Posts Tagged ‘ Hawaii ’

Byodo-In Buddhist Temple

Image 1: Byodo-In Temple. Shot with a Sony α900 and a Zeiss 24-70mm lens at 30mm. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f16 for 1/6 of a second.

Image 2: Bridge leading to the Byodo-In Temple. Shot with a Sony α900 and a Sony SAL 20mm lens. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f16 for 1/10 of a second.

Image 3: Peace Bell Pavilion. Shot with a Sony α900 and a Zeiss 24-70mm lens at 28mm. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f16 for 3 seconds.

At the base of the Ko’olau Mountains, on Ohau’s windward side, lies the Byodo-In Temple. Built in the 1960’s, this replica of the 950 year old Byodoin Buddhist Temple in Uji, Japan, was built to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the arrival of Japanese immigrants to Hawaii. The temple is located in the Valley of Temples, a cemetery located in Ohau’s Kaneohe Region. To cross the bridge is to enter a peaceful and tranquil world. I just wanted to linger there for the rest of the day. The grounds are beautifully landscaped and feature a 2-acre Koi pond. The best time to photograph the temple is in the morning light. In the afternoon the sun will set behind the Ko’olau Range and the temple will be cast in shadow. For more information on the temple please visit their website at http://www.byodo-in.com/

2010
02/01
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CATEGORY
Architecture
Buddhism
Hawaii
Landscape
Religion
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Waikiki Beach Twilight

Image 1: Waikiki Beach and downtown Honolulu. Shot with a Sony a900 and a Sony SAL 20mm. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f16 for 60 seconds.

Clouds drift over Waikiki Beach and downtown Honolulu. Shot with a Sony a900 and a Sony SAL 20mm. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f16 for 1/6 of a second. Lenswas fitted with a Singh-Ray 2-stop split neutral density.

This is one of my favorite views of Waikiki Beach. The image was shot at twilight about 30 minutes after the sun had set. This is the optimum time to get this kind of exposure where the sky is a deep, beautiful blue that compliments the city lights. In order to get a shot like this there are a few rules to follow:

1. Scout the Shot: This is something you hear a lot from photographers but its true. I have been to this location before and pre-visualized this exposure.

2. Know your Astronomy: What I mean here is know where the sun rises and sets and at what time.

3. Set up Early: Get to your location ahead of time. This gives you time to set up, compose, figure out what filters you might need, watch the light, and take test exposures.

4. Be There: Shots like this happen everyday but you have to be there. Galen Rowell said there are only so many sun rises and sunsets. Get out and shoot.

To capture this kind of shot you need to wait till the sky and cityscape reach an equal EV, generally around 5. This means if you took a spotmeter reading on the sky and the city and the reading was approximately 5 you are ready to go. This generally occurs approximately 30 minutes after sunset. The exposure will typically be 45 seconds to a minute. The result is a beautiful cerulean sky complimenting the orange lights. I also set the color balance to about 4800 to 4900.

Image 2 was shot approximately 50 minutes before the twilight shot. This is why you get to your location early so you can capture the light on your subject as it changes.

Mahalo from Hawaii.

Bob

2010
01/29
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CATEGORY
Architecture
City Photography
Hawaii
Landscape Photography
Photography Technique
Photography Trips
Singh-Ray Filters
Sony α900
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Diamond Head Sunset

Storm clouds clear over the ocean. Shot with a Sony a900 and a Sony SAL 20mm lens. Exposed at ISO 100 at f16 for 2 seconds. Image shot with a Heliopan Polarizer and a 3-stop Singh-Ray split neutral density.

So you are probably wondering about all these Diamond Head shots. Well its very picturesque and it happens to be the view from my room. This shot was made at sunset. The light was pretty flat and blocked by the expansive cloud cover but a small hole opened up for about a minute spreading light into the landscape.

I used a Singh-Ray 3-stop split neutral density filter to account for the difference in contrast between the sky and landscape. Additionally I used a Heliopan warming polarizer to accentuate the clouds. The light was beautiful.

Unfortunatley I made a major mistake in that I forgot to reset my camera from the days shooting and shot this as a high res JPEG. Not an end of the world mistake but one that does not leave me a lot of headroom to manipulate the file. The JPEG rendering from the Sony proved to be quite good though so all is not lost. So this is just a reminder to all to make sure you check your camera settings prior to a shoot.

