Waves and Clouds at Shipwreck Beach in Hawaiʻi

A Beautiful Evening

Waves roll in as the clouds part to reveal some blue sky in the evening at Shipwreck Beach on the island of Kauaʻi in Hawaiʻi, as seen during our 2018 Kauaʻi Trip.

During this particular evening, we had hiked to the top of the rocks next to Shipwreck Beach, all of which was just a few short steps from our hotel room. Just imagine being able to walk out and see a view like this. Yes, it did involve a little bit of climbing, but it was worth it for the view.

One thing that I particularly liked about this even was that it was windy. I am not always a fan of the wind here at home when it sounds like it might blow the shingles off the roof. However, we were out there on the rocks, and there were not any shingles to worry about, although I did have to take my cap off to keep it from blowing away. So I had to worry about my own personal roof instead of the roof of our house. But that was just a minor issue.

What I liked about the wind was how it blew the waves as they were rolling. In this photo, you can see the wind blowing the spray of the wave at the right of the frame. It was actually happening that way with every big wave, which was quite fascinating to me.

Later on that same year, I saw the same thing on waves at sea during our Christmas Disney Cruise. Click the photo below to see a larger view of the photo in its original post.

It was pretty cool to see how the wind and waves combined both times, in two different oceans!

Level-Headed

While you can see the effect the wind has on the waves in the first photo, what you can’t see is my inability to hold the camera level. Thankfully, I have the ability to rotate and crop the photo slightly to give it the appearance of being taken level.

For some reason, taking level photos is something that I struggle with. And actually, it is not as much of a struggle as much as it is not taking the time to do things right.

In most cases, I don’t spend enough time setting up the photo to make sure that it is just right. But I figure I can get out my tripod and make sure everything is level, taking the time to be careful and set everything up perfectly. Or I can get really close and move on to another shot, taking the time to correct it later on if necessary. You would be surprised at the ratio of photos taken to photos shared here. There are lots more that I don’t share for whatever reason. So for me, I like having more options to choose from, straightening out one if necessary.

Also, most digital cameras these days have levels that you can turn on in the electronic viewfinder. There are little gauges on the screen that will show you if the camera is level or not. I have that turned on sometimes, but apparently I don’t always watch it closely enough.

Fortunately, most of the time it really has not been an issue. There are just a few occasions here and there where I have had to crop a little more than I wanted due to the photo being more off-level than typical. But that is extremely rare.

So what is the lesson here? Do whatever works best for you. Because as with so many things, there is no one right way to do things. Learn what you can do with what you have, and make that work for you.

Bible Verse

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. - Colossians 3:15

About the Photo

Same song as the previous several photos, in that this one once again uses the same processing style, tweaked to work best for this photo. Of course, it is difficult to go wrong with a photo of waves and clouds from Hawaiʻi, but it can be done. So I took care here to not overdo things any more than necessary.

It was actually a little tempting to try to bring a bit more color to the sky, but in the end I decided to leave well enough alone and just go with this. It works fine for me. And makes me want to go again. In due time, of course.

Photo: A single Raw exposure, processed in Aurora HDR. Read more about photography tips, photo software, camera gear, and more at Steve’s Photography Tips.
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10
Lens: Olympus 14-42mm IIR
Date: July 7, 2018
_Location: _ Shipwreck Beach, Poʻipū, Hawaiʻi