The First Time

No, I didn't lose my camera or forget that I have a blog...the month of August has just been CRAZY BUSY!!!!  But now that it's coming to a close and everything I had to do is done, I am back again...photographing and blogging.

Today, Reese and I went to eat Korean food at Choi's Garden. We frequent there often, but usually get the same thing for lunch. Today, we decided to splurge and order something that I've never tried before in my life...yukhoe (some Koreans spell it yukhae). Yukhoe is seasoned raw beef...yes, RAW! It is basically a Korean version of steak tartare. The most tender part of the beef is used and is thinly julienned with the fat removed and then mixed with seasoning. A raw egg yolk is added on top and sometimes pine nuts are added as well.

A main concern people have about eating raw beef is that it may be contaminated with E. coli. Reese and I have seen yukhoe on the menu at other Korean restaurants, but because it's raw, we thought it was best to order it from a well-established restaurant to minimize the risk of getting sick.

I'll admit, I'm not very adventurous when it comes to food. However, Reese is, which is good for me, I suppose. It encourages me to step out of my comfort zone and realize that everything I think is "scary" is not so scary after all. Everyone should have at least one friend like Reese.  :)

I would have to describe yukhoe as tasting like sashimi. Even the texture feels the same. If you were to slice a piece of beef the same way you would slice a piece of maguro and put it on sushi rice, I bet you wouldn't be able to tell it was raw beef. I really enjoyed it! If I don't end up in the hospital in the next couple of days, I might just order it again soon.  *fingers crossed*

Anyway, here are some photos I took of the yukhoe.  

ISO 800, -1 EV, f/4.5, shutter 1/40

ISO 800, -1 EV, f/3.2, shutter 1/60

ISO 800, -1 EV, f/4.5, shutter 1/60

(Don't Go Chasing) Waterfalls

In my last post, I demonstrated one of the two uses for a ND filter. Last week I was able to actually try out its other use - enabling a slow shutter speed to record movement in subjects such as waterfalls and streams. 

These photos were taken at Lili'uokalani Botanical Garden in the Nuuanu/Liliha area. Even though the the garden is surrounded by apartment complexes, hospitals, schools and homes, I wouldn't recommend venturing there alone...especially if you're a female. Luckily, Reese was available for bodyguard services that day...haha.  

In order to take these long exposure photos at 3pm when the sun was still very high,  I used the smallest aperture and lowest ISO possible. Along with my ND filter, I used a polarizer to further decrease the amount of light coming in.  I also played around with the shutter speed to get the "silkiness" I was trying for. 

ISO 100, -1.7 EV, f/22, shutter 5 seconds with ND filter & polarizer

ISO 100, -1.7 EV, f/22, shutter 5 seconds without ND filter & polarizer

ISO 100, -1.7 EV, f/22, shutter 1/20
"Ordinary" snapshot (like you would take with a point & shoot camera)

ISO 100, -1.7 EV, f/22, shutter 6 seconds with ND filter & polarizer

ISO 100, -1.7 EV, f/22, shutter 6 seconds without ND filter & polarizer

I had a blast trying to capture the silky waterfall and stream. I'm amazed at what I could capture just by adding a few accessories and trying different settings on the camera. I *heart* photography!!!

Brighter Than the Sun

My new camera accessory came in the mail today...a neutral density filter.  WHAT IS THAT?!?!  Well, a ND filter is a filter that reduces and modifies the intensity of light coming into the lens. The purpose of a ND filter is to allow the photographer to do things like:

• Enable slow shutter speeds to record movement in subjects such as waterfalls, clouds, cars, etc. (this is how you get the silky waterfall or the smokey-looking waves in the ocean)

• To decrease depth of field by allowing wider apertures to be used, which helps separate subjects from their background (which is extremely hard to do in broad daylight)

Anyway, today's photos will demonstrate the second bullet. These pictures were taken around 6pm while it was still very sunny. There are two photos for each subject. Notice in the first photo how overexposed the shot is without the filter and in the second photo how shallow the depth of field (blurred background) is on the images with the filter on.  

ISO 100, f/2.8, shutter 1/15

ISO 100, f/2.8, shutter 1/15 with ND filter

ISO 100, f/3, shutter 1/20

ISO 100, f/3, shutter 1/20 with ND filter

ISO 100, f/3, shutter 1/8

ISO 100, f/3, shutter 1/8 with ND filter

This ND filter is pretty darn neat.  I think I'm going to have a lot of fun experimenting with this new accessory! 

Sophisticated Hula

Every year since 1978, the Moanalua Gardens Foundation sponsors the Prince Lot Hula Festival. This is the biggest non-competitive hula event in Hawaii and is held to honor Prince Lot Kapua'iwa (later known as Kamehameha V) who reprised the once banned hula in the district of Moanalua. This was my first time attending the event. It was really awesome to see such beautiful performances by so many hula halau and the many spectators who came to enjoy the performances.

ISO 800, 0.7 EV, f/5.6, shutter 1/200

ISO 800, f/6.3, shutter 1/250

ISO 800, 1.7 EV, f/5.6, shutter 1/125

ISO 800, f/5, shutter 1/125

ISO 800, f/5.6, shutter 1/125

ISO 800, 1 EV, f/8, shutter 1/80

ISO 800, 1 EV, f/7.1, shutter 1/80

ISO 800, 1.3 EV, f/5.6, shutter 1/200

ISO 800, 1.3 EV, f/5.3, shutter 1/200

Firework

Every Friday night at about 7:45pm, one of the hotels in Waikiki, the Hilton Hawaiian Village, sponsors a 3-5 minute fireworks show. Prior to my NYC trip, the one thing I wanted to do most was to photograph these fireworks. But, for various reasons, the opportunities to do so were always foiled! This past Friday, I was FINALLY able to do it! Reese and I had gone over the concept of how to shoot fireworks months ago.  During one of our lessons, he used moving straws to demonstrate how the "bulb" setting would capture the movement of the straws, which were supposed to represent the fireworks being shot up in the sky and exploding. The demonstration made grasping the concept a piece of cake...the hard part about photographing fireworks though, is the timing. In order to capture nice fireworks, you have to know when to close the shutter. Also, white/yellow fireworks are terrible to shoot because the image gets blown out. Therefore, when you see a lot of those exploding one after another, the probability of that photo turning out great is slim. 

I think I need more practice shooting fireworks. Good thing there are at least 52 opportunities each year to try!

All photos shot using ISO 100, f/8, shutter set to "bulb"

Don't these fireworks look like palm trees?