noumea — BLOG — PhoTophe

ROUND ABOUT A GOOD LIFE

This is the first time I’ve been out shooting since the end of lockdown. It felt good to be out concentrating and putting my total attention on one thing. I’ve wanted to photograph this roundabout for a long time now, well, since 2016 after I successfully captured the Ko We Kara roundabout for a local contest. I finally got my image but…

3 images | 28 mm, 30 seconds @ ƒ/11, ISO 100

… the view point is all wrong. I think the better spot, and I can’t confirm this as it’s in a closed off area, would be on top of the hill located on the other side of the roundabout to the left. From that vantage point I’d have a view of the roundabout and the Belle Vie shopping mall behind it and not to the right, out of sight, like in this image. I will check that hill out again in hopes of finding a spot to reshoot this roundabout.

ABOUT THIS PLACE

Belle Vie roundabout is a major intersection in Noumea. From it you can head into the city, the southern suburbs, northern suburbs or head out of the Noumea altogether. To the left, just out of sight, is the Néobus depot, our new bus line that runs from Koutio to the City centre. To the right, just out of sight as well, is the Belle Vie shopping mall. In the mid-right of the roundabout is Magenta Discount and Magenta Bazar. Behind the trees and roundabout is Cheval Distribution, a pet and animal shop. Beyond the left and right of the image are petrol stations and cemeteries. Check out this blog post for a photo of the beautiful cemeteries we have here and, if your interested, a time-lapse over the same cemetery.

HOW I GOT THE IMAGE

This image was made from three photos. A main photo which included the foreground, most of the light trails and the mid-ground. The second photo was taken five minutes before the main photo and used to replace the sky. And the third photo was used to add light trails at the bottom left of the road and over the ghost cars. The blending was done in Photoshop and the editing in Lightroom.

Though I wanted a blue hour image, I start shooting at sunset and straight through blue hour. Glad I did because the photo I used for the sky was shot at the end of golden hour and the beginning of blue hour. Two out of the three images were 30 second exposures and I achieved that by using LEE Filters’ Little Stopper, a 6 stop neutral density filter. I needed the Little Stopper to get the light trails but as you can see in the photo, the cars were stopped long enough to be captured as ghosts. Love that effect though.

As I mentioned above, I think a better shot would be from the other side of the roundabout but I also think a higher perspective and wider angle lens would make for a better, more captivating image.

160 PORTRAITS

City of Noumea

With the spotlight on racism and discrimination these past few weeks, a referendum for independence knocking at the front door of my country and all the tensions that entails, and having experienced racism and discrimination myself… I felt this photo was appropriate.

This huge canvas measuring 16 x 9 metres on the main wall of the Hotel de Ville de Noumea (the Noumea Council building) represent 160 black & white portraits across Noumea’s population. It was part of a photographic exhibition which also included 100 black & white portraits in A0 format exposed around Place des Cocotiers (Coconut Palm Place) to celebrate the City of Noumea’s 160th anniversary. It also shows, for an island, we have an immense ethnic and cultural diversity.

At the time of this exhibition, I was very interested in black & white architectural photos with street lights from a worm’s eye view. Hence my take on the genre. The lights weren’t on when I took the shot so I add that in. Though they were situated across the street, the perspective make them seem to light the wall. Adds a little more interest in the overall image too. A couple of Radial Filters with Exposure, Highlights and Whites turn all the way up lit the street lights and another with an extra stop of Exposure and a lot of Contrast for the 160 portrait canvas. The rest of the edits were very basic, minor touches.

A last reflection, this world is magnificent and beautiful and wonderful and extraordinary. And I’m not just describing the Earth here but also every species on it including us, the one and only race, humans. Our ethnicity, our cultures, our languages, our beliefs, our stories, our histories… and much more is what make us, unique individuals, so different, so interesting, so beautiful in this world worth visiting, exploring, discovering. All of this and much more is what makes this world so magnificent, beautiful, wonderful, extraordinary. Let’s accept each other’s individuality and live in peace ✌🏽

FERRY PARKING

City of Noumea

Cities change constantly and Noumea is no exception. In the fifteen years since I’ve been back here, a lot of change has occurred, especially in the last five years. This photo was taken from the top deck of the P&O Pearl cruise ship back in 2014.

I recommend to anyone to do a cruise at least once in their life. This was my first and though it left Sydney to visit the the island of my country, New Caledonia, it was a fun and eye opening experience. I actually went on this cruise to surprise my brother and a couple of friends who often went on them.

