Just as I had finished setting up for my gear in the middle of Ron Barassi Snr. Park for my sphere photo, I noticed these two hot air balloons traveling through the sky. By the time I got my camera off the tripod and took the shot, they were farther from the Melbourne Star wheel then I would have liked. Still glad I got a photo to remind me where I was when I saw them, and give them a little perspective. I took a couple of other shots but they weren’t as nice.

The EXIF data shows that I really didn’t have much time to take the shot. I literally took the camera, zoomed and snapped. I don’t know how I got such a sharp image at that shutter speed. I should’ve bumped the ISO up a touch and opened the aperture a lot more. I didn’t need such a large depth of field as everything was far away but a higher shutter speed would’ve been better. In the end I got the shot and that’s what counts.

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0.3 sec @ ƒ/8, 37 mm, ISO 100

So now that we’ve reached the end of Newquay Promenade (Melbourne, Australia), we arrive at the last dock. A quiet, little getaway spot. Day or night. With wonderful views of Bolte Bridge, Yarra River, Docklands piers and Melbourne’s skyline.

I had taken a couple of photos here very early one morning but, unfortunately, they came out slightly blurred. It was very windy and the movement of the dock on the water didn’t help either. So I though I’d come back and a get a day shot of the bridge. Just  snapshot for a souvenir.

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1/1000 sec @ ƒ/4.5, 36 mm, ISO 100

The rain had stopped and left puddles everywhere. Nonetheless, it took me a while to find this composition. I like it because it reflects what is not shown. You can just see the Paladio building, the sculpture Silence and even the blue glass building.

I wanted to get down lower but my tripod wouldn’t let me. The centre rod was in the way. I ended up moving back a little farther and zooming in to get a lower perspective. And to bring the background a little closer too. I had edited this photo in colour and was going to share like that but something was bothering me about the image. I couldn’t put my finger on until I converted it to black & white. It was the colours. They weren’t doing justice to the photo. I reset the edit and started from scratch. Colour can be such a distraction in an image.

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1/5 sec @ ƒ/8, 29 mm, ISO 100

Another sculpture made up of multiple pieces. There are eight of these crouched, red men that make up this sculpture, titled Meeting 1. You can’t miss this red sculpture against the green synthetic grass. As with all the sculptures along Newquay Promenade (Melbourne, Australia) you can get up close and personal.

I wasn’t going to share this snapshot but the sculpture is quite prominent and a big part of the promenade so I felt it had to be included in the stroll.

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1/500 sec @ ƒ/3.5, 18 mm, ISO 100

Here is a different perspective of the Melbourne Star Observation Wheel. It looks much larger than my in last post, doesn’t it? Now that I post this photo, I wish I had taken it at blue hour. I think it would have made a beautiful photo with the buildings and the wheel lit up. Oh well, maybe next time.

I had edited this photo in colour at first but quickly realised it was more suited to black & white. The light wasn’t the best and there weren’t enough colours to make the image pop or interesting.

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1/400 sec @ ƒ/5.6, 55 mm, ISO 100

As I walked up to Spiky, I saw the Melbourne Star Observation Wheel between the buildings. All lit up. Beautiful! I tried to photograph the wheel once before but I was too late to capture it lit. This composition is much better too. Especially with the contrasting red light against blue hour makes it stand out. It was green at my first attempt. And I like the entrance as a leading line.

Though not all the lights on the wheel were working, I still tried to time my exposure to capture them all lit. It took a few trials and errors but I finally came away with this one. I could’ve close my aperture to ƒ/11 to gain an extra second of exposure but I find the images too soft at that opening. A one second exposure was enough.

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1 sec @ ƒ/8, 36 mm, ISO 100

A little farther down Newquay Promenade (Melbourne, Australia), I saw these wonderful buildings. The unusual architecture of the spiky, teardrop shaped tower and the leaning twins behind made for a great photo. I didn’t search for a composition here. I saw, I took the shot.

Another day shot so I went for a black & white edit. I darkened the blues to give more contrast to the photo. The sun and the buildings did the rest.

Not much to talk about here. I don’t know the names of the buildings but you’ll see more of them in the next couple of posts.

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1/800 sec @ ƒ/5.6, 55 mm, ISO 100

More Sculptures to be found farther down Newquay Promenade (Melbourne, Australia). Actually, this is one sculpture titled Silence by Adrian Mauriks. It’s quite nice being able to walk around and in-between sculptures. You get a different perspective on the art and can interact with it. And your imagination just goes wild. I quite like this sculpture. I took a few photos with different compositions, this is the one I liked best.

