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Charles Lindbergh’s Grave

One of the lesser known parts of Maui is the grave of Charles Lindbergh. I find his aviation feats to be impressive but there are other aspects to his personality that are often glossed over which are less sympathetic. However, we shall leave that to others to debate in other places. He spent the later years of his life on Maui and, when he became sick with cancer and could not be treated any further, he made sure to get back to Maui for his remaining days.

He is buried in a small churchyard on the south side of the island at the top of a cliff. It is a very picturesque location and quite different to what you might expect for someone who was so famous in his day. It is a very relaxing spot to stop off at if you are passing by. The story behind some of the others buried nearby is equally interesting…

More Maryland

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The trip to Maryland gave us a chance to see some areas of the state we hadn’t visited before. It is a pretty area. While there are lots of people there, the towns are older and have a more period feel to them. Plenty of history in that part of the world. Meanwhile, the weather cooperated providing some really nice skies. Here are a few pictures to give you a sample.

Seven Sacred Pools

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If you continue past Hana south you will come to a national park area. Here there are some trails that can take you into the wilds but the main attraction for most people – let’s face it, not too many people want to walk very far from a parking lot – was the Seven Sacred Pools. This was were one of the rivers ran down to the sea via a series of waterfalls and pools at the head of each.

The waves were crashing up on the shore at the bottom of the pools and the water was flowing well so the falls were all looking pretty impressive. Apparently, there can be quite a deluge through here at times but we were certainly not lacking for water. I suspect many people get as far as Hana and then turn around and head back the way they came. This area was very attractive and certainly worth coming further around. You could still go back but carrying on was another option…

Deer Have No Fear!

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When you are in a place like Yosemite, your are very aware that you are in an environment where nature has the upper hand. However, you do think the wildlife will still be wary of man. That is not true at all though. A few times while I was walking, I came across herds of deer. I always think of deer as skittish creatures – hardly surprising since around here they are considered a target by many – but these guys seemed not only used to humans but bored with us. As long as we didn’t do anything too quickly, they continued on unfazed.

This even extended to Yosemite Valley itself. I was taking some shots of the valley when a small group crossed the street and walked right past me to get to their next snack. I watched them for a while and then headed back to the car. There I saw a buck in the tall shrubs with a buddy not far behind. When he wanted to come in my direction, he did exactly that.

A Rare Beast

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Over recent years I have made many trips that take me through Baltimore Washington International airport or BWI. It is the easiest route for me when heading to Washington DC. One of the nice things about BWI is that Northrop Grumman have a facility there that focuses on radar development. As part of this facility, they have a flight test department that makes use of some interesting aircraft. A few times I have seen one of them on the move while I was in the airport but normally I did not have a camera to hand to catch them. However, one time I did get lucky.

I managed to see their BAC 1-11 taxiing out for departure. This is an aircraft that has received a number of modifications for airborne testing of radar systems. While it is an old airframe and there aren’t many of them in service any more, it obviously still performs the required role well and they continue to operate it. It taxied past the terminal and then departed across in front of us. Since it is a bit dated, the noise levels were apparent even inside the terminal. However, it was fun to see it in action. A recent trip also spotted a smokey trail on approach. Sure enough, it was back. Sadly, no camera to hand that time!

Hailing a Cab

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As we drove along the south side of Maui, we passed through a small settlement. At the side of the road was an old London cab. This was of the vintage of Austin built cabs where there was an open space beside the driver where trunks could be stored. These are a rarity anywhere but to find one so far from London was a surprise. I guess you can always get a London cab if you need one!

Other O’Hare stuff

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The trip to O’Hare for the arrival of the United 787 meant I had a bit of time to shoot some other aircraft while I was there. I had started out at the arrival end of 28 for the 787 to show up. When we changed rapidly to 10, I was now on a good side of the field for some of the departures.

Departures at this end can be a good selection. Some will turn towards you and give a nice topside view. Others head out straight or turn away so you are always wondering whether this one will be worthwhile. I wasn’t out for a long time so this was just a chance to see what would come out before heading home. A 747 freighter is a welcome addition but it, sadly, turned away. Even so, it still looks cool. A few gave me a better view. I grabbed some shots and then headed home.

