Golden Gate Bridge Night Shot (Panorama)

dkapp

Here I am again with another panorama from last night I just got my color issues straightened out as best I can. Let me know when you get tired of these. I'm just having a blast with this new stuff.

This was taken just after 9:00pm last night. More details on the image:

-4 images taken in portrait orientation stitched together.
-each image 30 second exposure @ f4
-Tamron 28-75 @ 52mm

Any comments suggestions are welcome!



Thanks for looking
Dave

lynnma

dkapp wrote:

Here I am again with another panorama from last night I just got my color issues straightened out as best I can. Let me know when you get tired of these. I'm just having a blast with this new stuff.

This was taken just after 9:00pm last night. More details on the image:

-4 images taken in portrait orientation stitched together.
-each image 30 second exposure @ f4
-Tamron 28-75 @ 52mm

Any comments suggestions are welcome!



Thanks for looking
Dave

well... the comment that first came to mind with me was "fantastic". I love it. It's beautiful.

obelix

dkapp wrote:

Here I am again with another panorama from last night Dave

Very nicely done Dave, but I just can't understand why f/4, why not stop down further?

dkapp

obelix wrote:

Very nicely done Dave, but I just can't understand why f/4, why not stop down further?

Each image was a 30 second exposure, so if I went to f/8 or smaller, I would run into issues w/ underexposing the shot, or having to use an external timer and the remote to open/close the shutter...neither option would work for me last night.

f/4 was the smallest aperture I could use and still expose the image properly.

Thanks,
Dave

obelix

dkapp wrote:

Each image was a 30 second exposure, so if I went to f/8 or smaller, I would run into issues w/ underexposing the shot, or having to use an external timer and the remote to open/close the shutter...neither option would work for me last night.

f/4 was the smallest aperture I could use and still expose the image properly.

Thanks,
Dave

Hmm, for a minute I forgot that 30 sec was the slowest before bulb (or is it), of course you could have pushed the ISO up and set the camera NR on.

dkapp

obelix wrote:

Hmm, for a minute I forgot that 30 sec was the slowest before bulb (or is it), of course you could have pushed the ISO up and set the camera NR on.

I tried to get a timed shutter speed longer than 30 seconds last night, but couldn't. I thought about turning up the ISO, but I want to print this one *BIG* so low noise was important to me. I've never used the camera NR before, and last night was not a good time to experiment. I was out there with my girlfriend & she was freaking herself out. It was pitch black & all we had was a small AA maglite and I wouldn't allow her to turn it on during an exposure She was convinced someone was going to come out of the trees/bushes and get her...hahaha.

Needless to say, when the last image finished recording she was grabbing the gear & running back to the car. I didn't even get my lens cap back until we were safe inside the old Mazda.

wxwax

I think it's a great image. The soft purple in the sky balances the yellow glow of the bridge. I especially like the sharp shadow the bridge casts on the water. The only thing I'd figure out how to change is a way to bring down the lights a bit, especially the white & green lights at the far end of the bridge.

I like this style of panorama (4 frames), where the shape of the image is still somewhat standard. It feels like you can take advantage of a slightly tighter shot, fill the frame, and still get a wide perspective - the best of both worlds.

ubergeek

Excellent
Great photo. Love the color of the sky! That Tamron is a fantastic lens, isn't it?

Cheers,
Jeremy

snapapple

Golly that gorgeous!
Great job there. That stitching really works great. You could never get that perspective with one shot, but it doesn't look like a bunch stitched together because it's not real wide. I don't understand how you did it, but it looks marvelous.

dkapp

wxwax wrote:

I think it's a great image. The soft purple in the sky balances the yellow glow of the bridge. I especially like the sharp shadow the bridge casts on the water. The only thing I'd figure out how to change is a way to bring down the lights a bit, especially the white & green lights at the far end of the bridge.

Thanks for the kind words and good suggestion. I think the lighting problem is due to the perspective and cars on the highway. The very white lights are headlights of the vehicles entering the bridge. I'll play with it a bit in PS to see what I can do.

I like the reflections in the water. When printed it almost looks like there is a fire under the bridge!

wxwax wrote:

I like this style of panorama (4 frames), where the shape of the image is still somewhat standard. It feels like you can take advantage of a slightly tighter shot, fill the frame, and still get a wide perspective - the best of both worlds.

This is the first panorama I've taken in this perspective. I love the flexibility in print sizes it gave me. The 8x12 seems to be a favorite so far.

Thanks again,
Dave

dkapp

ubergeek wrote:

Great photo. Love the color of the sky! That Tamron is a fantastic lens, isn't it?

Cheers,
Jeremy

Between the Tamron 28-75 and the 17-35 I couldn't be happier. For the price, you can't beat the image quality. Do you own any other Tamron lenses?

