Packer UpSF Skyline Lit up for the 49'ers Twin Peaks, San Francisco, CA When the San Francisco Giants won the World Series this past year the entire city bathed itself in orange to celebrate the victory. Various buildings lit up the city skyline in orange. When Willie texted me to say that the city was bathed in Orange, Gold, and Red for the 49'ers playoff game I knew I had to make it into the city! Only there was one hitch: my roommate and I had just invited her parents over for dinner to see the apartment for the first time. With a sigh and "If you're not home by 7pm I'm throwing your camera gear out the window while you sleep" I was granted permission to go! Willie and I made our way over to Twin Peaks. This was my first time here and we arrived early and walked around taking in the sights. There are a number of curvy roads that lead up to Twin Peaks and we wanted to use the winding roads in our photos. The plan was to first stay wide angle and include the winding roads while there was still some light and then throw on the telephoto lens as blue hour started to peak and focus on the colorful buildings. I made the prediction earlier in the evening that the Beacon might make an appearance tonight and sure enough it did! They couldn't turn the crown jewel on at 5pm during the holidays but they could for a sports team?! Don't question this, I was happy it was on! As the sun went down and blue hour kicked in the orange and gold lights became more evident. Blue hour came and went before I really knew it (perhaps it was only about 5-10 minutes long). I included Market Street, City Hall, Coit Tower, the Transamerica Building, and just a smudge of the Bay Bridge to commemorate the 49'ers kicking the Packers tuchases (yiddish for BUTTS)! You can also see that the tops of the Embarcadero Center buildings are lit in interlocking red and gold, just to the right of the Transamerica Building. What a neat sight! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D ED AF: 112mm, f/11, 5 sec, ISO 200
Lone Star CityPotrero Hill: 19th St and Texas Ave San Francisco, California One of the classic holiday shots that every SF photographer should have is the Potrero Hill cityscape. The beautiful S-curve of highway 280 draws the eye right into the city and certain buildings are lit up with beautiful holiday colors. The star on top of the Transamerica Building tops it all off. Zack had just received his brand new D600 and wanted to give it a try. We drove on over and arrived early at the corner of 19th St. and Texas Ave (thus where part of the name "Lone Star City" comes from). We were the first photographers to arrive but I knew that wouldn't last long. In all there were 4 other photographers that joined us. For almost the whole time we were able to stand in the middle of the road and direct cars around us. It was pretty fun watching the cars weave in and out of photographers. So nice of them! I wanted to choose a composition that included as much of the holiday lights as I could, without showing *too* many buildings and making everything small. I also didn't want to put the S-curve too close to the edge of the photo. Thanks to a number of other photographers who have shot this in the past I knew that Caltrain often crossed under the highway and every time a train passed by I would frantically click away, adding the trains light trails to the photo. I also got lucky when 1 car and a truck decided to change lanes on the highway, providing beautiful blinking lights on the S-curve! Happy holidays! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D ED AF: 112mm, f/13, 30 sec, ISO 100 Star shot at f/16 No Filters, No HDR
Into the CityHoliday Lights along Pier 7 San Francisco, California Every year for the holidays there's a special treat in San Francisco: several of the buildings outline themselves in lights and a light on top of the Transamerica Building is turned on. It makes for a very beautiful cityscape! The best time to photograph the city skyline is at "Blue Hour" -- that half hour after the sunsets when there's still some color in the sky but all the harsh light from the sun is gone. Unfortunately the Transamerica Building wasn't turning their crown jewel on until blue hour had ended and the sky was dark. Through some sleuthing I was able to get in touch with someone at the Transamerica Building and request that the Beacon be turned on an hour early on this particular evening. Everything seemed to be in place for the blue hour shot and Willie, Andy and I left work early and drove into the city. We met up with Alan and made our way over to Pier 7. The lights along the Embarcadero Center buildings came on before the sun had even set. If the Beacon atop the Transamerica Building would come on we'd be in luck for a great night. We setup our cameras along the pier and waited for the light to come on. And waited. And waited. 5pm came and went. Turns out that the guy who was supposed to turn the light on at 5pm forgot and it didn't come on until 6pm, well past Blue Hour. With a little blending you get the idea of what we were hoping would happen naturally. Interestingly Pier 7 is apparently too close to the Transamerica Building for the light on top to turn into a nice light-star like the rest of the lights in my composition. Stand further away from the Transamerica Building and you get a beautiful star. I chose a slightly off-symmetrical composition so I could include the outlined Embarcadero Center buildings. Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S: 24mm, f/11, 13 sec, ISO 160 No Filters, No HDR
