Pacific Photos
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
View from the Mission Steps
The Santa Barbara Mission is an amazing place. But every once in a while when I'm there I try to tear myself away from the beautiful architecture. There is a reason they built the mission where they did, the view is spectacular!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Montecito Sunset
Yesterday was a bit overcast during the day. We had some things to do around town and later in the day found ourselves in a beautiful little nursury in Carpenteria. As the sun was getting low it started to break through the clouds so we found a nice spot in the Montecito hills on the way home to watch the show. What followed was one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen. It was truly one of those times you wish you had your camera! Fortunately I did!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Shipwrecked After Dark on Butterfly Beach
The clouds were beautiful the other evening at Butterfly beach. Just after sunset they looked almost like an aurora. This was an extremely long exposure, the last of a particularly beautiful day.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Sunset over Santa Barbara from Butterfly Beach
If you've looked around my sites much you probably already know that Butterfly Beach is my favorite beach in Santa Barbara. It's a beautiful place to wander and relax. Sunset is my favorite time, it's always beautiful, but Sunday (the day this was taken) was something truly special!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Stearns Wharf in the Distance
This is the shot I was looking for when I got yesterday's photo of the day. Well sort of anyway. I was thinking this might be a nice angle a little later in the evening once the lights are on in the buildings on Stearns Wharf. Maybe next time I'll get out there a little later. And as I type this the evening news is calling for more clouds next week. I better start making some space on my hard drive for more photos!
Monday, January 26, 2009
SBCC Stearns Wharf View
Saturday was a beautiful day. We had the opportunity to wander around and enjoy the sunset. Which is one of the things I like to do as much as possible this time of year. This was the view from Santa Barbara City College just a bit before sunset. Sometimes my images are totally controlled and I have a plan for exactly what I'm looking for. In this case I stared with a shot from the pathway that you see. The streetlights were not very interesting looking. But after I got what I was looking for I took a walk around to see what I might be missing. I thought the path looked nice so I got a few shots, but even then I did not notice that the lights were already on. It was only after I got home and looked through the pictures that I saw the glow in the lights and decided this was one of my favorite images.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Pacific Grove Sunset
This is from a couple of nights ago. It was a beautiful evening. Of course right at this very spot the wind was almost strong enough to knock me over at one point. But it was still very beautiful. I'm posing it a bit late (it's not actually the 28th anymore I know!) but I do have a bunch of trip shots to get online. Unfortunately the trip was too short with too many cool things to do. With a couple of projects going now that we are back in town, I'm keeping my system busy processing photos. But I'll get new things online as fast as possible.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Monterey Wave
Yesterday was a fun day. We ate good food and cruised around Monterey. There was just enough wind to make the waves interesting. But not enough to make you feel like you were going to have your skin removed if you stood outside for more than a minute. That's the way it's been in the past when we have been there. A couple of years ago they even lost some trees and had other serious trouble.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Brophy Brothers at the Santa Barbara Harbor
Click the main image for a larger view.
We were feeling like a harbor walk the other evening.
And, it was looking like a nice night for some pictures.
Of course I think every night is a nice night to take
pictures. Even when it's raining... especially when
it's raining. Looking outside right now, I might get some
rain shots sometime in the near future. Although the last couple
of nights it has waited until quite late to shower.
Anyway, the building at the left has, among other things,
a great restaurant called Brophy Brothers where you can sit
on the veranda up stairs
and look out over the harbor. Been a while since I
had a meal there. But I still remember the clam chowder. It was
quite good. And the view is worth the trip too.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Theresa Ann
Another shot from our recent wanderings at the Santa Barbara harbor. It's a nice peaceful scene, but just to my left was a popular restaurant on a balcony overlooking the harbor. There were lots of people around waiting to get in and having a good time. Next time I'll get an image that includes the restaurants.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Santa Barbara Sunset Harbor
We spent a couple of evenings walking around the Harbor
watching the sun set this week. I think I could take a walk at the Harbor
and the Wharf every night with my camera and never get bored.
Every evening when I get home each photo that I love
gives me the ideas for three more next time.
This one was partially inspired by another vertical panorama
I took at the harbor almost two years ago.
It was later in the evening when I took that one, and you
can see the stars. But at the time I wondered what it would look like
from the other direction with the sunset sky. Now I have my answer!
Saturday, April 26, 2008
San Simeon Sunset
This was taken the evening before my VR Highway 1 Sunset,
just a little further up Highway 1.
If you turned around from where we were standing
you could almost see the top of Hearst Castle in the hills.
Of course if you looked to the left... and I apologize in
advance for ruining the tranquil California sunset day dream you're
having right now... there were a bunch of Elephant Seals.
And they were quite loud and very comical. I'm sure I have a few
shots of them to get on-line soon.
