Sutro Tower and Fog

[Adsos Letter]

[Mz Pip]

1. That's cool

Didn't think there was anything that could make the praying mantis of San Francisco look cool but you pulled it off!

[Adsos Letter]

2. Nature deserves the credit Mz Pip! The fog was a nice context for that "praying mantis"

(never heard it called that before, but it certainly fits!) :D I'm still trying to learn the manual settings for different shots; this one is a bit grainier than I would have liked, probably because of the full zoom (that's right, Adso, blame the equipment... :eyes: ).

Have you been out to the Marin Headlands, and the old bunkers, etc? I went there as a kid, and have started rediscovering it over the last few days. Lots of places to hike and shoot.

Today I think I'll hike out to the old lighthouse at Point Bonita (if it's open; got there too late yesterday, and I'm unsure if it's open on weekdays).

Plus, the Marine Mammal Center, which is way cool. :hi:

Wishing you a very happy New Year, and a richly fulfilling year to come! :)

[regnaD kciN]

3. "Praying Mantis"...?

I always thought of the damn thing as a giant cocktail fork.

Nice job with the photo...probably one of the wiser decisions was to go to black-and-white, sparing us those godawful red and white stripes.

[Adsos Letter]

5. Thanks: it isn't actually black & white, just desaturated way down

The stripes show a very subdued red on my monitor, and some orange + blue = Payne's Gray tones in the fog.

I often wish I could see how these things look on other people's monitors; it might be more depressing than it already is... :scared:

Happy New Year to you and your family, regnaD kciN. I hope it brings you the best of all things. :toast:

[JeffR]

4. I like the 'what IS that' character of this one.

I also like the tower being just off-center in the frame, without being a full-on rule-of-thirds composition.

Question about the noise, since you've commented about it above. The EXIF data indicates this was shot at ISO 80. While I don't see the noise as being the slightest bit unpleasant, I was curious about whether you used the digital zoom in addition to the optical. That alone might result in some grain. I can't see that ISO setting as being a factor in the noise at all.

[Adsos Letter]

6. Thanks, Jeff. I'm pretty sure I did use the digital zoom, since my subject was on my far horizon

I suspect I shot at 48x, which would certainly account for the degredation, as you pointed out. If i wanted a less noisy shot I might have done better to restict myself to the 12x optical zoom, and crop in Lightroom. Glad to know it doesn't detract from the image! :D
I wish I could see how these things look on other monitors, 'cause mine is an older model Princeton (Costco special).

I am slowly becoming acquainted with the effect these choices make on image quality, and I appreciate ANY input from the people in the photo group on how to improve. :)

[JeffR]

7. I had a big Princeton CRT until switching to an LCD monitor

and I just loved that box. Took a few tries to get the calibration right, but once I had that down, it was always a pleasure to see photos on that monitor.

It's impossible to know what others are seeing on their screens, but I agree with you, I wish I could see the differences. Nothing like working hard to get color balance and histogram values just so, then see your photos on someone else's monitor and think, "Boy, that looks terrible."

[Adsos Letter]

8. Too true! Does the LCD monitor provide a higher image quality than CRT?

I am woefully technologically challenged... :(

[JeffR]

10. That's a tough question to answer.

Supposedly it does, but I think it's very subjective.

[hippywife]

9. Very cool!

I've been enjoying your SF shots very much. I've only been there one time and stood up on the hill looking at the bridge across the bay like that. Wish I'd have had more time to explore. Thanx for sharing all these really neat shots from around the area. :hi:

And I'm not seeing all the noise on my monitor. :hug: