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Cellpic Sunday—Kukuiolono Park Path (Part 1)

Where the Kukuiolono path leads

May 2025.
Kālaheo, Kaua‘i, Hawai‘i.

Following a recommendation from our hosts, we checked out Kukuiolono Park in Kālaheo, which was only a four-minute drive from our retreat. The park grounds include a golf course, a small restaurant, ocean views, a Japanese garden, and an ancient stone garden. However, I’ll save the details for the Tuesday Trek. While we became regulars at the restaurant, this shaded trail—just a short walk from the entrance—leads directly to the two gardens we’ll explore in detail on Tuesday. The golf course offers ocean views, but this little path—tucked just a short walk from the entrance—leads directly to the two gardens we’ll explore on Tuesday.

About the photo: This photo was captured with the Samsung S23 Ultra. I tried framing the image as a single horizontal shot, but the trees and sky kept getting cropped in ways I didn’t like, or the trail all but disappeared in the lower part of the frame. I rarely use portrait orientation on a cellphone—the social media influencers have that covered—so I took two horizontal images, one above the other, and stitched them together using Lightroom Classic’s Photo Merge > Panorama tool. When I first looked at the set of cellpics in Lightroom, I realized I’d forgotten to switch the camera into Pro mode—this is a two-image JPEG file. Fortunately, the scene didn’t need much help: a quick once‑around the Basic panel was all it took. No masks, no added texture or clarity, no generative AI. Just nature at its tropical best. Click on the image to view it on my Flickr site in 2K HD. Stay tuned for the upcoming Tuesday Trek.

I invite fellow bloggers to join in by creating their own Cellpic Sunday posts. There’s no set theme. The first rule: your photo must be captured with a cell phone, iPad, or other mobile device. The second rule: link your challenge response to this post or drop a comment here with your link so others can find it. And remember, despite the name, there’s no penalty for sharing on a day other than Sunday.

John Steiner.

40 comments

      • Rail is nice- when it is reliable. We always take the train to the winefest (makes sense, that one, doesn’t it?) but on our way back we almost took double the time because the times were not quite right in the app (the app for the German trains, mind you…) and hence the connections didn’t work. And the app said it would stop at our little stop but it didn’t, so we had to catch the tram back but the tram stopped after one station and we had to wait for the next one. Nothing major, just little annoying obstacles.

      • Connections! That’s a whole new learning experience for me. I’ve only been on a train (not an excursion train) a couple of times, and then only from point A to B… no connections needed.

  17. Stitching two horizontal frames into a vertical panorama rather than just turning the phone sideways is a clever workaround — and you’d never guess it wasn’t shot that way. A four-minute drive from where you were staying, and a restaurant you became regulars at, is exactly the kind of low-effort find we chase when we’re travelling with the kids and nobody has the energy for a big day out. Looking forward to the Tuesday Trek through the gardens.

    Reply

    • Thanks! I never really got into using the native cellphone portrait format, especially coming from a background in traditional landscape photography. While I used to merge two vertical cellphone frames side by side, I’ve since discovered that stitching a wider horizontal frame vertically provides a much more natural composition—at least for my eye.

      Reply

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