Now back to the regularly scheduled day dream... Right up the road, a little closer to the
lighthouse is a scenic point that has less seals, and when we were there
they were just laying enjoying the evening sea breeze. One had
her flipper over her baby like she was hugging it. So if you'd rather
picture yourself there that would work too. :-D
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Cottage Inn
So in the process of stitching the images together to make the panorama of yesterday's image there are a nuber of stages along the way. (Or, to be technical for the cartographers out there, different projections). Taking the flat images to represent a spherical view of the world and then projecting them back on to your flat monitor is not unlike making a flat map out of the round globe. Of course, along the way there is room for a little bit of creativity.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Cottage Inn
Well, there were some technical difficulties
with publishing to the site so I'm sorry for the wait!
I have quite a few images that should
be posted in the near future, but with several big projects and
tax day (what fun!) it has been hard to get to the maintenance of my site.
A few days ago we were in Pismo Beach for a project.
When I went out to get breakfast the morning fog was just breaking up.
I thought about skipping breakfast to take pictures, but
I finally thought better of it so I would have some energy for the
drive home. (Besides they have REALLY good waffles.)
The timing was perfect though. This was right after breakfast.
All of the clouds in this shot are actually wispy remnants of
the morning costal fog. They are almost close enough that you could reach out
and touch them.
Not 20 minutes later the fog was back thicker than ever.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Santa Barbara Harbor Sunset view from the Breakwater
Another beautiful sunset and another massive image. If you look closely you can see stearns wharf in the image off to the right. (if you have Flash 9 installed, you can use the up arrow to zoom in)
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Highway 1 VR Sunset
If you have Flash installed in your browser,
click and drag on the image once it loads, you should get a pleasant surprise.
This image has been quite a few days in the making.
I had the good fortune to be in Cambria (north on the coast, 'bout half way to Monterey)
last week around sunset and I just happened to have
my new panoramic tripod head with me. Seeing as how I don't
have a good fish-eye for my digital camera, I used my widest
lens available. To get the whole image it took 36 shots.
Of course, the difference shooting into the sun, and away
was more than a single exposure setting could handle. So I had
to take three separate exposures and combine them into a High Dynamic Range Image.
From that point, I just had to see how far I could push my computer.
Rather than scale the images down I wanted to see just how big I could make the image.
In the end the 108 images combined into a two gigabyte, 240 megapixel image.
I figure it would print nicely at around twelve feet wide. I spared your internet connection
the full size image. But as I mentioned above, users with Flash
should be able to experience a nice point of view. I can tell you
the VR interface gives the closest experience to actually standing there
taking the photo I can imagine.
Enjoy, and please let me know if you experience any difficulties with the new interface.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Leadbetter Beach Woodcut - No Lifeguard On Duty
I went out this evening to get some evening shots of the city.
I was not sure exactly what I was looking for, but when I
drove by Leadbetter Beach I saw it. :-D
This scene reminds me of a woodcut technique where the black
silhouette is printed over a gradient background.
The sky was cloudless, the dark outline at the left on the
horizon is Santa Cruz Island part of Channel Islands National Park.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Sunset Wharf Walk
The clouds in the distance are actually our "Marine Layer" (fog) that rolls in to the beach in the evening. It was a good night for a walk on the Wharf.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
California Sunset
Santa Barbara (where we live) is beautiful in general, don't get me wrong. And, I have heard people try to extol the virtues of our south facing beach. But you just don't get a sunset like this off of a south facing beach! Which is probably one of the main reasons I like exploring the rest of California.
Saturday, July 1, 2006
Catamaran Beach
Another Santa Barbara sunset shot taken a few minutes after yesterday's.
Sunday, October 9, 2005
Harbor Moonrise
You can see the moon coming up on the right side of the photo, through the fog. This was an amazing night to take pictures.
Sunday, August 28, 2005
Stearns Sunset
Ahhh, the end of summer. I don't have to go to school tomorrow, but I can't believe it's over already.
Monday, August 8, 2005
La Jolla Evening
We were just marveling at an unseasonably beautiful sunset here in Santa Barbara tonight. Usually this time of year the air is too dry to make an interesting show. But, even with the beautiful show, we still didn't get anything quite like La Jolla in the winter. Partially because we have a south facing beach here and the sun sets over the mountains rather than the water.
Sunday, May 22, 2005
Butterfly Beach Sunset
The weather around here in June is known as
"June Gloom." The fog comes in over the water
before dawn and
we usually don't see the sun
until about 4:00 in the afternoon. Sometimes
the beach is totally covered all day.
There can be a wall of fog right by the beach
that looks thick enough to touch.
The fog in this image is not quite that crazy.
It was an amazing evening. I had to wade pretty far out
in the water to get the angle of the sun behind the trees.
And, I was not really dressed for swimming at the time.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Day at the Beach
This is actually from last summer, but it felt so much like summer around here yesterday I was feeling in the mood. That water is looking better and better at 90 degrees with no A/C!
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