Tag Archives: railing

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Abandoned Building, Night

Leave a comment
Abandoned Building, Night

Abandoned Building, Night. Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California. March 8, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An abandoned building photographed under artificial light at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California.

This is another photograph from the early March visit to historic Mare Island Naval Shipyard with The Nocturnes for a round of (almost) full moon night photography. I’m not actually sure what this building is or was. I just happened to look up a deserted alley while walking down Nimitz Avenue, and I saw  it lit up by lurid sodium vapor lighting. For that reason the colors of the original photograph are a bit much. I had to make some subjective decisions about how to best tone them down. The brightly lit area at the lower left of the building was almost blown out in the red channel from this wild light. I decided to keep a bit of the yellowish tone but reduce it to a more “normal” looking level.

This highlights one thing I enjoy about working with night photography images made in the presence of artificial light. The whole notion of “accurate” is fairly meaningless. First, you almost never make a final photograph that is as dark as the scene actually was – in truth, you cannot “see” a scene like this at night in the way a camera can. Once you realize this, concerns about coming up with  “accurate” color rendition seem sort of pointless – and I just use my judgment and work toward a rendition that seems right to me.

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: mare island, naval, shipyard, minsy, night, photography, nocturnes, vallejo, california, usa, abandoned, industrial, structure, building, window, door, perspective, sky, steps, ladder, wire, railing, distressed, old, architecture, artificial, light, urban, historic, shadow

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Stairs, Shadows, Door

Leave a comment
Stairs, Shadows, Door

Stairs, Shadows, Door. Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California. March 7, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Shadows from artificial light and from the moon fall across the metal wall of a building, a rusty stairway, and a door at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California.

Another photo from the early March 2009 visit to Mare Island Naval Shipyard for night photography with The Nocturnes, and also another photograph in which I paid attention to some of the smaller details of this historic and very interesting site. Here the weathered door and stairway of this old industrial building are illuminated by the light of the nearly full moon and by nearby artificial light, creating interesting shadow patterns.

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: mare island, naval, shipyard, minsy, night, photography, nocturnes, vallejo, california, usa, shadows, artificial, light, moon, moonlight, metal, wall, building, rust, stairway, steps, railing, door, window, pattern, architecture, urban, industrial, historic

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Steps, Ocean View Trail

Leave a comment
Steps, Ocean View Trail. Muir Woods National Monument. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.
Steps, Ocean View Trail. Muir Woods National Monument. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Steps, Ocean View Trail. Muir Woods National Monument, California. February 28, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Steps ascend a steep hill through the redwoods near the start of the Ocean View Trail, Muir Woods National Monument, California.

This is a scene that I have photographed before – in particular I recall photographing these steps early in the evening before one of the winter solstice events at Muir Woods, when the trails through the grove are lit by candles. On the last day of February this year I visited again, but this time very early in the morning before many other visitors had arrived. I was thinking “color” when I made this photograph (and I may still post the color version eventually) but I ended up liking this black and white version quite a bit. I like the diagonal division between the upper left half which mostly includes the vertical forms of the redwood trees and the lower right section which includes the steps leading in to the trees.

This was actually a somewhat tricky scene to photograph. While the dynamic range was quite huge, ranging from the deep shadows on the sides of the trees at the left to the almost sunlit foliage beyond the trees, overall the scene was quite dim. Because I needed great depth of field I shot at f/16. Because I wanted the cleanest image possible I shot at ISO 100. All of this meant that I ended up making a 2.5 second exposure! Still there were post-processing challenges, including bringing up a bit of detail in the darker areas of the scene while at the same time being careful to not increase the brightness in the bright spots. And after paying attention to the extremes some work had to be done on the middle tones to get some life back there.

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: muir, woods, national, monument, park, marin, forest, nature, california, usa, steps, stairs, railing, fence, trail, ocean, view, redwood, grove, trees, ferns, clover, oregon oxalis, redwood sorrell, green, canopy, light, filtered, trunk, landscape, scenic, travel, outdoor, hike, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Templo la Hermosa

Leave a comment
Templo la Hermosa

Templo la Hermosa. San Jose, California. January 4, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Front doors and entrance of Templo la Hermosa de los Asembleas de Dios, San Jose, California.

Very late in the day, as the low sunlight hit the front of this rather plain brick church near the train station in down town San Jose head on, I walked past and noticed the very thick arch and old wooden doors, along with the bushes casting shadows on the front of the entry.

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: afternoon, building, california, city, county, downtown, evening, san jose, santa clara, urban, church, temple, templo, de hermosa, asembleas de dios, arch, brick, wall, steps, porch, entry, two, doors, wooden, sign, bush, plant, railing, wrought iron, usa, stock