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Sunset in Makena (South Maui)
JonaBeth Russell
Registered Users Posts: 1,065 Major grins
in Landscapes
I finally took some time to shoot for me last night (it's been a while, mostly shooting for hire). Headed down to Makena to catch a sunset, and see what I could put together. This time around I used a neutral density filter (ND 4). Next time I think I'll opt for a CP so as to retain a faster shutter for more crispness in the set. The wind was blowing a bit, so I got just a tad bit of movement, but the colors are so doggone nice I wanted to share anyhow.
Every image you see is a multi-photo merge. Some are only 8-10 images, while others are over 40 images merged.
Mahalo for taking the time to view!
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Boy, JonaBeth, you keep blowing me away with this stuff. Bravo. I really want to like 6 and 7 more than I do....which is a lot. On my monitor, parts of the sky in each one are pretty well blown out. It could be that that was a price you paid to get something else you wanted. I think, though, that someone with keen PP skills could mitigate that issue. Keep'm coming.
Wonderful JBR! 1-2-3 are 1-2-3 for me! Second one is what I would feel like if I was in flying saucer!
I know nothing about drones, but if they can take dark exposures....then you can handle areas of bright light in post. Look into BLENDIF in PS.
I can pm you info if you like. It is very easy.
Cheers
Mahalo for the supportive words! I'm having a fun time learning this craft, along with the limits of the little drone cam. You're correct, 6 & 7 were blown out in the clouds, specifically. I tried to save them, but feared losing the ability to recover the shadows. Always learning, but I know to keep trying!
Taz, thanks a ton! I'll look into BLENDIF and see what kind of recovery magic I can do. This little drone camera keeps surprising me, but it def has it's tonal limits.
Cant' recover....but if you had take a dark exposure in future.....then you can add the missing info. Cheers!
Wonderful. The second and third are the most successful in my view. Are you doing panos for greater resolution?
Gallery: http://cornflakeaz.smugmug.com/
Aloha and thank you for the kind review! Yes, I shoot these in merge for a few reasons. The camera is only 12MP and I will be printing some of these as large as 6ft in length, so I need the increased resolution. Additionally, the 35mm equivalent focal length is 20mm, which isn't quite enough to fit all of the scene into one shot.
Beautiful photos of beautiful place. loved them
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Lovely series. On my monitor, 8, 9, and 10 look a little oversaturated, but hey, maybe it really is that green, dunno. I think 2 and 6 are my favorites. It's very difficult to avoid clipping at least some of a sunset when the sun is still above the horizon. There's not much you can do about it in post, as all cloud detail were lost at capture. If the drone camera supports it, exposure bracketing and masking in post can sometimes help. Discreet use of HDR could be less work.
Mahalo Richard! You're spot on, a bit of low-key HDR does help. In this particular scenario, I shoulda tried. Most times, however, the wind is just enough to keep from having good alignment, even though the craft can rapid-fire up to 5 bracketed shots.
As for the saturation, believe it or not that's actually how green it is here! The colors of this place are insane, every day. I still have to now and again rub my eyes and re-focus just to make sure I'm looking at things correctly lol.
Mahalo!
I'm greatly complimented! And you're absolutely right, there's just not enough time in a single life to capture it all!
Very much appreciated!