Moisture, Salt, Sensitive Camera Equipment: One of These Doesn't Belong

I made a trip out to Catalina Island to get some unbroken time behind the lens and have some fun doing a decidedly "for me" activity with a coworker.  One of the trickiest parts of being a hobbyist photographer is the fact that some of the best shots are during awkward times of day and the weather rarely cooperates.  Don't get me wrong, I've also shivered, scorched, and hangered my way through for a great shot (and subjected some other people to these as well), but it wasn't the sole focus for the day.  

I just wanted "great shots, given _____."  An application of the 80/20 rule where 80% of the results come from 20% of the effort and any effort after that is really subject to diminishing returns where more effort doesn't get you as much result.  I'm pretty happy with the results from the day, although it was tricky managing lenses and shooting in a nautical environment.  Especially on the ferry ride back when the waves chopped and splashed salt water droplets up onto my lens and sunglasses.  Luckily, I had microfiber wipes tucked into my bag for a quick cleaning, but it was definitely a moment when I realized I needed to get a serious lens cleaning kit to keep my gear un-corroded.

Active Shooting Hours: 6
Review Hours: 4
Hours To Date: 367

Sometimes, the best shots aren't from a DSLR - we went on an "undersea adventure" boat where there were viewing windows along the sides under the water to see fish and my old iPhone5s handled the quick movement and challenging light much better.

Even in spite of the harsh overhead light, I love the bright colors that pop in this one

Feeling nearly tropical!

Golden hour on the ferry - the front element of my lens took one for the team on this one.

Timing

"It's always about timing. If it's too soon, no one understands. If it's too late, everyone's forgotten." - Anna Wintour The summer has positively flown by. I can't believe I start school orientation next week and then immediately jump on a plane for my "Last Hurrah" trip to Hawaii, which will honestly be the last photo-centric trip I'll be able to take for some time. I'm sure there will be many opportunities to photograph interesting goings-on with grad school, but that probably won't be at front of mind with actual studying, case analyzing, and paper writing going on.

Since the week in Hawaii will be rich with interesting subjects, I hope to make some improvements to the quality of photos I'm able to take. Thus, I've been reading up on various strategies to coax out sublime colors and light and I've come to the conclusion that it's all about timing.

There are really two optimal times of day and  a 15 minute or so window at each time for amazing natural light: sunrise and sunset (ha, like the Fiddler on the Roof song). And this is where it'll be an interesting challenge, since I'm not generally a morning person and with this last vacation before the maelstrom of working full time and going to school part time starts, I do want to actually enjoy myself and relax. Again, it will come down to striking a balance! I hope to be able to get up for the sunrise at least once or twice during the week. Sunset will be a little easier to negotiate, we'll just have to make sure our dinner reservation doesn't overlap with it! Some of the tourist things we'll do will inevitably coincide with non-optimal harsh light, but c'est la vie.

I might even experiment with the aperture/shutter speed priority modes. To date, I've shot exclusively in manual mode, which has resulted in some over/underexposure, but was a great way to learn how to adjust on the fly and make artistic choices. The downside to that is that sometimes, images won't come out quite right and I don't always react/adjust the settings quickly enough to catch a moment before it's gone. I may start sprinkling in some of the priority modes just to increase the chances that I get a salvageable shot since I'm working sans light meter. I find that when photographing things in the moment, it frequently comes down to luck.

The benefit of this trip is that I'll have lots of opportunity to take a lot of photos - my goal is at least 1500 shots through the whole trip and the law of large numbers should let me see where my skill level shakes out on average. Not to mention more images should result in a higher absolute number of "good" shots.

Book Learning: 2 Hours to Date: 177