Blue Hawaii - Changing moods with RAW files

Photographing in RAW can give you many future options for changing the mood of your photos, allowing you to create new markets for your prints. If you're not shooting in RAW, you're missing half the fun, and throwing away your DNG (Digital Negative)!

Changing day to night. This romantic evening view of a tropical beach was originally a daytime photo. I photographed these silhouetted palm trees almost seven years ago when I was in Hawaii. This idyllic beach is on Maui, near a great restaurant along the north shore (Hwy 36, in Paia) called 'Mama's Fish House'. I am glad that even in those early digital days, I had the good sense to set my camera's menu to capture the image in RAW as well as in the typical JPEG (.jpg) mode.

Yes, shooting in RAW produces larger files, that fill up your memory cards quicker. However, the end results can often save your neck or give you more options later on. That's because a RAW file is a digital negative that contains much more information than a regular JPG file. Today's RAW files typically contain 16-bits of information per color channel (48-bit RGB) vs. the 8-bits found in JPG files. This extra information can often salvage an over or underexposed image or allow dramatic color changes without producing ugly noise or banding problems.

How I did it: The image on the left is the daytime original. The "evening" image on the right was created by taking the RAW file and sliding the color temperature from daylight (5000 degrees Kelvin) to a cool 2000 degrees within Photoshop's Camera Raw plug-in. That's it! (Click on images for a larger view.)


View my most interesting Flickr images on Flickriver.

Spouting Horn, Kauai - My Vision

Click the images to see larger views.

Spouting Horn is a blowhole on the south shore of Kauai, Hawaii. This natural water wonder is a popular tourist attraction that is often photographed quite badly, because most people visit it midday when the light is very flat and uninteresting (see for yourself in this Google search for 'Spouting Horn').


The most dramatic images of this natural water wonder come later in the afternoon or close to sunset when the sun's rays are more slanted (this gives more definition to the spray, and separates it from the ocean background and rocks). To obtain more power and height to the spray, it is also best to come at high tide.


Most of us just take "record" shots of the things we see on our vacations. However, with a little planning, you can schedule yourself to be at many locations when the odds for better pictures will be in your favor!

You can also view my Flickr Photostream to see more of "My Vision."

Improving Photos with Perspective and Size Relationships

In February I went to Kauai, Hawaii. I can't wait to return to that "Garden Island." You'll see more images in future blogs from this beautiful and diverse paradise that has been the background for dozens of Hollywood movies. My wife and loved the more relaxed and less commercial feeling of this island.

When I photographed these Giant Fig Trees Roots (Moreton Bay Fig (Ficus macrophylla) a Banyan tree native to Australia), I wanted to emphasis it's massive roots. Their size and sprawling nature were accentuated by forced perspective, achieved through using a wide angle lens (17mm, or 24mm equivalent). Including the round lava rocks in the foreground also adds interest.

The image still doesn't communicate how massive these roots are until a known relationship is add to the image. When I saw a couple posing for a picture, I asked them to stay a minute longer and keep looking at the man who was taking their picture, while I compose a different image of them. Using the same wide-angle perspective, I included them near the top of the image and to the right (following the "rule of thirds"), tucking them between two huge roots.

Their size relationship to the trees really makes the image speak for itself.