Southern Composition

I have been browsing my new favorite blog (Digital Photography School) and seen alot about long or bulb exposures for night images. The long exposure makes the image more dynamic & brings out alot of light & captures things that I possibly hadn't even seen, I have horrible night vision! I had never really tried taking night images before so I figured that long exposure would be the one thing I was going to try out this past weekend, since I was going to be in the city.

I stopped at the Vista Point just north of the Golden Gate around midnight, setup my tripod on top of the railing, set the shutter speed to bulb, and used my remote shutter trigger to start and end the exposure (this should have avoided any possible shaking or bumps and made the image really clear and sharp). I took around 8 photos but some were not even in focus, a downside to using the remote for the first time for long exposures).

I will have to shoot more Long Exposures. I was ecstatic with these two shots:

13 SEC. EXPOSURE- a little too bright for my liking however the detail in the stars is gorgeous!


10 SEC. EXPOSURE-  I think this one was my favorite. The clouds look gorgeous, the city lights are reflecting nicely of the water, and the bridge lights have a nice orb-ish look...

Location: San Francisco, CA
Date/Time: 5/10/10 midnight
Subject(s): Golden Gate Bridge, City
Notes: NO PROCESSING OR EDITING on these images

This is the main entrance to Venice Beach- This brown gull dropped down into the puddle and apparently the white gull wasn't givin up his chillin spot! If I hadn't had my camera ready to go I would have missed this shot trying to get my camera ready....










Venice Beach Grafitti- I had to wait a while for this area to clear out as they were shooting a MTV show a few feet to the left of this object....


Pretty Flowers at Venice Beach- This shot was actually made tinkering with the Aperture setting, I wanted the closest flower nice and sharp and bright, with the others a little blurry...








Venice Beach Lifeguard Stand at Night- I really enjoyed this photo because I do not take alot of night photos and the lights pouring out the shops lightens up the darkness and adds alot of interest to what would have been a flat boring background...


Santa Monica Lifeguard Stands- This picture isn't the best- I wanted a picture of a row of the differently colored stands but there were a ton of people out and this image isn't really what I wanted. I will need to try that one again on the next LA trip!


Antique Santa Monica Pier- Picture taken with Polarizing Filter, then applied Color Boost and Antique effects in I-Photo. I like this photo alot, even though it has an old antique look it still has alot of color and sharp definition of the pier. I especially like the yellow hue on the water to the left reflecting off the yellow rides on the pier.












































Ethan @ Santa Monica Pier- I like this portrait. Even though the background is fairly busy I think it is balanced out by the highly defined water and open sky at the top.

You talkin to me?- Seal at Santa Monica Pier, I had to wait a LONG time for this guy to look up at me.. workin on that patience!






Elvis in Sepia- Originally taken in color with the Sepia added from in-camera effects....My first time using the in-camera editing tools, and I realized I need to be using them ALOT more! it drastically speeds up post-shoot editing.

































Location: Los Angeles, CA (Venice Beach, Hollywood, Santa Monica)
Date/Time: 5/7/10- 5/10/10
Subject(s): Landscapes, Cityscapes, Structures, Things
Notes: very little editing work done, mostly adjusting light, saturation, and definition in I-Photo...

I have been so busy and away from the blog for a while.... its time to play a little catch up! I went to Mad River Beach for the first time in January, guided by my bro. (it's his favorite beach). We walked up the beach from the pot-hole ridden parking lot down to where the river meets the ocean and back to the parking lot along the biggest dunes I have ever seen! It was certainly a workout, going up and down and up and down in all that loose sand.... The day started off really cloudy and drizzly but the heavens opened up once we got to the beach, and the photography god decided the keep the clouds and rain at bay until after I had gotten a couple great shots.

This photo is towards the end of our walk, standing on top of the dunes. I love quite a few things about this picture but I guess my favorite would have to be the clouds. I love the way they draw your eye into the image, their scale and threatening, menacing look. The second thing I like is how the clouds lead your eye to the center of the image which is whited/grayed out by the fog and sea spray rolling in (and its right over that dune peak, which lines up nicely), but on either side of the center you can still see pretty far.
This photo was at the beginning of our walk. I am in love with this image, its actually my screensaver at home. From the texture of the driftwood with all the interesting turns, knobs, juts, & holes to the light and fluffy texture of the sea foam coming in so close, to the way the sea seems to disappear into whiteness... Did I mention that I am in love with this image? :)

LOCATION: Mad River Beach, McKinleyville CA
DATE/TIME: 1/30/10 , 1-3pm
SUBJECT: Nature, Landscape, Seascape
NOTES: Pictures taken using a polarizing filter and edited under 5min. mostly saturation and light levels

I went to Patricks Point State Park today for a hike. It was gorgeous! However, this wreaked havoc on my pictures because it was waayy to bright out for my lil'ol' point-&-shoot! So I had to try and mess around with the exposure of the photos as well as the settings in order to capture the waves breaking; and then had to mess with the exposure/light balance in Elements...