Vailima

Vailima is a really good beer made in Samoa. The Big bottles are also a lot stronger and will sneak up on you if not careful. It is almost like drinking two beers for every one. In this photo, a young lady is enjoying a big bottle at the beach. It was shot with a zoom lens, which compresses the image. That is why the kayaker in the background appears close. I used a wide aperture so that the background would be blurred out as much as possible. Would like to have shot at f2.8 to get the background totally blurred, but my 100-400 lens can't open up that much. I would love to get my hands on the Canon 400 f2.8. Anyone have $6 grand to donate to a poor photographer? Now, I am going to pop open a cold beer (one of many) and enjoy being one of the last people on earth to ring in the New Year. With no fireworks allowed in American Samoa and wanting to spend the evening with the kids, it will surely be a quiet one.

Another Church

Another day, another church. This church has a bit of a story. It is the only time when I got grief from people for taking photos. As always, I had parked the car and asked some people nearby if it was okay to take some photos of their beautiful church. They said yes so I set up my camera and tripod. By the time I was set up, they were already gone. As I started taking photos, two guys came up. I could smell beer on their breath and they wanted money for me taking photos of "their" church. Now, I was going to say something like "doesn't the church belong to God", but I bit my tongue and let them know I had asked permission. Undaunted, they said I was going to make a lot of money selling photos of the church. So, I did what every self respecting photographer would do. I told them I wasn't going to pay them money (I don't lie and say I don't have any) but would delete the photos. I pressed a couple of buttons on the back of my camera and showed them a blank screen saying the photos were deleted. Got back in my car and drove away, with the photos still intact. Just goes to show it ain't hard to fool a drunk. So, today I post the church photo that was the 1st time someone tried to extort money from me.

P.S. 99.9999% of the people here are the friendliest people I have ever met. Most are very happy that you want to photograph their beautiful souroundings. Treat people with respect and almost always you get the respect back. But as in any place in the world, there are assholes out there. Don't let that discourage you.

overclock

I can't believe that 2008 is almost over. Next month I make 5 years in American Samoa. Time has gone by so quickly. It helps that I live in a beautiful place. But, after not being off Island for nearly a year, I need a break. I want to walk into a supermarket and get a fresh salad and stare at all the fresh fruits and vegetables. Things I used to take for granted.

This photo was shot at night using a very high ISO. I used a program called NeatImage to clean up the noise.

Christmas in American Samoa

Being in American Samoa means we are one of the last Countries to celebrate Christmas. I feel sorry for some of the people fighting the cold weather. Today was bright and sunny and lots of people enjoyed swimming at the beach. For us, it was open the presents then go for our traditional breakfast at McDonalds. Then the kids played and I made a turkey. We just got finished eating so I have a few minutes. All my Christmas photos were made by bouncing my flash off of the white ceiling in the house. It makes for much better photos than just hitting the kids with direct flash. You lose a lot of the harsh shadows this way. And, when the kids are ripping through the presents, not much time to goof around so just shot on ETTL and let the camera work its magic.

Merry Christmas

Well, it's Christmas eve here and the kids are just going to sleep. I made spaghetti tonight which they love, including our dog tramp who does not think she is a dog. This is her on the sofa after eating a big bowl of spaghetti and settling down to have sweet dreams of Santa. Now, I have a ton of presents to wrap and put under the tree for Christmas. To everyone that checks out this blog, Merry Christmas.

Nudes

When I mention that I have shot nudes as part of my journey in photography, I get very mixed comments. Most think shooting nudes is about having a naked person in front of you to ogle over. That could not be further from the truth. Shooting nudes is about lighting and the human form, which is the furthest thing from sex. If shooting the female nude, you should always have a female assistant with you. This will immediately set the tone of the shoot and show that you are professional. In this photo, I used three speedlights strategically placed to highlight her body and hair, while keeping the background dark. I really enjoy shooting low key nudes as opposed to more glamour style. Besides, I think there is a finer line to draw when shooting glamour style nudes between ("nude") and ("pornography"). Of course, the meaning is different for everyone due to different moral values. I'm sure some will think this image is not appropriate. Heck, I remember during the arts festival where some people were up in arms over some of the performers being topless, which is their custom. I do not feel we have the right to judge, but should be tolerant.

This photo was part of a class I took. Hope you enjoy it.

High Noon

As I started to learn photography, I soon learned that shooting in the bright afternoon light was not the best time. Early morning and later in the afternoon was much better. Cloudy days were perfect for shooting outside photos of people. In this photo, I was out scouting some sites to come back later in the early evening to take photos. I took this photo at about 12:00 in bright sunny weather. After goofing around with it in photoshop, I ended up liking the high contrast of the photo in black and white. This is a photo of pago pago harbour for those interested.

