HDR Photography
Today, I’m posting another photograph of UC Berkeley’s greenhouses at their Oxford Research station. This area has a bizarre mix of well-maintained, modern facilities along with others that look as though they haven’t been touched since the 1960’s. The vibe reminds me a bit of certain levels in Portal 2. More than anything, it’s amazing that I was able to stand around in the parking lot of this fascinating place for 20 minutes taking photos.
I’ve always loved the little details of a gorgeous house–the tiny trim pieces, or the leaded glass windows. This particular shot reminded me of playing in the yard as a child. In the winter time, the sun set before dinner, so when the time came to head in, the house had this unearthly blue glow that made the warm light from inside so much more inviting.
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.”
This sculpture is frequently photographed (as a quick search of Flickr will reveal) but with all of the recesses and light and dark it’s a natural subject for some HDR photography. There will almost certainly be more to come of this one in future posts.
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.
From the same set as my last post, this is a photo taken at New Brighton State Beach, this time a single shot HDR, again, showing the beauty of California’s central coast. That is, aside from the lens flare.
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.
For my second post of the day I present another picture of Puget Sound near sunset, this time looking to the south toward Three Tree Point with Seahurst in between. I love that just 15 minutes out of Seattle you can find areas like Seahurst which are essentially forest.
Hearst Mining Building is one of the prettier buildings on UC Berkeley’s campus, so you can expect it will probably show up a few more times. This is a picture of one of the skylights in the main hall. The mixture of textured brick and painted steel has always appealed to me.
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.
Here is another shot of the advanced light source, previously featured here. This time we have a wider shot which includes part of the San Francisco skyline, the bay bridge, Treasure Island, the Golden Gate bridge, and the city of Berkeley. The lighting on the hill makes the ALS look particularly science-fiction-y.
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.
This is another shot from the same night as the previously referenced environmental calamity (read: massive diesel spill) this time of ground zero. The iridescent facade looks interesting in the low light.
Decaseconds 