Oahu Photo Tour

Last updated on January 20th, 2017 at 06:48 am

I mentioned in our August Recap that we did a photo tour on Oahu. I found the photo tour on LivingSocial through Blue Hawaii Photo Tours.

Typically, we are not big tour people, but every once in a while it makes sense.

Why Tours Make Sense

Here is why I thought we should go on the tour:

• we were on Oahu only for three days, and it was a good way to see a lot of the island in a little time
• a rental car was ridiculously expense
• Mr. J loves photography
• I wanted to learn how to take better pictures
• LivingSocial deal made it cost effective
• Small group (limited to 7 people)

I checked with Mr. J to be sure he wanted to do it, and then I purchased the LivingSocial vouchers (one for each of us).

Great! Pretty excited for this. We get to see the island, and do what we enjoy without having to rush to keep up with the tour.

The Tour

I really had mixed feelings about this tour. I really like parts of it, but then….hmmm I don’t know it was kind of a tour, blah.

Let’s just get what I found disappointing out of the way.

• Two tour members we lost, and we wasted time trying to find them for pick up (not starting off great)
• The same two members had their bags stolen on our first stop of the tour (super weird – this is getting worse)
• The guide mmm I am not sure how to put this, I didn’t like her at first. It was like she felt the tour was beneath her. I get it tourist are annoying, but then why are you offering tours. (After the start to the tour, I understand why she was annoyed.)
• It rained for the second half of the tour, I mean poured rain (let’s just end this tour already)

Ya, not a great start or end to the tour, but oh the middle, just like a double stuffed Oreo (or HotPocket if you are not into sweets), was great.

The glorious middle was a treat of goodness that made me happy I booked the tour.

Stop 1 – Makapu’u Lookout

The pictures in this post are by me (Mrs. J).

Mr. J is busy working on some Digital Nomad deadlines, so we can continue our travels. Unfortunately, that means that he has not had time to process photos.

So, you are stuck with my beginner pictures.

Why Aloha Oahu!

The view from the Makapu’u lookout was wonderful.

Buuuut, the day wasn’t cooperating for pictures. The lighting was horrible – super bright, cloudy and hazy at the same time. I learned this type of lighting is bad for photos.

Thank goodness for Lightroom.

This stop is where a couple on the tour had their bags stolen (a camera, cell phones, lens, personal items).

Apparently, our guide allegedly didn’t lock the van door because when we arrived back at the van and the bags were gone with no sign of a break-in. Our guide swore she locked the door, and basically told them “oh well, let’s move on.”

Seriously?! No offer to call the police, no concern, more of a you should have known better tourist visiting from the US military base in Japan.

The whole situation was weird. And, then we just moved onto stop 2.

Just so weird. I don’t even know how to describe it.

Stop 2- Makapu’u Tidepools

Just down from the lookout are the tidepools. We stopped here to walk around the waves and shoreline.

The couple with the stolen bags found some police at the park rest area and reported the incident. (Not pictured)

While they were dealing with real issues, I attempted to figure out how to use the settings on my camera in the super bright light. My attempts resulted in pictures that were either over- or under- exposed.

Here is an ok one.

I asked for help.

The tour guide told me that the scene I was shooting is a difficult shot because of the large areas of white (waves and clouds) and black (the rocks and dark blue of the water) in addition to the bright light.

Greeeeaaat…. well maybe I can fix that by processing in black and white.

Thoughts?

Next I attempted some close up shots of the waves. Again, the light was just so bright, but I still liked a couple of my shots.

Moving on….

Stop 3 – Waimanalo Beach

Ok, forget about Waikiki Beach. This is the beach that you should visit on Oahu. In fact, sand from this beach is used to replace the ever eroding man made Waikiki Beach.

Waimanalo Beach is a locals beach. White sand as far as the eye can see, and almost no people except for on weekends.

Tourists typically don’t come to this area unless they have a car.

It really is a beautiful beach.

I should have just had the tour leave me here to enjoy the rest of the day. But no, I pressed on to the next stop.

Life is hard….I am such a jerk, considering the troubles the other couple had on this tour.

Stop 4 – Forest River

I do not recall which forest we visited, sorry!

On this stop we  broke out the tripods and worked on water shots.

Our guide was great at explaining how to frame shots , and adjust the settings on the camera to capture the effect wanted in the shot.

The stop was a little crowded because there was an actual photo shoot happening. We still had plenty of room to get some really great pictures.

This is the first time I have been able to do the whole fuzzy water thing. Yay!

I like this scene because it looks like the root vines of the tree are flowing into the river.

Stop 5 – Lunch at a Local Shrimp Truck

 

You really need to stop at a shrimp truck when you visit Hawaii. They do have chicken and veggie dishes for the non-seafood eaters.

Stop 6 – Kualoa Beach Park

After lunch we headed over to the Kualoa Beach Park.

From the beach there is a great view of Mokoli’i (known as Chinaman’s Hat).

While the in the park, the guide had us try to capture movement by shooing birds.

The power lines make for a lovely background.

Basically, you set your camera on rapid shot and hope one turns out.

After the park, the rain started. We tried a few more stops, but the weather was not cooperating.

Even though, we couldn’t really take anymore photos, our guide gave us history and lots of information about the island.

All really interesting.

This tour made me appreciate Oahu after my first impression (Waikiki). If I return to Oahu, I would definitely do a house stay either on the North Shore or someplace close to Waimanalo Beach.

Recommendation

It’s hard to say whether I would recommend this tour. In fairness, we had some unfavorable unexpected circumstances (weather and theft) that really impacted the atmosphere of this tour. But, I really enjoyed taking photos, seeing the island and learning about the culture and history.

Typically, this type of tour is just something we would have done on our own, but for the cost of a rental car.  The tour showed us some unique spots that we would have never found on our own.

And, I was able to improve some aspects of my photos.

Obviously, I still have a long way to go, but our tour guide did tell me that I do have a good eye for composition. I really just need to learn and understand my equipment.

Life is hard.