David's Images of the Day Photoblog
While we were out on our morning photography composition lesson outside of Volcano National Park, I found this black volcanic rock with yellow-green sparkles. I brought it back to the lodge where I had a macro lens, and spent the afternoon trying to get some pictures of the crystals. Later on I discovered that the crystals were a semi-precious gem known as Peridot (Pele’s Tears).
Ten years ago, I arrived in Hawaii to attend a photography workshop with Thom Hogan. It was hard to believe the day before I was in Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge in northern Colorado. At that time, I had only been taking pictures with a DSLR camera for just over one year. Soon after getting the camera, I found Thom’s web site which became a very helpful resource as I was learning to use the camera (much more useful than the Nikon manual provided with the camera). I purchased his guides for the D200 (and subsequently the guides for all of the new Nikon cameras I have used. These guides are by far the best resource for understanding the capabilities of the Nikon digital cameras. I saw a note in Thom’s web site that there was a late opening for his Hawaii workshop over Thanksgiving week. I signed up right away since I knew that there was a lot more that I needed to learn to become a better photographer. The first evening in Hawaii, we went down to the beach for sunset. I took these two pictures of boats with the sun setting behind them. Little did I know, it would become a contest between some friends on a Semester at Sea voyage to get images of boats or ships in front of the setting sun.
The first port on our Spring 2016 Semester at Sea voyage was Hilo in Hawaii. The real reason for the stop was to bunker to take on additional fuel before continuing the voyage the rest of the way across the Pacific Ocean to Japan. The MV World Odyssey was only going to be in Hawaii for 14 hours so we were not allowed off the ship unless with a Semester at Sea organized Field Trip. I originally signed up for the Pearl Harbor Memorial tour, but that trip was canceled. (The last time I was in Honolulu to give a talk at the Pacific Chemistry meeting, the US Government was shut down and the Pearl Harbor Memorial was closed). I switched to the North Shore bus tour. In the 14 hours we had I managed to take over 3000 pictures. First stop was at the Byodo-In Temple. Then stops at some regional parks and beaches. Lunch was at a roadside shrimp shack. The final stop was at the Dole Pineapple Plantation.
Onomea Waterfall at the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 105 mm f/2.8 macro (ISO 100, f/11, 1/1.6 sec). Image processed with Capture One Pro 6, PhotoShop CS5, and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.
Fern Composition. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs camera and 105 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 100, 28 mm, f/6.3, 1/60 sec) with SB-800 fill flash.
