San Francisco Dawn

November 20th, 2009 at 1:16pm

Dawn over San Francisco is a special time. With the sun coming up over the Eastern Sierra’s, the sky and mountain tops take on a magnificent glow. With the lights still burning in the city and bay added by the ever present fog rolling in off the Pacific Ocean, watching a sunrise from the Marin Headlands over the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco is a memory I’ll never forget.

In this image I tried to not capture too much of the sky for reason being I think it detracts from the city still being in darkness with the lights still lighting up the bay, plus the glow was way too much to handle while still allowing the city lights to shine through on Camera, for the human eye this is not a problem but for camera exposure proposes it still is.

Shot at 200mm with 4 separate images stitched to form one large hi resolution image capable of being printed to 90 or more inches without quality being compromised. The detail in the city and across the Golden Gate Bridge and Bay Bridge is stunning.

Comments

  1. Ailsa said November 20th, 2009, 3:21pm:

    This is really stunning Neal. I am thinking you are delighted with every aspect of this image?
    Ailsa

  2. spool said November 20th, 2009, 3:57pm:

    Sure al Ailsa, I have been chasing this capture for over 3 years now …

  3. Leon said November 21st, 2009, 3:59am:

    Crikey, this is one of the best shots I’ve ever seen from here! (and that is a lot).

  4. spool said November 21st, 2009, 1:26pm:

    Cheers Leon, you have sen a ton from this area so thats quite a compliment …

  5. Brent said December 1st, 2009, 6:26am:

    Stunning Image Neal… really really stunning.

    Regarding the sky, I understand your rationale, but for me it feels like it’s cropped too tight at the top. Not sure how it would look with a bit more room in the sky and holding it back in post.

    Gorgeous image though….. beautiful capture, beautiful conditions

    BP

  6. spool said December 2nd, 2009, 3:47pm:

    Thanks Brent … One little problem with a bit more sky …. I don’t have it LOL … In the stitch this as much as I can get …. whoops

  7. Ilya Genkin said December 10th, 2009, 4:55am:

    Stunning photo, Neal! Love this smooth and liquid fog.
    What was the shutter speed?

  8. spool said December 10th, 2009, 9:45pm:

    Cheers Ilya … I’ll have to check for you and post tomorrow

  9. Amit said January 9th, 2010, 4:55pm:

    The image is just ethereal..great job done..i go with brent suggestion the croping is too tight and the sky could hav been shown bit more you could have used an ultra wide angle lens..bt then too the pic is simply awesome..

  10. spool said January 9th, 2010, 6:08pm:

    Thanks Amit … I do not use wide angle lenses, I do not crop single images to produce panoramic images. My panoramic images are a result of stitching several images together. I left out the sky on purpose as it was too bright and would of detracted from the city lights. If I was to include more sky it would of be to the detriment of the city and bridge lights, which was my first priority …

  11. Hazel Buckley said January 28th, 2010, 7:32am:

    A beauty again but I don’t like the white border at the top, stops the image dead. Gorgeous, gorgeous picture.

  12. Alex said February 25th, 2010, 11:40am:

    I literally said wow when this loaded and that’s saying something as I’ve seen my fair share of similar shots. Beautiful work :)

  13. spool said February 26th, 2010, 7:50pm:

    Thanks Alex …

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