Hawaiian Architecture

[Darren Bradley]

Just got back from a few days in my home town of Honolulu, Hawaii with the family, where I did a bit of architecture tourism in between bouts of lying on the beach. Here are a couple of shots of a private home that I visited, in the mountains high above the city.

 

[Pete Askew]

That's nice Darren. I like the blur / movement in the trees. Did you dodge around the couple on the balcony. That pool is pretty 'iconic' isn't it and it's quite a view (nice balanced lighting by the way) and I like the '60's chairs. Not too sure about the ornaments on the table though!!

 

[Darren Bradley]

Thanks, Pete. I wish I'd had a flashgun on a remote trigger for the couple. They're too dark for me. I didn't dodge them at all but perhaps I should. I did burn the exterior a bit in LR, and adjusted the WB. That's about it.

 

[Dan Cattermole]

Darren, that's a ****ing amazing place and I'm jealous that you had the chance to photog it.
Great results, although I would say......... I still wish it was me than you! Lol

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Now that's a nice looking house Darren!

Great shots - love the depth of color in the skies of #1 and #3 - any ND grads or just PP?

 

[Darren Bradley]

Thank you, Dan! Appreciate the comments and I'm willing to accept your jealousy

Yes, Chris. Awesome place and my shots could never do it justice but it was fun to try. Thanks. No ND grads - I used the 17mm TS and no ability to fit filters on that one. So I had to add the graduated filter in PP in LR. I didn't really need to do anything else to the photo, though. Every night is a spectacular sunset in Hawaii, and the sky is always blue with clouds.

 

[Brian Moore]

Smashin' shots, all three Darren. Number 1 is just superb, though.

 

[Hamish Gill]

Blimey! What a place!
Love the colours and the movement in the trees ...
I'm sure i have read you say you don't like movement in trees in your shots before?

 

[Darren Bradley]

Thanks, Brian.

You're right, Hamish. I generally don't like the effect of motion blur on the tree branches, because it just looks blurry to me and I prefer something a bit more sharp. But I admit in some cases, it can give it an ethereal, dream-like quality. Hopefully, this is one of those cases!

 

[Hamish Gill]

In combo with the colours I would definitely agree!!

 

[Darren Bradley]

Here's one more shot that I took of the same house:

 

[Paul Lange]

Really nice Darren and an amazing place too, don't you just hate people who live in places like that

 

[Darren Bradley]

Ha, true. Thanks, Paul. In this case, I just sent the owner an e-mail before my trip asking if I could come by for a visit, and he agreed! So I can't really hate him.

 

[Jim Kuo]

Amazing photos, I love the colours in these! The pool shot is mesmerising!

Could you elaborate a bit on how you achieve the blurred tree in #1? Was it selective brush in LR?

 

[Hamish Gill]

Ha, true. Thanks, Paul. In this case, I just sent the owner an e-mail before my trip asking if I could come by for a visit, and he agreed! So I can't really hate him.

You didn't know him previously?

 

[Darren Bradley]

Thanks, Jim. The colors in Hawaii are just spectacular so that's not much to add. It's pretty easy to take great photos there! For the trees, that's just the result of the breeze moving the branches during the long exposure. The edges of the trees are blurred more because those thinner branches move more.

Hamish: No, hadn't met him before. I just introduced myself in my e-mail, and then showed up with my wife, 5-year old daughter, and another couple in tow.

 

[Jim Kuo]

Thanks Darren. Again, great photos and amazing colours

 

[Darren Bradley]

Cheers Jim!

 

[Hamish Gill]

Thats brlliant!
do you do that much?
Are people quite receptive to that sort of thing?
I guess you must bribe them with nice shots of thier house??

 

[Darren Bradley]

Thanks! Yes, I do that quite a bit. It's the only way really to have access to the places I want to shoot, most of the time. They are generally receptive when I show them the shots