Overcoming The Trifecta for Photographic Failure

by Steve Reiss (Dalmdad Landscape Photography - www.dalmdad.com and https://www.facebook.com/Dalmdad.)

Bland and Mediocre - Help is on its way!

"Chinese music under banyan trees. Here at the dude ranch above the sea."

From: "Aja" (1977), song and album, by Steely Dan.

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What do you do with you with the thousands of pictures you may take on your vacation that just don't make the cut?  Even in a photographic paradise like Hawaii, you can find your camera facing the wrong angle, under the wrong light, and subjected to less than adequate weather.  This trifecta for photographic failure occurred often on our recent trip to the Big Island of Hawaii.  

On June 12, 2013, at Hilo, HI, the weather was an annoying conglomeration of light and dark overcast and stopping and starting rain drizzles.  Nothing disastrous, but the climate conditions would be enough to annoy the average photographer and destroy the morale of this photographer.

I took over 2100 photos on our Hawaii trip; many under less than favorable photographic conditions.  It does not take long to identify and decide what to do with the better shots.  So, what do you do with a couple of dozen pictures taken under such mediocre conditions?  

At first, I tended to just mope about it, mumbling such inane comments as "This is why I came to Hawaii?...All these miles?" 

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I tend to let mediocre pictures sit for about 4 months before looking at them again (I rarely delete pictures no matter how bad they are (see example)).  The stewing time is not some strange length of time that I sit around hoping that the picture quality will somehow magically improve.  Rather, the period of time you let the photos sit, the hope is that when you look at the photos afresh, you might have some ideas on how can they be salvaged.  Photos do not magically improve in quality; they merely become salvageable due to ideas on how to play with them using Photoshop and Lightroom.  This is exactly what happened here.

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These banyan trees shown above picture are in Bayfront Park, on the Hilo shore, and suffer from poor lighting and an annoying yellow gate.  Because the trees blocked most of the light, the camera over exposed the picture, resulting in the very few portions of the sky passing between the branches being pretty washed out.  Sure, this scene could have been salvaged at the site by bracketing and HDR merger techniques.  I normally do not use them however.
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In this first treatment, the entire image is converted to black and white, a strong fill light effect applied, and details brought out to show the texture in the trees.  Of the three treatments, this one is my favorite.

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In this second treatment,the colors are slightly desaturated

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In this third treatment, recovery is maximum, fill light is maximum, details enhanced very high; colors very strong.

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If you would like to purchase any of these. click through on the desired picture to go to its offering on Banyans at Dalmdad.Com.


 

Bobby Brady and the Tiki Gods at Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau (Big Island of Hawaii)

by Steve Reiss (Dalmdad Landscape Photography - www.dalmdad.com and https://www.facebook.com/Dalmdad.)


I admit that growing up, I had a soft-spot for The Brady Bunch.  Pig-tailed Cindy (Susan Olsen) was my favorite. 

I especially liked the three-episode sequence where they went to Hawaii and Bobby found the Tiki statue at the construction site.

Ki'i (tikis) located at Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park

Heck, the episodes even inspired the Presidents of the USA to write Tiki God.  The most awesome lyrics....

Bobby Brady found the idol in the rubble
Had no idea it would cause so much trouble
When Greg tried to throw it back in the ocean
There was a rumble an awful commotion
Don't ask me how but the tiki found Bobby
He thought the idol was some Hawaiian hobby
Turned out the God was mean and vicious
Didn't respond to Bobby's 3 wishes 

 --from "Tiki God" by The Presidents of the USA (1997)

Ki'i (tikis) located at Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park

Ki'i (tikis) located at Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park

Ki'i (tikis) located at Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park

All ki'i (carved wooden images) shown here are located at Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park.  Conversions to b&w made due to the fact that the weather was awful, making the coloring of the images unacceptable.

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Imagine you had just broken the sacred laws, the Kapu, and the only punishment was death.  Your only chance of survival is to elude your pursuers and reach the Pu'uhonua, a place of refuge.  The Pu'uhonua protected the kapu breaker, civilians during the time of war and the defeated warriors.  No harm could come to those who reached the boundaries of the place of refuge. From the National Park Service website.

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Prints available by special order at www.dalmdad.com.  Contact steve@dalmdad.com.

Sunsets, Lava Tubes and More on the Waikoloa Coast of Hawaii's Big Island

by Steve Reiss (Dalmdad Landscape Photography - www.dalmdad.com and https://www.facebook.com/Dalmdad.)

The Hawaiian Islands have miles and miles (and miles?) of lava tubes just under their surface.  Some lava tubes become tourist attractions (Thurston Lava Tube) while others become construction hazards into which bulldozers have fallen.  As can be seen, there was only about 1.5 feet between the roof of the tube and the ground the dozer was plowing.

Picture found on web (Gary13b/Photobucket)

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This lava tube is on Hawaii Route 19 (Queen K. Highway), on the South Kohala Coast, between Kona International Airport and the resorts at Waikoloa Beach.  We passed it a couple of times and it was always in a shadow, so I kept driving, hoping the next time we pass it would be more attractive to photograph.  

Finally, on the way back from Volcano to our hotel, we passed by at sunset.  The overall lighting from the sunset was about as good as we could hope, so we stopped.

When we stopped, three girls happened to also be visiting the tube.  They were a jovial and giggly group, I give them that.

Three Gals Visiting Lava Tube

The drop off from road level to the lava tube was pretty steep and laced with loose, sharp rocks.  There was not a chance in hell that I would try to climb down there.  I was left to admire my shadow.

