Waitangi Stream Cascade.

Behind the lens, with a bored looking wife in the background. "GET OUT OF THE DAMN SHOT WOMAN!"

The Waitangi Stream Cascade is another one of the three small waterfalls at the Omeru Pa Reserve near Kaukapakapa, in the north west of Auckland. It is in the same reserve as the Omeru Falls which featured in an earlier post: Omeru Falls.

The cascade is easy to get to, even with the most modest of footwear. It is in a relatively open area which meant I was able to try a few different angles, the top image is my favourite, I like the way the stream leads the eye into the picture, with that big submerged rock anchoring the foreground. The below two are the runners up.

These (along with the Omeru Falls image) were shot one day during our very dry summer, it's been raining a lot this winter (it's currently heaving it down outside) so I plan on heading over there the next chance I get as there will be a lot more water going over all 3 falls. Likewise Hunua Falls is about 4 times as wide as my previous image after a period of rain so that'll need a revisit...

The main image is a blend of two, One regular 8 second exposure for the bush and stream (this gave a nice bit of movement to the slow moving stream water) and an under exposed (by two stops) image of the waterfall itself as the longer, brighter exposure had blown its highlights, a common problem shooting waterfalls. After blending a few contrast and colour adjustments finished the picture.

Settings and whatnot.