Is This Lake Real?

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The drive along Tioga Pass Road is an impressive one with plenty of dramatic scenery around you. As you get to Olmsted Point, your initial view is towards Yosemite Valley. However, if you turn around, you are looking towards Tenaya Lake. This was the next stop on my journey. Looking at the lake from Olmsted Point, it was hard to believe it was real. You are very high along this pass, often above 9,000′, and the sky is a darker blue at that height. Also, the water is clearer since it is either straight from the sky or from snow melt. Consequently, the blues are intense.

The lake looks like something that someone would create as a made up lake. It is very striking. It isn’t alone either. As you drive further towards the descent to Mono Lake, there are a number of lakes that have been created with dams and they all are pretty impressive. I don’t know how they look on an overcast day but in the sun they look great.

Road to Hana

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One of the more famous things to do on Maui is drive the road to Hana. We were advised that an early start was a good idea before the road got filled with tourists and you stopped seeing the sights and instead watched the rear of the car in front of you. I don’t know how busy it got later since we followed the advice but we certainly had a quiet road to drive.

The terrain is undulating so the road twists and turns as it makes its way around the coast. You never go very fast and the odd straight sections feel very unusual when you come upon one. There are plenty of spots along the route to take note of and lots of waterfalls to see. Some are more impressive than others and our guidebook was very effective at making sure we saw the best of the bunch but didn’t lose too much time at those that were less worthwhile.

It was certainly a nice drive and quite pretty. Whether I would agree that it is one of the most beautiful drives in the world is a very different story. Worth doing if you have the time but not unmissable. I am glad to have done it but won’t feel compelled to do it again if we should return. There certainly isn’t too much in Hana to do once you get there! However, it does provide access to some of the nice features of the south side of the island which I actually found more appealing.

Playing with Noise Reduction

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One of the biggest developments that there has been in digital imaging in recent years has been the improvement of performance in low light. A few years ago, it was hard to get a decent image at above ISO400 and much post processing work was required to try and make the images workable. Plug-ins for noise reduction were very popular. However, the camera manufacturers have been very aggressive in developing chips and processors that allow shooting at ISO levels that would have been unthinkable a while back. You hear of cameras being perfectly acceptable at ISO6400 and above.

My cameras are not the newest on the market but there are certainly not slouches in low light. However, I have never been terribly happy with the performance at high ISO settings with the image breaking up a bit when viewed up close. This is where I have to admit that I can be a complete idiot sometimes.

I shoot RAW all of the time and then process the images in Lightroom. I have created some presets of development settings that I apply each time I import an image and which then acts as the starting point for any additional editing. This is where my problem lies and why it has taken me so long to realize it I can’t imagine. Anyway, enough of the self-flagellation and on with the topic.

The problem lies in the Detail section of the Develop module. This is where sharpening and noise reduction are applied. I have some basic settings I start with here and, when I was importing shots taken at high ISO settings, I was not changing them. I would play with the noise reduction but things still didn’t look right. The problem was, of course, the sharpening. The basic setting I had entered was sharpening far too much for the ISO setting and was causing some odd breakup of the image. I finally realized this one morning while lying in bed – I have no idea why I was thinking of this but it suddenly came to me.

I got up and opened some high ISO images and went to the detail area. I zeroed out the sharpening and the noise reduction. Everything looked awful. Then I brought back the noise reduction and things suddenly started looking a lot better. When I was happy with the noise, it was time to bring back some sharpening. Things were a little soft after the noise was taken out so the sharpening brought back a bit of punch to the image. A tweak on the amount and opening up the radius a bit made things look good. Then a more aggressive level of masking of the sharpening and suddenly the image was looking way better than before.

When I was happy with things, I saved a new preset that was just sharpening and noise reduction and labeled it as High ISO Detail. Now I can apply it to any images that need it and be in a far better starting position for further processing. Each image will require its own approach if I am going to make more effort on post processing but I will now be starting from a far cleaner place. The samples above are comparison of approximately 100% crops with my original settings and the revised approach. Hopefully you can see the difference. It might be annoying to realize you have been missing something for so long but at least I finally worked it out!