Milford by Moonlight

[Octane]

Milford Sound captured moments after our satellite had reached full status.

In this 16-minute exposure, we can see streaking clouds, misty spray (to the right) caused by the full force of Lady Bowen Falls, Mitre Peak to central left, the Elephant and the Lion are centre right; nestled between these two is my favourite waterfall -- Stirling Falls.

To give you an idea as to the sheer scale of the landscape presented in this composition, Stirling Falls is at least 8 kilometres away.

RAW blend for clouds.

Slightly larger version available here (http://users.tpg.com.au/octane2/mbm.html).

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM
960s f/8.0 at 17.0mm iso400

Comments, critique, most welcome.

H

[En1gma]

hrmpf..

Man, I don't know how your brain works, but you always hit the composition right. Where can I get me some of that.

Absolutely no critique other than maybe a slight touch on the contrast. BUT, each to their own and their monitor setups.

Cheers
Rob

[M54]

Just Beautiful H!
As usual, well composed.:)

[multiweb]

Just seeing the thumbnail before opening the shot I though Wow! That's cool! :lol: I'm a sucker for black&white that's why I love Ha I guess. Simply superb! :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[iceman]

Now that's a beautiful shot. Lovely.

[astroron]

A superb image Humayun:)
It looks so stark but beautiful:thumbsup:

[SkyViking]

Stunning H, that sky is simply haunting and the whole scene is eerily beautiful. A very strong contrast to how Milford Sound is usually presented! Great work :)
Somehow the scene reminds me of 'Night on Bald Mountain' from Disney's 1940 Fantasia.

[suma126]

wow thats beautifully captured.:thumbsup:

[DavidU]

I love that one !Very dramatic & menacing.

[troypiggo]

I'm with Rolf, it's haunting. Love the emotion it envokes.

Don't know how you stood there for 16 mins, though. I took photos from that area and those midges/sandflies were killing me. I had to run back to the car else enough of them could latch on and carry me away!

[Omaroo]

Awesome image my friend.

[lacad01]

Now that's what I call a landscape shot, outstanding mate! :thumbsup:

[gary]

Milford Sound of course is one of those rare places on Earth where it seems
nearly impossible, wherever you point the camera, not to get a beautiful shot.

However, you have chosen some of the least ideal conditions with regards
lighting, at a time when most other people would be back in the warmth and
dry of the hostel drinking beers, to capture this extraordinary image
that is completely different and refreshing when compared to the same
old pictures we see for sale on the postcard rack.

Absolutely beautiful. Well done!

[Ric]

Top stuff H.

A lovely use of B&W imagery to create a great effect.

Cheers

[Suzy]

Breathtaking & haunting. Far out. Beautiful, just damn beautiful. You never cease to amaze me.
H, quit your day job already!

[StephenM]

Another masterpiece Humayun! :thumbsup:

Cheers,
Stephen

[Mike21]

Careful Suzy, if he takes your advice he might get a posting with National Geographic or something and then we'd have to pay to see his work. That's my selfish opinion.

You are a truly inspirational photographer Humayun. Congrats - again.

[AstralTraveller]

Beautiful. Just gorgeous. It's gone straight to my desktop where I suspect it will have a long residence.

[pin3appl3]

H your NZ photos are unreal. I only recently got into photography...back in 2007 Chrissy I travelled around NZ and must say the landscapes are stunning...Milford is just ridiculous! Wish I could take the setup back there! (maybe one day!)

Keep up the good work

[Starman73]

Hello Humayun,

Absolutely stunning photo. As the others have said very haunting but it has a real fantasy land feel to it. I love it, so much so that I have to ask if I can use it as my desktop picture?

Paul

[bloodhound31]

Humayun, what a mentor you are! Thank you for your persistence and example! Very, very nice.

Baz.

[Octane]

Rob,

You're making me blush. *head explodes*

Whenever I go out, walking, or driving, or whatever, I see the world in a 3:2 frame. Much like when I was heavily into 3D modelling and animation, I would pay so much attention to the most banal and inane things. An example: I would look at and memorise the look and feel of the plastic and rubber housing around the glass windows on a train, or of the texture and colour of the cheap vinyl on the seats. Why? So I could go home and replicate the texture in Photoshop so I could wrap it on to a model that I'd build in software. I've always been like that. It's annoying! My friends have learnt to put up with me when we go out in the afternoons somewhere and I start talking about the quality of the light at the time. Interestingly, though, they're now starting to see it, too. One of them has started showing a keen interest in photography now, as a result. That's good. : )

Thank you.



Molly,

As usual, thank you. : )



Marc,

I'm finding a love for H-alpha imaging, too. Primarily because it's all I can do at the moment! :rofl:

Thank you, mate.



Mike,

Glad you enjoyed this one!



Ron,

Thank you, sir.



Cheers, all.

H

[Octane]

Rolf,

Thanks, man. I envy you living over there!

I will have to chase up Fantasia to see what you're referring to.

I was hoping that the clouds would clear and let me take shots of those mountains illuminated by the full Moon. It wasn't to be.



Shane,

Glad you enjoyed this one!



David,

Thank you. : )



Troy,

Cheers, mate.

Oh, God. The sandflies! I was covered from head to toe -- I had a balaclava on, as well as a beanie and fingertip-less gloves. The little critters /still/ get to you! I could feel them biting my scalp and through the gloves on to my index and middle fingers. They are so annoying!

I was there for a couple of hours, too! 16 minutes I could handle, lol. I had to move around the whole time to try and prevent them from settling.



Chris,

Appreciate it, mate. When are we going shooting? : )



Thanks, all.

H

[Octane]

Adam,

Yay! Glad you enjoyed this one, too. : )



Gary,

You're not wrong at all! I've got high definition footage that I filmed on my 5D Mark II (on a tripod strapped to the passenger seat with occy straps) driving through Homer Tunnel and most of the way through to Milford Sound. As mentioned in my other images, it was the worst rain they'd had in ten years, and the region showed it -- there were waterfalls every few metres falling on the slopes of those beautiful mountains. I have never seen anything so beautiful (well, apart from the Orion Nebula through Zane Hammond's 25" Dobzilla, and, perhaps Milla Jovovich :rofl: ) -- it was something straight out of a fairy tale. I really must upload the footage to YouTube or Vimeo.

It was definitely less than ideal; it was bitterly cold, but, luckily the wind didn't start up until well into the night when I was back at the lodge. I was standing in ankle deep water as the tide was rising and I lost several shots as a result -- the tripod was resting on a couple of larger rocks, and, they must have sunk into the sand whilst I was exposing as the waves gently lapped along the shore.

Thank you so much for your kind words, Gary. I appreciate them.



Ric,

Thanks, again. : )



Suzy,

Well, that's the plan. The next 12-18 months or so, hopefully. : )

Thank you.



Stephen,

Thank you, my friend.



Thanks, all!

H

[Octane]

Mike,

lol, that's not going to happen. Have you seen the calibre of images which make it into that magazine? :eyepop: :eyepop: :eyepop:

Thank you for the compliment. Hopefully these little images can inspire others to get out there and capture that magical light from our very own star, from the billions present in the Universe.



David,

Thank you! Glad to hear it made it to the desktop.



Darcy,

Thank you so much. You'll have to go back there. I reckon it's paradise on Earth.



Paul,

Glad you enjoyed it! You're most welcome to use the image as a desktop background.



Barry,

I'm not a mentor! I just take pix. :D



Thank you, everyone, once again.

H