Other Worlds on Earth, a photo from Hawaii, West

Photographer's Note

This photo was taken near the top of the Ka Lu'u o ka' O'o hike which descends 1400 feet into the Haleakala Crater. The elevation here is about 9,400 feet, not far below the peak at 10,023 feet. As you hike into the crater, the views are so similar to the images of Mars returned by the NASA rover that you expect to encounter the vehicle behind one of the many rocks. There is 20% less oxygen at this altitude and the hike back up can be exhausting. NASA astronauts trained on this site.

Haleakala means House of the Sun. It is the tallest mountain on earth that is not part of a range. Although it is referred to as a crater, it is actually a volcanic valley carved from the dormant volcano by erosion. From time to time, Haleakala erupts gently, and lava flows down the slope to the rim. The last eruption was in 1790.

The crater is 3,000 feet deep, 7.5 miles long, 2.5 miles wide, and 21 miles in circumference.

Polynesian legends say that Maui leapt from his hiding place here and lassoed the sun, Kala, which he beat for racing across the sky so quickly each day and not providing the people with enough light. Maui broke some of Kala's strongest legs leaving only his weakest ones with which to crawl across the sky, thus providing the people more daylight.

If you want to see the view up there right now, check the Haleakala Webcam.

More information is available on the Haleakala Park web site.

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NeatImage used but I think most of the loss of detail or smoothing noticed by some people is from reducing the resolution to fit TE. The details are just very small on such a large landscape.

Thanks for all the great comments.

Steve_T, Mrg, roconnell, spacewil, Zanni, fredon, Hanssie, Vicky, fmg, CrissX, hispic, andrenuage, jpages, krakus, arnabchat, tomaszmarcinek, jp80, acciaio, dee, johnhopkins, jkneze, lucinka, feather, slayoo, Albrecht, fayeulle, TBasco, rajhema, ktanska, mcassio, hombre, LegaL, Dimis, wanderlust, JonteW, sebcz, leiju, Alan_Kolnik, konok, jcdurka1, jean11-3, MLINES, jaja1970 heeft deze opmerking als nuttig gemarkeerd

Critiques | Translate

Steve_T (421) 2005-01-23 13:55

Wow, beautiful colours Peter, great POV! Well done!!!

[2]

Mrg (825) 2005-01-23 13:56

Fantastic landscape Peter. It looks almost like from other planet.The colors are really fantastic. Everything so smooth.I love it

[2]

LaurentM (313) 2005-01-23 13:58

wondeful landscape.
well done

[2]

Vicky (1446) 2005-01-23 14:06

Looks like an abstract painting with the paint smeared onto the canvass. The colours and textures are breathtaking, and the mist creeping in at the top reaffirms the dream-like vision. Wonderful exposure and sharpness...all perfectly done. It's really lovely. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[2]

roconnell (327) 2005-01-23 14:07

Gorgeous view of Haleakala. The variation in color and textures is beautifully composed, although there is a softness to the overall photo. Not sure if this is intentional or too much processing, regarless, it makes for an otherworldly feel.

[3]

flip89 (3418) 2005-01-23 14:08

This is incredible! Truly out of this world. The direction of the flow seems like paiinted, it's beautiful!

[2]

spacewil (936) 2005-01-23 14:09

Hi Peter,
what can be said ? Just thanks maybe.
It really looks like a painting.
Congratulations.
Guillaume

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fredon (5052) 2005-01-23 14:39

Impressive volcanic view. I like the variety of colors and textures. Could be a shot from another planet..far away.

fred

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alainh (33209) 2005-01-23 14:44

bonjour Peter,
une photo splendide aux couleurs folles.
nous sommes sur une autre planete.
fantastique
amicalement
alain

[2]

Hanssie (11022) 2005-01-23 14:45

Wow, this is a nice peace of earth, Peter, what an amazing landscape and what a great capture, nice sharpness and also the colours and textures of nature here are fantastic, a very nice shot !