I hate Windows Vista

You can now add me to the list of people that hate windows vista. I bought a new laptop recently and it of course came with windows vista. One of the reasons I bought it was so that I can bring it on photo shoots and tether my camera to it. This allows you to view your photos on the monitor instead of your tiny screen on the back of your camera and make adjustments to lighting (if you are shooting flash), exposure etc. to make sure you have a good photo before moving on. It is the greatest thing since sliced bread. EXCEPT, with windows Vista, I can't tether my canon 20d. There are no drivers for vista and canon ain't going to make one either. So I have now decided to run virtual PC on my computer which I will load with window XP (which of course I had to buy) so I can run some programs that don't work with Vista. That really sucks. I only hope after getting this loaded (the software arrives Friday) it will work. I'm going on a trip in January and really need this.

The photo to the left is from some performers from Guam. I go to Guam a couple times a year and it is a nice place. A little bit too touristy but that's ok.

simple lighting

I wanted to post this photo for two reasons. First, I think you can achieve some nice light with just speedlights. This was shot using two 550ex. The first fired into an umbrella and the second is a bounce off of a white ceiling for fill. What I don't like is a dilemma that comes up time and again. What to do with the hands. I think this photo would have been better with some hand placement. I now remember the karate chop theory. That is, show the side of the hands to the camera, instead of flat on. But, having a beautiful model can help regardless and this photo has had a lot of nice comments on pbase.

American Samoa Marina

Someone was talking to me today about improvements that can be made in American Samoa. Lots of things come to mind. Certainly, taking steps to diversify our economy is paramount to the long term viability of American Samoa. Being in the Pacific for more than 15-years, I have to say that given our natural harbour here, the lack of some sort of marina just is amazing. It is basically non-existent which means if you can't trailer a boat, you are going to be hard pressed to moor a boat at the docks here. They really need to do something. That in turn could help spawn some sort of sport fishing development and maybe some diving. There is a lot potential in this area. The attached photo was taken from a helicopter. The helicopter has since been taken back to Hawaii due to lack of demand. I shot this with my 100-400 lens. The trick is to use a fast enough shutter speed. I was shotting at a minimum of 1/500th of a second.

New Zealand

Well, its been raining all weekend non-stop, which really sucks. It's times like this when living in a small pacific island gets to you. Not like you can hop in the car and drive to the mall. And the theatre didn't change out the movie, so couldn't do that. We did manage to get a Christmas tree (yep, got a real one this year) and set that up, but that's about it. Sitting in the house and watching the rain fall. You would think with all the time on my hands I would write a long blog post, but don't even feel like that. At least my vacation is finally planned so I can start a month long count-down. After not being off the island for so long, I'm starting to get rock fever.

This photo is a New Zealand performer. Thought I would post and maybe he will scare the rain away.

My Dog

I was going through my photos from Christmas last year, looking for something to post to start off December. I came across this photo of my dog. We called her Lady. She was actually a stray that started to hang around our house. She was malnourished and the kids started to feed her. Soon, she was living under the porch of the house. I told the kids to give her a bath and flea dip if the dog would let them and she did. Then, one day the kids let her in the house while I was at work. Ironically, when the dog had to go to the bathroom, she went to the door and barked. The only thing we can figure out is that she belonged to some family and was an inside dog, but maybe they moved away and just threw their dog out the door. That is how it is here, with so many stray dogs and a lot of people that mistreat dogs. Granted, with so many dogs roaming, people get bit. But ironically a survey done showed that most of the "stray" dogs have owners. They just let their dogs roam around. People carry sticks when they walk and any dog that gets too close will get a whack. Now with our dog Lady, one day a neighbor dog came around and the kids opened the door and lady ran after the other dog. My kids chased her and she ran across the street until the kids yelled for her to come back. She stopped and headed back to the kids when a car came down the road and swerved to deliberately hit the dog. They killed her right in front of my kids and then just kept driving down the road like nothing happened. People across the street saw what happened and got a license number, but it would have been useless to report it. I was only glad Lady died instantly as there are no good vets here and at least she didn't suffer. I tell the kids at least she had a good life with us and that she would have died a long time ago if we had not taken her in. Funny thing is, she was the most gentlest dog and would never hurt anyone and to this day I hope the person that ran her over has bad karma because of it. So, this will be a Christmas without lady. But we got another dog and named her tramp (she came from the humane society). With all the dogs out there, if you are planning on getting a pet, consider getting one from a shelter. And remember, pets are a lot of responsibility. Don't just get a dog and throw it outside to fend for itself.

carabau

I like high contrast photos in black and white. Take this photo, which was shot on a sunny day in the afternoon. The color just didn't do it for me, so I converted to black and white. The Carabau in the Philippines remains an important part of everyday life in the Philippines, especially in the provinces. This man was walking his carabau down a stream when I captured this photos. The background huts add to the photo in my mind. If you are in the Philippines, get out of manila and go to the Province where you will experience true Filipino culture.

