
UPCOMING 2009 / 2010 WORKSHOPS:
Big Sur Summer August 24-27, 2009 (4 spots available)
Arches/Canyonlands November 4-8, 2009 (2 spots available)
Spring Big Sur - March 29 - April 1, 2010 (9 spots available)
Northern Arizona: Grand Canyon, Upper Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, and Sedona - May 3-7, 2010
Redwoods and Mendocino Coast - June 15-18, 2010
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Just across the street from the Princeville shopping center on the northern end of Kauai, Hawaii, is a lookout point for Hanalei Valley and the fertile taro fields which reside below. Perhaps thousands of tourists pull in and grab a quick image of this iconic scene every day making it one of the most photographed locations on the island.
But how can one get a different take on a "overshot" scene? How about shooting under a full moonrise? This was the approach I took roughly 30 minutes past sunset. Needless to say I had the area to myself as I spotted this beautiful full moon rising through the clouds. As always, the island trade winds were whipping around the foliage, but I was able to wait until the wind calmed (as much as it would) before trying this 30-second exposure.
Because the winds were pushing the clouds at a fairly good clip, they recorded in a painterly manner, still retaining the look and feel of a cloud, but with the streaked movement, looking as if they were "brushed" onto my image. To say the least, this was a pleasant surprise.
Because of the extremely low ambient (basically it was the moon providing the only illumination) the scene recorded well within the 6-stop capture range of my sensor; however, I did use a Singh-Ray 3-stop soft edge split neutral density filter to hold back the brightness in the sky and allow for a more even balance in exposure between the sky and fields. I needed very little post-processing on this image other than my routine global adjustments in Adobe Camera Raw.
By the way, taro is the one of the main agricultural staples on the island with its primary usage being to produce poi. I rank eating poi right up there with eating grits! I hope I don't offend anyone with this observation, but if you have tried either one (or both) you'll know what I mean.
But regardless of your culinary tastes, the next time you are looking to put a different spin on a tired subject, think about moonlight, the results may surprise you!
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