fergies is one of those groups. A folk/indie/rock/pop band from Brisbane. They performed at La Barca and were very entertaining to watch and listen.

Once again, REPLAY did an amazing job with light and sound in such a small venue. I wasn’t going to photograph The Fergies but with the band so hyped and the light show from REPLAY… I couldn’t resist taking a few photos. I’m glad I always carry my camera with me. They all knocked it out of the park. My photos don’t do them justice.

I used the same settings as with The Montreals concert, 1/320th second exposure time with a wide open aperture of ƒ/2.8 and just played around with the ISO to get a proper exposure. I think 1/400th or 1/500th second might have been a better choice, otherwise I’m pretty happy with these photos.

New Caledonia, MusicCHRIStophe Robert HERVOUËTa7 3, a7 III, artists, band, christophe hervouet, events, la barca, live en aout, music, musicians, new caledonia, noumea, nouvelle caledonie, performers, province sud, replay, sony, south province, tamron e 28-75 mm f2.8 di iii rxd, team replay, the fergies
THE MONTREALS

REPLAY-ing Live en Août

Noumea, New Caledonia

Every year in August we have a music festival called Live en Août with local and international artists performing at different venues. This year, the international artists were all Australians. Two bands and a one-man-band.

The Montreals were the first band I went to see at Le Bout du Monde, a bar/restaurant situated on Port Moselle Marina. The Montreals are an Indie/Rock band and, to my liking, have a bit of R&B and disco sounds in some of their songs. Not only entertaining, they also interact with the crowd, especially between songs where the lead singer is quite funny. I really liked this group and would love to see them again.

I’d like to give a shoutout to REPLAY, especially a friend of mine Alain. They’re the team behind the sound and light (they also do video) of the festival. We rarely, if ever, think about it but light and sound is critical. I won’t go in-depth here with the why or how of it all. Since my mate Alain started working in the industry, I’ve had the opportunity to checkout some of the behind-the-scene stuff and, I have to say, these guys work hard to get things right and entertain us.

In regards to photographing this group, after some trial and error, I set my shutter speed to 1/320th second which was enough to freeze the action. They weren’t jumping around frantically so it was perfect. Aperture at ƒ/2.8 for a shallow depth of field then it was just a matter of adjusting the ISO to get a good exposure. My focus wasn’t always on the mark but I’m very happy with these photos.

The Australian music scene is insane. Fantastic and original groups and solo artists from all walks of life, rise up above it all and are able to sustain themselves in this industry. The Montreals are no exception.

New Caledonia, MusicCHRIStophe Robert HERVOUËTa7 3, a7 III, band, christophe hervouet, events, live en aout, new caledonia, noumea, nouvelle caledonie, province sud, replay, sony, south province, tamron e 28-75 mm f2.8 di iii rxd, team replay, artists, flow, le bout du monde, music, musicians, performers, the montreals
DEVA'S VILLAGE

Bourail, New Caledonia

Situated on the shores of one of the world's largest lagoons, the Sheraton New Caledonia Deva Spa & Golf Resort is one of the more luxurious and isolated hotels in New Caledonia. I’ve never stayed here but I have popped in two or three times for a meal or a drink whilst staying in the area. This was one of those time.

A friend was house-sitting at La Roche Percée which I took advantage of to do some astrophotography. Not a lot of light pollution around these parts. You may have seen a photo from an earlier post, The Man Between The Milky Way & Turtle Bay. We came here to checkout a lookout from one of the hiking trails behind the hotel. Magnificent views of Deva Domaine, the lagoon and the Sheraton. We had lunch there once we’d finished wandering around.

I only took my camera to the lookout. A decision I regretted as I took this shot. Wishing I had my polarised filter with me. The water looked very flat, colourless and had no definition even after my global edits in Lightroom. To my surprise though, I was able to recover a lot of it by selectively using the Dehaze slider. Now that’s what I saw when I shot this image. A beautiful view of the Sheraton New Caledonia Deva Spa & Golf Resort and our stunning, world renowned lagoon.

