HPS sunset shoot - 1/16/2010

The Hawaii Photographic Society met for what hopes to be monthly photo excursions. The first was to Waikiki for a sunset shoot. Like many unfortunate sunsets, it starts out looking nice but as the sun got lower, it disappeared in the thick clouds.
Even w/o a clear sunset, the color of the sky was still very beautiful. I was in search of the 'perfect' silhouette, if there was such a thing, for a 'Hawaii No Ka Oi' shot. All I found was one person and a couple of beach chairs.
I attempted at several HDR where I could bring out the dark shadows in the sunset. But the sky got a bit washed out. I also thought getting a shot of one of these lifeguard huts w/ a sunset would be cool...but the angle of the sun just didn't work out..
Another HDR attempt w/ the dark rooting of this banyan tree.
After the sun set, the crescent moon appeared in the nice blue sky. Again, another attempt at the 'perfect' silhouette.
I had so much fun w/ the previous experiment using PSE's watercolor effect, I tried it w/ this silhouette shot of a photographer on the beach.
As I headed towards home, I caught this shot of the moon and fellow HPS members taking pictures at the walkway.