When you want to see the stars, find someplace dark
Somehow I had gone fifteen years in Hawaii without seeing a monk seal in the wild. How I had managed this I will never know, perhaps just bad luck.
Been there, done that.
Not just one monk seal, but three. And a great view, watching as the seals played in the water then pulled up on the beach to rest for the day.
Continue reading “Monk Seals”
This week I returned to Puʻuwaʻawaʻa.
The plan was to use a mountain bike this time. One nagging issue in hiking Puʻuwaʻawaʻa is the long access road you need to hike just to get to the base of the puʻu. Two miles of straight, and mostly paved road to climb before the hike really gets interesting.
It is old pavement, but in good shape as there is little more than foot traffic. Last time hiking out I wished I had a bike so those two miles would be one smooth downhill roll back to the vehicle. Once above the puʻu I could use the bike to explore the network of ranch roads that lead back into the forest reserve.
That was the plan, reality did not work out quite as well.
Continue reading “Puʻuwaʻawaʻa Take 2”
Another hike… Another video…
A little drone footage, a lot of stills. With the drone, the phone, and the little mirrorless M5 I was carrying three cameras for the morning. Most of my daypack was camera gear, along with a small first aid kit, 1/2 gallon of water and iced tea, and munchies.
I seem to have solved some technical issues that plagued my videos from earlier this year. Using a ND32 or ND64 filter really does help slow shutter speeds in full sunlight. You can see some choppiness in the faster pans, but that is mostly from using 30fps for the final rendering rather than in the source.
What did cause trouble is the vibrant greens of Puʻuwaʻawaʻa, some shots came out muddy yellow-green. Need the check how I am setting the white balance in the drone, need to use fixed sunlight rather than auto.