aseemgupta

San Diego Downtown

NIKON D7000

settings

Aperture f/10.0 ISO 100 Shutter 250/10

upload_date

Aug, 2013

Views

178

Likes

Awards

Absolute Masterpiece

Outstanding Creativity

Top Choice

Jaw Dropping

Superb Composition

Behind The Lens

Location

The photo was taken in San Diego, CA. Being in San Diego I always wanted to get a good shot of the San Diego downtown skyline.

Time

The timing to take this picture was a critical consideration for me. To get the best shot I decided to take this photo on a winter evening when the days are shorter. That helped me get the dark night sky with maximum lighting inside the buildings. With bright skyline and dark surrounding sky I was able to get a great image with some nice reflection in water.

Lighting

I decided to take this picture on a no moon day to avoid any other source of light in the picture. I wanted to take this image with a dark sky but still try to get the maximum light from the buildings which helped get me good reflection in water.

Equipment

This was a shot on a Nikon D7000 with 18-115mm, f3.5 lense. The camera was mounted on a tripod to get the long exposure.

Inspiration

Being in San Diego(SD) for last few years the downtown skyline had always fascinated me as a great subject to shoot. Most of the photos of the SD skyline I had seen captured the downtown very well but it was hard to find a picture that showed the landmark Coronado Bridge along with the Skyline. That inspired me to find a good spot from where I can take a picture of the skyline along with the bridge in a single image. I went various locations and finally found a spot on Harbor Island that gave me the shot I was looking for.

Editing

The image is a panoramic image with 8 separate vertical images stitched together in the software to get the final image. This was done to capture the entire skyline and to make sure the final image is a high resolution image. Once the final image was stitched the contrast, saturation and exposure was adjusted in the post-process to enhance the photo.

In my camera bag

One of my favorite lens that I carry all the time is the Tamron 24-70mm, f2.8. I like to carry my Nikon D750 as my primary camera and keep my Nikon D7000 in my car as a backup. I also like to carry the Nikon 18-115mm, f3.5 lens as a backup lens. Usually I like to keep my travel tripod in my bag for low light situations and to take long exposure shots. Apart from that I always have a battery backup, a polarizer filter and a neutral density filter that I like to carry in my bag.

Feedback

Areas like downtown or beaches that are close to water bodies are generally very windy. Getting a long exposure shots can some time be tricky due to the slightest of motion that the wind can cause to the camera. It is very important that you use a nice sturdy tripod and even apply additional weights to the tripod if required. Being careful of any other light sources like moving cars or planes or even moon light is very important as those could affects your image lighting and composition.

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aseemgupta

aseemgupta

San Diego Downtown

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow aseemgupta

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