Monsoon Sunrise

The blurred coloured clouds lend a surreal painting like quality to this. The curve of the shoreline is a good lead in to the fantastical scene beyond. Very striking & mesmerizing.

This is surreal, Mike. The long exposure effect on the clouds is killer. I can't think of a single thing I'd change. Print it large!

unreal!! (in a positive way) I especially like the palm trees in front of the light cloud. great image. where was it taken? wonderfull place

The thumbnail looked like a sepia conversion and thought "I don't recall him doing color alterations" so of course I clicked immediately! The true colors are so wild. I love the shimmer everywhere.Being by water to catch more of that shimmer makes this awesome!

Wow, very surreal Mike! Incredible image!!

Wow, the sky is great and the water looks good. I love the motion in the palm trees and calmness of the remainder of the scene, this is a great picture

Very surreal. I like it.

- Dan.

Amazing shot Mike, I really like the sweeping shore lines and the Palms against the sky. Very nice.

Fantastic image Mike. So many times people choose not to use deep shadows in their pictures. I think that in some cases, like this one, deep shadows can define the picture. Stellar image.

An eye catcher - superb image. How long was the exposure?

Wow, very dramatic, and surreal. I love the trees silhouetted against the light patch of sky.

Very impressive! Love it!

What the...??!!! I've nothing to say but

Oooh yes! Stunning shot very good composition and what a bonus those palm tree clusters coincide with a light area lest they got lost in the darkness. Excellent shot.

I love the long exposure effect on the water in this image... I am not so sure that it works equally as well on the palm trees or the sky. There are some dazzling long exposure sky shots around so we know that the technique can be really effective... maybe there was too much contrast in this sky for this approach.

Arnab and Peter,

This was a 32 second exposure taken during a brief lull in the wind gusts. The wind was swirling and flipped the palm fronds around in a radial direction instead of back and forth. That was furtunate because the detail in the central fronds remains sharp. 32 seconds is the maximum time I can shoot with my camera. I've thought about experimenting with blending multiple 20 second exposures to give the impression of a 2 or 3 minute exposure. I've seen a few others pull that off, but it will take practice and probably won't work as well with rapidly moving clouds.

Stefan, this is Ofu island in American Samoa.

Hi Mike,

The effect (end result) of this long exposure photo is striking. Viewing this makes my immagination soar and for that reason alone I'd say that this is a very successful photograph.

Mike,

This reminds me of those Inspirational posters....

I see this one as going under the title of Courage or Determination....

excellent work here....as always!!!

Here's a slightly sharper and slightly desaturated version for the web...

Excellent captur , what a pleasure to look at this unusual scene.
Seems that you enjoy harsh winds and rain like myself. If only our cameras and lenses didn’t mind these conditions.

Wow, Mike. This is just amazing - unusual light and color, and a very eerie, surreal mood.

Guy

WOW! THis is different and really super extra cool! It's got magic written all over it. What island was it?

Very pretty Mike

Very nice, I like the blurred affect.

This image is all about mood.
You captured it perfectly!

gio

Sweet!!

Very surreal as mentioned above, amazing effect on the clouds!. the curving bay really leads the eyes into the scene, the silhoettes give the image an erie feel!. Great work!.

Great image, Mike. This is really cool!

Michael, this is a really awesome and unique shot !!! I love it

Otherworldly!

Hi Mike,

Exceptionally surreal. This is very visually interesting - lots to look at. I like the strong contrast and, of course, the dramatic hues. I think the shot may have had even more visual interest if the centrally located cloud was slightly less dominant (smaller), but don't take this as a criticism of you as I'm fully aware that there wasn't a darned thing you could do about that. Everything YOU could do was done exceptionally well!

Cheers and thanks for sharing this...

Brad

Congrat.s on the pick. This is spectacular!!!!!!! Glad you won so I could see it.

Stunning shot. Congrats on the EP.

Very impressive tropical sea graphic Michael. Terrific! Would probably generate nice sales if exhibited in a place like Honolulu. ...David

This shot is freaking AMAZING! At first it didn't even look real. I can just imagine what it would look like with a few lighning bolts in it... Not that it makes this shot any less spectacular without them. Nice one Mike!