November 1. A new month. And it began with a spectacular sunrise!
It was very clear. The islands of Molokai, Maui, and Lanai were silhouetted on the horizon the the pre-dawn sunlight.
There must have been some haze in the air to accentuate the colors.
The combination was dramatic.
And a few stand-up paddle boarders add a bit of interest.
I guess it’s a sign of the approaching storm the forecasts have been warning about.
But it made for quite a bit of a dramatic dawn! It was one of those days when the color was long gone by the time the actual sunrise finally came along. We were certainly glad to have gotten to the beach in time to witness the colors!
Then, of course, there were a few dogs that caught the attention of my camera. What can I say?
Here’s quite an interesting article spotted at DPReview.com. Of immediate interest to photographers, but it’s lesson probably has more general applicability.
The article reports the results of a direct comparison between a $430 Artisan bargain-brand lens and a $6,000 Leica Summilux-M lens, both 35mm lenses.
Comparison photos were taken using the same camera, same location, same settings.
Four sample photos are displayed.
Since Leica lenses are top of the line, expensive, and highly sought after, I expected to be able to spot the difference.
But it turns out it wasn’t visible to my eyes. Perhaps at large sizes the differences might be more apparent. Or, perhaps not.
I doubt any Leica owners are going to dump their camera kits and return to the world of bargain equipment.
But if you think that you need to spend more to get better photos, this might give you pause.
Here are a few photos from our early morning walk today.
Meanwhile, I have to admit taking a tumble during yesterday’s walk. We come to a point at the far side of the golf course where you have to get past a short stretch of rocks in order to keep walking on the beach. At high tide, if you want to get past you’ve got to make it across walking on the rocks. We don’t attempt it, as the rocks tend to be very slippery. But at low tide, there’s just enough sandy beach in front of the rocks to easily get past without getting our shoes wet. In between, it’s a judgement call.
Yesterday morning, the tide was somewhere in between and rising. We made it past on our way out, and were able to reach the next long stretch of beach. When we were on the way back, it looked like we could get past the rocks. But then a series of small waves took us by surprise, and I stepped up onto a relatively flat rock to keep out of the water. That was fine, and when the waves receded, I stepped off onto the sand to continue on. Well, my left foot stepped off. My right foot managed to find a very slippery spot and, ooof, down I went. Luckily, it was the umbrella I had been carrying that ended up getting tossed into the shallow water, while I managed to keep a firm grip on my camera as camera and I hit the wet sand. Luckily, little damage. A bit of blood from a scratch on my palm. Camera and iPhone were fine. But my silly Apple Watch failed to register the fall or ask if assistance was needed. Now I have to fiddle and find out why that fall feature didn’t work.
Now, on to this morning’s photos. Just click on the picture to see the rest.
