Vacation Photos (Lots of them)

[skycat]

So I finally got finished sorting, post-processing, and web-publishing my photos from our vacation to Hawaii (last November), and figured I'd post a few. Or maybe more than a few. Whatever.

Waikiki beach at night, just in front of our hotel on the island of Oahu:
http://www.machafamily.org/Albums/Hawaii/slides/DSC_3968.jpg

Sunrise over Diamond Head:
http://www.machafamily.org/Albums/Hawaii/slides/DSC_3992.jpg

Two from the Arizona memorial:
http://www.machafamily.org/Albums/Hawaii/slides/DSC_4045.jpg

http://www.machafamily.org/Albums/Hawaii/slides/DSC_4049.jpg

Byodo-In Buddhist Temple:
http://www.machafamily.org/Albums/Hawaii/slides/DSC_4122_4_3.jpg

On my drive up Mt Haleakala on the island of Maui, first below the clouds:
http://www.machafamily.org/Albums/Hawaii/slides/DSC_4245.jpg

Then above them:
http://www.machafamily.org/Albums/Hawaii/slides/DSC_4296.JPG

Near sunset:
http://www.machafamily.org/Albums/Hawaii/slides/DSC_4322.jpg

Into the crater:
http://www.machafamily.org/Albums/Hawaii/slides/DSC_4335_3_4_TRY2_plussharp.JPG

And at dusk:
http://www.machafamily.org/Albums/Hawaii/slides/DSC_4355_1_2_3_4.JPG

Back at sea level on Maui:
http://www.machafamily.org/Albums/Hawaii/slides/DSC_4361.JPG

http://www.machafamily.org/Albums/Hawaii/slides/DSC_4618.JPG

And finally a few from the Luau we attended:
http://www.machafamily.org/Albums/Hawaii/slides/DSC_4722.JPG

http://www.machafamily.org/Albums/Hawaii/slides/DSC_4783.JPG

http://www.machafamily.org/Albums/Hawaii/slides/DSC_4894.JPG

http://www.machafamily.org/Albums/Hawaii/slides/DSC_4866.JPG

[OKLA21FAN]

this thread is worth it with pics

[rufnek05]

fire. fire good.

[NormanPride]

Those are gorgeous. Where are the pics of you guys?

[apusooner]

did you go to the luau at the hyatt?

[skycat]

did you go to the luau at the hyatt?

Yup. It was pretty cool, although I think maybe once was enough for me.

[skycat]

Where are the pics of you guys?

Elsewhere.;)











Although if one was motivated enough, it woudn't be too hard to find a few of them.

[critical_phil]

Although if one was motivated enough, it woudn't be too hard to find a few of them.



on the Fark board: SKYCAT CALLED DOWN THE THUNDER!1!!!!!1!!

[Boomer.....]

Amazing pics! Great job.

[jk the sooner fan]

Although if one was motivated enough, it woudn't be too hard to find a few of them.

too easy

cute couple ;)

[jk the sooner fan]

you are pretty handy with a camera

where were you when you took this one?

http://www.machafamily.org/Albums/Hawaii/slides/DSC_4507.html

[BlondeSoonerGirl]

Yeah - you've got a very good eye, dude.

Good jorb. I enjoyed these...

[jk the sooner fan]

why wont the picture i linked show up? weird....its a great one though, he should have posted it

[skycat]

you are pretty handy with a camera

where were you when you took this one?

http://www.machafamily.org/Albums/Hawaii/slides/DSC_4507.JPG

Thanks.

That one was taken on a helicopter tour over Molokai:

[jk the sooner fan]

i wondered if that was as you were flying in or on a helo tour

very nice!

[SoonerBOI]

Amazing pics, thanks!

[usmc-sooner]

that's so pretty it must be up around Tulsa somewhere with all the hills and trees.

[Newbomb Turk]

great pics skycat.

[OKC-SLC]

nice pictures.

[picasso]

great pics. impressive.

[AllAboutThe'O']

http://www.machafamily.org/Albums/Hawaii/slides/DSC_4507.JPG

Thanks.

That one was taken on a helicopter tour over Molokai:

I want that photo as my screensaver from November through February.

Agreed, great photos.

[soonerboomer93]

nice pics..

do you like your D70?

[skycat]

do you like your D70?

Very much so. Now that I'm getting more experience there are a couple of features that I wish it had. I think I'll try and convince skywife that I need to upgrade around Xmas time, but it's been a great camera for me.

[soonerboomer93]

that's cool

everyone in my office uses canons (which I like), I was just curious about the Nikon

Pictures are great though

[skycat]

that's cool

everyone in my office uses canons (which I like), I was just curious about the Nikon

Pictures are great though

Thanks.

As far as picture quality is concerned, I don't think there is much difference between <$2k Canons and Nikons. I happen to prefer the lower end Nikons to the lower end Canons by quite a lot in the handling and features department. But YMMV.

I really want to get a D200. Those are fantastic cameras.

[Newbomb Turk]

http://www.machafamily.org/Albums/Hawaii/slides/DSC_4322.jpg


tough call, but I'd have to say this is my favorite - great colors.

[jk the sooner fan]

yeah i liked that one as well..........great capture of the clouds against the terrain like that

[skycat]

It just so happens that you picked out my favorite. I made a 16x24 print of that one that I'm in the process of picking out a frame for.

