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City By The Bay – Part IV

September 8, 2011 by Justin 7 Comments

I really hope you enjoyed this look at San Francisco. I have so many more images to process and share, but this is start! The intent of this series was partly to share a bit of the city with you, but I was also hoping to encourage you to have fun making images on your next trip. The entire series was shot using a single camera and lens* (review here) and the processing was done entirely using Lightroom 3 and a few presets. My goal was to prove to myself (and hopefully you too) that you don’t need to carry a bunch of heavy gear around and spend hours in front of your computer. You can have a great time connecting to the moments of your life and sharing them with your friends without much fuss. On that note, I put together a video that shows you how (and why) I processed most of these images. It is all about having fun! If you are an email subscriber, you might have to visit the website to watch the video.

  • You can find the complete series here.
  • You can find my iPhone Series from San Francisco here.

‘Preset’ Isn’t A Bad Word from Justin on Vimeo.

*Upon review, I actually used two lenses. On one image I was shooting my 50mm. Sorry about any confusion.

Continue for Capture/Processing Notes…

Filed Under: California, City By The Bay, Nikon 28-300 VRII, Nikon D700, San Francisco, Tips, Tutorials

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  1. City By The Bay – Part I
  2. City By The Bay – Part III
  3. City By The Bay – Part II
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City By The Bay – Part III

September 7, 2011 by Justin 8 Comments

SF3

I hope you are enjoying this look at one of America’s finest cities. It has so much to offer and it’s full of such a warm diversity. In today’s post, I decided to share a few of the images I made while walking from the financial district (a previous image) to the top of California Street. San Francisco is actually pretty manageable as a Pedestrian. Because of the hills, you do have to bring comfortable shoes and your ‘A-Game’. However, if you do want to rest or just don’t have the time for a long walk, the mass-transit system won’t have a problem getting you where you need to go.




Continue for Capture/Processing Notes…

Filed Under: California, City By The Bay, Nikon 28-300 VRII, Nikon D700, San Francisco, Series, Tips, Travel

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  1. City By The Bay – Part I
  2. City By The Bay – Part II
  3. Earth, Wind, and City
  4. Lessons In The Sand: Part I

City By The Bay – Part II

September 6, 2011 by Justin 6 Comments

SF-2

Being in San Francisco, I felt a bit of obligation to visit the Apple Store near Union Square. I was really hoping there would be some nostalgia. I don’t know what I expected, maybe a museum. Maybe The Woz would be holding court talking about the good old days. What I didn’t expect was a live concert! But that was exactly what I got. It was definitely a solid show that was well attended. I quickly made this image before security finally shut my creativity down.


I really wish I could remember this gentleman’s name. I met him when I was out for a sunrise shoot one morning. After the sun rose I found myself, along with him and a local fisherman, quietly staring at the sea. Eventually we began to converse. He said that he visits this place every morning before work to collect his thoughts. Apparently his job is very stressful and he will be lucky to see daylight the rest of the day.

Postcard: Full House

This final image is emblematic of the way I experienced the city. Originally, I had planned a very detailed approach to making images at locations I had mapped well ahead of time. It wasn’t until I was wandering around that I abandoned these plans and began to let little moments of creative focus lead me on my adventure.

See you back here tomorrow for Part III of ‘City By The Bay’.

Continue for Capture/Processing Notes…

Filed Under: California, City By The Bay, Nikon 28-300 VRII, Nikon D700, San Francisco, Tips, Travel

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  1. City By The Bay – Part I
  2. Earth, Wind, and City
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  4. Lessons In The Sand: Part I

City By The Bay – Part I

September 5, 2011 by Justin 7 Comments

Howdy!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. The weather has been beautiful here in CO, so it was easy to take advantage of it for a couple of nice bike rides. Anyway, I’m dedicating this week to the ‘City by the Bay’. We were out there in July, and had a great time exploring all this incredible city had to offer. Most of the exploration was in the form of evening or early morning photo-walks. I would just venture off, armed with my walk-around lens the Nikon 28-300 VR II, and have fun making images.

Your Thoughts! To start this series off, I thought it would be fun to get your opinion on the same composition. Let me know which image you like better (top or bottom). I shot the bottom image second. I waited and waited for someone to walk across the street so that I could use their silhouette to convey a sense of scale. I also used a bit longer focal length to bring the city elements closer together. In the top image, I decided to open the focal length a bit to offer longer lines leading the viewers eye to the Oakland bridge. I also decided to underexpose the image a touch so that the focus became the bridge and the cityscape was simply a tool leading your eye into the frame. I would love to hear which image you prefer and your thoughts about it.

Continue for Capture/Processing Notes…

Filed Under: California, City By The Bay, Nikon 28-300 VRII, Nikon D700, San Francisco, Series, Tips, Travel

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  2. Lessons In The Sand: Part II
  3. Vancouver – The Glass City
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