Hawaiian Sunset
A Hawaii sunset from the Big Island
A Hawaii sunset from the Big Island
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Oct, 2016Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken at Kiholo Bay on the western side of the Island of Hawaii.Time
While in Hawaii on a family vacation we had rented a Jeep so I could explore a little. Kiholo Bay is one of those locations where you feel like you're driving across some barren waste land. The road was nothing but an old lava field that had a path cut through it. It was one of the roughest rides I had ever taken but once you get to the end of the road you find this beautiful beach. The beach is salt and pepper sand and black and white lava rock everywhere. The shot was taken at just before 1900 local time. The sun always sets between 1900 and 1915 in the summer months there so I really had to plan my time accordingly. I had to setup the tripod on this rocky/sandy surface and I was dealing with a lot of wind left of the camera and I didn't have much time to work with because the light was fading fast. I fired a couple of shots in HDR mode and a few in various other modes. This was probably the best one of the bunch. The foreground lighting is using an on camera flash.Lighting
The lighting was a speedlite mounted on the camera. I wasn't expecting anything great because of the rush to get onsite, get setup, get the shot and get out before dark or be stuck there for the night. And while that wouldn't have been a bad thing, I don't think my kids would have liked me being gone that long.Equipment
I used a Canon EOS Rebel T5, Sigma EX 24-70mm 2.8 lens, Vanguard tripod, Altura flash with a Magmod Sphere.Inspiration
It's a sunset on the beach in Hawaii. What other inspiration do you need? Seriously though, I was really intrigued with this spot, the location, the rocks, the sand, the location of that tree, it's like it was planted there just for me to take a shot of it. That sunset on a hazy humid night in June and you have yourself a shot that you will always remember. I still remember the wind on my face, the salt and pepper sand between my toes and walking on those rocks.Editing
I did a little post-processing in Canon's Image Browser software. This photo was shot using the HDR settings on the camera, but the original was just a little darker than I wanted it to be. So I use the Image Browser software to tweak it just a tad to lighten it up. In the process of doing that I noticed a spot near the tree that added a little light leak.In my camera bag
Aside from my Canon EOS 7D Mark II, I never leave home without my Sigma lenses, their like having an American Express Card, you never leave home with out it. My go to lens is the Sigma EX 24-70mm 2.8, I love this lens almost as much as I love my girlfriend. It's super flexible and I always seem to get a great shot from it whether I'm shooting a portrait, sports, landscape or whatever. Then I have my Sigma EX 70-200mm 2.8 with image stabilizer. Magmod gels, sphere, bounce and various filters. And I always have extra batteries and flash cards.Feedback
I turn my photography into an adventure, I don't say "hey, today I'm going to shot landscape", I just go out look for something to shot and have fun doing it. You never know what you're going to come across that catches your eye. I think some photographers get hung up on technique and subject and forget why they started doing this in the first place. To just simply have fun and share with the world how you see the world through the lens.
