Harbor

All posts tagged Harbor

Sydney Harbor view sunrise to sunset

Posted by Snob on November 20, 2019
Posted in: Cityscapes, Landscape, Travel. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Sydney Harbor at Sunset

A few weeks ago I got to fulfill a life-long dream of visiting Sydney, Australia. I rarely make detailed plans when I travel as I like to give myself ample opportunity to be flexible, spontaneous and seize unique moments and experiences. One area where this rule does not apply however is where I stay. Wherever I stay absolutely must offer me a great view of the city. I want to wake up and see the city in all it’s glory and splendor. I want to draw my inspiration from it’s energy that day. At the end of my day I want to reflect on the day’s experiences within the broader context of the city as it’s lights shimmer and energy glows.

On this trip I stayed at the Sydney Harbour View Hotel. It offered a fairly unobstructed view of the city at a fairly reasonable rate. Even more critical to the success of my trip, there was a metro/subway and bus station literally downstairs, next door. This meant within 15-20 minutes of leaving my room, I could be virtually anywhere around the greater Sydney Harbor area. A lot of forethought goes into planning my trips and this is just one of the many thought processes I go through.

Have you been to Sydney? Do you live in Sydney? What’s your favorite view of the city? Stay tuned for many more views of this beautiful city.

These shots were taken using the Canon 5DsR and Tokina 16-28mm f/2.8 lens on a Manfrotto tripod.

Chasing Sunsets in Miami – Virginia Key

Posted by Snob on May 19, 2016
Posted in: Architecture, Cityscapes, Landscape, Travel. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment
2016_MiamiKeysSunset

Miami Skyline at sunset via Virginia Key

This was the location from which I should have shot the fireworks the previous night. I posted about it here: New Year’s Eve in Miami. This was my backup shot but got overlooked because I felt the distribution of buildings in the skyline was uneven. As it tuned out this was one of the most beautiful sunset shots I’ve taken yet. Miami is so wild and unpredictable. That makes for fleeting but frequent beauty. You just need a little patience and a very keen eye. I love how Miami somehow always managed to show purple hues. If Purple isn’t the official color of Miami, it most certainly should be. What a gorgeous city full of gorgeous people!

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100% crop from the panoramic

I shot this with the 50.6 Megapixel Canon 5DsR and EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens. The final panorama has tons of detail that may never be fully appreciated. You can see some of the detail in the 100% crop on the right. This shot will be available in limited edition fine art canvas print but I may reserve half of the edition for large art and commercial installations.

Have you visited or photographed Miami? What were your favorite perspectives on this crazy, wild city?

New Year’s Eve in Miami

Posted by Snob on May 11, 2016
Posted in: Architecture, Cityscapes, Events, Landscape, Travel. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

2016_NewYearsEve_Miami

Well this is how my year started off – chasing the sunset. I had a unique opportunity to make the trip to Miami, Florida for the new year. So I jumped on the last flight I could across the country to Miami. I did miss the sunset however. So I proceeded to plan B.

As with most destinations I travel to, I began studying the local maps and topology. Because of the limited time and long journey, I put extra emphasis on my research. I settled on a harbor area on the keys just across from the front face of the Miami skyline. I liked the relatively unobstructed view. After checking with local staff at the venue and confirming it was okay for me to setup my camera equipment, I went to work. This perhaps wasn’t the best location to photograph the fireworks. As it turned out, the Miami International Airport departure route flies right above the center of the skyline. This meant that the fireworks will not be anywhere close to the center of the frame as I hoped. I only realized this hours into my shoot and could not move as I was already hours into a time lapse sequence that was to last most of the night through the fireworks. Bummer! I suppose I need to factor air traffic into my research.

All that aside, it turned out to be a very productive shoot. I shot a time lapse with the Canon 7D Mark II and 17-55mm f/2.8 lens. This is now standard practice most of the time. While that was going, I started taking frames for a very detailed ultra high resolution panoramic of the skyline and waterfront with the 50 megapixel Canon 5DsR and EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens. The final result is breathtaking. It is at least three times wider than the shot above, and you can count Christmas tree ornaments on the trees in the apartments. As it turned out my first pass ended up being my shot of choice. The 5DsR is the perfect camera for this sort of photography.

This shot made it to my collection of limited edition large format prints and I cannot wait to print and share the first one!

Chasing Sunsets in Boston – Piers Park

Posted by Snob on June 19, 2015
Posted in: Architecture, canon 5D mark III, Canon 7D Mark II, Cityscapes, Landscape, Travel. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment
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Crimson sunset over Boston – Canon 5D Mark III + EF 24-105mm f/4

This past Wednesday the fog and rain gave way for partly cloudy skies over Boston. What this meant for me was spectacular light shows at sunset, depending on what types of clouds were forming overhead. Usually this kind of weather leads to higher altitude clouds, the best kind. At sunset they reflect the red sunset light from the horizon back down against a backdrop of clear blue skies. The full spectrum of colors are just magical, a real treat.

All you have to do is show up about an hour before sunset, find a good vantage point, kick back and enjoy the magic hour. I spent some time on my flight and in the airports planning this shot, looking for the right perspective on the city at sunset and also the best unobstructed view of the skyline. Fortunately this key vantage point happens to be a public park. Thank you City of Boston for protecting this view for all! I often have to go places I really shouldn’t go, and the risks to myself and my gear are really not necessary – however often worth the shot.

Fine tuning manual focus on the EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 before starting the HDR time lapse

Fine tuning manual focus on the EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 before starting the HDR time lapse

Sunset was around 8:30pm. I arrived the North Harbor before 7pm and scouted a bit before settling on this view. By 7:30pm I had configured and set off the 7D Mark II for a 3 hour HDR time lapse. What an amazing camera. When properly configured, you can save days of post processing time when doing HDR time lapse photography. I hope to post a how to on this soon. With the 7D Mark 2 on time lapse duty and time to spare before magic hour, I turned to setup the 5D Mark III.

Magic Hour is here!

Magic Hour is here!

I brought the beastly EF 300mm f/2.8L IS Mark II on this trip, however it was a bit too long for this scene. The EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II would have been better suited. So I resorted to the trusted and versatile EF 24-105mm f/4L IS. It allowed me to switch from wide to telephoto with relative ease and enough detail for a signature high resolution panoramic shot. From this point on, with all my settings dialed in, it was pretty straight forward. So I just enjoyed the view and captured the magic. I am pleased with the shots I got and will be posting sneak peeks as soon as get them processed.

The final shots will be released as Limited Edition fine art canvas prints. The HDR time lapse shots will eventually be available as 4K video for anyone to license and use in their projects/productions. The video will also eventually accompany all limited edition prints in the form of a DVD screensaver. Here are some behind the scenes shots from this outing.

Managed to fit it all into the LowePro!
Setting up the 7D Mark II for HDR time lapse
Fine tuning manual focus on the EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 before starting the HDR time lapse
All setup and ready for Magic Hour
Magic Hour is here!
I’m always behind the camera and forget to get proof that I was actually there! …LOL
Beautiful color changes
Quick panorama shot with phone.

Where was this shot taken?