Sunday, February 5, 2012

I've complained a lot on this blog about being stuck at work when the skies were shaping up for good sunsets. Thursday Jan. 5 looked like one of those days. But the work schedule can be pretty light in winter and my only assignment that night was a 7 p.m. basketball game. With the winter sunset at around 5 I figured I had just enough time to make it to the open space in Vacaville and be back before the game. After checking in at the office I made the 20-25 minute drive and arrived with about half an hour of sun left. I reshot one of my favorite photos, the oak and rectangular boulder to see if the clouds would give me something better.

I processed this one differently, extracting the red and green channels, combining them into a grayscale, then toning it to look sepia like. Sometimes when I do black and whites with cloudy skies I pull only the red channel into the grayscale to give the most contrast to the sky. But I've noticed before that the details between channels sometimes shift slightly (insert complex explanation about the nature of optics, diffraction, visible spectrum, etc) It's hard to see in a small web picture but I really like the effect this and the use of a large aperture has on the details in the grass and boulder.

The actual item on my list was the old dead oak tree I'd shot before but at sunset. I tried adding the clouds and moon to make a nice color photo but still like the black and white from last time.


As I tried a few more angles of old shots I could see the color really starting to pop in the clouds visible over the nearby ridge. I hiked as fast as I could with my gear but couldn't find a good foreground subject before the colors started to fade. My lungs were pretty upset about all the work they just did for no reward. But as I started the hike back down the lights of the city started to shine and the waxing gibbous moon helped light the hills.


Having lived in a town as flat as Davis for so long I really liked having a high vantage point to see a similar sized city at twilight.

A few weeks later, with an itch to do more star trails, I headed back out to the barn I'd shot in the fog a year ago. I thought the old truck would make for a good foreground. After a pain in the butt 15 minute bike ride along the levee road by only starlight with a trailer full of gear I made it to the barn. I brought 4 cameras with me and tried multiple angles

I'm not even a mile out of town and there were almost too many stars visible. While the cameras were running I did a little exploring and decided to try a south facing star trails over the collapsed roof of the barn.

It was pretty dark out there but my eyes had adjusted enough to where I think I got a pretty good foreground. I like how the colorful glow from Dixon and Vacaville gives the horizon a fiery look. Unfortunately the battery only lasted about 20 minutes at this spot so I called it quits after this set. That and, even with gloves, the cold was getting to my fingers and toes.

With star trails still on my mind Mir gave me the go ahead to head down to the Golden Gate the next night. Wanting to get the most out of the almost $20 in gas I was spending I decided to try blue hour at the Palace of Fine Arts first. I've wanted this for a long time and almost had it timed perfect but accidentally took the Hwy 1 exit off the bridge instead of 101. The 10 minutes I wasted working my way back cost me the perfect lighting balance between the sky and lights. I was able to pull out the color and detail in photoshop but the pic is more grainy than I'd hoped.

I'm going to try again with better timing and some waders so I can get out into the water and avoid the tree and outcropping on the left of the photo.
Going back across the Golden Gate I set up three cameras for star trails, one on fishing pier

another at the edge of the pier

and the last as close as security would let anyone go to the bridge. It was the last angle that I like the most

Unfortunately the highlights on the bridge are too blown out. But as usual that gives me a good reason to go back again.

While I was breaking down my three camera set-up I played with a few more angles and found a unique view of the bridge and its northern approach reflecting in the water.
If I go back to re-do the other star trails I think I'll try one with this view, too.

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