Chevrolet Truck Bob's Christmas Tree Lot At Night

It's the grill that caught my attention from 100 yards away as I pulled into the parking lot. It's the kind of grill you could comb your hair in and if not there definitely in the chrome half moon headlight covers. The next day I worked nearby I had my camera and was ready to shoot this truck. One thing I love about shooting at night is the different color of the light sources. In the second image you can see mostly warm (orange), a few cool (green) and at least one neutral light. If you look close you can see the left front of the truck is bathed in warm light while the right side is more neutral. I also shot some during the day and had a nice surprise when a 1956 Plymouth Safari station wagon pulled in. 

1957 Pontiac Safari

I was shooting a truck at Bob's Christmas tree lot when this car pulled up. I planned to link this to the truck post but I realized I have not posted that yet, I will post the truck soon. When I talked to the owner of the Pontiac Safari he said his wife got angry when he brought this home. The floor boards were rusted out and now that it is restored she loves it. 

UPDATE: I was told by Val Ramsey that this is actually a 1957 Pontiac Safari.

Disney's Haunted Mansion

I planned on posting this in December but time got away from me. During Halloween and Christmas the Haunted Mansion is decorated with the characters from Nightmare Before Christmas. They call it the Haunted Mansion Holiday. I like shooting at night for the different light sources (sodium vapor, incandescent, florescent and in this case the blue and purple laser) and shadows cast from them. I wanted a clean shot (no people passing through or standing in line) I shot quite a few shots before I gave up and sat down and just waited. Once the crowd had died down I was able to re-position my tripod without worrying about creating a trip hazard and got a better composition. I had security guard's slowly following me out of the park but I made friends with two of them and they actually blocked the traffic for me.

   

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year these are a few shots I took at the Bishop Ranch Business Ranch in San Ramon.

Emily and Jacob Christmas 2012

I tone mapped this image using Nik Software's   HDR Efex Pro 2 Tone Mapping. I shot the image using camera RAW and I could of ran it through the RAW processor with different results because you have different adjustments. Tone mapping is similar to HDR but using a single image to get a HDR look. My wife wanted an "artistic" portrait to send out with Christmas cards. She did not want me to post this until the Cards were sent out to our friends and relatives. Unfortunatly the lab did not process the prints very well and we did not have a chance to get them out for Christmas. I have essentially tone mapped another image in another post. I did not understand what tone mapping was and went through a lot of extra steps. It is one of my favorite images that I have ever taken. It is of a purple Mercury in the post Pacific Coast Dream Machines Automobiles. I shot for an HDR image, but this was the only image that did not have distracting elements similar to the post Taking Control of the Uncontrollable but I did not shoot extra shots. I was still new to HDR at the time. Tone mapping does not have the same dynamic range as HDR, but it mimics the look. Shooting in RAW allows you to save some of the dynamic range as opposed to shooting in jpeg. RAW format does not compress the data and allows you more leeway with your adjustments.

Main Street Disneyland

Main Street is designed to look like Main Street Marceline, Missouri (Walt Disney's boyhood town) in the early 20th century. On Main Street Walt Disney honors people that have contributed to the park with there names in the shop windows. It's a nice way to step back in time and get away from the fast pace of life. Seeing the old cars, horse and buggies, barbershop quartets, old ice cream, candy stores and penny arcades. During Christmas it is also nice to see the Christmas decorations and the caroler's. I like the Esmeralda fortune telling machine it reminds me of the Zoltar machine in Big.

  

It's a Small World Chritsmas Time (composition)

I'll be the first to admit I am not happy with the composition of this image. I wish I was to the left so you could read the It's a Small World sign and lower so the sign and the ride were two separate elements rather than one. I still think it is worth posting for the people who have never seen Disneyland with the Christmas decorations up.

The Magic of Walt Disney

Even though Walt Disney  (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) passed on less than one year into my life his legacy lives on in our minds, the origional Disneyland park and the Disney animation. His nephew Roy E. Disney  son of Roy O. Disney (co-founder of what is now The Walt Disney Company) was the last member of the Disney family to be actively involved in the company. The company continues to grow in 2006 bought Pixar which made Apple's Steve Jobs Disney's largest shareholder. Just recently on October 30, 2012 The Walt Disney Company purchased Lucasfilm. The Walt Disney Company continues to open more parks and resorts around the world. All this started because Walt Disney wanted a place where adults and their children could go and have fun together.

Keep an eye out for  more posts of images I took while I was in Disneyland and a tutorial explaining what it took to process the first image in this post.

Broadway Plaza Christmas 2011 HDR Warmed Up Version

I have not had a chance to shoot anything lately, but I have been thinking about the images I took at Broadway Plaza and woundered what an HDR with the color tempature changed from daylight to shadow. Here is the resulting image it looks quite a bit warmer.

Broadway Plaza Christmas 2011 HDR

While picking up some gifts for Christmas I saw the tree in Broadway Plaza and could not wait to get back to take the following shots. Believe it or not these shots were taken with in ten minutes of each other. Make sure you click on the images to see a larger view.

Santa Baby!

Just tested out my new Canon 5D Mark II. Got some great Images of Jacob in his Santa suit.

Emily Christmas 2008

With Christmas coming up you should consider something to send out with your Christmas cards.