# hawaii



## myshkin

Heres a few from Hawaii I haven't posted here

1.





2.




3.




4.


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## Amocholes

Spectacular!


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## myshkin

thanks amocholes


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## Trever1t

Wonderfully spectacular! Can you share your technique?


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## myshkin

all the shots are processed with photomatix 4 and PP with lightroom 3

#1 is 5 shots at 1 stop bracket

All the others are 9 shots at 1 stop


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## Trever1t

Wow, I am impressed. Not the usual over saturated HDR. Very well done, I'd be proud to hang those on my walls!


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## mike3767

AMAZING


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## SlickSalmon

Unbelievably spectacular!


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## mishele

#2 is just amazing!! What island were you on when you took these?


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## myshkin

Thanks guys!

mishele - the first three are from maui on the beaches near kehei, the last shot is at queens bath in Kauai(one of my favorite places)

trever - With HDR the colors can become very rich and you get deep tones, but also they can get loud. If there is a strong color in the 0 exp, then when you stack multiple exps on each other it of course gets stronger. I often do selective color desaturation in LR3 to bring them back to reality. I have a feeling a lot of folks either leave saturation at 0 or bump it up after processing.


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## mishele

Is there anyway you could get me a link or post up some more of your shots on Kauai?!!! I'm going there in March. I would love to hear first hand from someone that was there where to get some excellent pictures!!!


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## inaka

Absolutely, positively BEAUTIFUL!
#2 really stands out as my favorite. Stunning!

Thanks for sharing.


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## myshkin

thanks inaka

mishele - i didn't get to shoot much on Kauai. I was actually suppose to live there this winter. We got there and spent the first few weeks looking for a place to live and stuff. Right after finding a place we got news my wifes mom broke her back so we moved back to peru
I have been there 2 times now but the first time I wasn't into photography yet. heres a few photos of some places you should go. Not really good but gives you an idea

this was taken on my first trip with a point and shoot. This is the napali coast taken from a helicopter. I also did a hike on it and a boat ride that went along it. Its some of the most amazing scenery i have seen. I really recommend the heli ride it was something I won't forget. There is a handful of good companies and you should be able to find it online for 150 a person. If you just walk in they will ask for 250-350





This is waimea canyon. Mark twain called it the grand canyon of kauai. Its crazy this small island has such a big canyon. Its on the west side of island
I really didn't get any shots I like of this place but if you catch it at the right time it can be a great place to shoot





This is kokee state park. This view is at the end of the road that goes past the canyon. This view is stunning and there is lots of hiking along the ridges.





this is queens bath the same place as pic #4 in first post. Its on the north shore which is my favorite part of the island





This is tunnels beach. My favorite beach. Views are great and the snorkeling is the best i found on the island. I would say going here and snorkeling is a must. I would go often in the afternoon and every time I would see atleast 5 sea turtles within arms reach. I also saw a monk seal right next to me. It was amazing


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## mishele

Wow!! Thanks so much for the pictures.....I think I'm more excited about the photography there then the actual hiking I'm going to do!!! Thanks again!! Any added tips about the island?


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## oldmacman

Great series and terrific PP. Thanks for sharing.


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## myshkin

do you already have a hotel booked?

Buy this book it has directions to all the hard to find beaches and is just a great overall travel guide
Amazon.com: The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook: Kauai Revealed (9780981461014): Andrew Doughty: Books


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## mishele

myshkin said:


> do you already have a hotel booked?
> 
> Buy this book it has directions to all the hard to find beaches and is just a great overall travel guide
> Amazon.com: The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook: Kauai Revealed (9780981461014): Andrew Doughty: Books



LOL I have that book memorized!! lol I used it on Maui, too!! It's an incredible book!! I guess you are saying if I have that I know everything...lol  
I'm staying in the mountains west of Kapaa for about 10 days. I can't wait!!!!


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## myshkin

yes if you have the book you know most things you need to know. Kapaa area is good cause its centrally located but its not the prettiest part of the island. there is a couple nice waterfalls in the area.
If you feel like camping you can camp for $3 a person at anini beach on the north shore. the beach is one of the calmest on the island and has very nice colors.This is the cheapest way to stay on Kauai
I also recommend spending one night watching sunset on the lawn of the regis hotel. When your there the sun should be going down over the ocean which the lawn gives a great view of


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## mishele

I'm staying in a house in the mountains west of Kapaa. So I'm hoping I'm far enough away from the messy city life. We are planning on going to the canyon and the north shore. March can't come fast enough. Did you do any cruises of the north shore? If so which one?
If you don't mind I might e-mail you any other Q's so I don't ruin your thread...lol


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## Josh220

Amazing shots. I don't normally like HDR's, and tend to avoid them because I can't make them look as realistic as you have. 

