Photos Photo of the Day

It was my GF's turn to plan date night last week and she took us up to Tilden Park in Berkeley Hills to watch the sunset. She also graciously allowed me to bring along my camera so I took the opportunity to photograph the San Francisco skyline just as the sun dipped below the horizon. At this location we were about 15km from what you're seeing in the picture and therefore it's sorely lacking sharpness due to the smog. I do like the color though; I was able to achieve this with a combination of a circular polarizer and .9ND filter to lengthen the exposure (in experimenting with the ND filter during sunset shoots, I've found that it really seems to bring out the feint pink hues in the sky). The long exposure time also adds a suggestion of movement to the fog. Another thing I like about this image is the layering effect (Bay / Islands / Bay / Skyline / Foothills) where each layer is separated by fog.

Here's the full details; C&C appreciated, as always:

Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 70-200 f2.8 L IS II @ 200mm
39 seconds @ f16
ISO 100
Lee circular polarizer
Lee .9 ND resin filter

Some minor post-processing was done to this image - I adjusted levels & curves to add depth to the fog, and added sharpening. The image was cropped from 3:2 down to 2:1. I recently reformatted my laptop and haven't reinstalled my monitor profiling software yet. Let me know if this image appears underexposed.


San Francisco Skyline from Tilden Park by Ligoman17, on Flickr

 

I wasn't deliberately going for that look, but I think Rachael just oozes that look anyway. Funny thing is I'm the only photographer she's shot glamour with - and she's so damn good at it too!

 

Looks pretty useful but I don't think it'll stop the camera itself from bouncing around as it hangs off my hip. I think I set the strap too long; I'll see if shortening it helps. Maybe my camera is just not well balanced to hang stably by my side.

Great shot. Doesn't look underexposed to me, but I don't know what you were going for, so can't be certain.

 

A great shot. I can't see the full scale image (no flickr) so please disregard if i'm totally off, but the city and it's lights lights could be a tad brighter (while keeping the great sky)?

 

Another of Rachael from my shoot on the weekend.


Rachael in the office by JazzXP, on Flickr

 

@djzic - beautiful first picture. Really like that one.
@JazzXP - this one in the office really works for me well. There is a theme & she breaks it with her crazy hair/make up/shoes. The one previous is as if it's a beauty shot... and I just see a beautiful girl/women hidden behind distracting & obnoxious makeup/hair/piercings. But in terms of a photograph, big big cheers for great smooth lighting that is not flat. & the pose + hair arrangement is nice. Great job!
@Ligoman - That is the most amazing image I've seen in a looong time. I'm absolutely stunned. That should be a huge canvas print!! Great job!

Here are few of mine:
Recently took my girl upstate to the mountains, here's one video frame from GoPro video:


Racing to the river.. by Neo - nimajus, on Flickr

Then I have a sad picture for myself, this is me leaving my country & heading to US:

Framing Vilnius by Neo - nimajus, on Flickr

Lastly, just processed one from the GT3 support race for F1:

Duel by Neo - nimajus, on Flickr

 

The GT3 shot would have been much nicer (IMO) if the cars, or at least the lead car, was entirely in the frame.

 

That GoPro shot is gorgeous...is that how the whole video looks or did you process that particular frame? Been thinking about getting one...

 

Xir - Thank you for your feedback and suggestion. I really like your idea of lightening the skyline; I'm going to try that tonight!
Cheap Mod - Wow... thank you!!

JazzXP - I love that shot and Rachael is gorgeous. Just one small suggestion though - If she'd extended her right leg just a bit it might expose more of her left leg. Then it wouldn't look like her left leg is growing out of her right leg. Hope that made sense.

 

Thx, please remember it's just a suggestion.
I agree with "Cheap Mod wannabee" though, once it's done, print it on canvas an sell it.

 

Finally got my monopod for my Nikon 300mm f2.8 AI IF lens. Much easier to mf now that I don't have to support any lens.



crop of the above;

 

Agreed, I would pay for that.

Edit: ninja'd

 

I think you're in the wrong thread, or have I missed something??

 

ah Thought you were referring to our dear Rachel the suicide girl

 

Thanks for your comments. It's funny when I first did a shoot with Rachael (back in April), I felt the same about her piercings, but they've really grown on me now. I've always loved her hair however.

Thanks for the tip and I totally see what you're getting at, I may actually have one like that, just didn't like the other aspects of the photo as much (I've still got a number of photos from the various sets we shot to edit).

 

@Greg the Rotter.. the first photo of the rose is beautiful. The composition is great & I'm not a big fan of flower photos but that's awesome!

@October.. sry had to take down the GoPro shot, Have to find another one that has no GF in it
It is processed though, but GoPro is an amazing little camera. I love it!
I love the dynamic range on it. It underexposes a bit, so the sky is almost always amazing, but there is enough detail in the shadows to produce some AMAZING images. And these recent ones are just screenshots from a 720p video. The actual photo mode produces very nice pics. Here are some

GoPro shots:


GOPR1082.jpg by Neo - nimajus, on Flickr

 

Interesting stuff there CMW. I've seen some video of some guy who wing dived which was pretty awesome.

A few shots with my 300 f2.8 IF ED and D700;



Crop of the above (I'm liking my monopod . I also cheated a little and used live view )







f2.8
1/125th
Iso 2500

 

Nice!

Whatever gets the job done! (liveview had what positive effect?)

 

The fact that I made sure I had exact focus, see the crop. Not sure if you've ever tried using mf in that sort of light, it's not easy.