Fourth of July fun

These are shots of me and my son playing around with fireworks. I used a Tripod with remote trigger. Camera settings were f8 25s iso 100. We used sparklers to get this effect. I was practicing with the sparklers for an up comming experiment I have been wanting to try.

Urban Nighttime and Glam in Old Sacramento

Shot these model in Old Sacramento at a Capitol City shooters meetup. I used a shoot thru umbrella with a 580ex ll on a light stand. Some shots I used a grid on and 580ex ll and another 580ex without a diffuser. I am still doing at least one portrait style meetup a month. It is helping me to use  and understand my lighting equipment. Hoping it will pay off in the long run. The models were dressed in Hollywood glam dresses. They were easy to work with and knew how to pose with little instructions.

See more photos here! http://www.pbase.com/cdsims/urbanshhot

Hedge Creek Falls

This is Hedge Creek falls in Dunsmuir, Ca. A small waterfall about 30Ft. in height, but I like the thin flow of water. Short easy hike ! I did not notice this girl was in the photo until I downloaded my photos to my computer. I like shooting the thin waterfalls, the exposure is asy to control. This was shot in June, if you want to shoot it in the morning make sure you are there before 11 a.m. because the sun starts hitting it around that time.

Lombard St. from a different perspective

This shot of Lombard Street was taken from the bottom looking up about a 1/2 a mile away. I did not notice the two people standing at the top unitl I viewed the photo on my computer screen. This was a 94 second exposure. Shooting from this distance you need a clear windless night. I was happy with my results!

Abandon House Light Painting

After shooting the full moon last night we decided to stick around and do some light painting. This old abandon houe is in Woodland, Ca. right off of highway 16. The light from the full moon helped to light the sky and clouds, which made for a nice sky. We are learning more about light painting evry time we go out now. To get the vibrant colors we would keep the light source in the same area for a longer time. This was shot at 10mm on a Canon 40D for 140 seconds.  Using flash light with colored gels. Inside the doorway I had my canon 580ex 11 flash set to fire with a remote trigger.

This was another two & a half minute exposure. I like this perspective with the sky. With the long exposure it's hard to tell that it'seleven oclock at night. Well I cant wait to find a new location to do more light painting!

Golden Gate Bridge 75th Anniversary Celebration

Well we drove from Sacramento to the Marinheadlands to photography the Golden Gate Bridge 75th anniversary celebration which ended with a fireworks show. This was one of the best fireworks displays I had ever seen! We arrived at Marinheadlands around 4:00p.m. We decided we wanted to shoot the fireworks from a perspective above the bridge. We parked on Mccullough Rd at the start of the coastal trail. We were able to find a spot right at the trail head. (Pays to be early). We hiked up and checked out a few other views. Then we hiked up the trail just shy of the Waldo tunnel. The sun was shining bright but it was really windy and cold. It was still three hours before the firworks were going to start. We took a break and had some water and snacks. I hiked over across the top of the tuneel to check out another perspective. I also took a few shots. Well when I got back it still was 45 minutes before  the fireworks  were going to start. We could see the southbound ltraffic slowing because everyone was trying to get into the Marinheadlands for a parking spot. Well the fireworks started and the wind had died down quite a bit. I started shooting and  adjusting my exposure every minute or so to adjust for the diffrent burst. I was happy with my results!

This was the view point were we shot from. You can see the tail lights of the traffic and if you look closely you can see the blue like of a motorcycle cop zigzagging controlling the traffic. This was a 67 second exposure.

Another shot of the fireworks lighting up the bay!

http://www.pbase.com/cdsims/golden_gate_75_years_old  See more of my shots here

http://www.pbase.com/billphoto/golden_gate_anniversary  Bill Taylor's Gallery!

http://www.pbase.com/donphotos/_golden_gate_bridge_75th_anniversary_celebration__
Don Taylor's gallery!




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Check out this video produce by Michael Coleman - www.colemanfilm.com 


Golden Gate Bridge 75th Anniversary Fireworks Celebration from KFOG Radio 104.5/97.7 on Vimeo.
The Golden Gate Bridge's 75th anniversary was a spectacular waterfront festival! Thank you to everyone who joined us on Sunday, May 27, and to all our partners who helped make the day a memorable one!

Event Production by Foghorn Creative - www.foghorncreative.com
Video Produced by Michael Coleman - www.colemanfilm.com
Audio Produced By Chuck Smith, Creative Director/KFOG and Lance Tipton
Fireworks by Pyro Spectaculars North www.pyrospectaculars.com
Lighting by Lightswitch www.lightswitch.net
Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy - www.parksconservancy.org

Eagles Falls

We left Sacramento at 2:30A.M. to catch the sunrise at Eagle Falls. I was amazed that there was no wind and the temperature was 51 degrees at 4:00 a.m. We hiked down to the top of the falls right from the road. Easy hike (the kind I like). We had a few clouds but it was not the dramatic sky I was hoping for. I would like to go back maybe earlier in the spring when there is more water and possbly some snow.

 I stayed until the sun made it over the mountain top. I was about to put my camera away and decided to shoot the falls with this couple in it. They were shooting from a nice poitn of view also. This is a blend of three shots. I thought it looked better than the single shot. I enjoy shooting a nice water fall with a good background or fourground!