This image is another sunrise exposure of the lava rock tidal pool on Poipu shoreline. This is a different composition of the same location as the photo in my previous post, Bathed In Poipu Sunrise. Both images were shot at 180 seconds.

I am still experimenting with my ND110 filter. Although I like the results that this filter produces, it is a time consuming process to setup and to execute a shot. During fifteen minutes worth of quality light, I can only pull off two or three shots at best. Perhaps when I have more time, I will write a little more about my experience with this filter. For now, it is a very cumbersome process: take meter reading, compose with Lee GND filter attached, remove GND filter holder, screw in the ND110, re-mount GND filter holder, switch to manual focus, then wait about five minutes in between shots (3 minutes exposure + 2-3 minutes in camera processing time).

Back to my latest Kauai pictures, I don’t have too many images to post, but will try to post one or two more.

This image is a three minutes sunrise exposure of the lava rock tidal pools on Kauai’s shoreline. Two filters were used: a BW ND110 to lengthen the exposure time and a 0.6 Lee GND hard-edge filter to balance out the extreme contrast between the sky and the foreground lava rocks.

I spent a few days in Kauai during the last week of 2009. This image is the last sunrise of 2009 that I photographed. I didn’t take too many photos during the trip. Unlike my usual travel routine, photography wasn’t a priority. I came home with a few images instead of hundreds. For two consecutive mornings, I did nothing but sat on Kauai’s Poipu shoreline and soaked in the warm sunrise light.

I will post more next week.

An aerial photo of Kauai’s Honopu Arch, Catheral Beach, and the Na Pali Coast shot from a door-less Hughes 500 flight.

Without question, the Na Pali Coast  offers some of the most stunning views in all of Kauai. The first time I saw this view from the air (about 1000 feet), my jaw dropped. The second time I got up there, although I knew exactly what to expect, I was still blown away by the view – literately speaking since we flew in a door-less chopper. Planning on taking an air tour in Kauai with your camera(s)? Definitely take the door-less flight! Not only it’s more fun hanging out in the slipstream, not having to shoot through plexiglass is a huge plus.

What I learned from my limited aerial shooting experiences:

• Lenses: Long lens just wasn’t that practical from the air – my 70-200mm on a full frame body (Canon 5D) was way too long. The wind knocked the long lens around more than anything else. For a full frame body, focal length in the range of 24-105 probably works best. 17mm on a 1.6x crop factor body also worked well for me.
• Shutter speeds: 1/750 was fast enough for me to get sharp images. This particular image was shot at 1/500s. I applied a slight smart sharpening filter in CS3 (0.1 pixels at 20%).
• Apertures: DoF wasn’t an issue from a thousand feet in the air. I just picked apertures where my lens can produce sharp enough images: about two stops down from the lens’s largest aperture.
• Focus: Manual focus at infinity.
• For the Kauai air tours, the best view is near end of the tour. My first time up, I ran out of CF storage when I first saw the Na Pali Coast, thus I had to waste precious time changing CF cards in mid air when I should be shooting.
• Best time to photograph the Na Pali Coast from the air? It depends on the weather, but I’d take the last flight of the day to get more horizontal light on my back as most flights head towards Hanalei Bay with the Na Pali Coast on the right. So, the best seat is the window seat next to the pilot. Morning flights with the sun in front of the lens would produce extreme contrasts.
• Towards the end of the flight, I was shivering in my thin tee shirt and beach shorts. Next time I take a door-less flight, I’d wear a jacket.

Shooting in the air is not something that I can do regularly, and I had to learn by trials. I usually plant my tripods on the sand, walk around, frame my shot, line up my fitter, take a few meter readings, photograph the same shot over and over … well, I couldn’t do any of those in the air. In a few seconds, the scene flew by, and I missed the wanted shots. I did had a blast looking through my view finder from a perspective that I don’t see on a regular basis.

Kauai’s Hanalei Bay viewed from a Hughes 500 helicopter flight (doors removed).

This is a fairly “pedestrian” image, but I decided to post something a little different than what I normally post. This image shows an aerial view of Kauai’s Hanalei Bay that I photographed in May 2007. One of my favorite things to do in Kauai is to take a door-less helo flight so I wouldn’t have to shoot through the glass. I wished I could setup my tripods up in the air during the twilight hour as I normally do on the beach :) Here are some more aerial images that I shot recently.

Saw these two flirting in a taro field in Hananlei Valley. Swapped out my 17-40mm for my 70-200mm and tried to sneak up on these two. Got a few shots before they took off.

After the shadow covered the Kalalau Valley, I picked up my tripods and walked towards the Pihea Trail. This is what I saw … a full moon rising over the Alakai’s Swamp … I just stood there for a moment and took it all in .. .behind me, darkness slowly crept in; in front of me, a golden full moon rose above the clouds as twilight was fading …

Poipu Sunrise, Kauai

~5:30am local time … I was ankle deep in the water … my running shoes and socks were soaking wet, but I didn’t really care. I stood still and tried not to disturb the water surface. This was one of the reasons why I returned to Kauai: not to escape, not to let go, but to find a place to recharge my spirit and to regain my balance. The light was not only mesmerizing, it revived my soul. It sounds corny, but that was exactly what I needed.

I remembered shooting a sunrise in Mono Lake last winter in freezing temperatures … here in Poipu, I was in tank top and swimming trunks, soaking in all the energy that the early morning sun offered. As the sun rose higher, the shadows behind me gradually disappeared. I’ve seen a few beautiful sunrises, but this was the first that I didn’t see any other tripods near me; only a lone fisherman showed up moment later.

I wasn’t going to post this photo, but decided to post it anyway. It’s my personal dedication for those who can’t seem get out of their darkness: the light is always there, one just has to make oneself available for the light to radiate one’s darkness away. Can’t find the light? let it find you.

The first evening, I wasted much time on the Kalalau Trail. By the time I returned and took the short trail along the west side of Ke’e beach, the clouds were turning pink. After some boulder-hopping, I rushed to get my camera on my tripods. The sunset was quite nice, but I just couldn’t find a good frame. I decided to stop shooting and looked away from the sun. It didn’t take long to see spectacular waves forming and breaking on a rock formation just before the rock wall. With the Na Pali as the backdrop, I knew that this was my opportunity to shoot something I don’t shoot on a regular basis. By then, the light started fading. I gathered my gears and left – we had an 8:30pm dinner reservation.

The next evening, I headed back to Ke’e beach alone. “You are not going to hike the Kalalau Trai, are you?“, wife asked. “Nah, why don’t you make dinner reservation at the Hanalei Cafe for 9pm? I promise to be back before then.”

Out on the rocks, I paired my 70-200mm with a 1.4x extender. I spent the next few hours experimenting with the exposure settings to get the shot I was after. I put the lens IS mode on panning, loosened up the tripod’s ball head and panned along as the swell traversed inland. As the swell got closer to shore, I panned ahead, locked up the ball head and fired a few shots. After countless tries, and just before the soft light disappeared, I got lucky and snapped this shot just in time.

Without the RSS ball head, I think it would be much harder for me to get this shot. That ball head is well worth its weight. In the end, it took two sunsets and countless frames to get this shot. It’s still a lucky shot, but luck comes with a little patience and practice :)

PS: I got back with plenty of time to spare for dinner. The Hanalei Cafe has spectacular view, but we didn’t see much at night.