Tower Bridge raised
Sacramento’s Tower Bridge, shown here raised for the passage of larger river craft, is modeled after San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge and is beautifully lit in the night outside of Old Sacramento, California.
The shot was taken in a stiff, freezing wind (which seemed to make everything look more crisp) with an Olympus IR-500 point-and-shoot, long before I had a DSLR. The camera was on the nighttime preset and it did all the adjustments save one: this camera has no way to attach a tripod so I was braced against a light post, pressing the camera down on its concrete pillar, and shooting bursts to get whatever I could. My eyes were watering too much to see the display or the results until I got to the computer.
The processing program was Corel’s PaintShopPro XI which was used for mainly for perspective correction and removal of some stars.
THIS PIECE WAS FEATURED IN: Western United States Artists and Photographers
Tower Bridge raised belongs to the following groups:
IPA -International Photographers Alliance and Western United States Artists and Photographers Available for sale asGreeting Cards, Matted Prints, Laminated Prints, Mounted Prints, Canvas Prints, Framed Prints and Posters
Ozcloggie
Can never have enough things, gold!
Jennifer Tate
Great Job… I love this shot… beautiful colors
totty23
this is one of your best shots i recan its brilliant! really like it.
sam
kcranmer
Fantastic capture and fabulous tones!!
Lenny La Rue, IPA
Thanks all! This shot took a LONG time because the wind was so damned cold I was wearing gloves and my point and shoot doesn’t even have a tripod option! I literally pressed the camera onto the side of a lightpost to minimize the shaking and took maybe 30 shots because my eyes were watering too much to see the camera’s 3” display. LOL! The colours are an odd feature because someone decided that making the bridge a sort of [vomit] green colour would make it look better. With the night lighting only, it looks spectacular. Catching the bridge raising was just a wild stroke of luck.
Kenny Gulley Jr.
awesome image!
reflector
A sharp capture of great subject matter. Great colors and tones too ! An excellent night shot !
pmarella
excellent work!
Lenny La Rue, IPA
And thank you three, too! I’ll probably have work like crazy to get a shot like this with a DSLR but I will try sooner or later. But for a treat right now, check out this shot from oastudios. His version is almost from the same angle as mine and is also a nightime photograph. Enjoy!
Tom Vaughan
Spectacular image, Lenny!
Benjamin Padgett
Fantastic!
Lenny La Rue, IPA
Thanks! It will be one of my favourites forever, I think. :-)
sweetscent62
For something that’s vomit green : ) lol You’ve done a wonderful job of making this look spectacular. Especially thru watery eyes and no tripod Lenny!! : )
Oastudios version is very different but also great. Wen x
Lenny La Rue, IPA replied
Chris’ version is a lot more dramatic than mine, while mine shows more overall brightness and the bridge is fully raised. I can’t say I like one more than the other so I guess that’s a tribute to what vastly different eyes and gear can see and do. :-)
Optimalxpozure
VERY well done Lenny!
Lenny La Rue, IPA replied
Thank you very much, Scott!
navybrat
awesome!!
Lenny La Rue, IPA replied
Thanks! :-)
LindaR
get out!!! what a beauty!!!! such light, pov, comp ~ you rocked this one my friend ~ instant fav ~ worth the freeze!! :) xxx
Lenny La Rue, IPA replied
Thank you and I’m still thawing nicely…
Lois Bryan
This one is spectacular!!!!!! I am AGOG!!!!! All this with the night auto set on a point and shoot!!!!!! WOOO HOOOOO!!!! I’ve got a little Olympus C-5000 zoom point and shoot … and it does some nice things, too .. but night photography????? WOWZER!!!!!!!!!
Lenny La Rue, IPA replied
Well, thank you very, very much Agog! I’m Lenny and I’m pleased to meet you. Hehehe! That Olympus IR-500 was a 4mp wonder. It was limited by not having the full control of a DSLR and sometimes the 4 megapixel max was visible. But if braced against something (or another design of camera is on a tripod) because of the automatic slower shutter speed, today’s 8 and even 10 magapixel pocket rockets are probably capable of fooling some of the experts. Give it a shot and you might be amazed. :-)
Rachel Stickney
Wow, great night shot, Lenny! Sometimes those point and shoots do a pretty good job, even better than our DSLRs. Excellent! At least your freezing in the cold was well worth it!
Lenny La Rue, IPA replied
LOL! I’m sold on the value of having a point and shoot available at all times, whether I’m out with the DSLR or (Gasp!) not. And yeah, THIS shot and the ones before it were worth it. Nearly getting shot by a cop after taking this shot while STILL freezing my buns off was NOT worth it. LOL!
Laurie Puglia
hey this is really cool shot. i think you did well here lenny.
so how do you like working with corel’s paintshop pro? is it worth spending the money. i ‘m done using the trial version of jasc paintshop pro 8 but never used corel… do you have a preference and how much money is reasonable. still new to this all. thanks lenny.
laurie
Lenny La Rue, IPA replied
Thank you much, Laurie. :-) Corel PaintShop Pro XI is the $100 version of the software I’m using as my primary editing program. The $100 price is extremely reasonable in my opinion. I haven’t found anything it can’t do that PhotoShop Elements can except be extremely accurate. Where Corel has a tool with control from 0 – 100, Adobe has the same tool with adjustments available from 0 – 1000. Think “good enough for the newspaper” as opposed to “good enough for a magazine”. That’s a HUGE difference if you’re a professional and need a tool with all the abilities you yourself have. But for a hack like me (and my guess, for the average ‘prosumer’), Corel has all the flexibility I’ll need for years to come.
Stzar
Lenny La Rue, IPA replied
Uh, I’m not positive but “THANKS!” anyway. LMAO!
Polly Peacock
Hi Lenny! I live in Roseville and have done several pictures of SAC’s golden bridge too! This is such a beautiful and outstanding shot! It should be featured work! I can say that I am fascinated with its structure and the curvature that runs the interior of the bridge! Great, great job!
Lenny La Rue, IPA replied
Thank you very much! I haven’t had a lot of luck capturing this bridge faithfully with the exception of this one day, with this one camera, for 3 shots. LOL! Since it’s a tiny echo of the Golden Gate Bridge (according to the designers tho I can’t see THAT very much!), it’s just about the most striking feature of Sacramento.
As for featuring, I think it was featured in at least three of the groups where it was submitted but that was 9 months ago and features only last that long when the hosts die and Red Bubble doesn’t notice. :-D Sounds like I/we/YOU have a hosting opportunity: “The Features All-Stars Group”, eligible works being only those verified as featured in 5 or more groups. It will be your first so jump on it! WOO HOO!
By the way, I’ve got some hummingbirds for you to see and a memorable shot from Roseville!
Barbara Brown
Great angle on the bridge. Nice shot!
Lenny La Rue, IPA replied
I thank you very much!