Up and out early
An early morning shot of the Austin skyline, one of my favorite views in this town…
I shot this photo yesterday morning here in Austin. I was out to scout some locations for an upcoming customer who I am touring around, and I just wanted to make sure everything here was as I expect/remember it to be. It’s all good. So of course while I was there I had to take a few shots. I mean, come on, you would too right? :-)
Sunset in Vancouver
A lovely sunset over the equally lovely skyline of Vancouver, Canada!
Sometimes you get lucky with the view!
We rented an apartment when we visited Vancouver last year, and it just so happened that it was way up high with an amazing view. You don't always get that - in fact, often you don't - but we did in this case and I capitalized on it. What this really means is that I spent a lot of time on the balcony with my camera in hand. But hey, no complaints!
That beautiful Austin skyline
The skyline of Austin just sparkles at night, and especially during blue hour. Here are two pics from a recent excursion downtown along with a vlog of it all going down!
I still love to shoot the skyline of Austin, after all these years. I have been shooting it forever but still enjoy a night down by the river firing away at it. The river allows all those great city lights to reflect in the water and it really just sparkles! Here are a couple of shots from a recent night down there. I also did a vlog from that spot which is at the bottom. Thanks and enjoy!
Vancouver sparkles
Vancouver Canada is a beautiful city, and I had the best view of the skyline when I was there...
I love shooting skylines, especially when the light is beautiful!
When we were in Vancouver, we lucked into an amazing AirBnB with this outrageous view of the city. When I first walked into the apartment, I went straight to the balcony to check it out, and started shooting about 5 minutes later (even though it was daytime). When the day ended and the lights started coming on, I was on the balcony with the tripod and all that so I could fire away. It's rare to get an exceptional view in a hotel, but this apartment was perfectly situated, plus I had a balcony so there was no issue with shooting through the glass.
And by the way, this is an HDR photo made with the amazing new Aurora HDR 2018. If you want to learn about that and get in a preorder for this new version, check out my lengthy blog post here which includes screenshots, sample images and a video, too.
The skyline of Vancouver
A look at the skyline of Vancouver, Canada...
Wow, Vancouver Canada is quite a city!
I have been to Vancouver before, but it was many years ago. We stopped there for a few days on our road trip and really enjoyed it. It didn't hurt that this was the view from our AirBnB rental! I literally just walked onto the balcony and fired away, about 5 times a day. In fact most of my shots from Vancouver are of this view, it was so awesome!
The skyline of Austin
The skyline of Austin under a blanket of wonderful clouds...
Just a post and run today folks. I'm in Oregon and there are things to go shoot! :-) This is from a while back, taken from the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge in downtown Austin. It was a day full of amazing clouds, which pretty much means my camera is out of the bag!
Out early in Austin
Sunrise in Austin, looking out over the downtown skyline...
From a few weeks ago - early one morning downtown!
I love to shoot downtown Austin, and especially so at sunrise. The city is quiet and more often than not the light is great. The only challenge is that in summer this gets really hard to do, since sunrise is so much earlier than other times of year. However, there are plenty of coffee shops to stop into for a jolt of caffeine, which I always do after a bit of early shooting!
Still under construction
The ever-changing skyline of Austin, TX...still under construction after all these years.
Something from a little closer to home...
My friend TWiz was in town a few weeks back and we got out to shoot a bit of Austin. One spot that I think everyone needs to visit is this one, atop the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge. It's a great view of downtown and our ever-changing skyline. It seems that each time I go downtown and stand here, the view is slightly different. There are always cranes at work and this place continues to grow.
By the way, if you are looking for the web's best collection of photo spots in Austin, you can check out my list right here!
Twilight in Boston
A lovely twilight view of the skyline of Boston, Mass...
A lovely evening of photography in Boston, Mass!
I have visited Boston a few times over the years, but it wasn't until this trip (which was over a year ago at this point) that I actually was able to photograph. All the previous trips had been quick business meetings and all that jazz, so never time for photo work.
But this trip did allow me a little leeway, and I jumped on it. I spent an evening down here with my friend Bob Lussier, firing away happily at this amazing skyline view - which I had wanted to shoot for years. In fact, I was shooting Olympus at the time (as does Bob), and he let me borrow his wide angle lens for this one (I have since shifted over to shooting Sony). It really allowed me to get all that awesomeness in the scene.
