HHGMSBA8ZHGV Please ignore…

On my way home from the store, I noticed the clouds near the horizon starting to glow a faint red, so I thought it might be worthwhile taking the gear to the beach in case they popped. They didn’t, but it was a nice sunset anyway; the first we’ve had in a while because of the vog and rain.

Good way to close a Sunday. Everyone have a great aloha week.

I started looking through my florals and other plant photos made in Maui and decided to start a collection. I’m not sure where I’m going with them yet—commercial, stock, fine art, books, calendars—but I’m sure something will come to me as time goes on. Looking for out-of-the-box ideas.

Any suggestions? Edible gardens, backyard florals…

I just found out two of my photos made the finals of The Nature Conservancy’s 4th Annual Digital Photo competition. I wouldn’t mind a vote or two, if you’re so inclined. Thanks very much for your support!

The year is quickly coming to a close and many of us are thinking about shooting fireworks. Here are some tips that have served me well over the years.

First, be on a tripod. You need slow shutter speeds to get the light trails, so unless you want your photographs to come out like impressionist art (which can be quite nice), you’ll want to make sure your camera is rock steady.

Consider a cable release or remote trigger for your camera. You need to see the pattern and trajectory of the rockets, and your field of view is extremely limited if you’re looking through the viewfinder.

Also, even on a steady tripod, there’s always a chance you’ll cause some vibration when your finger releases the shutter, particularly with slower shutter speeds.

You need a zoom lens (200m or better) if you want tight shots of the flares and trails. On the other hand, if you’re looking for shots of fireworks with prominent features in the foreground, like city lights, you need to go wider.

Set your camera to Manual Mode for maximum exposure control. You need some good depth of field—around f/11 should do it. Set your shutter speed to 3 or 4 seconds. Take a few test shots and adjust the speed as necessary to avoid overexposure. Set your ISO to 100 or 200 to avoid noise. Turn off the autofocus so the lens doesn’t “hunt” and set the focus to infinity.

The rest is positioning and timing. You need to anticipate where the rockets are going to explode and when to release the shutter to get the flares and trails. Check your LCD to make sure you’re getting the composition and exposure you’re looking for.

My preference is to shoot in “Bulb” mode, where you can hold the shutter open manually for as long as you want (all the more reason to have a cable release). This gives you full control over your timing—press just before the rocket explodes, release after the light trails fade. Again, take test shots and adjust as necessary.

Wishing everyone a fabulous and safe New Year. See you in 2010.

Wishing everyone a happy and safe holiday season, and a bright, prosperous new year.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

My friend Kim recently started a blog called Fabulously Frugal Christmas and needed some photos, so my wife and I went over to her (elaborately decorated) house a couple of days ago for dinner and some shooting.

Happy Holidays!

It’s always fun meeting a Twitter friend IRL (In Real Life). About a week ago, I met Children’s book author Judi Riley at a book signing after we’d been tweeting for several months. She mentioned that she’s been hounded about getting an author photo for a while, but hasn’t been able to get to it.

Not long ago, she suffered crush injuries to her arms as a result of a cabinet coming off a wall and pinning them to her washer/dryer. They’re still in splints, making it difficult to juggle being a mom to her young child and promoting their books (he has books of his own).

Coincidentally, I caught wind of a movement called Help-Portrait where photographers were called upon to take a picture of someone in need and simply give it to them, on or around December 12th.

We got together at a Christmas Maui Tweetup that day and did some shooting. The results couldn’t have been more rewarding.

It’s interesting that it should take a groundswell movement like this to prompt photographers (or anyone else) to think about donating their time, equipment and expertise to someone in need. Everybody needs to make a living, but every once in a while, it’s good to take time out and give back, even if it’s not the holiday season.

I love shooting panoramas, and decided to do one while I was shooting a sunset a couple of weeks ago. Check out Photogler for details on how I produced the image.

The winds have been howling since last night and it’s been raining on and off throughout the island. You don’t usually get a good sunset under those conditions, but when I went out on our South Maui lanai, I could see it was raining from upcountry through Wailuku and into Ma’alaea, but the spot on the horizon where the sun was going to set was clear, and the clouds in that area had just the right density for a good show, so I grabbed the gear and took off.

I’m glad I did. What a great way to end a Thanksgiving weekend.