Monday, January 21, 2013

Holidays in San Francisco

It seems as though society is getting more polarized every day. People are taking sides, often refusing to even consider other viewpoints. We start young with boys versus girls. In eighth grade in Fairfield our choice in music divided the 'rockers' and 'soulers.'  As we got older things become more serious: democrats against republicans; pro-life versus pro-choice; gun control or second amendment; etc. You can only be one or the other nowadays, there is no room for moderation. Families have been torn apart, mild acquaintances unfriended on Facebook.

That is why I like being a photographer, we don't care about such trivialities as race or religion. While Giants and Dodgers fans try to kill each other the photographers for each team will happily chat away about our new photo apps. Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and atheist photographers ignore the question of life after death and instead focus on the practicality of the zone system. Wether you drive a Ford or a Chevy, we don't care as long as you aren't one of those bastard Nikon users.

I've been a Canon shooter since Andre Agassi first started promoting the Rebel line when I was a teenager. I slowly built up a professional assortment of bodies and lenses and about two years ago thought I had all the gear I'd ever need. Then Canon announced a 200-400 zoom lens. Nikon had had a similar lens for years that was popular with sports photogs. I knew I needed this lens until I saw the price was estimated to be $11,000. Suddenly my longstanding love of Canon began to wane. I began pricing things out and I figured could buy both the Nikon version and the top of the line Nikon camera for the same price. On top of that Nikon then released an affordable 36megapixel camera in the D800E. So when a good deal on that camera and another on the Nikon 200-400 popped up on EBay I made a move.

Since I got such a good deal on both my original intention was to shoot as much as I could quickly, sell each for a profit, then go back to life as a Canon shooter. December had just begun and San Francisco would soon be alight in all its holiday glory. I spent a few days perusing Flickr and Google images looking for all the best touristy places to shoot. Then poked around Google maps to see if I could find any new angles to take advantage of. With an eye on live webcams from around the city I waited until the light on top of the TransAmerica building came on. Finally, on the first night of Hanukah, it lit and I prepared to execute my plan.

The following night I packed up my gear and headed to my first destination, Alamo Square and the Painted Ladies of Full House fame. I found the one parking spot around the whole park, hauled out two big tripods, set up, and waited for the light to come on. At 5 the sun set giving the sky a beautiful pink hue. At 5:30 a twilight blue sky covered the city. By 6 the sky was mostly dark but the light was still not on. A nice gentleman from Germany, in town on business, had a similar idea trying to capture as many iconic scenes as he could in three days. I loaned him a tripod and talked about places to go. He showed me photos from the top of Coit Tower he had just taken and I added that to my list. By 7:30 the light had still not come on and I decided to move on to another spot and see what I could make of the trip.

My next scheduled stop was a neighborhood on Portero Hill, overlooking the city and the 280 curve. Most people take a nice, tight view of the skyline with the lights of the cars streaking along the freeway. But since the TA light was not on I decided to take a panoramic view, combining 7 photos together for incredible detail. I parked my car part way down the steep street and set up the tripod on my car roof, to help get a view of the bay bridge over the roofs of the houses.


While the Nikon D800E has an impressively sharp 36megapixels, this combined panorama is 240megapixels that could blow up to 10 foot wide prints and still have enough detail to look great with your face pressed up against it. You may notice the light is on on the pyramid in this shot. I went back again to the same spot a few days later and blended it into this one. While that's not ethical for the work at the Enterprise, I don't have a big issue with it for something that is much more scenic than documentary.

I went back home and started waiting again by the livecam views. On the 13th it lit again. Miranda surmised it was for the 12 days of Christmas. Whatever the reason I was back in action. My next day off was Sunday the 16th. Forecast called for rain but the hourly view suggested it wouldn't start til 8. I drove back with Sunday I-80 traffic getting into the city just after 5:30. Coming thru the tunnel on Treasure Island the the drops started to fall on my windshield. By the time I got to my first stop at Coit Tower it was a heavy downpour. I almost quit but having driven all that way I decided just be a tourist and check out what the tower had to offer. Tripods are not allowed on the observation deck and all the windows are locked shut. And at the 6 o'clock closing time the TA light still was not on. As I tried to find a raindrop-free window to watch the clouds scrape across the tops of the buildings the light suddenly appeared. I pressed the camera up between the window and my face to keep it stable.