28 mm, 1/640th second @ ƒ/11, ISO 400

New CaledoniaCHRIStophe Robert HERVOUËTa7 3, a7 III, bourail, christophe hervouet, day, domaine de deva, from above, hotel, lagoon, new caledonia, nouvelle caledonie, province sud, sheraton, sheraton new caledonia deva spa and golf resort, sony, south province, tamron e 28-75 mm f2.8 di iii rxd
RION'S SKIES

Païta, New Caledonia

I’m back everyone and I’d like to apologies for the lack of content for the last few weeks. I was very sick with high fever and a lung infection. I couldn’t sleep and when I could it wasn’t good, the constant headaches prevented concentration and couldn’t look at a screen long enough without getting nauseous. I rarely get sick but this was the worst I’ve ever been sick in my life. It really knocked me out. All good now though so hopefully I’ll be able to get back to posting regularly.

This photo was taken from a good friend of mine’s home in Naïa. At the time, the house wasn’t quite finished yet. This was late February. We were there to checkout the advancement on the house and to celebrate another friend’s birthday. This is pretty much the view he has from his lounge room. Absolutely stunning during the day too.

I was still trying out astrophotography with my new camera and though I had a few drinks in me, I had the urge to get the camera out and shoot the night skies. I took two shot for this image. The first was of the stars and the second of the foreground which I illuminated with a small torch. I then used Photoshop to blend the skies of the first photo to the foreground of the second and edited the blended image in Lightroom. It took me quite a long time to get the edit to the point where I was happy with it. The skies is where I had the most trouble getting right. I looked up a few astrophotographers on Youtube to get an idea on how they edit their images and used some of their techniques here. Not the most interesting photo, I admit, but I’m pretty happy with the results.

A big thank you to Roro & Mumu for that weekend. Cheers guys.

28 mm, 10 seconds @ ƒ/2.8, ISO 3200

New CaledoniaCHRIStophe Robert HERVOUËTa7 3, a7 III, astrophotography, christophe hervouet, galaxy, milky way, naia, new caledonia, night, nouvelle caledonie, paita, province sud, skies, sony, south province, stars, tamron e 28-75 mm f2.8 di iii rxd
THE MAN BETWEEN THE MILKY WAY AND TURTLE BAY

Bourail, New Caledonia

When I got my new camera, the Sony a7 III with the Tamron 28-75, at the end of last year, I was eager to try my hand at astrophotography. I wanted to capturing our Galaxy, the Milky Way, in all it’s glory. The opportunity came in early February when my best friend, Géraldine, was minding a house in Bourail. A two hour drive from Noumea. A beautiful little beach-house situated only metres from the Roche Percée Beach. So I stayed there over two weekends, wandering off in the middle of the night, shooting the stars. I was quite lucky to have clear skies and the Milky Way close to where I wanted it. Especially for an unplanned shoot.

The very first thing I realised was that 28 mm wasn’t wide enough. I needed a wider lens, 21 maybe even 18 mm, but it’s all I have so I had to make do. I didn’t count on the moon rising from that direction either. And almost a full moon too. Not to mention the very bright star/planet but, that, I actually like. It took me a few trials and errors to get the exposure I needed to avoid star-trails. For this scene it was around 5 to 8 seconds of exposure with an ISO of 6400 and a wide open aperture of ƒ/2.8. It’s the best image I came home with, out of the half dozen I took over the two weekends. It’s not a large portion of the Galaxy but I’m happy with it yet definitely not satisfied with the results. I had a very hard time editing it and had to do some research on post-processing these kinds of images. I need more practice and experiment more with astrophotography. Never stop learning, right?

The beach at the bottom of the image is Turtle Bay and behind the cliff is Roche Percée Beach (very popular with surfers). Both are well known for turtle hatching which we were right in the middle of. Unfortunately, I didn’t see any but Géraldine and her two girls did. Every year, hundreds of turtles lay their eggs here, which produce thousands of baby turtles. It takes 45 days for the eggs to hatch so both beaches are patrolled every night for about six to eight weeks. Making sure the turtles, the nests and babies aren’t interfered with in any way. Keeping this area a sanctuary for these incredible creatures.

Carved from the natural erosion of the waves, the weird looking rock formation at the end of the cliff is Le Bonhomme. A landmark in Bourail and New Caledonia. There’s a lookout at the top of the cliff but unfortunately part of it is closed off now due to erosion at the base causing the edge to collapse. Still worth the walk or drive up there as the views are just magnificent.

