Review of the Focus In Paradise May-2012 Workshop in Kauai

Focus In Paradise held our May photography workshop, From Snap Shots to Great Shots, on the south shore of Kauai Island, Hawaii.  We used the Kiahuna Plantation as our workshop base for the two days of instruction and shooting.  The course covered the fundamentals of digital photography: lighting effects on the image, camera settings for desired results, composition for a strong presentation , and image post-processing and printing.  We shot hundreds of images, learned numerous photographic techniques, and created images that were ready for printing.

Rainbow Eucalyptus bark shot as an abstract

After the first morning's classroom work and setting up everyone's camera equipment, we headed for our first stop in the field at the National Tropical Botanical Gardens.  Students were able to capture some fantastic images of Torch Ginger, Hawaiian Heliconia, Plumeria, and Rainbow Eucalyptus, to name just a few of the colorful flora here.




As the sun was starting to get low in the sky, we headed over to Kukui'ula Harbor to catch the warm evening glow on the lava rock and dramatically-lit red clouds looking east as well as the setting sun looking west.  The waves just feet away added to the beauty of the images the students captured.

Kukui'ula Harbor at sunset

The next morning was an early one as we met at 5:15 am for a short hike up the cliffs above Shipwreck Beach and looking east toward Maha'ulepu Beach where the sun would eventually rise.  Adding graduated filters to our photographic tools for the morning allowed everyone to manage the wide dynamic range of light, shooting directly into the sunrise.  As the sun rose higher, we headed back down to Shipwreck Beach where the morning light caused the moss on the rocks to emit a brilliant green color, not seen by those arriving after 8:00 am that day :)

Sunrise above Shipwreck Beach

Back to the classroom as the sun's light became too harsh for good image captures, we concentrated on post-processing of each student's images using several different editing software packages.  It was a great full two days of photography, loaded with skill development and dramatic image capture.

We are looking forward to our next workshop on Kauai in October/November this fall!