Monday, June 30, 2008

Warner Bros. Water Tower Metamorphosis

My "real job" is at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, CA. My building is just under the famous Warner Bros. Water Tower, where Yakko, Wacko, and Dot were kept in the animated series Animaniacs (remember that show?)

The water tower was recently painted and I decided to take a photo of the paint job every day.


Click on the image to view larger.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Chinatown and Shooting at Twilight

Twilight is my favorite time to shoot cityscapes. To get that beautiful, rich blue sky, you only have about a 10-15 minute window in which to shoot, about 20 minutes after sunset. There is still enough ambient light in the sky to provide some fill light on the buildings, and you can use a long-ish exposure to blur traffic and taillights.

These photos were taken in L.A.'s Chinatown.

Chinatown
Canon 5D, Sigma 15-30, F/5, 1/10 sec, ISO 200, tripod mounted



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Thursday, June 19, 2008

Los Angeles Moonrise

I have always loved the moon, and I love photographing it as part of a landscape. I've been waiting to take the photo below for at least a year and a half, because various factors have always gotten in the way: I wasn't in town during the full moon, it was cloudy on the night of the full moon, or it was the wrong season and the moon wasn't rising anywhere near downtown from this angle (if you haven't noticed, the location of the moonrise differs dramatically based on moon phase and season because of Earth's orbital tilt).

Anyway, I *finally* got the image I've been waiting for on Tuesday night! Unfortunately it wasn't the clearest night, but the LA smog helped paint the sky in beautiful blue and pink pastels.

I probably wouldn't hang this photo in a gallery or even on my wall at home, but it's very satisfying to finally 'get' the image I'd been imagining for such a long time.

Los Angeles Moonrise

Canon 5D, 70-200 f/4, 1/6s f/10 iso100 tripod mounted



(click on the image to view larger)