I haven’t had the chance to photograph the stars since but I hope to in the next month or so. Fingers crossed.

28 mm, 5 seconds @ ƒ/2.8, ISO 6400

New CaledoniaCHRIStophe Robert HERVOUËTa7 3, a7 III, baie des tortues, beach, bonhomme, bourail, christophe hervouet, dawn, long exposure, milky way, moon, new caledonia, nouvelle caledonie, province sud, roche percee, sony, south province, sunrise, tamron e 28-75 mm f2.8 di iii rxd, turtle bay, galaxy, roche percee beach, full moon, star, planet
COURBET PLACE ILLUMINATIONS

Courbet Place is a section of what most people refer to as La Place Des Cocotiers (Nouméa, New Caledonia). For a number of years now the Council has transformed this place with illuminations for Christmas. I had the chance to visit late on the last night.

I rushed around for a composition and took a few photos before the lights turned off. I was actually surprised they hadn’t done so already. This was the last photos taken just a couple of minutes before they did. I got down low to include as much of the arch as possible with the bells on the top third and the Fountain Celeste on the bottom third. The low ISO and small aperture gave me a long exposure of a few seconds. I didn’t want anyone in my composition thus had to wait a few minutes for people to walk out of my composition. I took this shot in the meantime and glad I did as the lights turned off shortly after. I would probably never have gotten the shot I was after so I’m thankful I got this one.

3.2 seconds @ ƒ/8, ISO 100, 28 mm

New CaledoniaCHRIStophe Robert HERVOUËTchristophe robert hervouet, city, sony, city centre, evening, noumea, photophe, long exposure, illuminations, christophe hervouet, christmas, nouvelle caledonie, province sud, tamron 28-75 mm f2.8 Di III RXD, lights, A7 3, A7 III, photoshop cc, south province, place courbet, new caledonia, night
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2019 !

I hope everyone had a fantastic end of year 2018 and I wish you all the very best for 2019.

Just thought I’d quickly share a photo of Noumea’s (New Caledonia) fireworks from last night. I headed up to the Mobilis tower to take these shots. Not the best idea as I couldn’t get close enough with my 28-75 mm lens. I used an app to trigger the shutter, to avoid touching the camera, but that too wasn’t a great idea either. My hands were wet from the rain which caused problems with the touch screen. I’m going to have to get a wired trigger release, I find them more reliable and easier to use. I put the camera in BULB mode and triggered the shutter on and off as I saw the fireworks explode. I took around sixty photos and this was only one that I really loved and successfully captured.

HAPPY NEW YEAR !

9 seconds @ ƒ/4, 75 mm, ISO 100

New CaledoniaCHRIStophe Robert HERVOUËTevening, New year’s day, Sony, christophe robert hervouet, new caledonia, A7 3, A7 III, Feux d’artifices, Night, tamron 28-75 mm f2.8 Di III RXD, long exposure, nouvelle caledonie, christophe hervouet, province sud, south province, 2019, noumea, lights, Nyd, photoshop cc, Fireworks, sainte marie, IOS
POURING A RIVER

I took a few photos along Route De Prony (Mont Dore, New Caledonia) heading back home from the Néocallitropsis refuge. I wanted to try out the welder’s glass as a filter on flowing water. I found this bridge interesting with it’s huge tube-like holes and as I headed down stream I found this composition. I love the way the water flows from the holes of the bridge and over the rocks in the foreground. And the mountain in the background adds depth to the image. I really like this photo.

The light was nice due the the overcast day. It helped to extend the long exposure with the small aperture used. I think I focused on the rocks in the foreground which I think was a mistake as I find the bridge slightly on the soft side. Not as sharp as I would have liked. Otherwise very happy with the exposure and composition. And the edit. You may not know but welder’s glass has a strong green tint which, I find, is very difficult to remove completely. Not impossible but more work than I’d like to do in post. The reason why I convert these images to black & white. Next to no colour correction needed.