[2]

Zanni (6108) 2005-01-23 14:55

Before a critique, I'd like to know if you did any postprocessing work.

Update: yes, on my monitor I see the effect of reducing noise. Till now I have the same result with my photos using NeatImage and I am not satisfied. However the picture is splendid: colors, aridity, the clouds in background give me the sensation to see the birth of a new world thank to the meeting of the the rude matter with the forces of nature

[3] +

tontonjc (6623) 2005-01-23 15:06

Fantastiques couleurs et fumerolles dans le fond. Les couleurs sont parfaites. C'est vrai qu'on se croirait sur Mars.

Bravo

[2] +

fmg (4) 2005-01-23 15:13

Good colors and composition of a strange landscape. The capture of light and mist makes the shot very like with the polynesian legends...

[2]

CrissX (1093) 2005-01-23 15:23

Hi Peter,
You got me with that photograpfy.Excelent colors and inedite landscape, is like scene croping from a SF movie.
Thanks for info.

[2]

Maru (0) 2005-01-23 16:39

Seem to be a shot from another world! the colors and textures are superb, and your POV is fantastic.
The light and those clouds in the background made magic here :)
Very interesting note

[2]

Michael_Gan (2776) 2005-01-23 17:07

Aaarrrgghhh.... don't know what it is, but tonight there are so many good landscape shots posted on TE. It's just unbelievable! this one is stunning as well and the colours are superb. The only thing that I find a bit disturbing are some unnatural smooth areas in the picture. Is this a result of JPEG compression or did you perhaps apply software like NeatImage? I've used NeatImage some time ago, but couldn't manage it very well and the result was that some areas in my pictures were too smooth. Looks pretty much the same with yours.

[3]

luloto (230) 2005-01-23 17:25

Esta foto es un puro espectáculo. Que belleza. El paisaje, el encuadre, el color, et. Enhorabuena.
Ya te comentaré alguna foto de tu pais , Andorra, Un lugar que conozco bien, pues he estado en dos ocasiones.
Un saludo

[2]

Gargouille (160) 2005-01-23 18:01

Very nice picture indeed. I cannot find anything wrong with this and you were able to give an idea of the vastness which is not an easy feat. Incredible! Bravo!

AnimeshRay (9089) 2005-01-23 19:49

What an incredible place, what color, the vastness, the grandeur!

andrenuage (116) 2005-01-23 21:27

Breathtaking... Peter, being there physically must be overwhelming?! I almost smell the sulfur fumes coming out of my monitor. And I feel that I could be swept into this crater. Thank you also for the contextual information.

krakus (1581) 2005-01-23 22:17

Colors of flame. Good POV.

arnabchat (7233) 2005-01-24 0:15

indeed. breathtaking scenery, barren landscape, wonderful colors and land-formation ... feel really like some other planet!

tomaszmarcinek (1507) 2005-01-24 3:16

Hey, all's been said. I just love the pic, just love it! Tom

[2]

PixelTerror (0) 2005-01-24 4:05

Hi Peter,
That's a great landscape for sure, something between Mars and Titan... Excellent photo with a strong descending diagonal, excellent sharpness and awesome colors, I like !!!
Have a nice day, Jean-Yves

[2]

jp80 (8443) 2005-01-24 5:25

Superbe image, aux très belles couleurs. Le cadrage est parfait, et cette pente douce apporte un effet paisible très intéressant. J'aime moins le coup de NeatImage qui a affecté un peu la photo, dommage !

Pascal

naxius (16685) 2005-01-24 5:29

Breatheless photo! I like the rendering of the colors and the texture of the ground.
Excellent work Peter.
Alexandre

[2]

justa (0) 2005-01-24 8:36

Marvellous landscape, you've done great photo, amazing colours, congratulations.

sandpiper (6788) 2005-01-25 4:36

Superb image, composition is very good and the landscape is sureal. I must go look for myself one day.

dkeus31 (27739) 2005-01-25 6:01

Nice diagonal and strong composition.
Do you use NeatImage?
I fell a little loss in details?

