An incredibly lucky set of conditions allowed me to capture this interesting effect of sunrays emanating from the SF skyline. The pre-sunrise sky was a bust and I was making my walk of shame back down Slacker Hill when I happened to look back one last time and saw this scene. I unpacked quickly and grabbed just a couple of shots before it all disappeared and became a normal morning sky again.
Lens is the FA77 Limited using 2 manually blended exposures. I stopped way down and used a fast shutter to underexpose a bit for a more dramatic effect. An ND as well as a grad ND were engaged. BTW, nothing was added nor removed (pixels-wise); this is indeed how the image was captured. BTW, the horizon and verticals are straight, the oblique angle of the waterfront creates a slight "tilt" to the image. ;)
processed with NIK Silver efex to boost contrast and add some grit..
** 2018: This image appears on the album cover of GT Jazz' "Cross Paths". Check it out! www.gtfjazz.com/cross-paths-cd.html
Tags: san francisco california skyline bank america wells fargo BofA Transamerica pyramid tower sunrise sunset shadow fog cloud landscape mike oria photography pentax K5 black white BW mono duo toning blue http://mikeoria.zenfolio.com/ sun sol solar
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It's been 99 days since my last black and white image, and that's just too long.
Sunrise behind the east bay hills, seen from Battery Spencer in Marin.
As I was about to go to bed at 2am, I checked the current wind conditions and it showed 5mph winds in SF. This is perfect for a long telephoto shot from the Marin hills, so I set my alarm for an early rise (4:30a) and drifted off into a luxurious night's sleep. 2.5 hours later, I'm on the road for Battery Spencer.
I arrive and hike up Hawk Hill and snap a single test shot under virtually windless conditions. Idyllic. From that moment on, the winds picked up and gusted as the offshore fog layer rolled in, then back out. Wrangling the 600mm lens in those conditions was a minor feat, but I was able to grab just a few sharp frames to produce this composite pano.
Lens is the A*600mm f/5.6 on the 645Z. Mono conversion using Nik Silver Efex Pro.
Thanks for looking!
Tags: California San Francisco Golden Gate bride Sausalito Marin Bay Bridge cuty skyline cityscape landscape night sunrise morning Mike Oria photography www.mikeoria.com
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Here's another mono shot, this morning playing in traffic near nob hill. This could well be the only HANDHELD shot in my entire photostream. I pretty much always have the camera mounted to my tripod, but the circumstances here required being out in the middle of a busy intersection...so handheld it was. I spied this shot a couple years before, and didn't have the glass for it then.
It was a fun time and I ended up meeting with two different friends, at different times, strangely enough. Thanks guys, for the company. Lens is the tiny but powerful F*300/4.5 on the Pentax K5. Nik silver efex and some random burning here and there. I hope you like it!
Tags: california San Francisco nob hill fairmont mark hopkins cable car trolly rail bay bridge sunrise sunset silhouette hills black white mono toning Pentax K5 mike oria photography Mike Oria California Street cables steep Nob Hill California St. cable car Van Ness morning walk walker runner Trader Joes
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From last evening's "Night Eyes Photo Workshop" in San Francisco, we re-visited a past favorite location to shoot the cable cars.
If this looks familiar, I purposely processed this one to create a matched pair with the prior shot from January.
Single frame, single exposure using the cable release in BULB mode. Lens is the Sigma 10-20 on the K5. Nik Silver Efex for the mono conversion.
Thanks!
Tags: California San Francisco cable car Night Night Eyes nightscape cityscape landscape City skyline Building financial district rice roni turnaround terminous powell street market long exposure bulb nik silver Mike Oria www.mikeoria.zenfolio.com Pentax K5 sigma 10-20 union square www.mikeoria.com
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From tonight's "Night Eyes Photo Workshop" in San Francisco, we made it to Market Street just before midnight to shoot the Califrornia St cable car terminous. By this time the cars were only running about every half hour, so we had only a couple of chances to get it right.
The longest lens in my bag tonight was an antique Russian Helios 58mm, M42 screw mount, adapted to the Pentax K5. So, that's what I went with.
Mono conversion using Nik Silver efex.
Thanks Miguel Delacruz for the location idea. He has a killer shot here: www.lightthedarkphotography.com/p473431752#h51455308
Thanks for looking!
Tags: California San Francisco cable car market Street powell van ness Night Night Eyes long exposure landscape City cityscape sepia mono black white streets fog track traffic Pentax Helios 44M-7 Mike Oria Photography mikeoria.zenfolio.com Mike Oria K5 APSC M42 www.mikeoria.com
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