Annular Solar EclipseStanford Dish Palo Alto, California Update: View my timelapse video of the entire event here. An annular solar eclipse doesn't happen all that often but on May 20, 2012 it happened to fall on the same day as one of my favorite Bay Area California events: Bay to Breakers (B2B). B2B is a race from one end of the SF Bay to the other end of SF by the Ocean (thus "Bay" to "Breakers"). While a number of people actually run the race, the real fun is for all the non-runners who dress up in costumes, have a couple drinks, and then just have one big massive party as they walk the course (usually not getting to the end). Instead of skipping B2B and driving up to Tahoe or Reno to witness the full annual eclipse, I decided to compromise and did both. My group of friends decided to dress as American Gladiators. Our costumes turned out great and I had an absolute blast. Unfortunately, we had so much fun that I didn't get home until 5:15pm -- right when the annual solar eclipse was starting! I changed out of my costume, grabbed my gear, and raced to the Stanford Dish, which is both a hiking trail and a giant Satellite Dish that a number of small satellites communicate with. The hike is paved, wide open, and a bit higher in elevation. I figured I'd get a good view of the sun from there. When I arrived I had planned on hiking to the highest point on the hike. As soon as I went up the first big hill I noticed a very large group of people viewing the eclipse from right there. Not only was the spot good enough, but it also had a perfect view of "The Dish". I figured I could get a photo of the eclipse and blend it in with a photo of The Dish (I later decided perhaps I won't cheat and do this). I setup shop and started snapping away. To get this shot I had to buy a special Solar Filter for my camera -- essentially a really dark cover for the camera -- so that I didn't fry my sensor. It pretty much kills all light and only lets the sun in, so all I saw with the sun and a bunch of black. At the same time as buying the filter, I picked up a bunch of 99cent solar glasses for viewing with your eye. I brought a couple with me in case people would appreciate sharing. Turns out I was right -- by the end of the evening I had a large group of new friends that were all huddled around me, sharing the solar glasses or looking at the photos through my camera. Eventually I just left the camera on LiveView as my intervalometer clicked away photos every 20 seconds. I put them 11 photos together onto one image to show you how the 90% of the moon covered the sun! I met a number of really wonderful people today. It was so fun to share the solar glasses and the photos from my camera with all of you. I hope your children also have a renewed excitement for science education! The next solar eclipse will occur on August 20th, 2017 and will be a total eclipse as it crosses from the Columbia River through Georgia. Nikon D300s w/Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8G ED AF-S: 200mm, f/5, 1/60 sec sec, ISO 400 11 photos combined in Photoshop CS5
Thomas Fog-ertySunset above Thomas Fogarty Winery Woodside, California When people think of California wine they typically think of one of 2 (or 3) main areas: Napa Valley, Sonoma County, and the up-and-coming Paso Robles regions. Many people living in Silicon Valley might not realize that there's a whole slew of wonderful wineries right in their backyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains … places like Ridge Winery (one of my favorites and also one of my wine clubs), Picchetti, Hall Crest, and Thomas Fogarty Winery. Ridge and Fogarty sit on top of the Silicon Valley side of the Santa Cruz mountains and have absolutely *gorgeous* views of the entire Bay Area; on a clear day you can see all the way from San Francisco to San Jose. I was fortunate enough to be invited to attend a Friday evening event at Thomas Fogarty winery that happened to take place right during sunset. I brought my camera with me in case some clouds rolled in and sure enough I managed to sneak out and capture this surprise of a sunset. I hadn't expected there to be any color in the sky but as I looked out towards San Francisco I noticed both clouds and fog rolling in. To my delight the fog created a mystical feel to the beautiful sunset at the winery. I tried to keep the vineyard in my composition to give a better sense of where this place is and how lucky these people are to own a vineyard up here. I was really impressed by how quickly the fog rolled in. This is a single exposure brought into LR4 and Photoshop CS5 with some minor doging/burning, and some color/contrast alterations (removed the HiTech Reverse ND Grad color cast and then I spent a long time trying to make the green feel right and eventually gave up as the best I could do). Nikon D700 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S: 48mm, f/13, 3.0 sec, ISO 200 HiTech 0.9 Reverse ND Grad + HiTech 0.9 Soft ND Grad
Marshall's SunsetSunset at the Golden Gate Bridge Marshall Beach, San Francisco, CA Willie and I went to Marshall Beach a couple months ago hoping to catch a nice sunset above the Golden Gate Bridge (GGB) but came home with nothing. Willie went back and although there was a nice sunset along the coast, again, the GGB stayed gray. Hoping that the 3rd time one of us visited this beach would be the charm I grabbed my gear on Easter Sunday and drove up to Marshall Beach. I arrived about an hour early and was pretty excited. The entire drive up to SF had some beautiful looking clouds and I was hoping it would stay that way. Of course as the sun began to set the fog started to roll in … sorta. There was just a wispy patch here and there. Some bigger clouds rolled in with some boring texture (see the photo above), but nothing too awful. Along the horizon a couple clouds rolled in and I sat there praying that they wouldn't block the sunset. To my horror, some thickish clouds perched right in front of the sun and blocked most of the sun from getting through. Enough light made it to give a slight glow to the clouds and a little bit of recovery in Lightroom brought out the purple and pinks that you see above (I only brought saturation up +5 in this). Trying to figure out a composition for this shot was a little difficult. The area that I had scouted previously and really liked was under water. Low tide was finishing up just as I arrived sunset would be on its way towards high(er) tide. The problem was I didn't know how high it would rise before sunset. There were a couple options for compositions and I ran the risk of choosing some rocks that would either be completely underwater or perhaps completely void of water. Fortunately I chose wisely and the waves covered these 4 sets of rocks just as the sun was setting. I liked that they made a little semi-circular shape, with the rock in the back left getting some spray from the incoming waves. Overall I was pretty pleased with how the photo came out! On my way out I was approached by another photographer, Tran Mai, and we had a nice chat about photography, photo-outings, and places to shoot. Apparently there's a big SF crowd that gets together often and she mentioned she'd include me in the future. I'm excited to meet the crew! Nikon D700 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S: 28mm, f/14, 1/5 sec, ISO 200 Lee Filter Holder + 0.9 HiTech Soft ND Grad