Any tips on the processing? (i.e., which sliders do you use or avoid in Photomatix?) Do you use any filters, or is everything done in PP with the 9 exposures?


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## myshkin

Josh220 said:


> Amazing shots. I don't normally like HDR's, and  tend to avoid them because I can't make them look as realistic as you  have.
> 
> Any tips on the processing? (i.e., which sliders do you use or avoid in  Photomatix?) Do you use any filters, or is everything done in PP with  the 9 exposures?




Thanks josh

#3 I used a GND filter when shooting the brackets, the other 3 I had a cir polarizer on. I basically leave my CPL filter on all the time if im outside before dark

Every pic is different so the sliders change. I say put strength at 90-100 , microcontrast at 9-10
Then the 3 big sliders for me are
luminance - depending on the lighting on the pic this can either just make it brighter or can effect specific areas of the pic. I change this every pic quite a bit normally

SMoothing - I keep this in the 4-6 range normally for outdoor but thats not set in stone. This can make them real bad if you don't find the right spot for this. indoor shots I feel you have more freedom with this slider

Highlight smoothing - this is crucial for the sky in outdoor pics. Normally when you load files in photomatix the sky will look dark and odd. taking this slider to the right will bring it back to reality

The rest of the sliders are more small changes and once you find the area you like you won't touch them all that much

I almost never go over 55 saturation unless the pic is void of real color and im trying to get alittle pop. I prefer to do saturation in PP


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## simonydes

ah amazing!!


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## Josh220

myshkin said:


> Josh220 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Amazing shots. I don't normally like HDR's, and  tend to avoid them because I can't make them look as realistic as you  have.
> 
> Any tips on the processing? (i.e., which sliders do you use or avoid in  Photomatix?) Do you use any filters, or is everything done in PP with  the 9 exposures?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks josh
> 
> #3 I used a GND filter when shooting the brackets, the other 3 I had a cir polarizer on. I basically leave my CPL filter on all the time if im outside before dark
> 
> Every pic is different so the sliders change. I say put strength at 90-100 , microcontrast at 9-10
> Then the 3 big sliders for me are
> luminance - depending on the lighting on the pic this can either just make it brighter or can effect specific areas of the pic. I change this every pic quite a bit normally
> 
> SMoothing - I keep this in the 4-6 range normally for outdoor but thats not set in stone. This can make them real bad if you don't find the right spot for this. indoor shots I feel you have more freedom with this slider
> 
> Highlight smoothing - this is crucial for the sky in outdoor pics. Normally when you load files in photomatix the sky will look dark and odd. taking this slider to the right will bring it back to reality
> 
> The rest of the sliders are more small changes and once you find the area you like you won't touch them all that much
> 
> I almost never go over 55 saturation unless the pic is void of real color and im trying to get alittle pop. I prefer to do saturation in PP
Click to expand...


Thanks for the in-depth response! How many stops is your GND? I've got a 3 stop ND but no GND's yet.


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## myshkin

My GND is a 3 stop. I need better ones. I picked up a 1 stop and 3 stop plus 77mm holder at a photo show for 10$. They are old cokin plastic ones. I just wanted to try it and see if I liked using them. I really like it but the plastic ones have some serious issues. I can't really use it during the day because it makes the sky have a weird tint. That same weird tint can actually help colors at sunset
I plan to pick up some glass ones when I get back to the states


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## thingsIsee

fantastic shots. frame and hang


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## UGD

Absolutely stunning!!!!!! I like #3 the most. The rocks and trees in the foreground frame the whole scene well. Fantastic pictures. Also...Thank You for sharing all the great info. One more question: how long were the exposures....and how did you handle movement in the shots? TY


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## Drake

#3 from the first post is great, but the second series is just spectacular.