Seven Deadly Sins

Working on a personal project called the seven daily sins. Can you guess which sin this represents?

This photo was shot using a wide angle lens and a flash held off camera, attached to a synch cord to keep ETTL. For post processing, I used a photoshop action called Urban Acid. I had this action for awhile and kind of liked the look it gave this photo. I'm always on the lookout for new photoshop actions to try out and have a bunch. Sometimes just goofing around gives you a look you like. I get a lot of my actions from just googling. I also like to go to www.atncentral for some cool actions. A lot of free stuff is around if you just take some time.

Moon Shot

You don't need a telescope to take photos of the moon, although a long lens helps. This photo was taken with my camera and my 100-400mm canon lens at 400mm. When shooting the moon, I always remember "moonie 11". What this means is a good starting point is 1/Iso at f11. So, If I am shooting at ISO 100 at f11, my shutter speed would be 1/125th at f11 (remember your camera won't have 1/100th so you need to go 1/135th). That will give you a good target. Check you histogram for blown out highlights. Remember, a lot of the viewfinder will be black, so expect your histogram to be bunched up to the left side. What you want is to make sure you don't have any of the histogram touching the right side. If you don't have a histogram, then start at 1/125th and then bracket to make sure. This is one of my favorite shots of a full moon in American Samoa. I am impressed with the detail you can get with just a camera and a long lens. No telescope here.

American Samoa streams

Well, I can't believe 2008 is almost over and tomorrow is December. I now start my one month of not drinking any alcohol, which I do every year. Normally, I wouldn't pick December as it is a time of Christmas parties etc., but I haven't gone a full month without drinking so it has to be December. I started this a while back and usually pick February (guess why - shortest month).

This is a photo of one of the many streams in American Samoa. Taken with an exposure of 2 seconds. There are a lot of streams here, although lately I haven't been venturing out into the woods due to a dengue outbreak that is going on here. I have gotten Malaria and one type of Dengue, but there are four different types of dengue which means you can get it more than once. I'm not keen on getting a bad case here, as the hospital is less than desired.

Cultural Differences

This Solomon Island woman proudly displays a necklace, which includes dolphin teeth. I lived in the Solomon Islands for three years when Ethnic fighting was taking place, which led to a subsequent coup and a militant take-over. It was sad as the Solomon Islands is probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, especially when you get out of Honiara. It is also a place that tests your cultural tolerances. I remember when one of my workers proudly showed me one day a necklace made of dolphin teeth. He told me the teeth are very valuable and still used for things such as paying a bride price. The people hunt the dolphins in canoes and bang stones under water to attract them. They would herd the dolphins into the shore of one of the lagoons, where they would get disorientated. The people would then kill them, turning the lagoon red with blood. Although they would eat the meat of the dolphin, it was the teeth that was the most valuable. It would take a number of dolphins just to make one necklace. To most of the world, it is a barbaric practice. But the people of the Solomon Islands have been using them for trade for centuries. Even the Governor of the Central Bank in the Solomon Islands said that the teeth are like gold. People use them as a measure of their wealth. I'm not going to judge, but I think I will stick to other forms of currency for now. Hopefully the economic crises won't reach the point where I need to pay for my McDonalds meal with a couple of Dolphin teeth. I can just picture it now, "you can upsize your meal for only an extra tooth".

Kiribati

This is a beautiful young woman from Kiribati. Kiribati is an independent nation, about 2,500 miles Southwest of Hawaii. All the Islands are Atolls, except for one. There are slightly less than 100,000 people in the whole country. A lot of people will recognize Tarawa, which is the site of some of the bloodiest fighting of WWII. As a kid, I used to watch Lets Go Fishing go to Christmas Island and catch huge Ulua. The fishing is incredible.

family

Photography is a journey. You are constantly learning new things (and making mistakes). At least that is how it is with me.

Take Thanksgiving at our house in American Samoa. My kids have about a 30 second attention span. Which means I had to get the photo set up beforehand to have any chance of getting a decent photo. Now the challenge is that the room is darker than the outside. So, if I wanted to have the outside not blown out, the room would be dark. So, I first set up my camera and without using flash, found the proper exposure for the outside light. Then, I added the flash and dialed the power in until I liked the lighting on the table. I used a 60-inch umbrella which threw light everywhere, which is what I wanted. The last two photos show without flash and then with the flash added in. When the turkey was set up, I just turned on the flash and shot three frames. Unfortunately, I see that in the final photo, the umbrella is seen in the reflection of the door glass. Oh well, live and learn. The kids were just too restless to formally pose, so I had to take what I could get. And Yes, I made the turkey (I do so every year for the kids).

