Tag Archives: yellow

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Spring Oak Leaves

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Spring Oak Leaves
Spring Oak Leaves. Calero Hills, California. March 8, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Some people might say I shouldn’t admit it, but there was an element of serendipity – actually, I made a mistake – in this photograph. (Some who imagine that all photographs should coalesce in the photographer’s mind in their final form before the shutter is clicked won’t want to hear about this.) I was working with a long lens and wide aperture to narrow the depth of field. My plan was to shoot the colorful foliage in the foreground and throw everything beyond out of focus. I set up, let the camera autofocus… and it focused on the “wrong” branches – the branches that are in focus in this shot. “Wait a minute,” I thought, “I kind of like the way that looks!” Instead of an in-focus foreground with everything else OOF, the middle ground is in focus and objects closer and farther away are OOF. It ended up being my favorite version of this scene; I like it more than the shot I was planning on.

keywords: spring, oak, tree, branches, leaves, bright, colorful, yellow, green, calero, santa clara, county, park, california, usa, nature, stock, landscape, morning

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Urban/Street

Building 65 and Alley, Night – Mare Island Naval Shipyard

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Building 65 and Alley, Night. Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California. March 22, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Building 65 lit by garish sodium vapor lamps, with a dark alley in the background and stars above.

This photo prompts me to post something about night photography and color that I’ve been thinking about for awhile. A scene like this one is lit by a variety of light sources – some natural light from moon and sky, tungsten lights, sodium vapor lights, and a gentle wash of mixed light sources from a nearby city. A question might be: “How do you accurately render the lighting of the scene?” My answer is, “You don’t.” Even if you could achieve an “accurate” rendering it would look nothing like what your night vision affected eyes “saw” since your eyes do not see the same way the camera does.

For me, one of the fun things about night photography – especially when artificial light sources are part of the scene – is that I can render to colors in whatever way makes the most sense for me.

photo, photography, building, 65, alley, fence, windows, sodium vapor, light, brick, road, night, nocturnal, blinds, wires, pipes, industrial, urban, star, trails, sky, trees, reflections, yellow, blue, mare island, naval shipyard, vallejo, california, historic, stock

Photographs: Night, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Yellow Poles

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Yellow Poles
Yellow Poles. Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California. March 22, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A barrier of yellow metal poles around transformer boxes under garish artificial light at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California.

I thought I had finished photographing on the night of this shoot with a group of photographers from The Nocturnes. As I was about to pack up, on a whim I decided to wander around the other side of the Quonset building seen in the photograph, and I found this interesting arrangement of transformer boxes and poles illuminated by some of the most stark and garish light I had seen that night.

keywords: night, photography, nocturnal, yellow, poles, transformers, concrete, slab, block, building, structure, quonset, hut, shadows, blue, light, dark, mare island, naval shipyard, historic, vallejo, california, usa, industrial, urban, equipment, electrical

Photographs: Night, Photographs: Urban/Street

Shop Buildings at Night

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Mare Island Shops at Night
Mare Island Shops at Night. Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California. March 22, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

At least once a year I join The Nocturnes (the San Francisco Bay Area night photographers’ group led by Tim Baskerville) to photograph the Mare Island Naval Shipyard. This amazing historical site near Vallejo, California was the first US Navy shipyard on the west coast and dates to the mid-1800s. It was active until the late 1990s. It is a night photographer’s paradise with wonderful old buildings ranging form officers’ homes to dry docks to huge cranes to wonderful old brick factory buildings

keywords: night, nocturnes, mare island, naval shipyard, vallejo, california, usa, stars, artificial, lights, brick, quonset, door, road, street, fence, windows, smoke, stack, blue, yellow, brown, shadow, urban, landscape, travel, historic, stock