Of course, I processed this one in Luminar, and I used this photo as my "cover photo" when I launched my latest Luminar preset pack, Cityscapes. It fit the bill quite well. I just realized I hadn't shared it here on the blog...so here it is! ;-)
Empire sunset
Here's a shot from the Top of the Rock in NYC, and a video showing how I edit the photo - enjoy!
A lovely evening at The Top of the Rock in NYC!
On our last trip to NYC, I made a point to get up here for sunset. Having seen so many pics from here over the years, I had to bag my own. It turned out to be a decent sunset - not magical - but I walked away feeling satisfied.
Recently, Luminar from Macphun came out and I have been really enjoying using it to process my images. It's easy and intuitive and yet very powerful. Between Luminar and Aurora HDR, that's all I use now. Below is a video outlining how I processed this photo in Luminar. I was able to give it quite a bit of punch, which I love to do. Enjoy!
If you are interested in learning more about Luminar, you can read my review right here, or click the banner ad below to be taken to the Macphun site. Let me know if you have any questions!
The best view of Florence
If you are looking for the best view of the skyline of Florence, Italy you can find that in today's blog post. But it's not a secret - I had to share it with a few hundred of my closest friends. :-)
The best view of Florence is at Piazzale Michelangelo, but this is NOT exactly a well-kept secret. ;-)
I love to capture skyline photos when I travel, but it's not always easy to do. Some cities just don't offer a good location for taking in the grand expanse of a place, but Florence Italy certainly does.
Prior to arriving here, I did some online research (as I always do before going somewhere) about Florence and it wasn't much of a time investment to figure out that Piazzale Michelangelo is the best view of town. It's a hell of a climb, but it's well worth it.
So I set off quite a while before sunset and clambered up the fairly steep hill to get here. My expectations were that I would find some folks here doing the same as me (or at least watching the sunset), but in reality this place is BUSY. It was literally jam packed. It's a big, wide plaza on the top of a hill, and there is a bar/restaurant and hordes of people. Of course, I was there in late summer so that is at least partly responsible for the crowds, but nonetheless it was a madhouse.
At first I was concerned I wouldn't be able to find a good spot, but surprisingly I did, and quickly. Once I got settled, I stayed there for quite a while. I was afraid to move actually, for fear of not getting another spot with a clear view. While most of the people there were of the tourist variety (no tripod, iPhone or point and shoot camera - though I want to point out there is nothing wrong with that), there were some others like myself that had all the gear set up and ready to go. I guess everyone got the message that this is THE spot for a skyline view.
While the sunset wasn't exactly magical, it's an incredible view of a beautiful city and one that I am very happy to have spent an evening capturing, even with my iPhone (yes, I still do that a LOT) and my point and shoot camera - not to mention my full frame Sony (which the above photo was captured with). I try and cover my bases by using several cameras, LOL. Besides, you can never take too many photos, right?
If you visit Florence, be sure and spend an evening up here catching the sunset. You'll be very glad that you did!
Bratislava blues
Here's a photo from lovely Bratislava. It was shot during blue hour there, overlooking their Old Town, and I used Aurora HDR to accentuate details adjust some colors, and more. Dive in, and also check out the video I did as well!
A lovely blue hour in Bratislava - and a video showing how I made the photo!
It was several years ago that I visited Bratislava, Slovakia but I still look back fondly on that trip. I captured many photos that I am proud of, and I loved being there. It's a quaint town with wonderful architecture, and I felt very comfortable there. I hope to return some day.
As part of my ongoing YouTube series "Making the photograph", I recorded a session a few days ago showing how I created today's pic in Aurora HDR. You can view that below, or click the linked text above to see the entire series.
I was out shooting with my friend Miroslav Petrasko and we were on top of the UFO Restaurant which straddles a bridge over the Danube and actually looks just like a UFO. They have a great rooftop deck area that we shot from, giving us this unobstructed view of the old town as well as Bratislava Castle.