Seeing Noumea from the top deck of the ship was amazing. It took me a while to put the city into perspective even though I’ve rediscovered it for the last eight years. In this photo you’ll notice the Société Le Nickel (SLN) with the white smoke coming out of it’s four chimneys. The Bingo building just below it. The Municipal Police to the right of that and the Pacific Arcade apartments. The Mobilis tower on the hilltop to the right and the Galliéni 1 building below it. Then we have the Bingo parking between it and Sound City and in front of that the Quai Jules Ferry parking… which doesn’t exist anymore. Three large buildings now adorn this space with their respective parking lot. The smallest of the three buildings situated in front of the Bingo is already occupied by Fitness Park, the other two are not quite finished yet. This project is a follow up from the south Quai Ferry construction built in 2010. The hope is to provide bars, restaurants and commerce to revitalise the area and the city. Either way, tourists should have a better view of Noumea when arriving from cruise ships.

When I get the chance, I’ll photograph the buildings and share it with you. See you soon.

Nikon D7100 body only.jpg — **NIKON D7100**

Nikon’s D7100 is a 24 MP crop sensor DSLR camera (body only). It produce sharp images with great quality. This was my first DSLR and I loved it.

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Nikkor 18-105mm.jpg — **NIKKOR DX STANDARD ZOOM LENS**

This Nikkor AF-S DX 18-105mm ƒ/3.5-5.6G ED VR is a standard zoom lens for crop sensor Nikon DSLRs. I’ve captured great images with this lens.

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SANDISK Extreme Pro 128GB SDXC 95MB:s.jpg — **SANDISK EXTREME PRO MEMORY CARD**

SanDisk Extreme Pro SDXC memory cards are fast and reliable. With 128 GB you never run out of storage for photos or videos, 4K included. It’s what I choose to use.

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Giotto Lens Cleaning Kit.jpg — **GIOTTO CLEANING KIT**

This lens cleaning kit from Giotto includes a Rocket blower, a soft dust brush, pointed/rounded cotton buds, a microfibre cloth and cleaning solution. I also use it to clean the outside of my camera.

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WANDRD Camera Cube small.jpg — **WANDRD CUBE INSERT**

The WANDRD camera cube insert is a perfect fit for the PRVKE backpack. Can also be used on it’s own too.

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WANDRD PRVKE 31Lt..jpg — **WANDRD PRVKE**

PRVKE 31 lt. travel/camera backpack from WANDRD. Has a laptop sleeve, a tablet sleeve, a hidden pocket, room for a camera insert and storage to spare. Also extends to provide 6 lt. of extra storage. It’s my everyday carry.

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ONE DAY

Nouville, Noumea

Having a new-born in your life leaves little time to go out shooting. Very busy figuring out a lot of things from the baby’s needs to medical visits, everyday chores and who does what, when. Organisation and finding a routine is key though. Apart from eating and sleeping, babies don’t do much else but a small shifted of just 30 minutes in their routine can make or break your day… and night. Ozalee started to have a fairly steady night routine about five or six days ago. Let’s hope it lasts.

So I may not have a lot of time to go out and about shooting sunrises or sunsets, I do have the time to photograph my baby girl. Videos are important too. They show how they move, react to things, their changing facial expressions, their laughter, the sounds they make and many more things that a photograph can not portray. Don’t worry, I won’t bombard you with baby photos. I have a Lightroom catalogue full of photos I want to share with you.

This photo was taken the day after her birth and at approximately the same time too. She’s one day old here. I took a few shots from different angles and this was the best of the lot. The photo was taken with the Sony a7 III with the Tamron 28-75 ƒ2.8 lens, zoomed all the way in at 75 mm. I went with an aperture of ƒ/4 to get enough depth of field to get all her eye in focus. A shutter speed of 1/125th second was plenty as she wasn’t moving. The ISO was too high for my liking but I had no choice with just a small light illuminating the room. I was pleasantly surprised though to see the photo void of noise. The light, shadows, tones and subject made for a beautiful black & white conversion and very little edit was needed. I’m going to get this one printed for sure.

Well thank everyone for you patience and putting up with my baby photos. Hope to see you in a few days for an old photo dating back to 2013.

Sony a7 III body only.jpg — **SONY a7 III**

24MP full-frame mirrorless camera from Sony’s Alpha series. Also does 4K video. A great all-round camera.

