February 16, 2011 · 1:40 pm

The View from Atop Diamond Head


You know the iconic profile (photos 1 and 2 below) from innumerable movies and television series.  You’ve seen that background on everything from postcards of Honolulu to book covers.  It is one of the most instantly recognizable volcanic cones on Earth.  It is Diamond Head.  But what you may not know is that you can climb to the top of this natural wonder for some really stunning views of the city of Honolulu, the island of Oahu, and even the Diamond Head Lighthouse immediately below the uppermost lookout.  On a really good day you will be greeted by puffy white cumulus drifting through intensely blue skies over water ranging from aqua to deep oceanic blue.  If you have a DSLR, this is the hike on which you want to haul it with you.  To get the most striking colors out of the sky and surrounding ocean, don’t forget to pack a good polarizing filter.  And bring along plenty of drinking water.  You’re going to need that most of all.

The Diamond Head State Monument is easy to get to from downtown Honolulu and Waikiki Beach.  Just hop on a city bus.  Take route 22, 23, or 24 (current as of this writing).  From the bus stop your journey on foot begins.  You will climb up a gradual slope with several lookouts (photos 3 and 4 below) along the way.  Eventually you will reach the Kahala Tunnel (photo 5), which will grant you access to the floor of the crater (photo 6).

It is here where you will find the toll booth for further access. Walking across the crater, you will pass by a National Guard Armory and other buildings (Hawaii’s primary Air Traffic Control Center used this crater as its base of operations until 2001).  Beyond this trek of the crater floor is where your real work begins as you ascend (photos 7 and 8 ) to the highest point on Diamond Head’s southwest rim.  Take it slow, go easy, and give yourself plenty of breaks on the rather strenuous climb.  The walk is neither dangerous nor overly difficult, but the steep incline will take a toll on you especially if you’re not in the fittest of physical shape.  But once you get to the top, Wow! The views are simply incredible.

Diamond Head has been used by the military since 1909 and former artillery command and control posts still occupy the rim (photo 14).  Below the lookout is the picturesque Diamond Head Lighthouse (photos 9 and 10) standing against the colorful aqua backdrop of the Pacific Ocean.  To the east lie Honolulu and the white sand beaches of Waikiki.  For a really interesting shot, try stitching together a panoramic of the entire crater (photo 18).

A Question to My Readers:

I’ve now been doing this blog since January 3rd of this year, and this is the twenty-fourth blog entry.  During this time I have covered a wide range of topics:  photography, travel, food & wine, eBook readers, movie reviews, aviation safety, and even an informational piece on QR codes.  Now I need to hear from you, the readers of this blog.

What topics have been of the most interest to you? What would you like to see more?  What would you like to see left on the cutting room floor?  Since the entire raison d’être for this blog is to bring attention and sales to my books (one out currently; more on the way soon), how might I best serve that purpose?  What brings you, the reader, to consider making the purchase?  Please weigh in by leaving a comment and let me know your likes and dislikes concerning the topics covered to date.  I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

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Filed under Photography, travel

February 14, 2011 · 2:06 pm

The Social Network (Movie Review)


The Social Network

Biography, Drama, Some Humor.  2010, U.S., 120 Minutes, directed by David Fincher

Medium:  Netflix Blu-ray rental (Available on DVD)

Rating:  5.0 (5-point system)

It’s not often that I consider a movie (or even a book for that matter) worthy of a 5.0 rating. That rarified status is reserved for those works that are truly outstanding in every way.  The Social Network is one of those rare gems.

The story of Mark Zuckerberg and the genesis of that social networking monolith Facebook is told through a series of legal depositions and flashbacks expertly woven together into a very coherent and highly enjoyable tale.  At its core, The Social Network is about a socially inept misfit who through sheer mental agility and perhaps a bit of intellectual property theft (depending on who you believe) establishes himself as the most significant social networking force since Alexander Graham Bell and the invention of the telephone.  Along the way we see portrayed those who claim that Mr. Zuckerberg cheated on his way toward becoming the world’s youngest “self-made” billionaire.  By the end of this movie one is truly left wondering for whom to root—a sociopathic Mark Zuckerberg, the upper-crust Winklevoss twins Cameron and Tyler, former best friend and initial Facebook financial backer Eduardo Saverin.

The writing is superb on every level, from integration of the various flashbacks to the ever-witty dialogue and subtle putdowns uttered by Mark Zuckerberg as he seeks to place his detractors firmly in their place.  Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay of Ben Mezrich’s The Accidental Billionaires is as tight as the lid on a recently purchased pickle jar.  Screenwriting, simply put, does not get any better than this.

