Uploads from exxonvaldez, tagged marinheadlands, with geodata

nobody@flickr.com (exxonvaldez) — Sun, 12 May 2013 01:35:08 -0700

Fog rolling over the Marin Headlands towards Sausalito. Shot from the Tiburon Uplands Nature Preserve.

There was some low fog during the afternoon today. As the sun got lower, I could see on the cams that the bridge was socked in, but it was still sunny in Tiburon, so I tried out this spot. Maybe on the far side from the bridge and city.

100-400 @ 275mm, f/13, 25s. ND64?

[ Update: reposted a slightly brighter version, as the original looked too dark on an iPad. ]

nobody@flickr.com (exxonvaldez) — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 21:31:18 -0800

exxonvaldez posted a photo:

This is the first time I've shot low fog at night from Battery Spencer. I've always liked how the fog rolls through the hills of the Presidio, and wound up focusing on that here. I've blended in a darker exposure of the bridge to control the blowout.

24-70 @ 60mm, f/8, 8-30s, ISO 400.

nobody@flickr.com (exxonvaldez) — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 23:43:41 -0700

exxonvaldez posted a photo:

I always forget how windy it is on Battery Spencer. The fog this summer has not been good for night shooting, but on some days it retreats like this. Low in texture and shape.

24-70 @ 28mm, f/8, 20s. ND1000 + ND8.

nobody@flickr.com (exxonvaldez) — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 20:14:38 -0700

exxonvaldez posted a photo:

This fog shot from the "archives" was taken the same night as my last fog shot. And my comment is pretty much the same, the good fog this year remains elusive. As for the photo itself, it was taken while the fog changed from flowing in to flowing out. Hawk Hill.

70-200 @ 144, f/8.0, 30s, ISO 400.

nobody@flickr.com (exxonvaldez) — Tue, 15 May 2012 00:30:02 -0700

exxonvaldez posted a photo:

We've had plenty of non-photogenic summer-y fog the last few weeks. The scarcer photogenic kind has eluded me so far.

This is from last November. I was trying for holiday lights and fog, and got more fog than I wanted. Looking back at the result now, I like the "minimal" skyline -- 1 Embarcadero Center, Transamerica, Tweezer, B of A, and One Rincon.

Marin Headlands. 70-200 @ 200mm, f/8, 109s, ISO 500.

Just the moon

nobody@flickr.com (exxonvaldez) — Mon, 07 May 2012 23:59:11 -0700

exxonvaldez posted a photo:

"Super" seems like an astro-marketing prank run amok. I don't think I've seen that many photographers in the Marin Headlands before. It was also strange to have some kind of evening concert going on at Hawk Hill -- technically a day use area, hence the park ranger shooing cars out minutes after sunset.

100-400 @ 275mm, f/5.6 - 8, 1/25 to 1/40s, f/5.6, ISO 800.

nobody@flickr.com (exxonvaldez) — Thu, 03 May 2012 01:07:25 -0700

exxonvaldez posted a photo:

The sun and sky in this long exposure came out a bit of a mess, but I like how the gauziness works with the sharp shadows of the rocks.

If you look at this large, you might be able to see an unattended tripod and a hunched over photographer just right of bottom center. Rodeo Beach.

17-40 @ 24mm, f/11, 237s. 9-stop + 6-stop ND + 3-stop hard grad.

Fog's back

nobody@flickr.com (exxonvaldez) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:26:55 -0800

exxonvaldez posted a photo:

There was fog by the bridge on Wednesday. Overcast over the city, and starry skies overhead. This was an "overview" shot I did before a few closeups, and then it socked in. Tricky to shoot because the sky blows out when exposing the foreground fog.

24-70 @ 38mm, f/8, 54-203s ISO 100 plus 160s ISO 400.

nobody@flickr.com (exxonvaldez) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 00:47:26 -0800

exxonvaldez posted a photo:

Reminiscing about fog and clouds. We're all getting antsy about this dry winter. This was taken on the evening of July 5th, 2011. Earlier, at sunset: www.flickr.com/photos/exxonvaldez/5917451806/ . I remember they were repaving Conzelman so I walked from the newly built roundabout to get closer -- this why there is hillside on the left in both shots. Walked into a bench footing at one point and almost fell, no wonder the road was closed. :)

70-200 @ 89mm, f/7.1, 20s.

nobody@flickr.com (exxonvaldez) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 00:48:41 -0700

exxonvaldez posted a photo:

This is another shot from the night on Slacker Hill three shots back, lower down, almost on top of Battery Spencer.

The fog wasn't doing anything particularly special in this shot. I like seeing the railings for Battery Spencer, and the cables rising from the deck then sinking into the fog.

This image was shot with a slightly dark exposure, then converted twice, once for highlights and once for everything else. It's hard to explain with words, but in Photoshop using "apply image" to set a layer mask is an easy way to set the mask for the highlights layer.

70-200 @ 70mm, f/8, 30s, ISO 400.

nobody@flickr.com (exxonvaldez) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 22:24:34 -0700

exxonvaldez posted a photo:

Fog blowing into Hawk Hill. You can see the top glow of the south tower on the left, and Sutro Tower at center.