After a few snaps the call came for the last elevator ride down. I was happier now that the light was on and moved down to the Embarcadero to Pier 14. The rain had been a blessing in disguise as it scared off most of the tourists so I had the pier to myself. I started with a single shot with a fisheye on my Canon, corrected in photoshop to fix the distortion.


then tried five photos across the view to stitch together into a panorama


I didn't have the camera exactly centered with the pier and raindrops on the lens caused some spots in the photos. Even though I was happy at the time, when I edited them at home I knew I would need to try this one again. This is probably the most colorful view of the city and it needed to be done right.

On the other side of the ferry building from Pier 14 was Pier 7. It lines up perfect with the TA building and has pretty, old style lights lining its path. Again the rain was key to this photo, helping to reflect the light and brighten up the image. Back to the Nikon for this one.


A seagull came and perched on the closest light and I zoomed out to include all the Embarcadero Center buildings.


Happy with my visits to the piers I went back to Portero Hill to redo it with the light on. Here's the tight view of the skyline


Since it's over an hour drive from Davis to San Fran with a couple bridge tolls I tried to make the most of each visit. Miranda and I had taken Abby to Macy's last year to see all the decorations and we wanted to do it again this year. After Macy's and trip to the wharf I dragged them over to Twin Peaks. Along the way we made a quick stop back at Alamo Square.


It was pretty cold and windy up at Twin Peaks. So while I set about making another panorama Mir and Abby skyped with her parents in the car. 


This is a 260megapixel image. Here's a 100% crop of two people standing at a bus stop on Market St in the middle of the photo.



Considering how windy it was I'm really happy these photos weren't too shaky.

The following Sunday brought another solo trip, starting with a redo of Pier 14.


The skies were clear this time and a waxing gibbous moon helped give the sky a blue hue even after twilight. This is a 5 shot, 131MP panorama with the Nikon. I also shot to the right over to Angel Island and left covering the whole Bay Bridge but decided to keep it to this view to emphasize the colors reflecting in the water. This was my favorite shot of the city.

Back across the west span of the bridge to Treasure Island I tried more panoramas. First from the far end of the island:


Then again from up the hill a bit, looking right down Market St for a 212MP panorama. 


I'd hoped to see some of the traffic along Market from this view but the ferry building blocked it out. Only a red-orange glow from the lights extending into the sky showed. 

Over the bridge once more and to the Presidio area I tried a view I hadn't seen before with the Palace of Fine Arts and TA pyramid together. 


I probably should've offset them more or gone tight perfectly centered. With time getting late I went over the Golden Gate and down near its base to try one more city panorama, using a large seastack rock for foreground detail. 


The city was just a little too small in this view. 

After Christmas I started my next trip on the Marin side, hiking down to Kirby Cove to see the city under the Golden Gate. A five shot 130MP panorama.


Then up near the top of the hill to get a close up of the Golden Gate north tower and TransAmerica bldg. 


My next scheduled stop was Ina Coolbrith park in the city. But Hwy 101 runs along Lombard St so I decided to detour and see what view of the city I could get there. I set up with the best view of the skyline I could find. I was so busy trying to get the curve, Coit Tower, the moon, and the holiday lights together that I didn't notice the giant tree branch in the upper right. This one will have to wait til next year for a redo.


While I had found a parking spot right at the top of Lombard, the closest parking I found to Ina Coolbrith had to be on one of the steepest hills in the city. My driver side door swung open immediately while the passenger side had to be held open or it would slam shut. The view was worth it, though, with the moon light reflecting in the water under the bridge. 


Here's a 100% crop from the panorama of two guys talking on a balcony of the middle apartment complex. 


I sped thru the city and into the Oakland hills for a more distant view of the skyline. First some night hiking in Joaquin Miller park (230MP)


Then over to Grizzly Peak for just one shot of the bridge 


I managed to get to most of the places I wanted to with the lights on but had one more top priority place to photograph, a reshoot of last year's New Year view from Ft Baker. Mir, Abby, and I went down again, this time near the fishing pier. I wanted more reflection of the lights from the fireworks and TA light than I got in last year's photo and hoped the pier would smooth out the water enough to make that happen. There was also a small beach that Abby and Mir could play at while I shot away. I set three cameras up this time, hoping one would get it all right. A single shot with the Canon 7D I borrowed from work, 


And a 240MP panorama with the Nikon


Getting to see the city from so many angles got me thinking about where to shoot the next New Year's fireworks from. With a little photoshop work I put together what I think I will be shooting a little under a year from now. 



After three weeks of pretty heavy cityscape shooting I decided that maybe Nikons aren't so bad. In fact I was so impressed with the detail in these photos I decided to sell off most of my Canon gear. If only it were so easy to view the world thru our rival's lenses for a while on the other subjects that divide us. 

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