Thanksgiving

Well, I'm sitting here looking out the window and it is pouring down rain. For the past couple years, I have tried to go out after thanksgiving dinner and take a sunset photo. This photo was taken the prior year. That little white speck at the top is actually the moon. Since I was using a wide angle lens, the moon will look very small. If you want to make the moon/sun big, you need to use a long lens. I will be putting the turkey in the oven soon (I cook the thanksgiving dinner every year) and then we will just have to see if the weather improves.

The one thing about this photo I wish I would have done was throw some flash on the foreground (coconut trees etc) to make them pop a little more.

Pago Pago Bay

This is the view of Pago Pago Bay from Mt. Alava. To get here, it is a 3-hour hike up a 4x4 trail (and another 2-hours back). The hike itself offers limited views, but at the top the view is incredible. There used to be a cable car that would take people up here, but it has long been out of service. This would be a wonderful spot to take some sunrise photos, but I am not dedicated enough for a 3-hour hike in the dark. When we got to the top, it was mid day (not the best time for photos) but when you hike that far, you are going to want to get some photos. This trail is actually only one of a few in the National Park. I really wish they would develop some more trails here. Pago Pago was once called the Pearl of the Pacific. It is also the most naturally protected deep water harbor in the Pacific. Unfortunately, the inner harbor is now polluted. Yet, the bay is still quite beautiful. Nothing much to say about this photo. When taking a photo like this, it often helps to get some foreground to give your photo a sense of depth (in this case the leaves). Used a zoom lens at wide angle and an aperture of f16 to get everything from the foreground out in focus. It helps if you know the hyperfocal distance of your lens (google). Set your camera on a tripod, and use manual focus. Set the focus at the hyperfocal distance. There is a great site at www.dofmaster.com where you can check out this method and even figure out the hyperfocal distance for a given lens and aperture. Once you figure this out, you will know that everything from the hyperfocal distance out will be in focus. Anyway, Happy Advance Thanksgiving

Zoom

I was driving around looking for photos without much luck. Stopped on the side of the road on the end of the island to drink a diet coke and look around. Decided to try something different. I set my camera on my tripod with my 17-85 zoom lens. Used a slower shutter speed and just zoomed the lens from 17-85 during the exposure. The results are very unpredictable. I like this photo (almost looks like a painting to me) and actually have it hanging on my wall. People are intrigued. Some like it and some hate it, but it is a subject of conversation. I added a frame around it in photoshop. But, the rest of the photo is almost straight out of the camera. So if you want to try something different, try to zoom. I have seen some nice photos using this technique on flowers or leaves in the fall (no change of seasons here in American Samoa).

Street Kids

I took this photo early in the morning in the Philippines. I had gotten up very early to walk around and see what was interesting. I came across this girl carrying a baby. There were still some people sitting outside this local bar (must have been about 5:00AM) and she was making the rounds trying to get some change. I have mixed feelings about giving money to street kids in the Philippines. Not that I mind giving (quite the contrary) but most of the time the money does not go for food. I remember one time giving some change to some kids and then going into a store to buy some soda. As I went to check out, the kids were in line in front of me buying glue. They were using my money to get high. After that, I stopped giving money. However, if I am in a place with a lot of street kids, I will sometimes buy a bunch of burgers from McDonalds or Jolly B and give them out. At least I know they won't spend the money on drugs.

This photo was taken with my camera in my right hand and I was holding my flash in my left. I do not believe the photo would had been as dramatic if I was using my flash on camera.

I also wanted to post this photo because it is a good reminder to me, how lucky I am. As the holidays approach, don't forget those less fortunate (including the many Americans that are now out of work). Count your blessings and make it a point to help those less fortunate than you if you can.

Family Time

Family is so important when you live on a small island. They help keep you sane.

Someone once asked my what are the must have accessories for your camera. It really comes down to what types of photos you are planning on shooting. It really depends on what type of photography you are into and opinions vary. For me, I could not live without a circular polarizer, a tripod and a flash (not the pop up flash that comes with your camera and some way to get your flash off of your camera.

