San Diego - Night

[gregneil]

Went shooting w/ a friend in San Diego last night... I don't know the name of the park we were in, but there are some cool looking well-lit buildings there at night. Here's a few I've processed... click for EXIF, criticism welcome.

http://gregneil.smugmug.com/photos/16872045-L.jpg (http://gregneil.smugmug.com/photos/newexif.mg?ImageID=16872045)

http://gregneil.smugmug.com/photos/16872106-L.jpg (http://gregneil.smugmug.com/photos/newexif.mg?ImageID=16872106)

http://gregneil.smugmug.com/photos/16872080-L.jpg (http://gregneil.smugmug.com/photos/newexif.mg?ImageID=16872080)

http://gregneil.smugmug.com/photos/16872057-L.jpg (http://gregneil.smugmug.com/photos/newexif.mg?ImageID=16872057)

http://gregneil.smugmug.com/photos/16872032-L.jpg (http://gregneil.smugmug.com/photos/newexif.mg?ImageID=16872032)

[Bert]

That's Balboa park. You've given me some ideas. I like the fountain shots particularly. I do think a tripod would have been useful for the silhouette. :thumb

[gubbs]

Nice set Greg, that last shot is excellent... :thumb

[Nir]

What Gubbs said ...


Great shots Greg!

[DVDR]

I liked the silloette shot the best. Great moment to capture, hands in pockets.
Very nice shots.

[gregneil]

Thanks for the comments. The fountain shot is my favorite too. I entered it in the challenge. Funny you should mention a tripod, Bert, 'cus all these shots are w/ a tripod. My focus may have been off a bit on the fountain shot, though. I shot it at f2.0, which made it harder to focus than the other night shots - but I wanted to really isolate the subject from the fountain, and I like the effect of his isolation from the group of people in the background. Also that afforded me a faster shutter speed (1/3 sec) so I didn't have to worry about the main subject moving too much during an overly long exposure. If you look closely you can tell the subject is slightly blurry, though. I applied USM in PS to tighten him a bit...

Any thought on how I can get better focus at night when I'm shooting manual focus and can't see anything???

[Angelo]

Went shooting w/ a friend in San Diego last night... I don't know the name of the park we were in, but there are some cool looking well-lit buildings there at night. Here's a few I've processed... click for EXIF, criticism welcome.
Greg: That's Balboa Park and I have a daytime version of your #2 shot. Great set.

[Shakey]

That last one knocked my socks off!:clap :clap :jawdrop Tim

[Steve Cavigliano]

Ahhhh, my old stompin grounds :D I love that park. You can shoot there for weeks and never shoot the same thing twice.

They are all very nice, but I really like the last one. :thumb :thumb

Using a tripod helps, but you can still get camera shake. On long shutter speed shots I always try to use a remote as well. Just to make sure that I won't induce some shake. I guess you can also lock up the mirror on many Dslr's and that helps too. (I don't think the Rebel has MLU, without the hack)

Anyhow, really nice work and thanks for sharing it with us :clap

Steve

[Lucky Hack]

MY HOME TOWN! These photos make me miss it :cry I love the shot of the pond in front of the flower gardens and that fountain shot is incredible! As a kid I crashed my bike into that fountain. Ah the memories. I'll have to go down there next time I visit my Parents. Truly, thank you for some great and memorable pictures.

-Ian

[grimace]

Greg,

Great set of shots!! You really gave me some ideas for a possible trip to SD.

-Adam
www.adamstravelphotography.com (http://www.adamstravelphotography.com)

[Red Bull]

I live about 20 minutes from Balboa Park. It's such a nice place to photograph. If you go through some neighborhoods North of Balboa Park, there is one street that you can stand on that is right below the flight path of incoming airplanes landing. They are about 50-60 feet above and you have a nice view of the whole runway.