David's Images of the Day Photoblog
Lupins at the Edge of the Lava Field in Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland. The volcanic eruption back in 1973 almost swallowed the town – there are homes buried under those rocks! Image taken with a Nikon 1 V2 camera and 6.7-13 mm VR lens (ISO 160, 6.7 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec).
Peridot Crystals (Pele’s Tears). Image taken with D2xs camera and 105 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 100, f/22, 1/60 sec, flash). Thom was curious what I was taking macro images of in my hotel room while waiting for dinner.
I have always been fascinated by crystals. Before I retired I learned to solve chemical structures using single-crystal x-ray images. I love whenever I ever find a crystal in nature.
Hiker taking an image of the lava in the mist. On the trail to the Volcano. Pacaya Volcano National Park. Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 24 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 320, 24 mm, f/8, 1/320 sec).
Four years ago I attended a photography workshop on the Big Island of Hawaii led by Thom Hogan . We spent Thanksgiving day in and around Volcanoes National Park. Later in the afternoon we had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at the Volcano House Hotel with other guests at the Lodge and some local residents.
The day started shooting sunrise over the Kilauea crater. In order to record the wide range of light, I took seven images with different exposure times. These were then processed using Photomatix (a HDR program). While traveling to the next photography location, Thom and Tony spotted a Nene (the Hawaiian state bird, also known as the Hawaiian Goose). The Nene is probably distantly related to Canada geese, however the Nene do not migrate. I guess that once they found Hawaii, they decided to stay 🙂 . The Nene almost went extinct and is now protected by the state. It can also be found on some of the other Hawaiian islands. Finally, Thom helped with a composition including a fern.
Four years ago I was attending a photography workshop on the Big Island of Hawaii led by Thom Hogan . Before breakfast, I wandered down to the harbor and captured a Hawaiian Outrigger Canoe with a Cruse Ship in the background. We spent a good part of the day driving to Volcanoes National Park. We stayed at the Lodge — Volcano House Hotel within the National Park through Thanksgiving. After getting settled, the group went for a hike down into the rain forest from the lodge where I took these three images. The first is a wild yellow orchid along the trail, the next a purple fungus (?) on the forest floor, and the third a palm frond. All three of the images used my SB-800 flash, where Thom was helping me learn how to best compose and use fill-flash to light up the subject of the image. Although we didn’t experience much rain, a few days after we left the park got 13 and 17 inches of rain and we would have been spending our time taking images of the fireplace (which has been burning continuously since 1877). The Volcano House Hotel is now closed. Unfortunately, the fire went out on 01-January-2010. The hotel is now being renovated, and will not open until sometime in 2012.