[2]

mpb001 (4602) 2005-01-25 6:51

Fantastic shot with the orange sands. Details are very good also. Well done!

Amandine (1072) 2005-01-26 4:30

Wonderfull landscape, nice colors and good composition, it's very well done

[2]

jsec (2154) 2005-01-26 13:11

What a fine image. Well done.

Ning (359) 2005-01-27 19:46

Peter, I wish I were younger and do more altitude travelling.

Fantastic, breath-taking shot!

bimbol (132) 2005-03-15 18:19

Wonderfull landscape! I thought observing miniature, that this choppy sea. Landscape as these planets without.You have grasped it exquisite.
I salute cordially.
Roman

Jakou (642) 2005-03-29 15:25

Bonsoir Peter,
Superbe image aux couleurs magnifiques. Le mélange des tons ocres et verts assoccié à ces reliefs étonnants nous transportent aisément sur une autre planète. Félicitations. Merci pour le partage.

[2]

johnhopkins (866) 2005-05-02 6:31

What a place! Finely composed too with nice diagonals leading into the image and a wonderful point of view looking down onto the plain. Great colours everywhere and the misty clouds add to the scene.

[2]

Salocin51 (0) 2005-05-02 9:09

Image vertigineuse s'il en est, c'est vraiment une très belle image colorée, empreinte de douceur grâce à ces écoulements très égréables à l'oeil. Une critique cependant, on a pas beaucoup de notion de taille dans cette image, et je serais bien incapable d'évaluer l'échelle dans un tel lieu...

[2]

jkneze (506) 2005-05-20 15:51

Magnificent shot, one of the best I have ever seen, really looks like out of this world.Fantastic colours.

[2]

namaste_oti (705) 2005-05-20 15:59

Waouw,
amazing landscape and colors. Very good shot that goes directly in my favorites.
Regards,
Olivier

[2]

lucinka (9976) 2005-06-05 13:50

Peter, I've seen already many pictures from Hawai, however this is very different and very special. Great colors and view, definately invinte to go there too. L.

feather (51130) 2005-06-07 17:16

Just logged on and found this photo featured. I couldn't believe my eyes as earlier today I posted an almost exact photo from my trip Jan/Feb this year. Spooky or what?

kemo (68) 2005-06-07 17:26

fantastic shot. thanks...

Galmeida (12559) 2005-06-07 17:31

Hi Peter,
You can use PP from me with what you use but for me the important is what you see and do in your attentive and initial approach. I don't comment the use or not use of software to make this better or not. For me is the intentanion and heart creative and imaginative work. So my words are these ones:

I would like also in my Portfolio to have so great artwork natures by beauty like you offer this one. Possible you did some small resulting artifacts to this resulting image. But for me is also a great work and my modesty in this subject. However I intend that is not necessary to upper view this matter at TE, but possible at TL.

Best regards
Fernando

sleon (9402) 2005-06-13 12:46

This is out of this world! Beautiful colours and simply amazing. What more can I say?!

Albrecht (11283) 2005-06-25 13:44

Hi Peter
What a marvellous sht of a great scene. All has been said, but it is a top picture.
Greetings Albrecht

TBasco (143) 2005-07-16 4:56

caught this on the 'featured destination'. what a beautiful planet we live in really. the way you've captured it made it look like a painting and that added to the over-all effect. thank you for sharing.

donluicu (24741) 2005-07-16 5:01

Peter
this is a very imprssive shot!
you could have called this: "total recall", this looks like Mars..
well done and captured.
ciao
loic

umbrellaphotos (1901) 2005-07-21 14:29

A beautiful image. Looks like a strange and foreign land. Great note too.

