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Matai Falls

Catlins, New Zealand

Introducing an image 11 years in the making. I first captured the images that made up this photo back in 2011 when I rented a campervan and fully explored the North and South Island of New Zealand for an entire month. I bracketed 3 exposures for this scene and thought I was ok, but upon returning home, discovered that even the dark images had blown out parts of the waterfall. At the time, I couldn't process the image well enough to be completely satisfied with it, so the images sat on my hard drive until this past week. Now, taking the 3 images into Adobe Lightroom and making an HDR from the files, I was able to tone down the highlights in the falls enough that they are no longer blown out! The tech only keeps getting better and better, and I can finally say I am pleased with this result.

Matai Falls resides in the Catlins Coastal Area near Invercargill in the Otago region of South Island, New Zealand. These 10m high falls were created when gathering rock for the foundations of the railway. The waterfall is surrounded by gorgeous moss and overhanging trees, and is a short 40 min round trip walk from the carpark.

Images & content ©Mike Isaak