As you can see, I used many layers in Aurora HDR to achieve the final look, bringing up the details, making color adjustments, reducing noise and more. It's fun. I also added a final step in Lightroom (which is not in the video), which was to use the guided upright tool to adjust the perspective a little bit (and which resulted in a slight crop). It gave the image a little more balance and in my opinion it finished well! Thanks for stopping by!
Sunset at The Top of the Rock
Here's a rather beautiful sunset that I captured last fall in New York, from the top of Rockefeller Center. It's an incredible view of the city, and topping it off with some great light was like icing on the cake!
What a view from up here!
I have used this photo as my blog header/background photo for a few months (I just changed it to what you see up there now, which is from Leadenhall Market in London), and I recently realized that although it was featured up there, I never actually shared it as a post here on the blog.
So, I'm correcting that right now.
As you can guess from the super-original blog post title, this was a sunset that I photographed from the top of Rockefeller Center in NYC. I was there back in late October and early November, and it was a perfect time to be there. Cool temps and great fall colors. Man, I was HAPPY.
I was traveling light that week, so I just had the lovely 28mm f/2 lens on my Sony. It's great for nearly everything that I shoot, plus it's small and easy to lug around all day, so it's doubly effective as a great travel lens.
I arrived about an hour before sunset, thinking that would be plenty of time to find myself a great spot ahead of the crowds. WRONG! There were photographers all over the place, and some two deep in spots. Well, there went my plans. I thought I might be able to wander all over and take a bunch of shots from different spots, but it was not to be.
So, plan ahead if this is on your list of NYC spots (and it should be - though a cliche, it's still awesome). By the way, here's my NYC list if you want to see it.
Nonetheless, I did find a couple of spots that I was satisfied with, and coming away with this image still made me happy. It's hard to do something original up there, due to both the limited space and the copious amount of great shots already taken there. But hey, I'm always a fan of just taking the shot anyways. It satisfies that mental checklist we all have, and you may still come away with something you like. So take the shot, and have fun out there!
The Austin skyline
I love shooting the skyline in any city that I visit. It's just something I love. Today I share a pair of skyline photos from right here in Austin. Sometimes you can capture amazing views right in your backyard!
I love shooting the skyline of Austin. Not just because it's home, but because I really think it's beautiful. One of my favorite vantage points is this one, from the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge. You can stand atop that and get this view of the city, with that railroad track cutting across the middle of it. I love the reflections, and I was lucky to show up here on a cloudy afternoon, which I always like best (clouds make the sky more interesting).
While Austin continues to grow, the amount of construction cranes visible in the photo (I see two) is much less than in years past. It used to be 5-10 cranes that you could see each time, but we are way below that now. I'm not sure if that's a sign of slowed growth for Austin or not, because the rest of the city continues to grow and change. Maybe it's just a sign of fewer tall buildings downtown. Either way, I'll take it. Someday I will get a totally crane-free photo I'm sure!
If you are interested in ALL the best spots to take photos in Austin, you can check out my new eBook, The Photographer's Guide to Austin. It's jam-packed with about 60 spots to photograph here, and a Bonus Section of another 16 that are within driving distance. It's selling for $7.95 and the feedback on it has been great. Let me know if you have any questions about it.
On the afternoon that I photographed these shots, I had been wandering around town picking up a few shots here and there that I needed for the eBook. Once I saw the sky get so interesting and dramatic, I sped along to this spot because I wanted the skyline with those clouds over it. I don't get downtown as much as I would like, so getting to shoot this was a real treat.
If you find yourself downtown, be sure and stop at the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge for a skyline shot - you'll be glad you did!
There's something about a Nashville sunset
Good old Nashville is the star of today's post - specifically, that gorgeous skyline they got there! It's my favorite spot to visit in town, and I try and go here every time I get to Nashville. A trip somehow seems incomplete without it. Here are 6 HDR photos taken during a stunning sunset!
I really enjoy my visits to Nashville, and doubly so when I get a fabulous sunset. Today's photos were taken on my last visit there, which was last June. I spent a couple of days in town and got out a few times with the gear to grab a few brackets. That's always a good thing!
Luckily on the second night, I had planned to shoot the skyline from the Shelby Street Pedestrian Bridge and it just so happened that sunset turned out perfectly! I love it when that happens!