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Tamron E 28-75mm ƒ/2.8 Di III RXD.jpg — **TAMRON STANDARD ZOOM LENS**

Tamron E 28-75 mm ƒ/2.8 Di III RXD is a standard zoom lens for E-mount camera. A perfect match for the Sony a7 III.

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SONY NP-FZ100 battery.jpg — **SONY BATTERIES**

Sony’s NP-FZ100 lithium-ion from it’s Z series are reliable and long lasting.

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UES Full Frame Sensor Swabs.jpg — UES CLEANING SWABS

Cleaning swabs by UES for full-frame sensor cameras. DSLR or mirrorless. I clean my camera sensor at least once a year, more depending on where I’ve been.

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OZALEE

Noumea

I have the immense pleasure in announcing to you the birth of our daughter, Ozalee, born on the 3rd May 2020 at 4:55 p.m.

I apologies for the lack of content lately but as you now know, my attention was elsewhere. Mother and baby are doing great and arrived home from the clinic yesterday. The beginning of a new chapter in my life and I’m very excited about it. Anyway, I won’t go all gaga on you, suffice to say I’m on cloud 9.

I’m absolutely stoked about this portrait of Ozalee. Things happen quickly at birth and the baby constantly moves. Taken only an hour and a half after birth, I was praying I had gotten the shot. There isn’t a lot of light in the delivery room so I used a high ISO (3200). Aperture was wide open (ƒ/2.8) to let in as much light as possible and shutter speed (1/160th) at least twice that of my focal length (64 mm) to make sure I freeze the moment. I used AF-C (continuous auto-focus) to nail the focus every time. OK, I missed a few times but it worked most of the time. And I got the shots because I used Hi-speed shooting to capture that crucial moment.

I can’t tell you how priceless these photos are. Unlike studio shoots where you have the time to stimulate and grab the baby’s attention to capture expressions and poses, in the delivery room you don’t have the luxury of time. You have to take advantage of every opportunity to snap as many photos as possible. There’s no second chance here. Studio photos are taken a week or more after the birth… you can do them any time. They’re beautiful and amazing too and a must for anyone who can afford to do them. But a photo of your baby seconds, minutes, hours after birth are memories you’ll cherish all your life.

Enough said, I hope everyone’s staying safe and are still using the protective measures. This thing isn’t over yet. Stay safe and cherish the moments with your loved ones.

SONY a7 III

Sony a7 III (body only) a full-frame, mirrorless camera. A great all-round camera.

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TAMRON STANDARD ZOOM LENS

Tamron E 28-75 mm ƒ/2.8 Di III RXD standard zoom lens for E-mount cameras.

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SONY Z SERIES BATTERY

Sony NP-FZ100 lithium-ion z series battery.

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SANDISK MEMORY CARD

SanDisk Extreme Pro 128 GB SDXC memory card. Fast and reliable.

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GIOTTO CLEANING KIT

Giotto cleaning kit for lenses includes a rocket blower, a dust brush, pointed and rounded tip cotton buds, a microfibre cloth and a cleaning solution.

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UES CLEANING SWABS

UES cleaning swabs for full-frame sensors.

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New CaledoniaCHRIStophe Robert HERVOUËTMay 8, 2020portrait, new caledonia, nouvelle caledonie, noumea, sony, a7 3, a7 III, tamron e 28-75 mm f2.8 di iii rxd, christophe robert hervouet, christophe hervouet, baby, b&w, black & white, monochrome, new born, ozalee

CELESTIAL CONFINEMENT

6ème Kilomètre, Noumea

Day 20 of auto-confinement announces an extra week of… confinement.

My failure to capture the Super-moon this week pushed me to try my hand at capturing the South Celestial Pole. Though the conditions weren’t the best (the full moon), the opportunity was, with clear skies and the terrace facing south/west. I don’t think it’s too bad for my first attempt, what do you think?

The South Celestial Pole is difficult to explain. It’s an imaginary point in the sky that shows the rotational axis of the Earth. It’s a point in the sky where stars seem to rotate in a circle but in fact it’s the Earth rotating. The South Celestial Pole is only visible from the Southern Hemisphere and the North Celestial Pole only from the Northern Hemisphere.