The kids got a new skimboard and wanted to try it out. Of course I wanted to get some photos and of course the sun was bright which made it horrible for taking photos. The solution, flash. Now a lot of people don't even think of using flash on a sunny day, but it can make a big difference. In this case, I wanted to make the background not so bright. So with my canon camera on aperture mode, I dialed in -2 stops of exposure compensation. For the canon, this meant pressing the shutter half way then rotate the dial on your camera counterclockwise. You will see the needle (if you are looking in your view finder) move as you turn the dial. What this means is that your exposure will now be underexposed by two stops. But, I wanted my son to be lighted properly. So I dialed in +2 for my flash exposure compensation (check the manual for your camera on how to do this). So, this meant I had an underexposed background and a properly lit photo (where the flash hit -in this case pointed at my son). I used a shoe cord to get the flash off camera. I often will use this and I just hold the flash in my left hand and the camera in my right hand. If I have a heavier lens, I will use a monopod instead of handholding. By still having my flash attached to my camera, I was able to use high speed synch (again check your camera manual). Basically, your camera will only synch to your flash up to 1/125th or 1/250th of a second. If you go above that, your flash can't keep up (detailed explanations if you want - just google). But, some cameras allow you to go above that by using High Speed Synch. Now, if you remember a good rule, called sunny 16, your exposure on a sunny day would be 1/iso at f16. Since I'm using ISO 100, my shutter speed would be 1/125th (cameras don't have 1/100th) at f16. But I don't want that high of an aperture, so the more I open up (in this case f5.6) the faster the shutter speed. I also wanted to make the background darker (which meant a faster shutter speed also). So high speed synch was essential. You just got to remember your little flash is doing a lot of work, so closer is better. I probably didn't explain well. Strobist has a good article on this so check it out (he explains much better). If you just want to try something new, do this:

1. exposure compensation negative (pick your number)

2. flash exposure positive (same number)

3. flash set for high speed synch

4. fire away.

AND, don't forget to change your settings back because if you don't, you may wonder why all your photos are underexposed the next time you go to shoot (been there, done that).

Tisa's barefoot bar in American Samoa

If you come to American Samoa, you have to visit Tisa's barefoot bar. Great place to relax, have a swim or snorkel and get a cold drink. It is also okay to swim there on Sunday (a lot of places do not allow swimming on Sundays). The owners are great people, which adds to the atmosphere of the place.

I saw these clouds forming as I was sitting and having a cold beer one Sunday. Knowing that the dynamic range would be too much (either the clouds would be blown out or the foreground too dark) I set my camera on my tripod and shot several photos, making sure my aperture did not change. I then took the photos and combined them to make a HDR photo. If you are not familiar with this, just google and you will find all sorts of information.

FiaFia Night in American Samoa

Fiafia night in American Samoa. A chance to eat great Samoan food and watch dancers. Reminds me of a Luau in Hawaii. This is one of my favorite photos from a fiafia night at Sadies by the Sea (hotel in American Samoa). To me, this photo shows so much freedom and happiness. American Samoa is a great place to visit, although they need to develop tourism. A person recently remarked to me how slow things are here and the more I thought about it, the more he is right. But, that is what makes it a great place to raise a family. You don't have to worry about your kids like you do in the U.S. Violent crime is low and I can send my kids to school on the public transportation (aiga bus) without worrying. They have also seen a very unique culture during our five years here.

Now for this photo I wanted a little bit of a different look. Not color, but not black and white. To achieve this look, I opened my photo in photoshop. I then created a new layer and adjusted the saturation of the Red (and to a much lesser extent the yellow) channels negative. This had the effect of desaturation the photo, but not all the way. I just goofed with it until I got something I like.

There are times when American Samoa (like every other place) gets you down and looking at my photos remind me at how unique the place is and how lucky we are to be here.

It won't hurt - Trust Me

Another tattoo being done. I heard someone saying it won't hurt, trust me................. Followed by, "Ok, it hurts a little". No electric here. They take that metal rod to tap the needles into your skin. I can't even imagine getting a full tattoo like this. It is fascinating to watch and these people are artists. It is even more fascinating to watch the people getting their tattoos.

Wallis and Fortuna

Wallis and Fortuna Islands is home to about 15,000 people. The people are all French Citizens. This is just a simple portrait of one of the men from the Island Group. Just a short post today as I have to pick up someone at the airport.

Hula

Normally I like when people are making eye contact with the camera. But some photos work well without the eye contact. The photo on the left has no eye contact, yet I really liked the photo as it really conveys her happiness and being lost in the moment. I used focal point to add some blur around her and draw attention to where I wanted to. Of course, this was taken at night and I had to use a high ISO, despite the lights. If you can't get a fast enough shutter speed, Anticipate a moment when dancers are not moving as fast and then shoot. I hope you enjoy this photo.

