Maui: Everything Else

It’s almost time to go home, so here are the rest of the photos that I took
on Maui.

Read the rest of this entry »

Adventures in underwater photography (part 3)

As promised, here is my third and final set of underwater photos. I took these
in Lanai today, where the conditions weren’t quite as clear as Black Rock the
other day. Nevertheless, I have a few cool shots to share with you after the
link.

So what did I learn from this experience? Underwater digital photography is
ten times more difficult than "regular" photography. You’re moving, the fish
are moving, the camera’s LCD is hard to see, and the lighting is often poor.
I can’t tell you how many photos I’ve had to throw out over the last week.
In addition, a lot of them needed some "work" in Photoshop to get rid of color
casts (usually cyan). Still, it was fun to try, and since I own all this equipment
I hope I’ll get another opportunity to do more underwater shooting.

And now, on with the photos!

Read the rest of this entry »

Journey to Lanai

Today we took a trip via
catamaran to the island of Lanai. We didn’t actually do much sailing (since
it wasn’t windy) but it was still a fun ride. Once there we started with
some snorkeling (pics to come) and laying around on the beach. Then we took
a tour of the island — there isn’t much to see. Lanai was once the pineapple
capital of the world and now they grow nothing at all — Dole bailed out a
few decades ago. Lanai is the polar opposite of Maui: no high-rises, no fancy
restaurants, few paved roads, etc.

The highlight of the trip was on the way back. We saw whales, and plenty of
them. At one point a humpback whale came out of the water right next to our
boat, and it was awe-inspiring. In fact, I was so caught up in the moment that
I didn’t actually get any photos of it. We had plenty of other humpback sightings,
plus there were pilot whales around as well.

Click the link below for pictures from the day. I’ll save the underwater shots
for a separate entry.

Read the rest of this entry »

Adventures in underwater photography (part 2)

Yesterday we went to Black Rock (near Kaanapali Beach) for more snorkeling.
The place was packed, but the snorkeling was great — super clear water and
plenty of fish. I got a few decent shots, but just like before, lots of them
ended up being deleted. Tomorrow’s my last day for underwater photo taking…
we’ll see how it goes.

Click the link for a few select shots from yesterday…

Read the rest of this entry »

Adventures in underwater photography (part 1)

It’s pretty humbling when you have to throw away 80% of your photos, but that’s
what my experience with underwater digital photography have been thus far.
Yesterday the water wasn’t very clear, so I didn’t really have anything worth
keeping. Today I did some serious snorkeling and got better photos, but still,
it’s hard. Seeing things on the LCD isn’t easy, the fish don’t stay still,
plus you’re always drifting around… all that makes it a bit frustrating.

Click the link to see a few shots I took today, with more to come before the
end of the trip. Again, these are from the Canon SD800 with its matching underwater
case.

Oh, and fish experts are welcome to ID these guys for me, since I don’t know
many of them.

Read the rest of this entry »

Aloha from Maui

Just saying a quick "Aloha" from Maui. Yesterday included flying, waiting
in too many lines (for car and food), and a little swimming. Here are some
teaser photos to make you jealous. Hopefully my next set will include some
underwater photos!

Oh, all of these are taken with the Canon PowerShot SD800 IS.

Read the rest of this entry »