Alex

Alex and I had planned to shoot some sunset shots on the beach. As luck would have it, the day was overcast and foggy, with very little visibility. So we decided to do something different...

Homeless in San Francisco

The cold nights that we've recently had in the San Francisco area reminded me of this photograph I took a couple of years ago (December 2008).

Happy New Year!!!

A quick post to wish every one a Happy New Year. I spent New Year's Eve taking pictures of the San Francisco fireworks from Treasure Island. It is a great view, and overall it was a beautiful night (with some rain showers here and there).

Tried shooting a video of the finale, and it came out "decent". I had my camera set to Bulb mode for the still pictures, and that ends up shooting the video in Auto mode. I think the video's a bit over-exposed at times, but sharing it anyway :-)

Full Lunar Eclipse (12/21/2010)

A photo-shopped composite of 17 photographs...

Continue to see how this image came about...

Oh, the places I've been ... (Part II)

... and the things I've seen!!!

(Day 1 - Rome. October 1, 2009)

First real day of vacation. Woke up, got ready, went downstairs to get some breakfast. Breakfast was good, but one sip of the cappuccino, and suddenly I knew why Europeans are so snobbish elitist choosy about their coffee. It was unbelievably good.

Oh, the places I've been ... (Part I)

... and the things I've seen!!!

(Getting there)

I managed to make a trip of a lifetime happen, with literally zero notice.

I have always loved traveling, seeing new places, meeting new friends, and for lack of a better term, just gaining new experiences.

Changing jobs, I had about 3 free weeks till I started at my new job.

Montara State Beach

Last week, I went to Montara State Beach on California Highway 1, north of Half Moon Bay. Didn't have a lot of time, so ended up taking just a couple of photographs... one of the scene and a self-portrait.

I think this one came out pretty nicely.


I then took a self-portrait. You can see the flash in the photo - no time to set up stands, etc. I could have photo-shopped it out, but chose not to spend the time. Kind of gives it a "real" feeling to me.

Photographing Fireworks

Every year around the 4th of July and New Year's Day, there are several people asking for advice on how to photograph the upcoming fireworks. It seems that the questions are almost always the same, just new people asking them.

I'll share my technique and offer some tips. If you're a seasoned photographer, then most, if not all, will be redundant. Other people should hopefully find this useful.

In some ways, this article is late by a couple of days; being written on July 5th. Or you can see the glass as half-full, and realize that you now have many months to get ready :-)

Quick Guide

Preparation

• Set your camera to ISO: 100, Aperture: f/11, Shutter Speed: Bulb
• Turn off Long Exposure NR (on my camera, it doubles the time for an exposure - essentially forcing a break between photographs)
  
• Put the camera on a tripod, with remote release cable attached
  
• Set the zoom on your lens to cover the desired area
• Set your lens to manual focus, and focus on infinity
  

The Photographs
The Fireworks
As the fireworks go off, anticipate the bursts and shoot away. Take as many photographs as you can. You may end up throwing away a bunch of them.

You can usually see the rocket go up before it explodes. Press the shutter as it's going up and keep it pressed till the sparks fall off.

The longer you keep the shutter pressed, the more fireworks you'll capture in that photograph.

Beyond that it's practice. Anticipating the bursts, capturing cool shapes, keeping the photos from being too busy, etc. comes from experience. The more you shoot, the better you'll get.

New Years 2009 Fireworks

Taken from Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay. Showed up there with plenty of time before the fireworks began. Hung out and enjoyed the beautiful view, chatted with a few people, etc. till the show started.

Initially, I hadn't planned on taking any photographs, but once I was there any doubts were gone.

Had my camera gear with me, but didn't have a tripod. So I put the camera on the roof of the car. Had to put the lens cap and trigger release cable under the lens to get the right angle. Got a lot of light trails and cars in the photographs, but cropping them did the trick :-)

Lessons learnt: Take a tripod when you're taking your camera. You never know when you'll need it.









An un-cropped view

Gateway to San Francisco

I had been thinking about going to the Marin Headlands and taking some pics of the Golden Gate Bridge for some time. Saturday evening, Feb. 07, I decided to do it. Left home, thinking that I had plenty of time to get there before sunset.

I've been living in the Bay Area for many years now, but still manage to get surprised by unexpected traffic jams. Stuck on Howard Street, I watched the sunset, and then darkness enveloping the streets. It was dark when I finally got there.

• Shot a few pics of the Golden Gate and then my car
• Lent my tripod to a fellow photographer who was without one
• took a picture of a couple with my camera as their camera couldn't handle fill-flash, and was making the Golden Gate a black blob.

Took the top down on the drive back. Met a friend back in the city, dinner, hot chocolate, and then back home.

Sunset at Ocean Beach, San Francisco

Friday, January 9th was a long day... work, then a friend's birthday. Saturday was long too. I had planned to spend Sunday at home watching football, and to just veg on the couch. Got up kind of late, and was finalizing my vegging techniques when I realized that the weather had warmed up... from 50s and cloudy to 68 and sunny. So much for vegging.

Decided to go out and do two of my favorite things - going to the city (San Francisco) and taking pics. I had planned to go to the Marin headlands and take some photos of the Golden Gate Bridge with the skyline in the background... but after picking up a friend and following his directions (he got kind of lost)... ended up on Ocean Beach around sunset. Took a few pics... later on had dinner and went home.

photo info:

• shot in RAW, Color Space Adobe RGB
• 13 sec, f/10, January 11, 2009 at 5:45pm
• Location: click on the picture and click "map" link (bottom right of page)
• Shot with camera on tripod, with remote release
  

post processing:
In Canon DPP

• white balance set to 4300K
  
• sharpness 10
• color saturation 3
• contrast 1
• picture style Landscape
• cropped to remove boring sky.

"Out of Camera" Picture