Me, Myself & I

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The Ends of the Big Island of Hawaii's Saddle Road

by Steve Reiss (Dalmdad Landscape Photography - www.dalmdad.com and https://www.facebook.com/Dalmdad.)

Route 200, known locally as Saddle Road, traverses the width of the Island of Hawaiʻi, from downtown Hilo to its junction with Hawaii Route 190 near Waimea. The road was considered one of the most dangerous paved roads in the state, with many one-lane bridges and areas of marginally maintained pavement. Most of the road has now been repaved, and major parts have new re-alignments to modern standards. The highway reaches a maximum elevation of 6,632 feet (2,021 m) and is subject to fog and low visibility. Many rental car companies used to prohibit use of their cars on Saddle Road, but some now permit use of the road. The highway experiences heavy use as it provides the shortest driving route from Hilo to Kailua-Kona and access to the slopes of Mauna Loa and the Mauna Kea Observatories.

In reality, the road is not all that bad.  There are plenty of higher reaching roads in California.  CA120 at Tioga Pass in the Yosemite Area (9,943 ft. / 3,031 m) is the highest highway pass in California.  CA38 at Onyx Summit (8,443 ft. / 2,573 m) is the highest pass in southern California.  Furthermore, many of the desolate, dust covered dirt OHV roads in the California deserts are far more scary.  More people face danger on the back roads of Death Valley than on Saddle Road.

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However, the difference in terrain between the two ends of Saddle Road is quite remarkable.  Even more remarkable is a very similar, yet very different pair of hills located at the two ends.

Grassy Twin Hills near Waimea end of Saddle Road

Bare Twin Hills near Volcanic Summit end of Saddle Road

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OTHER VIEWS FROM WAIMEA END

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OTHER VIEWS FROM VOLCANIC SUMMIT END

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Progress Halted at Punaluu on the Big Island of Hawaii

by Steve Reiss (Dalmdad Landscape Photography - www.dalmdad.com and https://www.facebook.com/Dalmdad.)
 

June, 1991: It was the Big Island leg of our Hawaiian island hopping portion of our honeymoon and we were making the long drive back on Hawaii SR-11 from Volcanoes National Park on the southeast side of the Big Island around the southernmost point in the US (the remote and difficult to access South Point or Ka Lae (one of the few places on the Big Island where taking your rental car will void any insurance), to Kona on the west side of the Big Island.

The Punaluu Black Sand Beach Restuarant (PBSBR) appeared out of nowhere in the dark of the summer night.  When we had reached the restaurant, back in 1991, it was pitch black out, so the Black Sand Beach was not really viewable.  However, with the restaurant’s lack of windows (a common construction motif in Hawaii), you could hear, albeit faintly, the night surf coming up on the beach combined with the bristling of wind-blown coconut tree palm fronds.

We don’t remember what we ate that night, but we do remember the restaurant being an upscale, pleasant experience.  It was our first time eating at a restaurant where geckos stuck to and climbed along the walls.  The place was a real trip!

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March, 2013: When we decided to go back to the Big Island in 2013, besides making sure we saw flowing lava (like we did on our Honeymoon), one of the things I absolutely wanted to do on this trip was go back to the PBSBR for dinner.  While researching the trip, I looked for the restaurant on-line, but it was not to be found; there was not even a website for the place.

So, I had to dig deeper for information.  While finding out when exactly the restaurant closed was impossible, I was able to confirm it had long been closed and deteriorating since at least 2006.   The war over development and progress in the Punaluu area between the locals and the developers went on so long, that the developers went out of business with the collapse of the Japanese economy.  When we saw a youtube video of some people exploring the restaurant ruins and web posts where others are asking about the history of the ruins of the place, our hearts fell.  I wondered what it would be like when we actually got to these ruins in a few months?

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June, 2013: The drive from Volcano to Punaluu Black Sand Beach (the same drive along HA-11 we made 22 years ago) was on and off rain and on and off overcast.  This was the major weather theme from our entire 2013 trip.  After 32 miles on HA-11, we turned right on Ninole Loop Road for Punaluu and Punaluu Black Sand Beach.  We passed some natives picking coconuts from the road side as we drove down the coconut tree-lined road.  The road ended next to a snack-bar and souvenir stand.  This was the outermost portion of the black sand beach.

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Views of Punaluu Black Sand Beach

Looking north towards the Snack Bar/Souvenir Stand

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Us at Punaluu Black Sand Beach

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There was a lot of excitement down towards the center section of the beach.  The excitement was created by a huge green sea turtle sleeping on the beach.  The turtle was probably about 4-5 feet nose to "tail".

Jade Relief Depicting Sea Turtle Carrying Hawaiian Goddess

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As can be seen by this sign, and many similar signs all over the island, Hawaii takes the obligation to protect the sea turtles very seriously.

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Ruins of the Punaluu Black Sands Beach Restuarant

After roaming around the beach, it was time to look for the restaurant.  As I mentioned, we sort of just found the place in the dark of night back in ’91, so I wasn’t exactly sure where it was.  We got back in the car and had not driven 10 feet from the snack bar when Joanie spotted the Tiki Style buildings surrounded by an overgrown portion of the coconut grove.  The “parking lot” was filled with garbage, smashed coconuts, fronds, and assorted other “tropical waste”.  The restaurant was so overgrown, that I did not realize that the far end of the lily pond was the wall of the restaurant.  It was so eerie walking around the area not even realizing that the place we were looking for was right there, behind the souvenir stand.

Views of the restuarant ruins and beach from the satellite