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## myshkin

thanks drake,thingsisee, and UGD

UGD - exposure length(shutter speed) really doesn't matter as far as info for HDR
Of cours eit matters overall for any pic but the better thing to concentrate on when shooting a HDR is do you want to get the best exposure possible(balanced) on the 0 exp or do you want to over or under expose the 0 exp. This will obviously effect the whole bracket. I would say that I normally try for the best exposure for my 0 exposure shot, but there is things that make me change this.
Any scene that has extremes on the dynamic range I lean toward the extreme I more want handled. For example shooting into the sun. I don't want to blow out the sun so I give the sky and sun priority over the foreground. So I will underexpose my bracket. #2 and #3 are examples of this where I had to sacrifice some brightness and detail on the dark areas to get a better exposure on the sky and sun
The flip side if you really want to get the most out of a real dark area in a pic then you would over expose your brackets

None of these pics have alot of movement to worry about except water. I find photomatix will normally do a good job with water in auto mode


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## UGD

Thanks for the great info. TY


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## manaheim

Simply... Wow.


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## Josh220

Do you ever have any issues with using a CPL for HDR's?


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## myshkin

Josh220 said:


> Do you ever have any issues with using a CPL for HDR's?



Yes I definitely have issues but I think its more user error. I have a bad habit of forgetting about it and concentrating on other things. Taking a single exposure a small mistake with a cpl can be pretty minor, but when are putting multiple exposures together with HDR software that minor issue becomes glaring. Mostly 2 tones in the sky. I have ruined some otherwise nice pics that way


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## Josh220

myshkin said:


> Josh220 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Do you ever have any issues with using a CPL for HDR's?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes I definitely have issues but I think its more user error. I have a bad habit of forgetting about it and concentrating on other things. Taking a single exposure a small mistake with a cpl can be pretty minor, but when are putting multiple exposures together with HDR software that minor issue becomes glaring. Mostly 2 tones in the sky. I have ruined some otherwise nice pics that way
Click to expand...


Thanks, that's what I've always thought. 

While playing around in Photomatix I realized what the main issue was; I had been assuming that the settings reset themselves each time you created an HDR, so the reason they were all coming out overcooked was because they had bad settings from the times I adjusted all of the settings to see what each one did. After resetting everything to default and using your guidelines I was able to get a much more realistic image. Here's one from my trip to the Big Island last summer:







Hopefully I can get some good ones in June when I head to Maui. Thanks again, your tips really helped me out.

I generally used 5 images for HDR's, do you suggest 7 or 9 instead?


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## myshkin

I think it looks good. I personally would have done a desaturation to the yellow and greens. I do far more selective desaturation then additional saturation after processing an HDR

My camera does 9 shot brackets up to a stop difference. As long as there is no ghosting issues I will take all 9. I think it does give more precise changes with the sliders in photomatix but also can add noise


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## manaheim

I seriously think we've found the TPF master of HDR.  This guy knows way more of the process than I think pretty much anyone, and I've yet to see better results.

myshkin, I really appreciate you sharing your process tips with us.


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## JimCoventry

myshkin said:


> all the shots are processed with photomatix 4 and PP with lightroom 3
> 
> #1 is 5 shots at 1 stop bracket
> 
> All the others are 9 shots at 1 stop




1 Stop dif. could be fStop or exposure time. Tell me you did not change fStops?


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## lyonsroar

JimCoventry said:


> myshkin said:
> 
> 
> 
> all the shots are processed with photomatix 4 and PP with lightroom 3
> 
> #1 is 5 shots at 1 stop bracket
> 
> All the others are 9 shots at 1 stop
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 1 Stop dif. could be fStop or exposure time. Tell me you did not change fStops?
Click to expand...

 
lolwut.


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## myshkin

Thanks manaheim quite the compliment, but I don't think I am there yet. I am getting more consistent I think. I have been on a HDR processing obsession the last few weeks and i notice an improvement overall

JimConventry - Everyone brackets for shutter speed to change the EV with HDR


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## cnutco

Beautiful pics.  Love to get there one day...


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## Flower Child

These should be in a book or something. They are just breathtakingly amazing. Brilliant work.


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## georg_f

absolutely stunning pics


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## iamcdn

This is my dream to take photos like this.  I love Kauai.  Wasn't into photog when I went last May.  Gotta head back.


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## Corvphotography

Trever1t said:


> Wow, I am impressed. Not the usual over saturated HDR. Very well done, I'd be proud to hang those on my walls!



:thumbup:


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## Corvphotography

How does HDR work exactly?   I have a Canon Rebel XS. I need a tripod correct?


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## edtek

this thread should be a sticky on how to HDR!


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