Night Photography Class 6a: Ports O'Call

So I know I just said I was in a funk but I think I busted out of it. For our final night class I shot a bunch of great photos. Too many to put into one post. I think I will break it up into three separate posts so stay tuned. So for the first part of the night, we shot down in Ports O'Call village in San Pedro. Because of the time change on Sunday, I was able to take some shots at dusk; coupled with the lights from the harbor, giving the skies a nice purple color. The shops down in the village are very charming and I can see how this can be a nice tourist destination for the cruise ships that frequent the port of Los Angeles. Even the public restrooms get a taste of the New England architecture! My favorite shot of the night has the blue lights of the Vincent Thomas Bridge (4th longest suspension bridge in California!) reflected in the harbor with a tall ship silhouetted in the foreground. Look carefully and you can see a crane (bird) on the dock. I was pleased with many of the photos I took. Here are a few more than I normally post:

1 second exposure, f/8, 25mm, ISO 400
1.3 second exposure, f/8, 55mm, ISO 400
4 second exposure, f/16, 33mm, ISO 400

4 second exposure, f/16, 28mm, ISO 400

4 second exposure, f/10, 18mm, ISO 400
6 second exposure, f/6.3, 55mm, ISO 100

8 second exposure, f/6.3, 18mm, ISO 100
5 second exposure, f/18, 90mm, ISO 100
10 second exposure, f/11, 40mm, ISO 100

Night Photography Class 5: Manhattan Beach Pier

So I feel like it has been months since the last class. After a week off (planned - ski week) and another week off (unplanned - weather), we finally had another class. This week we met at the Manhattan Beach Pier which is very different to its Redondo Beach counterpart. This pier is very simple with only one building on it (an aquarium that was closed during our class), a few benches, a number of pedestrians (though much fewer than in Redondo), and many lampposts. These lamps became my primary focus of the night. To switch things up, I tried shooting in black & white and was pleased with the results. After an unsatisfactory "light writing" attempt, I shifted my attention back to the pier. I tried to capture the shuffle of people that walked up and down the pier. Additionally, I took many shots of a large bank of clouds that rolled into Redondo and Hermosa Beach. The city lights illuminating the clouds created an eerie scene, reminiscent of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." Not a super-exciting night but I did create some decent photos. Below are some of my better shots:

2 second exposure, f/13, 50mm, ISO 400
10 second exposure, f/22, 50mm, ISO 100
2 second exposure, f/3.5, 18mm, ISO 200
10 second exposure, f/13, 50mm, ISO 100
20 second exposure, f/11, 50mm, ISO 400
20 second exposure, f/11, 50mm, ISO 400
8 second exposure, f/16, 50mm, ISO 400

Night Photography Class 4: Redondo Beach Boardwalk

So I can't believe how windy it was! The wind nearly blew my camera and tripod over a few times during our class at the Redondo Boardwalk and Fun Factory. High winds don't help with crisp photos. Apparently, most of the business are closed on Monday which made for a less-than-vibrant shooting experience. We met at the Fun Factory which, to be honest, isn't that fun. It is a relic of an arcade that is filled mostly with ticket style games in which you roll a quarter down a slot and hope the moving arm pushes some quarters off the edge. Mostly empty, I tried to find some interesting shots in the arcade. It was much brighter than I was expecting so in order to get some long exposures, I had to shoot at a higher f-stop. My photos are a little boring but they are below. We then moved out onto the boardwalk and into the marina. Some flags flapping madly in the wind caught my eye and was curious as to how they would look photographed. When I was taking the photo, I was imagining in my mind that the flags would appear as stiff rectangles. They are still blurred with motion. I wonder if the exposure was shorter, I could have got what I was looking for? I spent the rest of the evening wandering around, taking shots of the boats on the water and of the boarded up businesses. The long exposures of the water came out well - almost looking like solid ice. I got separated from the class and ended up packing up a little early when I couldn't find them again. Of course, when I got home, eager to go through all my shots, iPhoto was not cooperating and I had to wait until the next day. When I was starting to crop and straighten the photos, I ended up cropping many at the 16x9 setting. I never crop at this size but the photos seemed to warrant a more wide screen, panoramic shot. I'm not sure I will use this format again but the photos seemed to fit better. All in all, the boardwalk was an interesting place to shoot, although it may be much more exciting on a night less windy and in which there are more people and more activity. I'm most pleased with the last shot. The light streaks and blur from the boats came out quite nice. My better shots are below:
0.6 second exposure, f/22, 50mm, ISO 100
2 second exposure, f/22, 50mm, ISO 100
14 second exposure, f/14, 33mm, ISO 200
11 second exposure, f/22, 18mm, ISO 200
25 second exposure, f/22, 18mm, ISO 200
22 second exposure, f/18, 18mm, ISO 200

Robert E. Ryan Park

So I didn't actually do what I said in my "Frak" post from last week, but I did take the boys to a new park and took pictures the following day.  Of course, there was some massive volleyball practice going on with 15+ courts and 150+ people filling up any existing grass and therefore creating a gaggle of parents and kids swarming all over the park.  The park is gorgeous with sweeping views of the coast, Pacific Ocean and Catalina Island.  Here are some of the photos I took (If you click on them, you get a high resolution version of it).  They are not very good as I was busy watching after the boys (a little freaked that some crazy might snatch one, since it was so busy).  The boys, however, had a fantastic time and H and G loved playing peek-a-boo with a couple of new friends.  H keeps asking to go back to the "pirate ship park."  Hopefully, it will be a little calmer the next time we go.