Shot on our vacation this summer. The location is right next to the Polol'u Valley. This is an amazing location and worth the trip from Kona or Hilo up to see this dramatic site near Kapa'au in the northern tip of the Big Island.
Image taken in RAW. Tonemapped single image using Photomatix pro - the most modest of tonemapping mind you.... Opened image in Elements 3.0. Added duplicate layer - darkened sky and smoothed using Noise Ninja and blurred sky with a blur. Sharpened water and rocks using USM. Flattened image. Adjusted levels, hue/saturation adjustments on individual colors. Cloned out dust spots and cloned edges of sky near rocks. Dodged waterfalls and burned water and rocks a bit.
Save for web. Opened and USM at small radius and large radius and save for web.
Post Challenge: All in all, of all the shots I took this past year that did not involve pictures of my kids, this is the one I am most proud of. It captures the majesty and force of the Big Island in a quiet way.
Thanks for all the great comments - I really appreciate each and every one....
Statistics
Place: 207 out of 484 Avg (all users): 5.9099 Avg (commenters): 6.7000 Avg (participants): 5.7871 Avg (non-participants): 6.1940 Views since voting: 1322 Views during voting: 345 Votes: 222 Comments: 17 Favorites: 3 (view)
Nice score on this lovely image, I love the feeling of power that is given by the mountains and the leading line made by the cliffs as they move away from you.
I love all the details an the tones throughout the image, I was positive that it would have scored higher.
hey man, you bet me by .01 points in that challenge! :)
i think the cliffs look very spectecular and the composition and mood are great.
however the hdr looks a bit overdone imo, but it's still tasteful compared to most of all the other hdr shots in that challenge.
Good lord were you ever robbed on the voting of this image. Those cliffs are just spectaculat. I can't beleive they didn't score you higher. Still a wonderful image that I am sure would look great hanging in your office or living room.
I thought that the composition of this shot was really impressive and created a sense of austere and dominating majesty
Super diagonal leading lines created by the cliff face and the sheer amount of rock on the right of the shot is offset nicely by the natural brdge and the the single outcrop in the centre/right of the image
Shame it could not have included the Northern Lights as well ;-)
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