Brian

rajhema (1873) 2005-07-21 14:36

very imaginative picture. Hard to convince its a real picture. The colors and the flow of the earth is all very well captured. especially the entering clouds. Great job Peter

ckradolfer (0) 2005-07-21 14:48

Fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ktanska (44832) 2005-08-10 3:14

This is exactly what the title says. Great!

Jeppe (18654) 2005-08-13 14:35

Very wonderful and amazing capture - The soft colours truly special and great to watch - congratulation and thanks Peter

mcassio (198) 2005-10-11 9:20

Peter,
great POV, nice colors and good definition and deepness.
Well done.
Marcelo

Facsi (212) 2005-10-11 9:31

WOW! There are everything! Fantastic collection of landscape types. Cloud-mountain-desert-sand-Mars. Fantastic place, congratulation.
Bye

Rhiannon (1728) 2005-10-11 10:07

Wow! What an amazing landscape! The warm, natural colours are gorgeous and I like the smooth effect, it creates a misty look, like something floats down hill or like a painting or something.
Beautiful light and POV.
Must have been breathtaking to actually stand there...

hombre (203) 2005-11-01 14:21

hi Peter przepiekny troche nieziemski krajobraz...
bardzo dobry kadr super kolor
gratulacje krzysztof

LegaL (846) 2005-11-06 7:52

i can not finnd enough word about your shot. just i can say amazing. Thanks GOD!

desman (2222) 2005-12-02 15:56

paysage grandiose, merci

Henryk_Bilor (20803) 2005-12-09 10:28

Amazing soft colours. It could be really from other planet.

rusty88 (42) 2006-05-16 11:16

WOW! so beautful photo:) thing of beauty

Lawman (372) 2006-08-23 4:10

What a stunning photograph

florizarnovean (78) 2006-09-18 13:10 [Comment]

Show Comment

Eridan (427) 2006-09-18 15:27

Looks like painting. Bravo.

Beaconx (81) 2006-09-18 15:40

Beautiful colors; totally surreal. Loved it. Cheers,
Alp

ruisc_pt (11594) 2006-09-18 15:57

Only very slight post processing and reducing the size of the image,a little Neat Image on the noise.
well this is a RAW picture--
:)
fabulous shot---

sebcz (2345) 2006-09-19 3:43

Really science fiction. Wonderful colours, plus good post processing.
Regards,
Seb

colinbrenchley (6431) 2006-10-28 14:33

Peter
Your composition just shows of the landscape the the sweeping colours to their absolute best.
Regards Colin

Alan_Kolnik (620) 2007-01-21 16:07

This is a really impressive image fo this much-photographed crater. Most show a rtather dull landscape - you have caught the colors very well and your composition gives a good sense of what it is like to be there.

eluis45 (94) 2007-03-21 4:13

Hola Peter,
Es un paisaje tan bonito que parece irreal, los colores parecen sacados de la paleta de un pintor, Felicidades

stevesieren (787) 2007-07-10 21:13

Wow!! A truly amazing shot from an amazing place. It really is another world. Steve Sieren

MLINES (12516) 2008-01-21 18:44

Hi Peter, An excellent perspective looking down into the massive crater. Very interesting notes about this magnificent view. TFS. Murray.

mkamionka (74607) 2009-01-22 5:01

Fantastic shot.
Amazing place.
I had the pleasure to be there.
No pictures can give justice to its beauty.
M

gramma (3519) 2009-05-05 6:24

Hi Peter,

Spectacular view from this volcanic valley. Effectively, we could believe that we are on another planet. Congratulations and thaks for sharing.
Cordially,

Christophe

coco (30439) 2009-06-19 9:21

Hi Peter.

Really it looks another world. And I love it.
You have made a good and very nice composition and the place is awesome.

Well done.

Yves-triga (5149) 2009-07-25 1:35

Hello Peter,
an splendid Mars view....
Very beautifull shoot,
i like.
well see
yves

svefay (810) 2010-06-23 10:08

hi,
a strange and beautiful piece of the Earth...
very well POV...