Thanks NT for choosing one. I like to know what other people respond to.

For instance, I didn't even bother posting the one that jk liked. I kind of obsess about the blue haze on the mountains that comes from taking the shot a little later in the day than I would have liked. But they delayed our tour, so there wasn't much I can do about that.

[soonerboomer93]

were you using polarization or uv filters?

(or filters at all)

[skycat]

were you using polarization or uv filters?

(or filters at all)

Cool, photo geek talk!!

I don't use uv filters on digital. If anything they hurt IQ, and if you're using a lens hood, I don't think that they give you very much protection.

I did use a polarizer on a couple of them (the flag one, and the one from inside the helicopter for instance), but at the time I didn't have one big enough to fit my widest lens, so it wasn't always an option (anything wider than 18 mm isn't using one for sure).

Now, of the ones that I posted to this thread, three of them were created using HDR techniques. Which means that I took a few (the number varied) bracketed exposures and blended them in special software. I used Photomatix Pro for this.

That wasn't really the plan at the time (I'd never done it before), I was just taking a bunch of exposures to find which one I would like the best, but there were a lot of situations where there was just too much contrast in the scene for the camera to get both detail in the shadows, and the bright highlights no matter how it was exposed.

[/geek]

[StoopTroup]

http://www.fbms.com.tw/files/thumbnails/t_4190.jpg

[Harry Beanbag]

Those are outstanding pictures. Oahu looks so much better in photos than in real life, IMO. I've never been to the other islands though.

[soonerboomer93]

heh, I'm kinda trying to learn and decide. I have 4 guys here who run around with their dslr's and take some pretty decent shots. 2 of them have big money invested in nice canon setups.

I have a little point and shoot, but I also have an S3 i sometimes play around with because it has more options and I can put a lens hood or filters on it. But i'm still not that good at manual mode. I use ps elements for importing them, but I haven't really played with the filters and stuff in it.

[skycat]

Those are outstanding pictures. Oahu looks so much better in photos than in real life, IMO. I've never been to the other islands though.

There were parts of Oahu that I liked, but overall I'd agree with you 100%. My wife had already been there, and didn't really want to go back all that much, but I convinced her to stay there one day because I badly wanted to visit the Pearl Harbor Memorial.

We spent most of our time on Maui, and I liked it much, much better. The drive up Haleakala was worth the whole trip for me. It was amazing driving up through the clouds, and I managed to time it so that I was right at the top during sunset.

The classic way to do it is to be at the crater for sunrise, so that you can see the sun come up over it, but that wasn't going to happen. ;)

[skycat]

heh, I'm kinda trying to learn and decide. I have 4 guys here who run around with their dslr's and take some pretty decent shots. 2 of them have big money invested in nice canon setups.

I have a little point and shoot, but I also have an S3 i sometimes play around with because it has more options and I can put a lens hood or filters on it. But i'm still not that good at manual mode. I use ps elements for importing them, but I haven't really played with the filters and stuff in it.

The S3 is a pretty nice camera. You can take some excellent photos with that. But the larger sensor that the dSLRs have, plus their versatility and overall speed make them very nice to have, if you can put up with the bulk of carrying one around.

If you ever do decide to buy one, my advice is to go somewhere where you can pick them up and handle them for a while. Because, unless you're going to shell out some really big $'s, I don't think you'll be able to tell the difference in the images you make.

But there is quite a bit of difference in how the things feel when you pick them up and try to use them. And it doesn't matter how great the IQ of your camera is, if you're not comfortable enough with it to get it ready for when everything comes together, you're going to miss the shot.

So just get the one that you feel the most comfortable with.

[soonerboomer93]

yeah, that's where I'm torn, I'd like a larger sensor, I'm not worried about the megapixel size. I'm just not sure if I want to drop a couple grand on a body and some lenses, especially when I'm not sold on if I want the bulk. I use my sd800 because it's pocket sized and I can just pull it out and use it whenever I want.

I do own the adaptor so that can get a little more versatility out of it.

[StoopTroup]

If I could live in Hawaii for a couple of months out of every year and by live I mean...like a rockstar....

I would.

One of the most beautiful places on Earth.

[skycat]

You seem like a pretty good candidate for a D40 kit (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/471716-REG/Nikon_25420_D40_SLR_Digital_Camera.html).

About $525 for a camera with more or less the same sensor that's in mine, with a fairly sharp (although not terribly fast) lens. The 55-200 VR is by all accounts a very decent lens to add some reach for another $250 if you so choose. And right there you have a lot of camera, at least if you're taking pictures outdoors most of the time. You could then add a flash, or some other lenses later.

OTOH, depending on what you like to shoot, you might be better off with what you have. It's always kind of hard to tell over the Internet.

[skycat]

If I could live in Hawaii for a couple of months out of every year and by live I mean...like a rockstar....

I would.

One of the most beautiful places on Earth.

I could live on Maui.

Oahu had a weird vibe to me. The big city on a small island thing seemed like a real life version of SimCity. With not a particularly good player running the thing.

[soonerboomer93]

Maybe I'll look around while I'm in Shanghai and see what pricing I can get. I still haven't decided if I'm taking my s3 with or not, depends on how much I want to take with me.

The kit does look nice. Little dissapointed it doesn't have ISO 100 though...