On Deck

You can always see larger versions of the image by clicking anywhere in it to go to the Smugmug page.

On the waterfront in downtown San Diego at sunset. Planes on the deck of the Midway in the foreground, the SD skyline in the back. The light is, of course, the subject here as much as the buildings, but it is also about the shapes and the way they fill the frame. This is where the long zoom range of the Super-zoom cameras shows its real worth. From where I stood at the end of the Fish Market point, near the bow of the Midway, I had an all but infinite range of perspectives to choose for the shot, just by pressing the zoom button.

This shot (Sony DSC H50) was taken at just about 100mm equivalent, to catch some of the color of the planes on deck and put the buildings up fairly large against the sky. F4.0 @ 1/400 @ ISO 100. Programed Auto.

In Lightroom I applied a little Recovery for the sky, some Vibrance and Clarity in the Presence panel, and the Landscape sharpen preset. I also added some Fill Light to show detail in the shadows under the deck.

I considered cropping it tighter, removing the all but the top of what appears to be a parking garage and the hull of the boat below the deck, but, I decided that when viewed large, the delicate tracings of the tree against the building in the lower left are worth keeping.

From San Diego 2009.