NiSi Road Trip 2017

I recently went on a NiSi Filters Australia and New Zealand road trip along the Great Ocean Road in Victoria with a few fellow NiSI Ambassadors. We made various stops along the stunning coastline of Victoria to capture images and showing what can be achieved using NiSi filters for landscape and seascape photography.

We also hosted an Instameet in St Kilda which was a such a great turnout. Thanks to everyone for coming along to the meet, it was awesome meeting you all!

Below are a few of my shots from the road trip, I’ve also included EXIF data so you can see the exact camera settings I used and the filters I shot with for each of the images.

Camera settings – 136 seconds, f/14, ISO 100

Princess Pier at sunrise using the NiSi 10 stop ND filter to lengthen the exposure time and the NiSi 3 stop medium grad ND filter to balance the light between sky and foreground.

 

Camera settings – 1/15 second, f/11, ISO 100

Sunset along the Great Ocean Road, this spot was definitely a highlight of the NiSi road trip for me. I always find that shooting directly into the sun is one of the most challenging things to get right as it’s very easy to get bad lens flares or the dynamic range is very hard to control. So for this image, I used a NiSi 3 Stop Reverse Graduated ND filter to prevent the sky from being over exposed while also bringing back details in the foreground. By using a graduated ND filter I was able to capture this scene in one single exposure without needing to blend multiple exposures together to increase the dynamic range. The reverse grad filters are perfect for scenes like this one where the horizon line is defined and the brightest part of the scene is near the horizon.

 


Camera settings – 20 seconds, f/2.8, ISO 6400

During the road trip we had a clear night sky while staying in Port Campbell, so we decided to take advantage of the cloudless skies and head out 1:30 in the morning to capture the Milky Way and moon setting over Gibsons Steps. It was an amazing experience being out under the stars and capturing this scene. This was captured with a NiSi Natural Night Filter. 

 

Camera settings – 20 seconds, f/2.8, ISO 6400

Here’s another shot from the amazing astro shoot that we had at Gibson Steps. This was again shot with the NiSi Natural Night Filter, it was my first time using the filter for astrophotography and I really loved the results!

 


Camera settings – 30 seconds, f/8, ISO 100

Beautiful sunrise colours over Gibson Steps. After wrapping up the astro shoot down at the beach you can see below, we headed back to the accommodation for a couple hours sleep then got up to photograph the sunrise and this was what greeted us. It was an incredible past 12 hours with some of the best conditions I have witnessed and photographed. Captured using a NiSi 3 stop Reverse Grad ND and a NiSi 3 stop ND.

 


Camera settings – 30 seconds, f/10, ISO 100

After capturing the image previously, I quickly ran around to this vantage point to photograph the iconic 12 Apostles as the sky lit up with amazing colours in every direction. I was stoked to finally get some decent light at this location. Shot with the NiSi 6 stop ND to lengthen the shutter speed to 30 seconds and also a 3 stop soft grad ND to balance out the light.

 

Camera settings – 2.5 seconds, f/7.1, ISO 100
Another image from the epic sunrise that we had at the 12 Apostles. However, this was shot at a faster shutter speed to capture a bit more detail in the water using the NiSi 3 stop Soft Grad ND.


Camera settings – 60 seconds, f/8, ISO 200

A one-minute long exposure of Port Fairy Lighthouse at sunset using a NiSi 6 stop ND filter and a NiSi 3 stop soft graduated ND filter.

 
Camera settings – 60 seconds, f/16, ISO 200

Sunrise from The Razorback. Filters used, NiSi Enhanced Landscape CPL to eliminate the glare from the water, NiSi 6 stop ND filter to increase the exposure time to 1 minute and a NiSi 3 stop reverse graduated ND to balance out the exposure between the sky and land.

  Camera settings – 220 seconds, f/14, ISO 100

A 3 and a half minute long exposure from Childers Cove. Shot using a NiSi 6 stop ND filter.

Camera settings – 0.5 second, f/11, ISO 100


Camera settings – 0.4 second, f/11, ISO 100 

On our final day of the road trip it was very overcast and cloudy which are perfect conditions for photographing waterfalls, so we made a slight detour to shoot some waterfalls before heading back to Melbourne. This is the beautiful Hopetoun Falls in the Great Otway National Park. For these two images, I used a NiSi Enhanced Landscape CPL filter to remove the glare and reflections on the green foliage/ wet rocks in the foreground. A polariser filter is definitely a must have when photographing waterfalls!


We had some amazing conditions during the trip and I managed to come away with some of my favourite images that I have taken this year. I hope you’ve enjoyed the images from the trip and reading about how I use NiSi filters for my photography. Big thank you to the NiSi Filters Australia team for making this trip happen and giving me the amazing opportunity!  If you have any questions regarding the filters or about any of the images above, please leave them in the comments below or feel free to send me an email.


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