Hawaii......The underwater photos

I have many things that i love to do while i am in Hawaii, by far though my favorite things to do is to go snorkel and shoot underwater photos. there are so many incredible creatures that live beneath the waves, some are amazingly peaceful creatures like my favorite green sea turtles and dolphins. others are just downright creepy like eels or mean looking like some of the coral eating fish..........actually now that i think about it most fish are downright creepy. Being out in the water is definitely something that i can lose myself in, i can be out there for hours on end work through hunger and thirst and just keep shooting. by the time that i come back into shore im usually starving and exhausted but always feel such a sense of accomplishment. This year things were a little different, since i have had my underwater housing i have shot all my images with ambient light which has been totally fine for many situations. There are certain situations though that require the use of a flash once in a while, i knew that adding a flash underwater would bring with it some challenges. Still despite knowing this it proved to be one of the most frustrating, exhausting and arduous experiences. Photography already has many variables to take into account shooting on land, underwater that list grows to gargantuan proportions adding a flash is enough to give you a headache. I felt like i was starting from square one all over again, but part of the fun (in the long run that is) is trying new things that will challenge you and help you grow. I shot a ton of images but really only a handful came out being keepers, in the end though despite all of the frustrations i feel like the images themselves have a much better feel to them and i learn a lot and feel like i can do much better next time. For now im spending my time editing through them seeing what works and what doesnt and looking over data to see what settings gave me what results. I am grateful for the experience and love that even after shooting for 15 years i can still be brought down to square one and learn new things. Enjoy!

Hawaii........the detail photos

The beauty of a place is not always in vast and epic landscapes, beauty is also found in the small and minute details of things. I have always been a big fan of macro photography as it makes breakdown a scene into very small details. Things that are often missed by many can make the most beautiful photos. By now you probably all know that my time on the Big Island was mired by terrible weather, shooting landscapes was just not possible due to constant rains, so i was forced to look for photos in smaller details. Shooting macro photos also proved difficult though as with bad weather comes strong winds and when you are shooting so close youre working with fractions of an inch of focus. Even a slight breeze can throw a composition out of focus.......its very tedious work. In short there were many attempts but few successes, i did try something new this year in the form of a macro panoramic. No thats not a typo its is exactly as it sounds, multiple macro photos shot in a row to make a panoramic photo. These panos are nowhere near perfect but came out satisfactory, suffice it to say that as frustrating as it was to shoot them it will be a technique that i will be working on perfecting. Enjoy!

P.S.
Again, the 1st 4 photos are links, click on them to view the panos larger :)