San Diego waterfront at night
Taken Dec 2012
Taken Dec 2012
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Mar, 2014Views
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Contest Finalist in Cities and Architecture Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Modern Cities Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Light On Water Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in City Lights Photo Contest
Winner in Landscapes of the night Photo Challenge
Contest Finalist in Where I Live Photo Contest
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AlexGaflig
April 23, 2014
OMG i LOVE this picture! San Diego is soooooooooo wonderful i hope i can visit it soon again!
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jimshelton
September 24, 2014
Thank you! It was one of those nights when all the conditions were just right!
Digitalwolfphotography
September 28, 2014
Such an amazing skyline shot. You see so many of these on here but this just stands out from the norm with its vibrancy and stunning reflections on the water. Congratulations.
jimshelton
January 20, 2015
Thanks! It was a rare occasion to catch such appealing cloud formations over downtown!
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this on Harbor Island, facing south towards the San Diego skyline.Time
It was late on a Sunday night, about 10pm. The idea was that the harbor would be calmer, since there would be less activity, but not so late that some of the buildings turn off their decorative lights.Lighting
I knew that the cloud formations above the skyline would catch a lot of light and since I was shooting in raw format, I would be able to enhance that - so I framed the shot much wider than I would have otherwise.Equipment
Of course, this was shot on a tripod. I used my Canon Rebel T3i with a Canon 17-40mm lens. No filter on the lens. I used the 10-second timer to avoid camera shake.Inspiration
Just seeing the San Diego skyline at night is a tremendous inspiration for just about anyone who likes to take landscape photos! I'd taken this same basic shot many times before, but on this particular night I was at home and happened to step outside and saw the cloud formations that were quite unusual for San Diego. I live about 20 miles inland from the coast, but I knew I should drop what I was doing and head downtown to see what kind of shot I could get!Editing
I do all of my editing in Lightroom - I don't even have Photoshop! But I tried the Nik HDR Efex PRO 2 Lightroom plugin on this single exposure and liked that little extra depth it provided. I then did the rest of the editing in Lightroom. I was very careful to preserve the reflections of the clouds. Too much contrast and they disappear but not enough contrast and the photo looks flat! I brought out the clouds by increasing clarity and making adjustments in the tone curve panel. I made fine adjustments to the reflections by adjusting luminance and saturation in the HSL panel.In my camera bag
I recently bought a Canon 6D with the Canon 24-105 lens, so that's always in there. I also have my trusty Canon 17-40mm lens and a Canon 70-300 for long-range shots such as at airshows. My wireless remote is a Photottix Aion. Also, a Canon 270-EX flash, flashlight and ND filters, polarizing filter, miscellaneous accessories.Feedback
Shoot raw and get the focus right! I use autofocus if I can get it to lock on. Shoot in manual mode and use the meter to set your shutter speed. Set ISO to 100 to minimize noise. Use an aperture that is close to the sweet spot of your lens, which is typically a couple of stops or so above the widest aperture. For example, on my 17-40, f/8 is a very sharp aperture. Use a solid tripod and either a wireless remote or the 10-second timer. Use mirror lockup if you have a Canon. Don't use a filter - not even a UV - just the raw lens. Any extra layers of glass affect sharpness and often create lens flare or reflections. Check each shot to make sure you are not blowing out the highlights but be careful not to get too dark of an exposure. I'd rather have some minor highlights blow out than an exposure that is going to require increasing exposure in editing to the point where lots of noise is revealed. Pay attention to things moving in the frame and adjust your shutter speed as needed. For example, for this photo I typically would have used f/8, but since the clouds were moving and I wanted the clouds to be crisp and not blurred, I needed a faster shutter speed than I could get with f/8 and ISO 100, so I opened the aperture to f/5.6. Now if I was up close and depth-of-field was a concern, then I probably would have increased the ISO instead. The same consideration goes for reflections. If you want crisp reflections, then lean towards a shorter shutter speed and wider aperture and for smoother reflections a smaller aperture and longer shutter speed.
