Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Joshua Tree National Park startrails




Here’s a startrail shot out in JTNP. The flower caught my eye while we were exploring and it lined up nicely with the rock behind and Polaris. I shot the foreground at twilight and took a timelapse sequence of the stars once it got dark. The rocks are almost monotone looking so I like the selective pop of color from the flower here.

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Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Yosemite Falls sunlight and fog




I love shooting when the light is poking in and out of clouds. In this case, the thick storm clouds were clearing and for a moment a sick beam of light struck upper Yosemite Falls. We were all waiting for a rainbow that never came but this scene was still magical to see without one. This place never ceases to amaze me. 

Nikon D750, Nikkor 50mm 1.8, f/14, 1/60 sec, ISO-50

www.bay-photography.com 

Monday, August 28, 2017

Twin Falls, Mammoth Lakes



I don’t shoot mid-day often but the clouds we had made it impossible not to. They were the thick cumulous clouds and weren’t moving very fast so I knew I needed a super long exposure to get some streaking. I stacked my 10 stop ND and CPL to give me about 13 stops to allow me to leave the shutter open for 100 seconds. The mist made this shot hard, but a trick you can use is you can get away with quickly cleaning your lens with a cloth during your exposure since your exposure is so long. Be careful tho as sometimes darker spots can show up if you take too long, or you can easily bump/move your camera if you aren’t careful. This one worked out well tho as it was just a quick swipe of the cloth. The cloud streaks made some really cool patterns in this one. Looking down twin falls is one of my favorite views in Mammoth, looking up is equally as impressive.  

Nikon D750, Nikkor 14-24, f/18, 103 sec, ISO-50

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Thursday, August 24, 2017

Manzanar memorial under the stars



The Kanji on the Manzanar monument translates to “soul consoling tower” and honors those who died there in the 1940’s. Definitely a weird experience being on those grounds (especially at night) as it plays a big part in Japanese history. The monument is tall and points towards the sky so snapping a shot under the heavens seemed like a fitting tribute. This was taken on the way back to Mammoth from Alabama Hills. We stopped at a few spots to snap some MW pics through the night. This is a single composed frame taken 4 times back to back and stacked for noise reduction. Normally I would shoot some longer exposures for the foreground but we just snapped these and moved onto the next spot. 

Nikon D750, Nikkor 14-24, f/2.8, 15 sec, ISO-6400

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Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Alabama hills golden sunset rays




Some incredible light witnessed at Alabama Hills this weekend. There were cumulus clouds hanging around all day which added some great drama to this shot. The layers out here are amazing. I left the cars in the shot to show the scale of the scene. Those cars are parked at the Mobius loop trailhead to give you a sense of where this shot was taken from. 

Nikon D750, Nikkor 70-200, f/11, 1/125 and 1/200 sec blended, ISO-50

www.bay-photography.com

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Palos Verdes sunset seascape



Been trying to get this comp down at one of my favorite PV coves for some time. The tide/waves need to be just right to get the spillover effect here. Usually when I come it’s barely trickling down but during this session the sets were big enough to get some nice waves coming over the rock. I snapped this set as the sun was about to set behind the rock giving me the sunburst. This is the burst with the 14-24 and I must say that the 20mm 1.8 burst is much cleaner but I needed a wider lens to get this all in. Nikon D750, Nikkor 14-24, f/14, ISO-64, multiple exposures blended manually.

www.bay-photography.com

Thursday, August 10, 2017

Malibu foggy sunset



Here’s some epic fog out in Malibu with one of my friends. Forecast looked good so we headed up to Piuma to catch the fog flow. There was some awesome pre-sunset burn magic in the air so I went vertical to catch it with the fog. Haven’t had too many sessions with both good low fog and a high burn so this one stands out as one of the better ones I have shot from here. I kept the fog bright to focus attention on it and to contrast against the dark mountains. 

Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-120, f/11, ISO-50, multiple exposures manually blended.

www.bay-photography.com

Monday, August 7, 2017

Yosemite Valley sunset shadows



Look like tunnel view? It’s actually the mirror image with Horsetail and El Cap on the right and the Cathedrals and Bridalveil on the left. This was my original comp for Firefall but most of the clouds blew away so I stuck to tele comps only. The sun was splashing across the valley floor though and it made for some epic light and shadow play. I snapped this series just as the sun was about to set behind the Cathedrals. What’s cool about Firefall is you can see that beam of light on Horsetail get smaller and smaller until it turns into the epic condensed beam of lava light. I’m glad I took this series while we were waiting before the clouds blew away. 

Nikon D750, Nikkor 14-24, f/14, ISO-50, multiple exposures blended. 

www.bay-photography.com