Olomana Yet Again

On saturday, Nick, Dewey and I climbed olomana. I wanted some pictures for a class project so i thought pictures from the olomana trail would be good. It was the usual olomana hike, except we started around 5:30 in the morning because Nick had to be home before 11.

The New Year

I haven't been on any hikes worth talking about since the last time i put up a post, which was all the way back in October. I was busy studying for school and it paid off because i got some pretty good grades. Soon, I'll have to return to school and start studying again. I wish all my semesters could be as easy and relaxed as the first one, and I'm already near the beginning of my fourth one. Time flies when you're having fun.

And it's definitely been fun. We haven't been hiking recently because of the rain, but we've been out surfing when we can. Even though i can skateboard, getting good at surfing is like learning to skateboard all over again, except when i eat it i don't bleed all over the place.

Also, I got a new toy to play with - the Sennheiser HD 650s. Of course, headphones as good as those need a headphone amp so i just picked up a Total Bithead. The bithead probably doesn't do the 650s justice, but it's all i'm willing to buy now, and when i have more money i'll get a better amp. For now, I'll manage with the bithead.

Since school started...

...I dont really have that much time to do anything on the weekdays without skipping class. We work out in the evening, but when i get home i usually try to do homework. Halo Reach isnt helping at all. I beat the game in four hours when i got it, but that was on easy. It took me about 3 days off and on to beat legendary, and the absence of the flood makes it a lot more fun than the other halo games. I never tried playing legendary until reach. When i realized the flood werent in reach, i thought i'd give it a try on legendary. Even though there were no flood, the last level alone took me 4 hours to beat cuz i kept dying.

But enough about the video games. Recently, I did the seven falls again with Maxx. He wanted to do some kind of hike before he had to go back to school so we opted to do the falls over the stairs. At 5:00 in the morning on Sept 11 we set out on the dark road into the falls and although i packed everything i even thought we needed, i forgot a flashlight. I keep one in my car though...but that one died a couple minutes in. We went pretty slow on the manoa falls trail and by the time we got to the falls, the sun had already risen.

HDR pictures

I recently found out about HDR photography, which is high dynamic range photography. It uses a bunch of pictures, some underexposed, one regular exposure, and some overexposed. The result is a cool looking picture that has many details in the lighting.

This is where i learned how to do it and i found out that photoshop doesn't make HDR pictures as well as the photomatix program can. It costs money to get the full version, though.

I also found out that it's possible to edit the pics and make them appear like HDR without taking multiple pictures. It's a good way to make those pictures that you can only get one of-like action pictures-look like HDR.

And i guess i should let everyone know that except for this HDR, the tilt shift and the most recent Haiku stairs post, i never used to edit my photos, so all of my pictures that were posted here before June were straight out of the camera. I used to be too lazy to edit the pictures and i still am, so as much as i can, i'm gonna post unedited pictures on here.

The Mysterious Seven Falls

On my attempts to research the seven falls trail, i couldnt find anything about them on google; only sites that talk about the manoa falls trail and nothing more. After hearing about the falls from Kevin, i wanted to try this trail that's closed off because firemen have supposedly pulled too many bodies of dead hikers out. That's what kevin says.

My alarm rings at 4:45 Thursday morning and awake in a daze to see that Dewey's already up and getting ready. I stay in bed wanting those few more minutes to rest, and just before i fall back asleep Dewey turns the light on. Damn. Can't sleep any longer. It was a good thing he got me up, though, because i wouldn't wanna miss the hike we had planned for that day. Thursday, May 20, 2010 was the day we planned to hike the seven falls with Kevin, the entertaining guard from haiku stairs. Mitsuo was supposed to come along with us, but he didn't get up again, so we left him.