Travel Photo: Stream Scene from Okinawa

There's really no such thing as getting lost on the island of Okinawa.

But, you can become temporarily misplaced.

Follow any stream, trail or, road out of the jungle.

Sooner or, later you are bound to find the ocean.

What I do, when the younger dudes go climbing and trekking up slippery rocks is stop.

Then, make believe I'm doing something important.

That's how I got this scene of a stream flowing through the northern hills of Okinawa.

The Map It Okinawa dude must have thought I was temporarily misplaced.

After he climed every hill and waded through all the streams in the area, he came back and found me.

He helped me carry all my camera gear back down the mountain.

It's a good idea, after you reach a certain age, to have someone younger travel along with you.

He even has one of those GPS gadgets and, can probably tell you where this photo was taken.

The location isn't all that important to me.  I just like to take the pictures.

If we happen to head back up that way again I don't plan on going to this spot.

What I would do, is find another stream to checkout.

When the young adventurers get too far ahead of me, I'll do it again.

Just get myself Deliberately Misplaced  and shoot another scene in the jungles of Okinawa.

It's a blast !

Night Before the Full Moon in Okinawa (Photo)

Almost forgot about this month's full moon.

Up north chasing cherry blossoms today, we were sort of disappointed.

But, heading back home, this scene appeared in the village of Kushi.

Tomorrow night there will be a full moon.

If it isn't raining or, cloudy and windy, get out there and getterdun.  That's the plan.

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Travel Photo: Scene from Komaka-Jima with the Sigma 10-20mm

This beach scene photo was taken August 12, 2012 from the island of Komaka-Jima.

The Sigma 10-20mm lens was at a focal length of 10mm.

Off in the distance is the main island of Okinawa.

What I never realized, until developing my photos from that day, is the fact that

Peace Park Memorial Tower is visible from Komaka.

Peace Memorial Park may be seen in my article published at Yahoo Voices. 

In that article, I made a link to Ernie Pyle, the war correspondent.

One of these days, I have to get back down there and see if I can find his name on the wall.

They just don't make writers like him, anymore.


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Photography Tip: Evaluate the Scene Before Shooting

This is a photo of Hira Taki, a waterfall in Okinawa, Japan taken back in July.

Just going through old files of undeveloped shots, I wondered why I even composed it that way.

Then, I remembered.

I got the bright idea to start doing some DOs and DON'Ts in my Photo Tips.

DO: Evaluate the scene before you click the shutter.

DON'T: Allow distractions to take the viewer's eye away from the subject.

By changing my position for the second photo, I made a more interesting composition.

The vegetation in the foreground of photo #1 is gone.

The shoreline and one branch of the plant, now point the viewer's eyes towards the subject.

MORE PHOTO TIPS

A Scene From Within UNESCO Nakijin Castle Walls Okinawa

This is a photo taken from within the walls of Nakajin Castle during the month of July.

The position this was photographed from is probably one of northernmost points that can be reached inside the castle walls.

Experimenting with the Pentax KD 10, there were 3 shots taken at f/22.

Shutter speeds were adjusted to get one photo at perfect exposure, one at -1 on the light-meter and one at +1.  Then, combine all three in Adobe Elements to create an HDR photo.

What I didn't realize, at the time, was the clouds were moving fairly quickly.

So, this is one of those photos scheduled for the recycle bin.  My clouds got smeared.

The newer models of most DSLRs, and some point and shooters, have HDR capability built in to them.  I haven't tried the HDR Mode on any of my cameras, yet but, will, one of these days.

It would be interesting to do a comparison between HDR photos created in-camera and HDR shots created manually, I think.

All I have to do is figure out where those camera manuals sneaked off to and read the darn things, one of these days.

We're having some weather in Okinawa, Japan this week that makes a body feel like staying indoors and reading.  It just might be a good time to getterdun.



A Dozen Ways To Look At A Waterfall: A Photo Essay

There are more than a dozen ways to take photos of a waterfall.

Vertical shots, which magazine publishers love, I shoot some but, you won't see them here.

The first thing I like to do is take some shots of what it looks like approaching the falls.

If I'm going to bust my fanny taking pictures of waterfalls, I want you to feel like you came along  with me.

Getting down and dirty is all part of the fun.

There's no telling which way most people like to view the waterfalls so, I shoot photos from all kinds of positions.

Sometimes, I fill the foreground with rocks.

Other times, the frame gets filled with plenty of water.

The waterfall can be placed in the right third of the scene.

Or, I can put it in the center.

Some folks like their waterfalls camoflaged.

So, I hide them in the background.

The left third of the frame is where I like to position my waterfalls.  But, that's just me.

Where the light is coming from and what the terrain allows you to do are really the deciding factors.

Hopefully, these photos of a dozen ways to look at a waterfall give you an idea of how you'd like to compose your shots the next time you travel somewhere to take pictures of one.

Two of the photos above have people in them.  Did you notice that ?

It's alright.  I shot them on purpose.  They're not for sale.  Just practice.

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PHOTO OF THE DAY: AZAKA WATERFALL