2010
01/28
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CATEGORY
Hawaii
Landscape
Landscape Photography
Photography Technique
Photography Trips
Singh-Ray Filters
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Diamond Head Sunrise

Sunrise over Diamond Head, Oahu, Hawaii. Shot with a Sony a900 and a Sony SAL 20mm lens at f16 for 30 seconds.

This is an early morning view of Diamond Head, as a band of dark clouds moves over Oahu. To capture this shot I used a Singh-Ray 3-stop Reverse, Split Neutral Density. This is a more specialized neutral density where the darker portion of the filter is in the middle and fades upward. It is very useful in situations like this where the brightest contrast is in the middle portion of the shot.

Bob

2010
01/27
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CATEGORY
Hawaii
Landscape
Landscape Photography
Photography Technique
Singh-Ray Filters
Sony α900
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Hawaiian Hula

Image 1: Hawaiian Hula, Waikiki. Shot with a Sony a900 and a Sony SAL 70-300mm at 300mm. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f5.6 for 1/60 second. Flash set to TTL and High Speed Sync.

Image 2: Hawaiian Hula, Waikiki. Shot with a Sony a900 and a Sony SAL 70-300mm at 300mm. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f5.6 for 1/60 second. Flash set to TTL and High Speed Sync.

While on my nightly walks through Waikiki I ran across a hula company performing along the beach. I stayed to watch and shot a few images.

Since I arrived late I could not get a front row position to shoot and unfortunately ended up standing behind the musicians. In a case like this you have to look for opportunities and deal with the hand you were dealt. I found a gap between the musicians and waited for the dancer to move into position.

Having the longer lens here was a plus. I wanted to freeze the motion as much as possible so I set the flash to TTL and High Speed Sync so I could play with the shutter speed a bit. I put the lens at the lowest aperture to blur the background.

The images were shot RAW and processed in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.

Thanks for stopping by.

Bob

2010
01/26
POSTED BY
CATEGORY
Flash Photography
Hawaii
Photography Technique
Photography Trips
Portrait
Sony α900
Street Portrait
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Tommy

Image 1: Tommy weaving a palm frond bowl. Shot with a Sony a900 and a Zeiss 24-70mm lens at 70mm. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f4.5 for 1/750 of a second. Flash was set for TTL and High Speed Sync.

Image 2: Tommy in Waikiki. Shot with a Sony a900 and a Zeiss 24-70mm lens at 70mm. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f2.8 for 1/550 of a second. Flash was set for TTL and High Speed Sync.

Image 3: Intricate bouquet of flowers woven by Tommy. Shot with a Sony a900 and a Sony SAL 70-300mm lens at 200mm. Images exposed at ISO 100 at f6.7 for 1/30 of a second. Flash was set to TTL Fill Light Mode.

I met Tommy on the streets of Waikiki. He is a soft spoken man who weaves inticate and beautiful bowls, hats flowers, and other whimsical creations using palm fronds.

He has been training with a master weaver for only a year but his work has a level of craftsman ship that belies this short time. Using only a small pocket knife Tommy strips the leaves from the stems, folding and weaving them together into a final piece of art. No glue. Everything is held together by the weave or special knots in the stems.

If you are in Waikiki you can find Tommy in his usual spot down near the Marriott.

Mahalo from Waikiki, Bob

2010
01/25
POSTED BY
CATEGORY
Hawaii
Portrait
Street Portrait
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Waikiki Beach and Diamond Head.

Clouds drift over Waikiki Beach, Island of Oahu, Hawaii. Shot with a Nikon D300 and Nikor 12-24mm lens at 18mm. ISO 100, f14 at 1/25 of a second.

In anticipation of an upcoming trip to Oahu I am posting an image I shot early one morning on a previous trip. Sometimes you need to be resourceful and creative to get a shot. In this case I happened to be staying in a hotel that had wonderful views of Diamond Head. I discovered that the stairwell near my room had open window bays which meant I could set up a tripod and frame a nice shot. The sun rises to the image left and sets to the image right so I could have taken shot at either time. In this case I preferred the softer morning light I had this day plus the wonderful clouds over Diamond Head. Aloha!

Bob

2010
01/15
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CATEGORY
Architecture
Hawaii
Photography Trips
Water
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Copyright

© Robert H. Clark, Robert H. Clark Photography, Robert H. Clark Photography Blog, and rhcl.wordpress.com, 2009/2010. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog's author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Robert H. Clark and Robert H. Clark Photography Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All photography ©Robert H. Clark Photography.
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