10 sec @ ƒ/11, 55 mm, ISO 100

New CaledoniaCHRIStophe Robert HERVOUËTb&w, black & white, bridge, canon, ef-s 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 is II, eos 1300d, long exposure, monochrome, mont dore, mountains, new caledonia, nouvelle caledonie, photoshop cc, province sud, river, water, welder glass
NÉOCALLITROPSIS REFUGE FALLS

Cockington Miniature Village was the last of my photos from Australia. And even though I’m heading to New Zealand this weekend, I won’t be sharing photos from there but from home, New Caledonia. The reason being I don’t have a laptop to edit my photos on the go. I promise you’ll get to see them as soon as I get back in a couple of weeks though.

Néocallitropsis Refuge Falls is located in the Yate municipality in New Caledonia. A small waterfall ending in a nice waterhole, especially appreciated after a long walk. A few of us decided to hike the first stage of the GR NC1. Which is a fourteen kilometre hike that starts from the Prony refuge in Baie de la Somme (Mont Dore) and ends at the Néocallitropsis refuge (Yate). The refuge (hut) is located just off to the left of this photos. The hike doesn’t loop so either you retrace you steps back or drop a second car near the Néocallitropsis refuge to head back to the start once finished. I stayed the night in hopes of capturing a couple of sunset and sunrise photos. Unfortunately I missed out on sunset. I drove a couple of ladies and their dog, who thought the track looped, back to Prony refuge. By the time I got back, all the beautiful light had vanished and rain clouds were rolling in. It poured down pretty much all night so a shot of the stars didn’t happen either. I woke up to an overcast and drizzling morning. I want to pack up and head home but I didn’t know when I was going to be back here. I told myself “You’re here now, make the most of it. Go home with at least one photo.”. It stopped raining long enough for the ten minute walk back to the refuge (I didn’t anticipate the bad road to the refuge so I camped next to my car) and take a couple of photos before it started raining again. I got back to the car drenched but happy with myself for not giving up earlier.

Getting the long exposure time that I wanted for this photo wasn’t difficult with the lack of light from the overcast skies. The small aperture to get everything in focus helped as well. My aim was to get a silky smooth waterfall and it’s exactly what I got.

Never give up. You never know what lies in store.

1.3 sec @ ƒ/11, 55 mm, ISO 100

New CaledoniaCHRIStophe Robert HERVOUËTcalm, canon, cascade, christophe hervouet, ef-s 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 is II, eos 1300d, falls, long exposure, mountains, neocallitropsis, new caledonia, nouvelle caledonie, photoshop cc, province sud, refuge, river, smooth silky, south province, stream, water, water hole, yate
POE-BOW

I was lucky the rain had stopped so that I could photograph sunrise and if you look back at my last post, I think I captured a nice image. Overhead though the rain had come back and I quickly packed up my gear, as it’s not weather sealed, and took cover under a nearby tree. I was hoping the rain would stop long enough for me to head back to the camp site for hot coffee and breakfast. I was starting to get very hungry. The rain had almost stopped and I was about to make a run for it when this beautiful rainbow appeared. With the dark clouds and the sun hitting the top of them it made for quite a dramatic scene.

I had to try to capture it. I hurried back to the water and quickly setup my gear in fear the rainbow would disappear. With the top of the image and the foreground very bright, and the bottom of the clouds and background quite dark, I thought the contrast might be too much for a single exposure. I told myself to just take the shot so I at least have something and if I have the time, to capture two different exposures. One for the bright areas, the other for the dark areas so that I can blend them together later. I timed the shots to capture movement in the water as it was retreating over the coral/rock. I only caught the end of the rainbow as it was already fading by the time I had setup. Everything happened quickly but I’m glad I was able to get my three exposures.

So this photo is the result of blending the highlight and shadow exposures. The blending and edits were very quick and the photo is fairly accurate to what I saw. I did edit the single exposure as well but I wasn’t able to reproduce the same results. Well not in the same time frame anyway.

 Anyway, another souvenir of Poe Beach (Bourail, New Caledonia) captured and a unique one at that.

1/16th @ ƒ/11, 18 mm, ISO 100

New CaledoniaCHRIStophe Robert HERVOUËTbeach, bourail, canon, christophe robert hervouet, cloudy, coral, dead coral, ef-s 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 is II, eos 1300d, morning, new caledonia, nouvelle caledonie, photoshop cc, plage, plage de poe, poe, poe beach, province sud, rain, rainbow, rock, seascape, south province, sunrise