Haleakala Crater, Maui (best large)

Best Viewed Large. Opinions appreciated, thanks.

Precioso paisaje, excelente colorido, ambiente y composicion.

Un cordial saludo.

Totally awesome, everything comes together in this shot and the detail is stunning.

Hazza

Vincent...it is so nice to see something from you after a long time. I really like the details and the cloud line!. Regards, Rajeev.

The colors are great. However rocks in the fore front limit the expanse.

 

Praveen Jain

Like it, and the photo is very good in larger, many good details and good use of dof. Like the composition,sharpness and color

Tough to beat this subject matter. Looks like the moon on earth. Amazing to think you can be freezing your butt off here while your higher than many mountains' timberlines and you'd be turning the air conditioning on at the bottom of this mountain! Striking landscape.

Vincent, Another (as I've grown to expect from you) beautiful Hawiian landscape. An excellent composition with great depth due to the inclusion of the forground elements (sorry Praveen, I must part company with you on this aspect). Just the right amount of sky (grins)and the colours are indeed deep and rich. Best, LM.

Superior imagen, un bellisimo encuadre, perfecta luz, color y bellisima composicion, los tonos y el fondo del cielo, superior, lo siento pero me he quedado sin seven, saludos cordiales Vicent.

Beautiful Shot, Well done.

Thanks for all of your thoughts on this.

Yes Phillip, you must have been up there before to know all about the "freezing the butt off" experience. Actually in the early morning, for sunrises, with winds regularly near 40mph and temps often near freezing, I have found that the word "suffering" truly takes on new meaning. You see many people (including myself) shivvvvering with shorts and sandals and five t-shirts on. The other interesting thing up this high is that even with the cooler daytime temps you get a very quick intense sunburn. usually the one-sided variety. And additionally, you have to walk rather slowly due to oxygen issues. I've seen people passed out up there before. Can you imagine what it must be like to climb Everest then?

 

Actually Len, Praveen does have a legitimate point here. I too noticed the same thing while editing the image, and wondered about it. My wife also said something about the foreground on her own, when I showed the image to her. (She's been pushing for me for years to get a daytime photograph from this place). However, when I did try a foreground crop, the image truly took a step backwards in my mind. That foreground element adds another dimension to the image in terms of contrast and texture and adds a bit more interest to the scene overall, so I think. The crop definitely made it appear rather average, especially since it loses that portion of brightness which livens up the entire scene. But it was only AFTER the crop attempt that I could see its true value. I do have another one from this place that is much more of a close-up which is scanned but not yet edited. I will post that sometime soon. Thanks again for taking the time... it's always appreciated. Aloha.

Incredible image Vincent. That is alot of different textures and contrast in the image that keeps you glued to it. Well worth the ascent up for the capture.

Incredible capture. The clouds are remarkable. Well seen! Greetings from Victoria~ Iren

Spectacular panoroma! Excellent composition,exposure,DOF, and colors combine to make this an excellent image,in true Vincent style. Best regards.

Great to see this spectacular view from the crater's rim, and great to see you posting again, too! For me, the foreground is acceptable. I am a "Big Sky" kind of guy and would have liked more of that fascinating Velvia Blue to gaze upon. I have a somewhat similar photograph myself from near this vantage point, but it is in a vertical composition.Naturally, I think that it is better than yours ;0) Regards.

Amazing capture. An excellent photo with perfect composition and contrast. Simply Excellent. Congrats !

Yes I remember that photo Walter! It's one of my fav's of yours. In fact part of my comment on yours was this:

 

Vincent K. Tylor , September 25, 2004; 03:11 P.M. (edit | delete)

 

"I've never made it here during the daytime Walt... but will now!"

 

As you can see from that comment, your photograph really started the ball rolling for me to get up there during the daytime (with many pushes from Michele along the way). Eight years of living and photographing the Hawaiian Islands and I never had a real interest to get up there for the daytime shoot. Each and every trip I took prior was strictly for the sunrise image. To get what you see here, took at least three or four trips altogether. What makes this image, for me, somewhat special is the fact you can see some ocean below the clouds, which is rarely the case. Each of the other trips had far more cloud cover than you see here. One time it was practically a wasted trip with no real opportunity for anything at all. The close-up version does take some advantage of those clouds, but again, it's still in the oven so to speak. I will get to it soon, hopefully.

 

Thanks for the motivation Walt, and for all of those taking the time to share an opinion!

 

A hui hou.

Yes larger is better !! Stunning!

simply beautiful!

This is an amazing shot. It's a wonder to me that you retained so much detail in the shadows through the valley without blowing out the clouds. And no grad ND filter?

Yes, and any photographer worth his weight in sand has those *secondary skills* to help him through the - lean times .... (-;

New story behind the self-portrait Photo:

 

A certain heartless P-net member, one that I will keep nameless for now (Ken Williams) has taken my original self-portrait posted, (one of myself working tirelessly, VERY hard, in the heat, sweat and under very harsh conditions with tripod and cameras by the way), and instead made it a little Hawaiian Luau with food and music and looking like fun times. Sounds like a good idea actually... though you should all know the truth, that I was really working extremely hard under brutal conditions and suffering greatly...

No Todd, I did not use an ND filter on this image, only the Warmtone polarizer. Actually I rarely shoot at all when conditions absolutely require that I use one. Since I do live here, I can usually wait until I get the conditions I want, which usually mean less than average cloud cover. However when I see the taller cumulous variety, without any grey, I will often reach into my bag and hand-hold one of the two ND filters I carry. When traveling to other islands, as I did here, I am more inclined to use them since I really have little choice but to make the best of conditions that are presented. In this case I did not feel one was necessary due to the minimal amount of clouds in the scene. Something I had been hoping for. It would also have affected the mountain peaks since we are above the clouds. Hope this helps. Thanks again for all (but one) of your comments. Aloha.

wonderful colours, great sky, very pleasing image. thanks jana

Wonderfull photo, bravo!