Ka`ena Point, 2/17/14

Minori, Linda and I are members of Eyes of Hawaii, a photography club.  Although the weather was iffy, we still wanted to go despite the club cancelling this outing to  Ka'ena Point. This link describes the 2 ways you can get to the most western part of Oahu. We chose the Wai`anae side instead of the Mokule`ia side.

We did have to dodge mud puddles. 

Almost there...

 Yay, we saw albatross

 And this bunker

 Yay a monk seal, what a life!

 Make that another monk seal.

 Lol, took this from Minori's FB page.

 Just trying photo effects.

Heading back.

We had so much fun!!!
We have another outing planned for the Waianae coast with more members. Yay!!!

(disclosure - the pictures getting to Ka`ena Point were taken with my iPhone - much easier to make photos with)

Foster Botanical Garden, 2/8/14

This is my second attempt to use a flash to capture the botanical world. My other one was at Lyon's Arboretum

Derek again helped me while Milton S., Roger, Curtis and Dewey enjoyed going on their own. Kudos - Derek. Actually everyone has their own style so it was easier learning from one person.

This shows I need help. The flash won't even reach the hibiscus. I think I will have to get a flash bracket/grip or either become an octopus. It is not necessary to use a flash but if you want detail you need a small aperture which means you need help to make the shutter speed faster. Greek talk, huh?

I did not know there are white ohia flowers; I thought they were only red. I then made this picture into a black and white.

It is not your eyes, this is a blurry picture but lol, I like the effect. It also shows that it takes practice to do it right.

I am impressed that my son, Jon got many pictures of butterflies. Here is a link to his trip to Costa Rica: Monteverede.

Lunch was followed by at Nice Day. We enjoyed Angie's mochi, thanks Dewey. Sorry no picture.

Long exposure, 1/25/14 and 1/30/14

Yay, Linda and I signed up for more photography classes. Scott Kubo with the Honolulu Museum of Art has another 14 sessions.

The first 2 weeks we are focusing on night lights and starry skies. This means that a tripod or a steady surface helps with keeping the camera steady as some of our shots are 45 seconds to 13 minutes long.

My condo has a roof top that is available to the residents. I invited Linda over and we had fun taking pictures of the city lights.

Boy talk about a perfect night. This week was filled with lots of rain and wind but this night when our class made arrangements to get together the weather was perfect.  When we got to our destination, I noticed a beautiful sun setting.

(This is a repost, 2/9/14 - as much as I like Lightroom because all the pictures and edits are on the same page, I find that Photoshop's - "levels" is a better way to correct exposure) This time the water fountain is more visible as I wanted it in my foreground and the brightness of the sun is reflected on the leaves.

Did you notice the 2 just above show a green flash. The second is actually a cropped picture to make it easier to see the flash. I was hoping to see this because I could see that the horizon was not hazy. The tree in the foreground made it difficult for me to focus on the flash but yay, I got it.

Here is an explanation

The sunset was so beautiful!

As the stars appeared...

I decided not to have the tree in my next picture because I was going to leave the shutter open for 13 minutes which I think would have made the tree too bright. What you now see are star trails because of the earth's rotation.