HDR Photography
This shot of a surfer in La Jolla, CA is another from near the Scripps pier that I featured previously here. The contrast between the reflection on the sand and the rough, concrete pier turned out pretty well, by my favorite part is also the one over which I had the least control: the surfer (and her brightly-colored board) just happened to be walking by. The whole scene just felt so classically “Californian.”
The clouds finally cooperated while I was driving past a beach outside San Diego. I was chuffed at the degree to which the clouds matched the curvature of the hillside. The blue sky also makes a pretty stark contrast with the dull browns of winter-time southern California.
On the same day that I took this photograph, I found this awesome, half-frozen pond in the back of the forrest preserve. Though the sun was setting and the clouds were already picking up an orange-pink color, from this angle only the bluest parts of the sky were reflected. It had been above freezing for a couple of days, and the ice had melted to the point that it comprised two or three different textures. The brightness of those colors and the variations in the pond’s surface made for a nice contrast with the dormant and dead plants surrounding it.
UC Berkeley has an enormous number of greenhouses just to the west of their main campus. The glow from inside them at night fit nicely with the streetlights reflecting off the low cloud cover on this particular night.
A recent trip to San Diego gave me a chance to wander around the gorgeous La Jolla Shores neighborhood, home of UC San Diego and the Scripps institute. The salty air on the beach really speeds the degradation of structures; when you take that in combination with the minimalist concrete structures favored by UCSD, you can get some really dystopian looks. When you combine this with the traditionally “idyllic” beach, it makes for a disturbing contrast.
The coast near Pacifica, California has some gorgeous, craggily coastline. All kinds of people were out walking their dogs; if I were a little braver, I would have gone over to shoot portraits of them, as well. Still, composing everyone together into a landscape produced a pretty satisfying result. The old man on the log looks more idyllic than I could have hoped.
I was initially disappointed that it was such a misty evening, but the upside was that the contrast was lowered to the point where I could produce HDR images from a single RAW photo.
I took a walk through suburban Berkeley at dusk. There’s a great moment, right as the sun sets, and the scattered light from the sky lights up every window. Try clicking on this photo and viewing the full size–there’s a different interesting reflection in almost every window of the house. The Edwardian architecture that influenced many of Berkeley’s older homes is on display in this photo, though it’s a shame to see such a beautiful house a bit run-down.
While I was walking, I also met these young gentlemen. They wanted me to take their picture, and I agreed to post it on the blog for them.
These little alcoves on Berkeley’s campus are apparently great places to study. At night, in particular, their lighting makes for some fairly spectacular effects. This is the same area where Brendan found that great shot of the chessboard yesterday, and I thought it might be nice to show a broader view, too.
Different types of lighting (e.g. incandescent, fluorescent, sodium vapor, mercury vapor…) produce light of different colors. Though that’s pretty common knowledge, mixing lighting types in one picture can have striking effects and add color to scenes that might be drab in daylight. I say, “scene,” because this picture strikes me as a bit cinematographic–or perhaps even like the set of a play. I can just imagine Sharks and Jets preparing to rumble around the corner…
Berkeley isn’t particularly urban, and, as such, doesn’t have much of a skyline to speak of. Still, its taller buildings offer an interesting contrast in construction techniques and styles. I like the reflection that can be parsed out from the sum of the windows.
Though the suburbs can be an ugly place, at times, there’s no time when they become more attractive than the Holiday season. I was particularly fascinated by the way the individual red, blue, green, and yellow lights in the front porch of this house blended together to dye the whole scene violet. It speaks to the spectroscopic subtleties of Christmas lights that a similar display in the adjacent house produces very different results.
UC Berkeley’s Bowles Hall holds the distinction of being the oldest dormitory on campus, and probably the most durable; despite a huge variety of attempts to dismantle it or convert it to other purposes, the hall and its fraternity-esque traditions remain.
Designed by George Kelham, it also happens to be one of the most beautiful buildings on Berkeley’s campus. I’m a particularly huge fan of California Gothic and the way concrete is used in place of stone to similar, but cleaner, effect. The ability of HDR tone mapping to capture that texture without losing the detail in the windows is a great demonstration of the technique for a practical, as well as artistic, purpose.
On Christmas day, I had a chance to walk through a forest preserve outside Chicago. The sun was setting as I stopped by the side of this creek, and I loved the way it lit up the stalks.
It’s also refreshing to have proper clouds in my photographs; there are so few well-defined clouds in California that the sky can look a bit boring. That’s rarely the case in the midwest.
Though Sunday isn’t normally a posting day, I grabbed this HDR shot of the Christmas Tree last night and really wanted to share it. Happy Holidays to us all!
On a chilly Christmas Eve, it can be nice to think back to warmer times. I thought I would continue from Brendan’s shot over Puget Sound and post a shot from the beach. A few months ago, I was lucky enough to go crabbing with some friends in Pacifica, CA. The pier was absolutely packed with fishermen and all of the contraptions used to get crabs. I was most struck, however, by the hexagonal cross section of the pier itself, and the great rust colors next to the water.
