Sunset over the West Maui Mountains last night was very unusual in more ways than one. Firstly the mountains usually have a layer of cloud, but after the recent downpours and a very windy day (also a great windsurfing day) the West Maui Mountains cleared just before the sun set. Secondly the whispy clouds that did remain around changed formation the whole time and created an image I didn’t even notice until I got home and viewed these photos on my computer. Hence the title to this post …On the wings of a Dove.. ( PLAY ‘On the Wings of a Dove’  by Madness)

No PhotoShopping has been applied to any of these photos…;-)

And this was taken the day before during the rains, a very wet and very voggy day!

I’ve seen many spectacular sunsets at Hookipa, but today was the first time I tried out some really long exposures at the manual settings.  I tried to focus on the lighting and long exposures, using manual focus and manual exposure settings which I needed to keep adjusting to cope with the rapid changes in light conditions. I tried to capture the movement of the water, but most photos came out just looking blurred, some worked though.

I used a tripod for a change, which was essential.  The first photo was the last photo taken in this series, it was taken at 15 seconds and showed up the lights of Kahului. That was the longest exposure I tried today

These photos were all taken in less than one hour, all from the same position.

Yesterdays sunset at Hookipa, on Maui’s North shore was absolutely spectacular, BUT .. I didn’t have my camera. The West Maui Mountains were completely clear of cloud, visibility was great, and the sun went down right in the Iao Valley, which only happens for a few days in winter and then again just for a few days in summer.

I went back this afternoon for the sunset, but it wasn’t great. There was a lot of cloud over the West Maui’s which were cloudless last night. The sun did peep out through tiny gaps in the cloud, but only very briefly. This evenings lighting was pretty good though, and the waves were still big, so I experimented with taking photos using manual exposures so that I could take the speed right down and try and capture the movement of the waves and water as it cascaded over the rocks. Not easy with just a monopod. Must take a tripod next time.  Anything slower than 1/3 second didn’t come out so well.. Anyway, here’s what I got today, better luck tomorrow, but then again maybe not, as storms have been forecast for tomorrow.