17-40 @ 17mm, f/6.3, 30s, ISO 1600.

nobody@flickr.com (exxonvaldez) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 00:58:00 -0700

exxonvaldez posted a photo:

Slacker Hill.

Sorry, no clever story to this one. My first fog shots from here. Thanks to Steve for letting me know about the fog and his lightning shot -- I'd checked the cams at sunset and it was just about socked in. But obviously a weird weather day with thunderstorms passing by in the valley, warm air on top of the fog, and almost no wind, so I figured I had time to make the hike. Especially with the moon up and bright.

24-70 @ 70mm, f/6.3, 30s, ISO 200.

nobody@flickr.com (exxonvaldez) — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 19:21:32 -0700

exxonvaldez posted a photo:

What is it about pictures of low lying fog that make them so appealing? I know there is something I'm trying to see in just the "right" image.

Also I'm enjoying fog shots from my contacts:

www.flickr.com/photos/sutanto/5911148310

www.flickr.com/photos/reallybadradio/5915945507

www.flickr.com/photos/dellahuff/5907362529

24-70 @ 40mm, f/16, 10s, ISO 400. 6-stop ND.

nobody@flickr.com (exxonvaldez) — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 22:37:47 -0700

exxonvaldez posted a photo:

Somebody else's sky came to the Bay Area today and gave us an inch of rain. In the month of June. Hawk Hill, Marin Headlands.

These clouds were headed northwest, which is unusual.

70-200 @ 70mm, f/16, 119s. 10-stop ND.

nobody@flickr.com (exxonvaldez) — Fri, 06 May 2011 01:07:38 -0700

exxonvaldez posted a photo:

Later that night. On nights when I do mostly long exposures of fog, I prefer the few quick, high iso ones I take. This time I did mostly quick, high iso exposures, and it's the long exposures that I like.

17-40 @ 40, f/8, 63s.

nobody@flickr.com (exxonvaldez) — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 00:47:31 -0700

exxonvaldez posted a photo:

It was good to see the fog again. It had that warm weather flow where it flows over Hawk Hill and goes across the bay mostly south of the South Tower and mostly above the deck. Even if it's not the classic fog setup, I'm starting to see the fog images as a kind of raw material or starting point for processing, a kind of ink blot test -- what is it that I "want" to see?

nobody@flickr.com (exxonvaldez) — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 10:58:22 -0800

exxonvaldez posted a photo:

Taken at the same time as flickr.com/photos/exxonvaldez/3871073781/. I saw the same streaky flow of fog another time at sunrise. It goes over Conzelman Road a few turns past McCullough Road.

17-55 @ 19mm, f/5.6, 6s.

Sleeping City

nobody@flickr.com (exxonvaldez) — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 00:12:23 -0800

exxonvaldez posted a photo:

This was taken just before the Marin Headlands sunrise shot posted a few images back. The fog flowing between the highrises really intrigued me. This was as much as I could zoom in. I can't find an effective 3:2 crop, so here's the whole frame.

70-200 @ 200mm, f/8, 30s, ISO 400.

nobody@flickr.com (exxonvaldez) — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 04:44:53 -0700

exxonvaldez posted a photo:

Last Sunday I caught a sunrise with fog over the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time. Actually the fog was almost too high. I think of the bridge towers as "fog meters", and as you can see it was two "bars" visible out of five, and the fog was pouring in over the hills.

The shot is a blend of two HDR conversions and two of the component shots with a bunch of fussy adjustments. The CS5 8-bit mode converter did a nice job of introducing me to the "details" slider when I randomly selected the "surrealistic" preset. The slider never did anything for me before because I had local adaptation strength at minimum. It brought out the fog going through the trees, which added a much needed element to the shot.

[ Update: the image may be a little dark, I was trying for color fidelity. Try viewing in a dark room. :) ]

70-200 @ 70mm, f/8, 8 to 0.4s, ISO 400.

Silver Angels (Reflective Blue Angels)

nobody@flickr.com (exxonvaldez) — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 03:25:43 -0700

exxonvaldez posted a photo:

It's not showing in the thumbnail, but the sun is reflecting off #6 (on the right) onto the belly of #5. And the jets are so glossy they reflect the sky at this angle. I got this from the Marin headlands, which I hadn't tried before -- inspiration from tzargregory. Some notes for reference:

First time using a full frame body for this, and the 70-200 with 1.4x extender was a bit short and soft. It's felt a bit too far from center point. I thought the distance might help with smoke trails, but they blew away fast.

I think I am doomed to buy the 100-400mm, maybe after giving in to the 24-70mm.

There was a lot of problematic heat shimmer above the water.

From the "straight on" view of the Golden Gate Bridge, it's very hard to frame a jet in the towers. Usually they are obstructed and also in the shimmer.

There were 5 closeup opportunities - diamond, echelon, pair, delta, and solo. Mostly underside or rear view. The lighting is definitely different, works both ways.

I'm guessing most of the parking on Conzelman was used up all the way to the construction closure. McCullough had some spaces open. Only a couple dozen people around the Coastal Trail.

The North Vista Point lot was almost full by 2pm. Bridge traffic was light. Fort Baker had plenty of standing room, the lots were full.

[ Also: don't use jpeg if you crop 1:1. And, the planes were very easy to track from that location, rarely going behind and out of view. ]