535 images | 28 mm, 30 seconds @ ƒ/8, ISO 400Sony a7 III + Tamron E 28-75 mm ƒ/2.8 Di III RXD

The idea was to capture the South Celestial Pole through multiple long exposures. Then stack them using StarStax (or any other software that can do the same job) to produce a single image. I would need a few hundred photos for the effect wanted so, apart from a camera and lens, I would need a tripod and an intervalometer. Even though I have a wired remote shutter release, I used the Sony a7 III’s in-body intervalometer for this project. I ended up shooting for about five and half hours but that’s because I miscalculated the total duration time of the project. I based my calculations just on the intervalometer which gave me an hour and half total duration time (1800 exposures x 3 second intervals or pauses between exposures). My mistake was not realising that the intervalometer wasn’t taking into consideration the exposure time of 30 seconds for each of the 1800 exposures, which gives me fifteen hours of just exposure time. Yep, off by that much. I used the PhotoPills app to find the South Celestial Pole but unfortunately, the calibration was slightly off and thus the pole isn’t centred above the flame, as I’d intended. No matter, now I know and will give it a go another time.

I started shooting around 11:30 pm and stopped round 5 am, which gave me about 600 photos. I didn’t use all of them as a few in the beginning and end had too many clouds and a handful in the middle had moved when I stepped out onto the terrace at 1 am thinking it was all finished. It’s also when I thought about why my calculation was off. I ended up using 535 photos for this image. I edited the first one in Lightroom then synched the edit to all the images. I exported them to a folder on my desktop then imported them into the StarStax application. Oh, I forgot to mention that I took a dark frame at the end of the shoot. That is, the exact same exposure as the other 600 but with the lens cap on, to capture a dark image. I also imported this frame into StarStax. It helps with noise and other stuff. Astro-photographers say you should also take bias frames but I didn’t bother. I mean, I almost forgot about the dark frame let alone the bias ones. Anyway, once the 535 photos and dark frame imported, I just clicked on process and left the application do it’s thing. The stacked image shown wasn’t great, to tell you the truth. So I reprocessed the 535 photos multiple times with different settings/configurations but the stacked image was never… it never seemed quite finished. It wasn’t the results I was hoping for. Until I decided to go ahead and export one of the stacked images and saw it was just fine, great even. The application must do a final rendering as it exports the final stacked image because the difference is day and night. Happy with the image, I brought it back into Lightroom for a final edit then into Photoshop for a bit of cleaning and added the flame on the torch. I couldn’t let the torch burn all night so decided to photoshop it in instead. Not the best work but it does the trick, no?

I hope I’ve explained myself clearly enough for you to understand how I came away with this image. If not, let me give you a simpler explanation. I took lots of photos of the exact same scene/picture. Now the foreground (terrace, buildings and trees) don’t move but the stars do, they rotate in the sky. So once I stacked all the photos on top of each other, because the foreground (terrace, buildings and trees) hasn’t moved, it stays exactly the same in the final image. The stars though have moved/rotated during the night, so once stacked, it shows the path they’ve travelled during the night, hence the circles in the final image.

I hope that has helped a little and I hope you’ve enjoyed this post. Talk to you soon and don’t forget, if your area is in auto-confinement, please stay home and if not or you’re working, please protect yourself and others by implementing the protective measures. Stay safe.

**SONY a7 III**

24 MP full-frame, mirrorless camera (body only)

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**TAMRON LENS**

E-mount 28-75 mm ƒ/2.8 Di III RXD standard zoom lens

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**VANGUARD TRIPOD**

Vanguard VEO 235AB tripod with TBH-50 ball head

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**WIRED SHUTTER RELEASE**

JJC wired remote timer/shutter release for Sony Alpha series cameras

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quick release arca-swiss L-plate/bracket for Sony Alpha series cameras

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SOCIETE LE NICKEL

Noumea, South Province

Day 7 of auto-confinement and we’re doing just fine. I came across this photo in my Lightroom catalogue yesterday. I was torn between two photo of the Société Le Nickel (SLN), this one and another zoomed in toward the chimneys. I chose the former because it showed the majority of the refinery and my friend said it reminded her of movie scenes where someone’s spying on or looking for a way in to a compound. And I agree.

