Tag Archives: giants

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco

Seagulls, Night Sky

5 Comments
Seagulls, Night Sky
Seagulls, Night Sky

Seagulls, Night Sky. San Francisco, California. September 7, 2007. © Copyright 2007 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Seagulls fly through artificial lighting at night, San Francisco, California.

I wouldn’t mind if you speculated about how in the world I managed to get this king of lighting on a photograph of birds in flight. Let’s see, it couldn’t be on-camera flash since the light is coming from the side. Perhaps I concocted some elaborate multiple flash setup and then waited for the birds?

I’m afraid that the explanation is much more prosaic. To be honest, we were at a San Francisco Giants game on this evening. We go to Giants games for several reasons: the hope that the Giants might actually play well (not at the moment!), the great views from AT&T park, garlic fries (!)… and for me, photography. I always bring a camera and a lens, and partway through the game I usually take advantage of the upper areas of the stadium to photograph San Francisco and the Bay, often at sunset and dusk.

One more fact. Giants fans who attend games have discovered something astonishing about wildlife, namely that the sea gulls seem to be able to tell when it is the seventh inning or so. At about this point in the game, flocks of them begin to assemble over the park, circling above the field and the stands… and waiting for their chance to feast on the discarded food that is left all over the stadium. (My working theory is that they have somehow learned to associate a full stadium with the appearance of good stuff to eat about two or three hours later. They are apparently as fond of garlic fries as we are.)

So, on this evening when the gulls showed up they began to fly in and out of the stadium lighting, creating a somewhat stark and dramatic effect against the dark sky.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

(Basic EXIF data may be available by “mousing over” large images in posts when this page is viewed on the web. Leave a comment if you want to know more.)

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Parking Lot Near Pier 48, Morning

2 Comments
Parking Lot Near Pier 48, Morning
Parking Lot Near Pier 48, Morning

Parking Lot Near Pier 48, Morning. San Francisco, California. July 8, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning light on a large parking lot near Pier 48, San Francisco.

Continuing with the “urban landscape” theme, this is a photograph of a parking lot south of the bridge next to ATT Park and near the buildings of Pier 48 in San Francisco. After getting off the train that arrived in San Francisco at 7:00 a.m. and wandering over to Townsend Street, I decided to cross the what I think must be the Mission Bay inlet and take a look through this area which was rather deserted at this early hour. (Come back here before a Giants game, and the parking lot will be completely full of the cars of people who are willing to spend exorbitant amounts to park here.)

While there were cars in other portions of this parking lot that are closer to likely destinations, at this far end there was a single lonely car, and that seemed like it could be an anchor for a photograph of the lot, the tall streetlight poles, the industrial-looking buildings of Pier 48 and other assorted waterfront things. Because it was so early, the sun rising across the bay was filling the air with brilliant light that created a sky that was more white than blue.

In addition to the obvious crop, this image required other kinds of substantial work in post. The first issue was controlling the very brightest parts of the sky and a second was the follow-up need to then lighten a few other areas to get some detail back into the image. Color balance was a tricky thing – this isn’t that far from what the raw file contained, though I did warm the colors just a bit. I also did something in this image that I rarely do, namely use semi-opaque blurred and desaturated overlay layer of the original image to do, well, some stuff that is a bit hard to describe in written form. Suffice it to say that this had an effect on the parking lot and on the brightness of the sky.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
Flickr | Twitter (follow me) | Facebook (“Like” my page) | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: People, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Sports

The Bleacher Seats, AT&T Park

Leave a comment
The Bleacher Seats, AT&T Park

The Bleacher Seats, AT&T Park. San Francisco, California. June 15, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The view from the bleacher seats at AT&T Park during a Giants v. Angels game, San Francisco, California (color version).

I shot this during my mid-game photographic wandering – something I do at every Giants game I attend. (On this night, the photography was better than the baseball. While I was out wandering about the score went from 1-0 to 8-1, and in favor of the visiting Angels.) This photograph looks out toward the field from the inexpensive bleacher seating near center field. (Reposted in color at the request of a friend.)

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: san francisco, california, evening, att, park, giants, game, downtown, usa, sf, la, los angeles, angels, anaheim, bleacher, seats, section, center, left, cheap, field, people, crowd, stadium, baseball, ball, players, travel, urban, sports, event, professional, stock

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: People, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Sports

The Bleacher Seats, AT&T Park

Leave a comment
The Bleacher Seats, AT&T Park

The Bleacher Seats, AT&T Park. San Francisco, California. June 15, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The view from the bleacher seats at AT&T Park during a Giants v. Angels game, San Francisco, California.

I shot this during my mid-game photographic wandering – something I do at every Giants game I attend. (On this night, the photography was better than the baseball. While I was out wandering about the score went from 1-0 to 8-1, and in favor of the visiting Angels.) This photograph looks out toward the field from the inexpensive bleacher seating near center field. I like black and white for this photo since it gives in a bit of the old time baseball feel.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: san francisco, california, evening, att, park, giants, game, downtown, usa, sf, la, los angeles, angels, anaheim, black and white, bleacher, seats, section, center, left, cheap, field, people, crowd, stadium, baseball, ball, players, travel, urban, sports, event, professional, stock