Thanks to Mike Wong of onOne software for the nice comments about my Samoan black and white photo I previously posted. I use and recommend a number of their products, including focalpoint, genuine fractals, mask pro (which is so easy to use to cut out backgrounds etc.) and photo tools. I'm not going to lie, the software isn't cheap, but it is well worth the price and I was never disappointed. The amount of time I have saved using their products and some of the results have made the investment well worth it. check out the blog at http://www.ononesoftware.com/blog/ to see more.

Samoan Fireknife Dance

The modern fireknife dance was born from Freddie Letuli. Since it's humble beginning, the fire knife dance has become an art that would awe people everywhere. There is even a world fire knife championship held every year in Hawaii. Locals and tourists alike are fascinated with the performances of the fire knife dance. Unfortunately, many come away with photos that are less than desirable. In order to get a good photo, your shutter speed has to be slow enough so that it can record the full circle of the flame. Around 1/15th of a second is a good starting point. If the dancers are moving all around, you will be disappointed as they will be blurred. In this photo, I had my camera on a tripod set at 1/15th of a second. I had a flash set to 2nd curtain sync (that means your flash fires at the end of the exposure - although I think you would be ok without it). Wait until they are standing still and fire away (put your camera on shutter priority). Check to see if you got sufficient detail. Without some flash, the performers will likely be underexposed. Try lots and lots of exposures and you may just get one you are happy with. That is the great thing about digital, you can just delete what does not come out.

Taiwan

I was thinking about what to post tonight and decided to post this photo of a young Taiwanese woman who is from a small village. When many of us visualize a place we have never been to, we often have pre-conceived ideas of the place and it's culture. Many people think of Taiwan as a large city. But, Taiwan, like many Countries, has both city and Country life. To see a place, you must venture off of the beaten path and get out into the Country. I often travel to the Philippines and hear so many people say how crowded and polluted the place is. Yet, they never even bothered to get out of Manila, and many stayed in a small area, afraid to venture out. My advice is simple, don't be afraid to get off the beaten path and explore. You may come back with a whole different view on life. The Internet offers us with a wealth of information on places to see, as well as what is safe (safe is a relative term - how many people get murdered each year in their own homes). Do your research and the next time you travel, forget about the tour groups and go on an adventure.

Shore fishing in American Samoa

Had a guy from work visiting which was really great. Got to do some fishing, although we ended up unable to get a boat. Ended up trying a new place that you park on the top of this hill and walk down a trail for about 15-20 minutes. The trail is steep and I realized how much out of shape I am in. The first thing we caught weighed over 200lbs. Unfortunately, it was not a fish, but me (got a hook stuck deep). Luckily the guy had pliers and with the anticipation of the pain soon to be, he yank the hook out of my finger. After that, he hooked a huge Ulua, which got away quickly. I then caught the fish you see in this photo, which I was quite happy with (we are cutting it up right after I finish this post). After that, he hooked and landed an ulua weighing about 30-35 lbs. This was on spinning tackle and was quite a fight. The place has a lot of big ulua for sure, and I will be going back again (besides, it is good exercise - I keep telling myself as I climbed back up). Need to get a better gaff though to help land some of the big fish that are lurking around.

The other photo above is of my dog tramp (on the right) and the puppy from next door that thinks is our dog and always visits. Unfortunately, the photo is a little out of focus, but I thought it was cute so I wanted to post. Can you tell which one jumped up a few seconds later to try and score a meal (hint - it is the dog with the tongue hanging out).

Solomon Islands Pan Piper

Been out fishing all day so this will be a short post. Did manage to catch a couple of small ones, but nothing to write home about. Have a guy visiting so will be going fishing tomorrow. Hopefully will have better luck.

The photo is of a Pan Piper from the Solomon Islands. The music is beautiful and unique. I lived in the Solomon Islands for three years before moving to American Samoa.

macro

American Samoa has a lot of hermit crabs. If you have never seen one up close before, now you have. This was taken with my 100mm macro lens. This guy is not that big. I really enjoy all types of photography and my macro lens opens up a different world of possibilities.

Samoan

I'm not normally into black and white photography, but some photos lend themselves well to black and white. This photo of American Samoans performing is a good example. There was a lot of color cast from different lights that made it difficult to get an effective white balance. So, I decided to make this a black and white photo. Now although some cameras have a black and white mode (digital cameras), I prefer to shoot normal. Since I use Raw, I know I have all the information I need to keep the color file, or convert to black and white. Since I use photoshop, I converted this image in photoshop. Now, I have been considering getting a lensbaby (www.lensbaby.com) to get some selective focus. These lens allow you to get a unique selective focus. The use of selective focus allows you to get focus attention on your focal point and blur distracting elements. But I already had purchased a suite of photoshop plug-ins from onone software. This included focal point, which simulates the effects you get from a lensbaby. I used this in the photo to attempt to draw attention to the subjects. I like the effects I get with this and will have to play with it more.

