Author: Alik Griffin

10 Reasons Why Your HDR Photos Suck

Have you noticed that HDR photography is often criticized on the web? That’s because it’s hard. From shooting to processing, a lot can go wrong, and it usually does. The sad reality is that photography critics seem to be on the hunt for HDR photographers. Believe me, I’ve been their victim many times. They are like the…
Splash – Oahu Wave Photography

When I was in Oahu a few weeks ago, I shot some photography like this: super close to the water as it splashes against the sand or surrounding rocks. It’s actually not the smartest thing to do with an expensive Sony A7r, but after a few very close encounters, I decided it was enough. But…
Between Worlds – Oahu Hawaii

I’ve always loved shots of clean tropical water on a white sand beach. There is even a good one that comes as a desktop background if you’re an OSX user. Well, guess what, I finally got one. Except the sand is not exactly white, close enough.
Winds Edge – Oahu Hawaii

After driving around the Island a few times, my wife and I found this cool spot. It was near China man’s hat and was one of the few places in Oahu that’s pretty vacant of people. I thought it would be a rainy day, but in Hawaii, all you have to do is drive fifteen…
Mahai’ula Bay – Big Island Hawaii

This Mahai’ula Bay was something else. I ended up coming here a few times. Once for snorkeling and again at night when looking for a place to take photos. I discovered that shooting sunset photography on the Big Island of Hawaii can be tricky. Some of the beaches close off their gates at six o’clock,…
Manini’owali Sunset – Big Island Hawai’i

On my first few days on the Big Island of Hawai’i, we had some incredible sunsets—some of the best I’ve seen. The Big Island has some of the nicest beaches in the world and some of the clearest waters. This beach, Manini’owali, is one of my favorites on a quiet evening like the night I…
Sandisk Extreme Pro 280MB/s UHS-II Review

The Sandisk Extreme Pro UHS-II 280MB/s was Sandisks first UHS-II card. Like the Lexar 1000x, it’s age shows. It does however still performs faster than the Lexar 1000x in most devices. While this card is a pretty good UHS-II memory card, it performs rather poorly in UHS-I devices. This card has also been discontinued so…
Save Your Skies With Luminosity Masks

Often times when shooting sunsets you’ll find the area just around the sun gets blown out by the intense light. It’s important to bring down those highlights to help avoid lost colors and pixels in your images which will also help give you a much deeper rendering of both colors in the highlights.
Lemons To Lemonaid With HDR Photography

Although some people would disagree with the title, HDR photography, for me, has always been a great way to turn some not-so-interesting scenes into something with a little life. As with many HDR and Landscape photographers, I always strive to take the best possible landscape with the most amazing weather conditions. But anyone who shoots…
Ox Wagons Of Okinawa Japan

First off, I have to say Okinawa is pretty cool. It’s one of those places you have to go to or at least try to at some point in your life. While there, I kept thinking I was in Hawaii, but nobody spoke English. Except it’s not an annoying tourist trap like Hawaii is. This…