HDR Photography
One more shot of this iconic structure, I found this shot compelling because you can see not only the Golden Gate bridge but also its cousin, the Bay Bridge as well as the SF skyline in the background there. If the shot were only a bit wider you’d be able to see Alcatraz and you’d be close to fitting almost all of the Bay Area’s most famous landmarks in one shot.
Continuing the Marin Headlands bombardment, today’s photograph shows the northern approach to the Golden Gate Bridge with Angel Island in the background. This was also my first attempt at post-processing to simulate the use of a tilt-shift lens, which produces the illusion of a miniature reality. I think it works quite nicely here to give the bridge a feeling of being part of a model railroad set.
On Monday, Brendan showed you his view of the Golden Gate Bridge; today, it’s my turn. I was lucky enough to capture the moment an enormous container ship passed under the bridge on its way into the Pacific Ocean. The scale of both the bridge, and these behemoths of the ocean, shocked me when I first thought of it. I had been watching this ship for almost an hour as it maneuvered its way through the bay from the Port of Oakland, and as it passed Alcatraz, I realized that the island and the ship were nearly the same length! To then see the ship pass trivially under the Golden Gate was astonishing.
By this point in the evening it had started to rain, and keeping the lens clear was becoming increasingly difficult. I didn’t dare risk missing the moment the ship passed under the bridge, so I dried the lens, put the cover on, and waited patiently for just the right moment.
Grizzly Peak, in the hills above Berkeley, is a great spot to get photos of San Francisco–if the weather cooperates. Though it was a bit foggy on this particular day, it afforded a great chance to see some interesting shadows. San Francisco itself is just visible beneath the sun.
This is also a great instance of just how useful HDR can be, as a technique; sunset images without tone mapping typically require the foreground to be completely silhouetted.
Decaseconds 