Samoans are great performers and I never get tired of watching them perform. This was a great evening and a couple of photos to add to my collection. It was dark and I had to shoot at ISO1600, even though I was shooting at f2.8. I was using a sigma 70-200 lens. The lens is good (the only non canon lens I own) but has a hard time focusing in low light. Also, wide open the quality diminishes after about 135mm. But it was half the price of the canon 70-200. But if I had the same choice, I would save up for the canon lens next time.

Island Girls

Monday night in American Samoa and tomorrow is a holiday. American Samoa has a proud history of Samoans serving in the Military and it is something that the Country should be very proud of. They have lost 5 brave people just in the Iraq war, which when you consider the population is just over 60 thousand, is a lot on a per capita basis. Despite your views on the War, these proud men and women have made the ultimate sacrifice for the U.S. and I hope that everyone remembers tomorrow is not just a holiday, but Veterans Day and that people in the U.S. would not be free if not for the sacrifices that our armed forces have made over time to ensure our freedom. I wish I had an appropriate photo for Veterans Day, but I do not.

The photo to the left is a beautiful Tahitian Dancer. It was shot under cloudy skies, which is the best light for taking photos outside. The clouds act like a large softbox, diffusing the harsh sunlight. I used to think that the noon day sun was the best until I started to learn more. Now, I realize the harsh sun in the afternoon does not make for good photographs. Instead, use that time to scout for new locations or other activities. Use the morning and afternoon for taking photos and you will get much better results.

Religion

Well, it's Sunday again in American Samoa. As you can imagine, church is a huge event in American Samoa, which is a great thing. But it also means that a lot of the beaches are closed for swimming and/or fishing. So you options become much more limited. But it could be worse, in Tonga, it was actually against the law to work on Sunday and to do a lot of the leisure activities. Now these folks take their religion to the extreme. I shot this photo in Leone, with the sun starting to go down. It is a beautiful statue, but sits behind a locked gate, which is a shame. I had to raise my camera above my head to shoot over the fence to get this shot. But I think it came out kind of good and is an appropriate post for a Sunday. In this case I just set my camera to aperture mode and used matrix metering. Some people were giving me funky looks so I wasn't sure it they were okay with me taking photos so didn't stay long. Normally I like to ask first but no one was around until I was ready to take the photo. Then it became a case of better to get the photo and ask for forgiveness later. Ironically, I have never had a problem with people letting me take photos except for one case. I had stopped to photograph a beautiful little church and actually asked and received permission from some teenagers that were there. I got the tripod set up and they left. While I was taking photos (from the outside of the church) two men walked up and wanted money for taking the photo of "their" church. They thought I would sell the photos and make a lot of money and wanted a share. You could smell alcohol on their breath so I just told them I was an amateur photographer trying to capture their beautiful church for myself. But I also told them I would delete the photos as I had no money to pay them. Pressed a couple of buttons on my camera (no, I didn't delete the photos) and told them the photos were deleted and made my way to the car with them following and made my getaway. It is hard to reason with drunk people.

Opportunity

I have been lucky in that I haven't been really sick for awhile. I generally take a vacation around flu season and make it a point to stop in Hawaii and get my flu shot. Unfortunately, work has been such that I have not been able to get to Hawaii and I got really sick this week. We are talking lay in bed for two days with a fever sick. But, by Thursday I was well enough to get back to work and Friday was better. I was hoping to get some photography in on Saturday but when I woke up it was storming. But American Samoa has unpredictable weather and at 4:30 it looked like the rain had stopped. I decided to grab a sunset at the last moment and made it to this spot just as the sun was setting. Luckily the drive was long and my camera was in a ziplock bag warming up during the ride (going from an aircon house to a humid environment means fogged lens if you aren't careful) so I was able to throw the camera on a tripod, stick a GND on the lens and this is one of the results. 30-minutes later it was all over and time to pack up. But I'm happy I went as the sunset was really nice. Now when I first started, I loved nothing better than a getting a photo of the Sun (larger the better) as it set. Now I don't care for the typical sunset photo (to cliche for me) and I normally carry a wide angle lens instead and shoot the colors. Nothing like some clouds to make the colors in the sky pop and this was a good day for that. Hope you enjoy this photo, which is hot off the press.

Fatu Ma Futi

I lost track ast o how many times I woke up early to get a photo of this rock formation. Either no clouds, raining or something else. I finally ended up with a photo that I liked. There are actually two rocks, with this one being the larger. There is a story behind the formations that there were two lovers from Samoa who sailed here. They were named Fatu and Futu. After a rough journey from the Island of Savaii, they were being tossed by bad weather and their canoe capsized. They continued to swim and swim, and they finally reached Tutuila (now the main island in American Samoa where this was taken). But they died on the shore and were turned into these rocks. When the people discovered their story and epic journey, they named the rocks after them.

