Project 50 - Week 2 - Update #2

Project 50 - Week 2
Update #2

Here is my second attempt at making a panoramic shot of San Francisco.  I know its a bit blurry and pixilation is a bit high, but I think the overall look is pretty good.  As with yesterday's photos, these were more telephoto (around 220mm) than wide-angle.  The amusing part, at least for me, is that the bird (pretty much dead-center of the image) is the clearest part of the photo!

Now, this is a pretty large picture (printed, it would be approximately 34" by 7") and if you click on it to see it "full screen", you might need to scroll a bit left and right.  In total, this panorama is compiled from 7 photos.

Enjoy!

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Photo 365 - Day 233 (Fake Fisheye)

Day 233 (February 21th, 2011)
Title: Fake Fisheye

Fisheye lenses are one of the coolest, if not strangest, lenses in the "photographers arsenal".  Basically, they are super wide angle (5mm-18mm), and make these strange "round" shots.  The edges are blurred and rounded due to the outer-most lens element (it's a large convex piece of glass).  Because of said element, the lenses are crazy-expensive, also because of their short focal length, most "consumer" digital cameras can't use them (it's all scientifical, but lets just say, unless you own one of those crazy-expensive Nikon's or Canon's, your dreams of a fisheye lens are on hold.) 

I call this one Fake Fisheye because... well, no reason really, I just wanted to talk about fisheye lenses, and since I don't have to take a fisheye photo with, I figured any ol' photo will do!  This shot was taken at Mascone Center in San Francisco, near the Zeum (great place for kids!). 

Technical bits: f/10 at 1/250th using ISO 100.  Using ISO 100 really helped reduce the noise, so I highly recommend lowering your ISO to the lowest you can get - it makes post-production much easier! 

Enjoy

Photo 365 - Day 232 (Circle Park)

Day 232 (February 20th, 2011)
Title: Circle Park

I enjoy walking around San Francisco - when the weather is "photo friendly".  Recently I was walking around the Moscone Center, and they have a great park/kids area (called "Zeum").  The park area has a lot of interactive areas for kids and parents.  I was strolling though, and noticed it also has a lot of fun photographic spots to get some great cityscape shots.  Here is the first, facing north-east. 

Technical bits:  Using my 18-55mm lens at 18mm with the following settings: f/14 at 1/500th (ISO 400).  I think I should have moved the ISO to 200 or even 100, I still could have had the aperture at f/14 with a speed of 1/250th (or 1/125th) and gotten a slightly better shot.  I also should have bracketed for both the sky, the white buildings and the shadows from the trees - it would have been fun to combine them in post-production - but I was unable to due to the volume of people walking around.  I was lucky to get a show without really anyone in it, because for the most part, folks were walking in front of me the entire time I was shooting. 

Enjoy

Photo 365 - Day 228 (Bridge Gap)

Day 228 (February 16th, 2011)
Title: Bridge Gap

I recently saw a great photo in a mall (crazy!).  It was a large print on the wall of Bloomingdale's of the Golden Gate bridge, done in black and white from the perspective of someone driving in a car (I'm hoping the passenger took the photo, not the driver!)  It was shot straight up so you could really see the towers as well as the cars zipping along the bridge. 


I thought I'd try to replicate that photo somewhat, but via the Bay Bridge (only because we rarely go over the Golden Gate).   I got a few shots that were okay, but didn't quite get the look I was going for (too much traffic and we were going a bit too fast for the camera to focus the way I wanted it to).  This photo, on the other hand was more of a "playing around" shot, but I really enjoy how it came out.  To pay homage to the original idea of what I was working on, I did some selective coloring to render the top and bottom black and white.  The bridge in the background is in fact, the Golden Gate! 


Enjoy

Photo 365 - Day 149 (The Tipsy Pig)

Day 149 (November 28th, 2010)
Title: The Tipsy Pig

I saw this bar/restaurant in downtown San Francisco, and it just screamed (oinked?): "Take a picture of me!"  I shot a few photos head-on, trying to get everything composed "correctly" but they didn't quite look good.  This one I got when I tried to just focus on the pig and have him (her?) mostly vertical.  What I didn't realize at the time was, by trying to get the pig to look "normal", all the the surroundings are tilted (aka: "Drunk Vision"), and not only are they tilted, but tilted to the bar's doorway!  The pig looks like he is falling into the doorway - looking to get more tipsy! 

Ah, the fun of a creative mistake!

Enjoy!

Photo 365 - Day 146 (Streets of San Francisco - Divisadero Street)

Day 146 (November 25th, 2010)
Title: Streets of San Francisco - Divisadero Street

During the holiday break, we visited the Legion of Honor in San Francisco.  After being stunned by the Japanese woodblock prints, we decided that a crazy-expensive pizza was the best way to follow it up.  We decided to head to the Marina District and to get there, you've got to go, up, up, up!  At the top of the hill I quickly scrambled to get my camera and snap this shot of us about to plunge down Divisadero!  Okay, it was more of a "relaxing zoom" rather than a plunge, but either way it was fun!

Enjoy!