Let us also reserve credit for the actors. You won’t be saying “Jesse who?” after this picture, that’s for certain.  Jesse Eisenberg’s portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg is over-the-top in its understatedness.  That is not a contradiction.  Mr. Eisenberg deadpans his way through the entire movie, almost never showing emotion except through his use of intellectual insults, references to other people’s lack of intelligence or their bra sizes, and other condescending and sarcastic witticisms.  The final image, of Mr. Zuckerberg repeatedly and robotically hitting the ‘refresh’ button on his computer after sending a Facebook ‘friend’ request to the woman whose scorn initially sent him on this quest sums up the character like no other scene in the movie.

But as brilliant as Mr. Eisenberg’s performance, none of the excellent cast is outshone. There was not a single weak performance anywhere in this movie.  They are all merely differing degrees of brilliant.  For example Arnie Hammer’s turn as both halves on the Winklevoss Twins (or Winklevi as they are referred to by Eisenberg’s Zuckerberg) is flawless through some particularly incredible CGI manipulation.  Andrew Garfield’s portrayal of best friend Eduardo Saverin, particularly in the scene where he finds his shares of Facebook diluted to a pittance, makes you feel the overwhelming sense of betrayal and further serves to highlight Zuckerberg’s petty vindictiveness.  Even Rooney Mara’s all-too-brief scenes as former Zuckerberg girlfriend Erica Albright were outstanding in showing the viewer how Zuckerberg’s misuse of his intellect and his thinly veiled paranoia affected those around him, driving away friends and acquaintances who were already in far too short supply.  Baby Boomers born in the early ‘50s should watch for David Selby (Quentin Collins of Dark Shadows fame) as one of the deposing attorneys—a master manipulator in his own right who verbally lays traps for Zuckerberg, then stands back and smugly watches as his prey ensnare himself with his own diatribes.

Off topic plea: Fellow indie author Tracey Alley has been having a very rough time of it lately.  Her health has recently been deteriorating, requiring a bone marrow transplant just a few weeks ago and an iron transfusion just today.  Being back in the hospital is not fun, and she’s spent a lot of time there this past month or so.  Because of this she has also been unable to promote her books as she should and her sales of suffered as a result.  Her fellow author friends would appreciate it if you could visit her Web Log and leave a quick “Get Well” comment.  Also, please drop by her Amazon Author Central Page and, if you enjoy the fantasy genre, consider giving her a lift by purchasing one of her books.  The Kindle versions are only 99¢.

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Filed under Movies

February 10, 2011 · 11:59 pm

The Photo Clinic Is Open


I was recently sent a link to some pictures taken by an online friend who wanted to know what I thought of them and asking my opinion on suggested improvements.  Now, I don’t really enjoy critiquing some else’s artistic endeavors.  Doing so makes me uncomfortable.  Art truly is in the eye of the beholder and my opinion may not be the opinion of others.  Nevertheless I decided to give it a go, but I had insufficient information.  You might ask why that is, since I had access to the actual photographs, but that isn’t really enough.  To really help M. Schwartz (photographer’s nom de plume of choice) I needed to know the camera used so that I could better analyze the photographs in the context of the capabilities of both the camera and lens, so I asked.  Turns out that the photographer was using a Nikon Coolpix S550 (which, if I’d been thinking, I could have ascertained via the EXIF metadata embedded into the photographs—but obviously I wasn’t thinking).  Armed with that information, I was able to download a copy of the S550 User’s Manual and give tips appropriate to the specific camera.

But first, a word about the conditions under which these photographs were taken.  The photographer was faced with the challenge of aiming the camera’s lens through a chain-link fence, which greatly reduced the photographer’s options on camera placement, angle, zoom, and ultimately even composition.  Consequently, some of the photographs were post-processed to zoom in and recompose digitally after the fact, which is not the optimum way to improve any shot.  Finally, the photographer was maneuvering in ankle-deep snow in temperatures hovering around the 20° mark (-7° Celsius) beneath cloudy skies aiming at subjects further shaded by an overpass and surrounding vegetation.  These are conditions that would challenge many experienced photographers, me included.  All things considered, these shots represent a valiant photographic effort.

Here are the photographs in question (reprinted with permission of the artist/copyright holder):

After some thorough analysis and research, here was my response:

Dear M. Schwartz,

So sorry about taking so long to get back to you.  And believe it or not, I lost the first version of this because my message on KindleBoards timed out and I lost it, so I’m having to retype it (this time using WordPad).

