Good morning LA! (and everyone else) I’m in Los Angeles today for my Lightroom seminar. I’m still kinda on east coast time so I was awake pretty early and decided to go out and shoot. The photo below is from a somewhat popular spot to photograph from. After searching around, I noticed the 4th street bridge seems like a nice overlook. You get a good amount of the city in the shot as well as the lights from the 110 freeway as a foreground (yep, I said “the” 110 – it’s an LA thing 😉 ).
As you can expect, there were indeed some great clouds in the sky but they were in the exact opposite direction I was shooting in, which is pretty typical for me. I usually either get all or nothing 🙂
Photo Deets:
Camera: Canon 5D Mark III
Lens: Canon 16-35mm
Filter: Tiffen 2-stop ND
Aperture: f/8
Shutter: 30 sec.
ISO 100
(Click to see the image larger)
Before you ask: Okay, two quick things before you ask. 1) I purposely didn’t correct the perspective issues (well, only a little) in the image. I’m not an architectural photographer and they don’t bother me. 2) I wrote a blog post the other week about why Graduated Neutral Density filters are dead to me. However, I used a regular ND filter for this photo, which is still very much part of my gear. At least until camera manufacturers start putting ND filters in to the camera, which I have to believe/hope is coming in the (not soon enough) future 🙂
Have a good one!
I love teaching and photography... In that order. I feel that enjoying photography, and photo editing can get WAY too complicated. So my personal mission (and favorite thing to do), is to create education that simplifies the process of taking great photos, and how to edit them to get the results you’ve always wanted.
Matt switched to Canon too?
Matt,
Why not no neutral density filter and just stop down to f 16?
Paul
I asked for it; I got it. Many thanks for your downtown photo. The 110 (Harbor Freeway) never looked so good especially pointed south. (of course, I’d never be on the 4th Street bridge in darkness… but that’s another story)
Translation table:
I-10: The Santa Monica Fwy
I-5: The Golden State Fwy
I-101: The Hollywood Fwy
I-405: The San Diego Fwy
I-110: The Harbor / Pasadena Fwy
Gorgeous shot…it’s hard to make downtown pretty. But what else would you say besides “the 110”?! That would be the Harbor Freeway, right? The 10 and the 101 are nearby, too, to make it fun for dyslexics 🙂
If you can, take the 10 to Santa Monica, then go north up PCH to Malibu. Stop anywhere but CrossCreek and Surfrider Beach are iconic. North of Zuma is better. Eat at Malibu Beach Inn
Thanks! 🙂
We always joke back east because you put “the” in front of all interstates and freeways. We always just say I-4 or I-10, not the 4 or the 10 🙂
Thanks for the tips too. I hope I can check them out.
Ha ha I had no idea I was weird. 3rd gen Angeleno here. 🙂
Seriously, I’d love to see one of your photos of Malibu sunset. The sunsets have been amazing the last two nights hopefully we’ll get a third
Sadly I don’t think I’ll make it there in time after my seminar 🙁
Oh and maybe we’re the weird ones back East 😉
Probably not!!! You’ll have to come out again. I was excited to see you have a seminar here but I already know enough about Light room! I think?? Lol
Griffith Park Observatory is also very pretty – great views and closer to you. I’m not sure around downtown – I try to avoid it. 🙂
Good luck!
An aside: I’m SO glad you didn’t go to Malibu – the roads were closed for hours because Secret Service was giving a tour to the PM of Israel. How random!
Look at the pictures on Malibu Beach Inn’s Facebook page for sample sunsets…
I follow them just for the photos
Hey Matt,
This is a Great shot! Thanks for putting in the camera data … that is always helpful for me! One thing that caught my eye after viewing the photo for a while was the bridge in the lower left corner. At first, I could make it out until I actual enlarged the photo and stared at the corner. I couldn’t figure out what it was! Must be my old eyes! 🙂
Have a Super time in LA!
Dennis
Hey Dennis. Thanks and don’t feel too bad. The bridge is ugly so I deliberately darkened it so it wasn’t as noticeable 🙂