This sculpture is huge and to show how prominent it is, I got down low with my tripod and used a wide focal length to take the shot (I’ve only got a kit lens anyway). Set to the lowest ISO to get the cleanest shot. Ten second timer (two seconds isn’t enough for this camera) to stabilise the shot. And closed down the aperture to get everything in focus.

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0.4 sec @ ƒ/8, 18 mm, ISO 100

Newquay (Melbourne, Australia) has many high rise buildings along it’s promenade. I’m guessing but I think many of them are residential apartments. We rented one of them in this building called Palladio. Secure building with modern interiors and stunning views. We were on this side and had views of Docklands, Etihad Stadium and the city behind it. Absolutely gorgeous! I took a panorama from our balcony which I will share with you on a later post. For the moment, we’ll keep heading down Newquay Promenade.

This plank looking structure is actually U-shaped and as soon as I walked underneath it, I had to include it in the photo. Quite difficult to get the right angle and I ended up with a sore neck for a few minutes afterwards. Hand-held shot taken late in the morning, which is the reason I went with black & white. The building has no colour and blue skies are just perfect for b&w. I just had to darken the blues, increase the contrast and voilà.

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1/1000 sec @ ƒ/3.5, 18 mm, ISO 100

Heading down Newquay Promenade, one of the first things you see are these pyramid-like sculptures in Monument Park (Melbourne, Australia). I’ll leave at that as the link gives all the details on the sculptures and the artist. I just wanted to share my photographic perspective.

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As I was waiting for my golden hour shot, I wanted to take a photo of these blue buildings before the end of blue hour. And I love those pillars so much I had to include them once more. They do make a great foreground. Love those purple windows too. At the end of the pier and the bottom of the buildings is the beginning of the Newquay Promenade which runs to the left of the photo. It’s a nice stroll along the pier and you can dine in wonderful restaurants and stay in beautiful residential apartments. And a great place for photos too.

As I mentioned before, the pillars make a great foreground, leading the eye to the buildings. I decided to compose my shot in between the pillars so as to show more of them and these were the only ones with crossbars. I was hoping for a more golden sky on the right side but I guess it just wasn’t time yet.

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0.4 sec @ ƒ/8, 18 mm, ISO 100

I got up early on my first morning in Melbourne (Australia). I was eager to get some sunrise photos of Docklands. There are two areas where you find these pillars. They’re divided by the Central Pier. Unfortunately, on the left side of the pier, the water is quite dirty with rubbish. Such a shame. I was surprised to see this side was so clean. Might have something to do with the currents. My composition was pretty obvious or so I thought. I wanted these poles in the shot as well as the bridge.

My original shot was a 3:2 which included some of the Central Pier on the left side of the image. It didn’t look right to me though so I decided to get rid of it and ended up with a square crop. I like it better but it still looks unbalanced with the buildings on the right. But I like the buildings… Long exposure to smooth out the Yarra River, as there was a little breeze, and to capture a better reflection of the posts and the lights from the bridge. No drama in the sky but I think I like it that way as it reflects the calmness of the water.

Talking about a little breeze. It was freezing! I didn’t have any gloves and anyway, I thought my jacket pockets would be enough to warm them up. Nooo! Not at all. It got so cold that it was painful to manipulate the camera buttons. I’ve never experienced anything like it. And I don’t think I ever will again. I bought gloves that morning. Not before the sun came out though. I got blue hour, I had get golden hour.

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6 sec @ ƒ/8, 25 mm, ISO 100

While looking for a new perspective of the Bolte Bridge, I found myself in the Ron Barassi Senior Park (Newquay, Melbourne, Australia). It wasn’t going to be spectacular sunrise as it was very overcast. I had an image in my mind of the bridge that I wanted to take but I just couldn’t find the right angle. I took a couple of photos and I may share them with you but I haven’t seen them on the computer yet.

As blue hour was fading I realised I could stand right in the middle of the park and capture a 360º photo with absolutely no-one in the frame. And create a photo sphere later in Photoshop. I’ve never photographed a 360º image before but thought it’s just a massive panorama. And it is. The sphere though, that was going to be something else. I had no idea how to create one. I’m glad I levelled everything before capturing the panorama, it made things a little easier once in Photoshop. 

I Googled how to create a photo sphere and just followed the instructions. I had to redo it a few times because either the sphere wasn’t lined up right or there was a gap in the sphere. It was my fault though, for not taking the time to prepare the panorama right and not carefully going through all the steps to create it. In the end though, I love it! And it really isn’t complicated. You just need to take your time and capture the best images. And follow the instructions. Carefully.

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32 photos at 0.5 sec @ ƒ/8, 24 mm, ISO 100