Rodney Campbell's Blog

Before arriving in Hawaii I’d reached out on Google Plus both to get some location suggestions in Oahu to shoot and also to see if there were any locals who would like to join me

I got some fabulous responses from some very helpful locals including Beach Bum Brian and Janet Clark

An so it was I found myself being invited to an early morning session at nearby Magic Island with “dA Crazies” (a collective of sunrise chasing photographers in Oahu – perfect :)) – a huge Thankyou to those extremely friendly and helpful islanders who looked after me this morning and on a later morning to come

Note: These images (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

Looking back from Magic Island over Waikiki Bay with Diamond Head in the distance on the right. 5:40AM and still 25 minutes till sunrise

This was my first quick shot of the morning and I hadn’t fully setup yet – but I wanted to catch that light :). So I’m shooting at a depth of field sapping f/5 for the 30 seconds before adding my remote trigger and switching to bulb mode. Turns out I prefer this shot to the 103 seconds @ f/11 version I shot next – go figure…

Magic Dawn

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 19 mm, 30 sec at f/5, ISO 100

I was really liking that driftwood log standing out brightly in the foreground – lit by the strong street lighting behind me

Less than five (5) minutes to sunrise and the sky was lighting up nicely with some fabulous colour. I was still pushing for long exposures for a nice steely look to the water so I had the ISO dropped down to 50 to gain me some extra time. My foreground driftwood log was still a standout against the deep black volcanic rocks

Magic Island

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 20 mm, 41.00 sec at f/11, ISO 50

This fellow was camped out nicely with a long lens shooting the surfers heading out to sea on our right

Shooting for Dawn

NIKON D600 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 19 mm, 41.00 sec at f/11, ISO 50

and here is a shot from the balcony of our hotel looking across to Magic Island where I’d spent the morning – that further ring of sea-wall rock in the middle of the frame surrounding the Magic Island Lagoon is where I’d shot from

Magic View

NIKON D600 + 70.0-300.0 mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 95 mm, 1/80 sec at f/8, ISO 100

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