Composition-wise, I really liked some of your shots:  3, 5, 6, 14, and 16.  Shot 13 had some real promise, and I can see why you chose to center the subject rather than use the Rule of Thirds, but if you’re going to forgo that rule you need something else to give the shot visual interest.  In this case (and as a way of improving a little on shot 14 as well I might add), I would have held the camera vertically to give the tracks through the snow greater depth.  This is known as a “portrait” orientation (taller rather than wider).  Holding the camera normally, as you did in all these shots, is called a “landscape” orientation.  Another way you could have improved on shot 13 would have been, in addition to a portrait orientation, angling the camera so that the tracks started in a foreground corner and receded near the top center, or perhaps even cutting diagonally across the frame.

Your camera’s automatic white balance worked fairly well, but it didn’t quite compensate enough.  This is evident in the bluish tint of the snow.  Looking at page 89 of the Nikon S550 User’s Manual, you will note that the S550 has in addition to an automatic white balance mode a “Preset Manual” mode, which you probably don’t want to mess with until you get really experienced, and five specific lighting modes: Daylight, Incandescent, Florescent, Cloudy, and Flash.  Unfortunately not included in those modes is a separate “Shade” setting, but “Cloudy” will help resolve most of the bluish tint you would get under those circumstances.  A good rule of thumb on when to take your camera out of automatic white balance mode is this:  If the frame is filled primarily with one strong color (the green of a forest, yellow from a carnation, the bright red of a rose, or, in this situation, the stark white of a field of snow beneath cloudy skies), then switch to another white balancing mode to ensure accurate color rendition.  If the sun is out go with Daylight.  If it’s cloudy or if your primary subject is in shade, set the camera to Cloudy.  In this case, most of the blue tint would have been reduced, resulting in a whiter-looking snow and better rendering the color of the freight car.

Unfortunately even changing the white balance would not have given you the stark whiteness you would have looked for in the snow because your S550’s exposure meter was completely fooled by the amount of light reflecting off the snow.  That is why the snow is a dingy gray in almost every shot.   Go to page 34 of the manual, “Scene Modes.”  There are fifteen such modes listed.  One of them is “Beach/Snow,” which is covered more in-depth on page 37.  Had you set your camera to this mode it would have increased exposure, probably by around one full stop.  That equates to a doubling of the exposure, which would have greatly increased the whiteness of the snow and better rendered the color and fine details of the freight car and railroad tracks, which are currently lost in the darkness.

But even your camera’s Beach/Snow mode probably would not have compensated enough, as beach sand is usually not as bright as snow and that means compromises had to be made.  While this mode may have gained you as much as one full stop, you probably needed closer to 1.5 to two full stops to get the best and most accurate exposure.  Thus, this next tip would have fixed this situation even better.

Go to page 32, “Exposure Compensation.”  This will tell you how to manually adjust the exposure compensation for any given shot, either by reducing the exposure or increasing it.  The S550 can compensate ± 2 stops in ⅓ increments.  Since snow is highly reflective, you would have wanted to compensate by increasing the amount of exposure initially by 1.5 stops.  Reviewing a test photograph on the LCD you could then increase the amount of exposure if the snow were still gray-looking, or back off the exposure if the overall frame were overexposed.  After adjusting exposure compensation accordingly, retake the shot and verify again on the LCD.

While we’re on the subject of exposure compensation, let’s get off topic for a moment and talk about sunsets.  Your camera has a Scene Mode for that as well.  Sunsets represent the opposite problem from that encountered in snow because  these pictures often come out overexposed, requiring decreased exposure compensation.  If you don’t compensate, that dark horizon will fool your camera’s built-in light meter and as a result those bright oranges, reds, and purples you were trying to capture will get washed out. in a muddled sea of overexposed light.  In this case, either go with the Sunset Mode on your S550 or, if you really want to be in control, set the white balance to daylight and adjust the exposure compensation to -1.  Again, take the shot and adjust the exposure compensation accordingly.

I hope this helps you out and that it wasn’t too technical.  Please let me know if it was, and also if referring you to specific pages in your camera’s User’s Manual assisted in the explanations.

Gee . . . this would have made a really good blog.  You wouldn’t want me to make you famous and get your pictures some additional exposure (pun intended) would you?

One thing I neglected to include in my correspondence to M. Schwartz was an admonition to make sure you put your camera’s settings back to automatic white balance and zero out the exposure compensation when you’re done.  Otherwise all subsequent pictures may turn out incorrectly tinted and exposed.

You will no doubt notice that two of the topics covered here (composition and exposure compensation) were discussed in previous blog entries:

Honey, Why is the snow so gray . . .

The Rule of Thirds

Hopefully, this advice helps to reinforce those tips by showing their application in real world photography. Many thanks to M. Schwartz for the use of the photographs and for agreeing to allow me to reproduce here my research and advice. I hope others found this information informative as well.

The Photo Clinic is now closed.

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