6 mm, 1/12 @ ƒ/8, ISO 100Fujifilm FinePix S9500

This refinery was founded in 1912 by Société Des Hauts Fourneaux De Nouméa, owned by L. Ballande et Fils. It merged in 1931 with Société Le Nickel which was founded in 1880. Until 2009, it was the only metallurgical producer in New Caledonia. It is now one of three including Vale Inco (opened in 2009) in Yate in the South Province and Koniambo Nickel (opened in 2013) in Voh in the North Province. Wikipedia has interesting reading on SLN, Vale Inco and Koniambo Nickel. I ‘m sorry but I couldn’t find Wikipedia articles in English for the first two.

This photo dates back to 2013 before they fenced the outer periphery of the refinery. I drove up to their water reserve then followed a small track alongside it to this location. It was a very cloudy day but it hadn’t and didn’t rain. I had caught the photography bug about a year ago and the SLN was a fascinating construction for me. Still using my first hybrid camera, the Fujifilm FinePix S9500, and a very cheap tripod, I managed to capture this image.

Though the resolution isn’t the best, the image is technically sound. I decided to edit in black & white because of the old fashion look of the construction. To enhance this look, I put one of my split-tone presets over it then added grain. The grain, not only, added to the vintage look but helped to hide the lacklustre resolution. I like this photo, I really do.

Now, please everyone, protect yourself and others by staying home. Wash your hands, keep your distance, sneeze and cough in your elbow… you know what to do. If we all do our part, we’ll beat this Covid-19 a lot faster. Stay safe everyone.

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.

Nikon D7000 + Nikkor AF-S 70-300 mm ƒ/4.5-5.6 IF-ED VR | 125 mm, 1/80th second @ ƒ/10, ISO 100

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)

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Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-300mm f:4.5-5.6G IF-ED VR

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

Nikon Telephoto Zoom Lens

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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.

Nikon D7100 + Nikkor AF-S DX 18-105 mm ƒ/3.5-5.6G ED VR | 18 mm, 30 seconds @ ƒ/11, ISO 100

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)

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

APS-C crop sensor lens

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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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

THREE BAY SUNSET

I notice this area couple of years back while scouting for another photo. It’s a small, waterfront park in Kaméré (Noumea, New Caledonia). I had found two very nice compositions but unfortunately their foregrounds were littered with cans, bottles, wrappers and even a tyre. It’s a shame to see such a beautiful area ruined like that. Luckily I found this bare tree overlooking the bay.

Sunset was absolutely gorgeous! I took dozens of photos but this is my favourite out of the lot. I love it for three reasons. The colours in the photo, the long exposure effect on the clouds but my number one reason is the light painting. There are different ways to light paint but in this case I used a small torch to paint light on the tree and the bushes. It’s hard to get the right exposure the first time out but after the third or fourth try I finally captured a photo I was happy with. I will definitely try this technique again. It obviously won’t work on all photos but in this instance where my foreground is in complete darkness, light painting can, not only, light up your foreground but add mood to your images.

So there you go, my first light painting. I hope you like it as much as I do.

30 sec @ ƒ/11, 18 mm, ISO 100

NGÉA TREE

I came to Ngea (Noumea, New Caledonia) in hopes of getting a sunrise photo with the slipway. Unfortunately, there was a vehicle park on it when I arrived. I couldn't see a boat nor a trailer so concluded they were there to... watch the sunrise. I'm not an early morning person but now that I was here I wasn't just going to head back home because my intended composition wasn't possible. So I looked around and found this tree to use to frame the sunrise. I caught this fleeting moment of colour during the selfie shot and unfortunately didn't get a decent second image. High altitude clouds were rolling in and with the sky void of colour I decided to change composition. I'd seen a puddle on the sand a few metres away and thought if those clouds catch the golden light, it could be a great reflection to capture. So I’m all set up and waiting when I see a policeman on his motorbike stopped next to my car. After grabbing his attention and making him understand it was mine, he came over. He said I had fifteen minutes to move my car or be stuck for four hours. There was a triathlon that morning and the road was closed off for the running and/or cycling part of the competition. So after five minutes I packed up and headed back to the car. And what do I see catching fire? Yep, the clouds. It only lasted two minutes but it happened. A little disappointed but not ready to give up, I headed over to Magenta Beach. But that’s another story and photo.

3 sec @ ƒ/11, 18 mm, ISO 100

New CaledoniaCHRIStophe Robert HERVOUËTMay 12, 2018baie de saint marie, baie de st. marie, beach, canon, ef-s 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 is II, eos 1300d, new caledonia, ngea, noumea, nouvelle caledonie, province sud, saint marie bay, selfie, south province, st. marie bay, sunrise, tree