California

Upgrade

by Kurt November 12, 2009 in Gear, Los Angeles County 0 comments

Palm Tree and Puffy Clouds - Canon 5D Mark II with 16-35 2.8L @ 23mm, 1/200 at f/9.0 ISO 100

After months of deliberation and planning, I’ve finally upgraded to a 5D Mark II. I’m hoping this new camera will help take my photography to the next level. The resolution is more than double that of my 40d (21.1 megapixels vs 10.1) and I have long been looking forward having a full 35mm sized sensor. Moving from an APS-C sized sensor in the 40d to full frame means that my 10-22mm lens will no longer work, as this lens physically not fit in front of the larger mirror box. For the ultra-wide focal range I have decided to replace the 10-22 with the 16-35mm f/2.8 L lens. This is a nearly identical field of view range but for the larger sensor and at a constant 2.8 aperture. The above image, a quick snapshot on my way to work, was taken with the new combo. When I downloaded the morning’s images I was stunned to see the sharpness in the palm tree. Below are 100% crops from the raw image. There’s a little bit of processing in Lightroom (default sharpness is used). This is a tremendous improvement on image detail, and I’m really looking forward to using this new tool in the field.

100% crop near the center of the Palm image

100% crop from the top of the Palm image

100% crop of the bottom trunk in the Palm image

I have many more updates planned. I can’t wait to go out and shoot with the new gear!

Structure Fire at 14th and Pico

by Kurt October 9, 2009 in Current Events, Los Angeles County, Night 2 comments

One day at work a couple of years back we spotted a huge fire a couple miles away. On this day I had my camera gear with me and decided to take some pictures on my way home if there was anything to be seen. I later learned that this was a CD duplication company. Firefighters were dumping an insane amount of water on this building for several hours.

Train Textures

by Kurt September 16, 2009 in Riverside County 2 comments

Paint peels from the side of a freight car — Peeling Paint

My childhood fascination with trains has led me on many photographic adventures. In Southern California, there are many opportunities to see and experience the wonders of railroads, whether by taking a Metrolink or Amtrak train ride or visiting any number of local tourist destinations and museums. Through some searching online I discovered the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris, CA. This fantastic museum offers a range of activities and sights for the railroad enthusiast, and the avid photographer. With this group of shots I’m focusing on a less than obvious side of railroad equipment I saw at the museum. I’m speaking of the infinite array of textures presented by the range of locomotives and rolling stock on display at the museum. It’s pretty easy to get overwhelmed by the big things around you that you might sometimes miss the smaller things right in front of you. In this case I realized that many of the old freight cars around the museum grounds offered some fascinating textures to explore photographically. These images are a few of the results.

“God rays” over the Pacific from Palos Verdes

by Kurt September 7, 2009 in Los Angeles County 2 comments

God rays shine from between the clouds over a dark Pacific

A couple years ago I was on an exploratory trip down to the Palos Verdes area. I drove down there as a random photo trip to see what could be seen. Eventually while driving on Palos Verdes drive I ran into Point Vicente Lighthouse. Adjacent to this lighthouse was a reception area for weddings and events, and a nice path that went right along the cliff. This is where I headed to take pictures.

What struck me first about this location was the weather that was happening. A prime motivation for going on this photo trip was the fact that we were getting some clouds and weather in the LA area that day. The lack of weather here can sometimes make photographing the surrounding landscape a bit dull. Looking out over the Pacific this day yielded a dramatic scene. In Visual Effects, we generally refer to the beams of light shining down like such as these as “god rays.” In fact there are plugins for software that can generate them. With my photography however, I keep everything real. These god rays were right there before my eyes and captured in camera.

After taking a few pictures I realized a time lapse sequence would be really cool. Here is the result with one frame taken every 10 seconds:

I wish I would have done one frame every 2 seconds, and that I had let it go longer. Here is an iPhone pic of the camera taking the time lapse:

Rig for this time lapse: Canon 20d on Manfrotto 055MF4

It’s a neat area that I hope to return to again.