If you are photographing sunrises/sunsets, take your exposure reading from the left or the right of the sun (not directly at it). Look at your histogram to try and avoid blown out highlights or shadows. In this case, a GND would have been difficult, given the rock formation. Instead I took two exposures and later combined them in photoshop. I had to do this as to expose for the sunrise would have left the rock black. Expose for the rock and the sunrise is blown out. You of course need a tripod and not move your camera to do this.

Tatau

When I got a tattoo a long time ago, it was not a traditional tattoo. Getting a traditional tatau (tattoo). This photo of traditional tools of the trade "Ato Au" give some idea of the pain involved. Patterns are made by tapping the needle into the skin.

Nudity

This photo is a woman from Papua New Guinea. It still amazes me in this day and age how prudish people can be when it comes to the subject of nudity. In some cultures, being topless is an everyday part of life. The photo here was recently posted on a photography site and it raised an unbelievable amount of controversy over whether such a photo is "appropriate". I was actually surprised. This is not a photo that would be inappropriate in National Geographic. In the end, the photo remained on the site and actually became quite popular. When photographing places, you can never forget the importance of the people.

Aiga Bus

The Aiga Bus is the local form of transportation in American Samoa. If you visit, you need to ride at least once. It is kind of a neat way to get around and the price is right. But be warned, they often play loud music and you will even face the occasional person smoking cigarettes (which is actually against the law but no one enforces it). The two photos attached are quite different. The first is a HDR photo I did. The second was shot with a slower shutter speed and I panned the camera while the bus drove by. Panning is a great way to introduce motion into your photos. It takes practice and I admit I am not that great at it. Using a tripod is the easiest way and put your camera in shutter priority. You also need to put your camera in AI Servo (read your camera's manual). This allows you to track your subject and remain in focus. You press your shutter half way and then track holding the shutter half way. Then press all the way to take the photo. The photo below was shot using this method.

Night Time

Shooting events at night can be hard. Depending on the movement of dancers, you need shutter speeds in the 1/250th range. If you are not using flash, and like most events at night are shooting in low light, that means you have to shoot with a fast lens (aperture of f2.8 or faster) and/or a High ISO. In this photo, I was shooting at ISO 1600 at f2.8. This ensured the shutter speed was fast enough to freeze these dancers, who were moving quite fast. Now depending on your camera, you may introduce a lot of noise at ISO 1600. My Canon Eos 20d is quite good and even at ISO 1600 the noise is acceptable. I also ran this photo through a third party software that reduces noise further. I bought Neat Image (software name) which is a photoshop plugin a long time ago. There is also Noise Ninja and a bunch of others. Photoshop also has a noise reduction feature.

Now Noise is caused by a couple of things. First, your camera sensor has noise. This is exacerbated by longer exposures, or multiple exposures, which increases the heat of the sensor or having more things on a smaller chip (which is why a digital SLR will generally have less noise than a point and shoot digital camera). The second thing is your ISO Think of ISO (for this example) like the volume on your stereo. With the volume lower, you can't hear noise coming from your speakers. But crank the volume up enough and you start to hear a hiss through your speakers. And just like speakers, some cameras handle higher ISO better than others. So get to know the limitations of your camera.

Photo Manipulation

Photoshop opens a whole new world of opportunities. Everyone has an opinion on photo manipulation. When does photo manipulation take an image out of the realm of "photo" and more into digital art? I don't really know. My opinion is unless you are shooting photo journalism, use the tools available to you to achieve the look you like. The "Dave Hill" look is very popular these days. I love his images, which are heavily manipulated. But don't get me wrong, his photography is excellent and his use of light etc. allows him to manipulate the original photo to get the look he wants.

The photo in this post was originally posted in a prior post. To achieve the look, I did the following steps:

1. I reduced the noise two times (you can do this in photoshop - I use a plug in called neat image);

2. Go to layer->New Adjustment Layer->Hue Saturation and hit okay. Go to the red channel and reduce the lightness by -15 to -35 (depends on the photo)

3. Repeat step two, only this time go to the yellow channel and reduce the lightness just a little bit.

4. Now using the unsharp mask, use a high radius of between 80-100.

5. Depending on the effect, you may want to dodge the highlights or burn shadows

6. reduce noise again (optional)

7. Make another Hue saturation layer and this time increase the lightness of the yellow channel to taste.

I did not come up with this on my own, and want to give credit to a post I read by Lei Sarmiento on Digital Photographer - Philippines. A lot of neat things on this site http://www.digitalphotographer.com.ph/