Sunset over the Pacific

My wife and I just spent two weeks on vacation on the Big Island of Hawaii. It was a great vacation; a very beautiful part of the world. I am told that each of the Hawaiian islands is very unique, but one thing I learned about the Big Island is that it is very diverse and in many different ways. It has many ecosystems, with 11 out of the 13 global ecosystems. (I am still trying to figure out which list of ecosystems that is supposed to represent). It has many different cultures, as it is a melting pot for Polynesian, Tahitian, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, and many others. Regardless of where the people came from they are were very friendly and welcoming.

Of course I took my cameras. My camera bag weighed in at 23 pounds. In addition to my Canon 40D, I also took my Panasonic DMC-TS1. It was bought specifically for this trip as it can work underwater and shoot HD video. Over the next month I will post some of the images from this camera.

One of the images I really wanted to capture was admittedly cliche - a Hawaiian sunset with palm trees. One that I have seen on many post cards, but nonetheless want one to call my own. I never quite got what I was after, but I did get many that were quite different than I was expecting.

So to start the Hawaiian theme is my first Hawaiian sunset taken while still on route out the airplane window. I first grabbed a few frames with the TS1, but finally hauled out the 40D with the 24-105 and a circular polarizer. It was really the polarizer that made me switch. It is useful to cut down on glare and reflections and really made the colours pop.

The reason I didn't start with the 40D was because I wasn't prepared. I had the 70-200 mounted which was just too big to deal with for the airplane window. I also had packed additional stuff on top of the camera so digging it out and changing lenses was a major exercise. So my tip for the day is to always be prepared. Pack your camera bag as if you might want to use it on the go. Use the time while waiting at the gate to check your gear.

1/6400 f/4 ISO 200 EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM @ 80 mm Canon EOS 40D

Near Hawaii