Solomon Islands, Maui, Channel Islands Galleries

(Semi-long, with interspersed photos and gallery links - apologies if photos are too large)

Solomon Islands, Canon 10-22

With school finishing this last week (save for a few finals), I took some time to complete the last of my photo editing and an entire website rebuild (note updated galleries have a *). This was a backlog that went all the way to the beginning of last summer, when I returned from two weeks in the Solomon Islands.

Solomon Islands, Canon 100+1.4xTC+500D

My recent wide work has involved the Tokina 10-17mm fisheye...which I received in early December after two months on the waiting list. Definitely an enjoyable lens (and with a notably different feel from the Canon 10-22), even if I usually end up staying at the wide end.

Anacapa Island, Tokina 10-17

I had the good fortune to travel again to Maui over Thanksgiving - and I must say that each time I visit, I encounter a species that I've never photographed before (this time, harlequin shrimp, and yes, I know the sponge crab below is not a harlequin shrimp ).

Maui, Hawaii, Canon 60

Interspersed, trips to the local Channel Islands - Anacapa, San Miguel, Santa Cruz, Catalina, and Santa Rosa.

San Miguel and Santa Cruz, Canon 60

I'm not sure how my piecemeal editing affects the style or intention of each of the final galleries, but they're done - for now.

I know it may seem like an onslaught of photos, and maybe it's too much all at once. But I would definitely appreciate feedback/critique/questions. Also, if you select the "Species ID Required" category in the galleries, I could really use some help with a few . Thanks and enjoy.

Your site looks great Matt, easy to navigate and well set out. Pictures have heaps of colour and variety. The black background makes the colours really pop.

I like the effect you have done with some of your headings photos that makes them look like they have been pieced together (eg the one on your "about" page).

On your ordering page you have a link to 'prints / licensing' for more info, but it takes you to the home page.

Regards

Gary

nicely done Matt. I agree with Gary that the black makes things stand out nicely. I am not always that big of a fan of black. You did a good job of picking the right photos on the front page to make it work.

And, here is the kicker.... it opened up quickly!!!! That was surprising for a photo intensive site, good for low fi peeps like me.

Also, the drop down for the galleries is a nice touch

That sponge crab is excellent..

Great pics on your site Matt.

Cannot wait to get there one day ourselves.

Top shots and a very nice site, Matt.

Alex

I concur!!! Matt your site is really nice. But even better are your pics - you capture the "personality" and "beingness" of the creatures and places. Your photography has life, it is not just static.

Thanks, I know how much work the site can be - I need to update mine in a bad way......, oh well what a problem to have, eh??? Too much diving!

Thanks again for all the great photos!

Carol

Matt,

Lots of spectacular photos on your website, really impressive!

Out of interest, what's up with the garibaldi photo above - how come the fish is sharp but the entire background looks motion blurred?

Richard.

Hey Matt,

Website looks great. Visually a big improvement over your old one. I really like the drop down menus too.

If you don't mind I have a question about the site. Does the php read the EXIF and IPTC data or do you manually enter it into the site? If so, how did you get the php to get the data. My website pulls some exif info out of the jpg but most of the exif/IPTC data seems inaccessable by php.

Ohh and the pictures aren't bad either. I love the sponge dwelling hermit crab - amazing shot.

Thanks for the kind words everyone ...

Out of interest, what's up with the garibaldi photo above - how come the fish is sharp but the entire background looks motion blurred?

You're not the first person to ask - standard flash to freeze the fish (and some of the background too), and a long shutter (0.8sec) and surge makes the rest go blurry.

If you don't mind I have a question about the site. Does the php read the EXIF and IPTC data or do you manually enter it into the site? If so, how did you get the php to get the data. My website pulls some exif info out of the jpg but most of the exif/IPTC data seems inaccessable by php.

Somehow, most of my threads turns into a discussion on EXIF ...

I use Exhibit Engine to manage my photo galleries. It has a built-in EXIF/IPTC reader that pulls most of the data out of the image file (obviously you have to make sure that you aren't saving for web in PS - typically this strips all the data from the image). Additionally, you setup lenses/accessories/etc in the database itself, and it guesses a 'best-match' based on the embedded focal length when importing - of course everything is user-adjustable.