Dave

gregneil

Cool shot. I'm a sucker for photos of the Golden Gate, having grown up in the bay area. I really like how there seems to be a luminance to the air around the bridge, like a light mist is being lit up by the lights. My only critique would be that it seems a hair too bright, at least on my monitor, and that some of the silhouetted shrubs in the foreground seem crisp, and others seem blurry. Great looking stuff. I love the idea of stitching together 4 portrait shots like that. Gonna have to try it...

ian408

I very much like the composition but think it's too bright.

Very sureal look to the bridge. The long exposure really makes the water
seem smooth as glass.

Ian

dkapp

I'm getting a lot of great feedback here tonight & I've made a few changes to my image. I have darkened it a bit, and decreased the brightness of the lights in the back part of the image.

What do you think? Does it look better to you?

Here is the before image:



Here is the after image:


Thanks everyone!

Dave

dkapp

gregneil wrote:

Cool shot. I'm a sucker for photos of the Golden Gate, having grown up in the bay area. I really like how there seems to be a luminance to the air around the bridge, like a light mist is being lit up by the lights. My only critique would be that it seems a hair too bright, at least on my monitor, and that some of the silhouetted shrubs in the foreground seem crisp, and others seem blurry. Great looking stuff. I love the idea of stitching together 4 portrait shots like that. Gonna have to try it...

If you decide to try your hand at a panorama and need some help, I'd be more than happy to do what I can. I'm very new to this, and I'm still learning as I go. The big trick is the exposure & keeping a nice even/level pan as you go. This will make the post processing & stitching much easier. I use a flash mount bubble level to make sure my horizon is level throughout the entire shoot. This way I don't have to crop too much out of the final image and everything will line up nice and even.

Dave

gregneil

I definitely prefer the darker one. The bridge seems much more imposing, even a little eerie. And that's exactly how it feels on the bridge late at night when few cars are around.

Thanks for the panorama tips. I intend to go on a shopping spree soon, pick up a good tripod and other gear, and then I'll try it out.

gubbs

Dave,
Loveley shot
I saw your comments about using f4, and another thread where you mentioned you were having trouble with focusing at night. What did you do regarding focusing each of these 4 shots here? I was wondering if they were all at ~ or focused separately....

gubbs

dkapp wrote:

Between the Tamron 28-75 and the 17-35 I couldn't be happier. For the price, you can't beat the image quality. Do you own any other Tamron lenses?

Dave

I'll second that!! Although I often wish the 17-35 was 2.8 all the way

lynnma

dkapp wrote:

I'm getting a lot of great feedback here tonight & I've made a few changes to my image. I have darkened it a bit, and decreased the brightness of the lights in the back part of the image.

What do you think? Does it look better to you?

Here is the before image:



Here is the after image:


Thanks everyone!

Dave

definitely the darker one.. both are spectacular but I can see the shape of the mountains more clearly in the second darker version..

Andy

love it, nice pano!

i ought to try a pano one of these days....

ian408

I like the darker version.

Ian

dkapp

gregneil wrote:

I definitely prefer the darker one. The bridge seems much more imposing, even a little eerie. And that's exactly how it feels on the bridge late at night when few cars are around.

Thanks for the panorama tips. I intend to go on a shopping spree soon, pick up a good tripod and other gear, and then I'll try it out.

I got my tripod used on Craigslist.org. The tripod legs, head and strap would retail for over $225. I got it all in mint condition for $175. The threads on the tripod have didn't even show any wear.

Dave

dkapp

gubbs wrote:

Dave,
Loveley shot
I saw your comments about using f4, and another thread where you mentioned you were having trouble with focusing at night. What did you do regarding focusing each of these 4 shots here? I was wondering if they were all at ~ or focused separately....

I had to focus this series manually. It was very dark at night, so I had to find a nice bright area to focus automatically & then switch to manual & "tweak" Once I had focus locked on, I left it the same for all images.

gubbs wrote:

I'll second that!! Although I often wish the 17-35 was 2.8 all the way

Same here! The only down side would be a 2lb $1,000 lens like the Nikon version.

Dave

dkapp

lynnma wrote:

definitely the darker one.. both are spectacular but I can see the shape of the mountains more clearly in the second darker version..

Thanks Lynn,

The feedback here is priceless! Thanks to everyone for helping make this image what it is.

Dave

dkapp

andy wrote:

love it, nice pano!

i ought to try a pano one of these days....

If you make it to the city one night, I'll take you to a few of my favorite places to shoot & eat

Dave

fish

dkapp wrote:

If you make it to the city one night, I'll take you to a few of my favorite places to shoot & eat

Dave

Tadich Grill?

dkapp

fish wrote:

Tadich Grill?

I've never been there, so I will have to add it to my list. I do honestly keep a list of places people recommend

I did a quick google on the name & found an interesting book at amazon. It seems that place has quite a history.

Thanks for the recommendation.

Dave