New Zealand seascape

On the Otago Coast of the South Island of New Zealand are these unique and intriguing Moeraki Boulders. What makes them particularly interesting -- and photogenic -- is their spherical shape. My photo tour group and I visited them both at sunset and sunrise. Weather here is extremely changeable, and we had a mixture of gray clouds as well as direct sunlight. In any kind of lighting condition, the boulders make compelling subjects. One of my favorite techniques is to compose a picture such that I place a wide angle lens very close to the subject. This creates a bold and beautiful image with a dominant and disproportionately large foreground. I shot this with a 14mm Sigma wide angle at f/16, and I focused about 6 feet into the frame. The camera was about 5 feet from the rocks. My shutter speed was 1.6 seconds, and the ISO was 500. In post-processing, I darkened both the sky and the foreground sand, and then I added clarity and vibrance in Adobe Camera Raw and lightened the stones a bit. Burning and dodging like this can create drama in many types of images.