Pigeon Point Lighthouse
Once per year at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse they shut down the weak insipid modern aerobeacon light and switch over to the 1kilowatt lamp (which replaced the older oil-burning lamps) and fresnel lens of the original, restoring its appearance to what it was 135 years ago.
Last night was the night, and it's really quite a sight. When they fire it up there's really a collective sense of "whoa!" from the audience (which was WAY bigger than I expected - I probably had to park a mile away and I was there an hour early).
Capturing a shot like this is tricky because the lens itself actually rotates, which looks great but is tough for long exposures. But for the first 5 minutes they leave it static to indulge all of the photographers who turn out and want this shot (this highly unique and one-of-a-kind shot of course). When they switched to this light my camera still had about a minute of noise reduction to do on my final test shot to get the exposure right, so I missed the first minute. Then I started this shot which was about 2 minutes long, followed by 2 minutes of noise reduction again. So by the time I had my shot it was too late for a do-over. So this is it, I only got to take one photo and this is what I got, so I hope it worked out.
It's also noteworthy that the fog last night was insane, even for a San Francisco local. On the drive home there were times when I couldn't see the road in front of me, only the orange reflectors in the middle of the road (for about 60ft). It worked out beautifully for viewing the lighthouse, though I also found that if I backed away much further than this I'd lose sight of the lighthouse itself. The unfortunate consequence of all the fog was that it was almost impossible to keep the lens and camera dry, so the lesson learned was to always keep towels with you when shooting the California coast.
And in case you're wondering, that is the moon in the upper left.
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EDIT: Well this image hit DIGG.com today (Nov/07) and since then the
view count has gone kind of out of control, and I'm going to have a
hard time responding to all the individual comments, but I'll just add
a couple comments here on things that others have brought up:
- Photoshopped? No, not really. I 'burned' the lighthouse lens a bit because, well, shooting into a beacon of light for two minutes tends to wash things out. I also desaturated the moon a bit in the middle, where it created a light blue artifact. Just little image fixes - otherwise this is really how the lighthouse looks (which is cool, which is why I drove down to see it)
- Does the moon work in the shot? Not as well as I'd hoped, but I could hardly move it aside either. To cut it out of the frame would have been a worse compromise in my opinion.
- Is it crooked? No - it's level. But I shot with a wide angle lens pointed upwards to capture the rays as much as possible which creates a keystoning problem that throws off the angles. I could fix this, but haven't.
- Why do noise reduction in-camera? This is different from the noise reduction you can do in post-production, and it eliminates hot pixels and blooming from the amps that are typical in digital long exposures (and are very tough to remove in post, if at all possible without specialized software).
-HDR? Not that I think HDR would have even helped here, but I'm not usually a fan of it anyways. And I have never even figured out how to do it myself. So no.
-Unique & One of a kind? Yeah, it's both redundant AND inaccurate. I was being lighthearted - man, a lot of people just hate that I said that.
Thanks for taking the time to look and for all the great comments!
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Looks like this found its way onto Digg / Digital Photography School -
cool! Thanks for checking it out!
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My original text has been reproduced in several places, but sadly I'm
just now correcting a misstatement about the light source used for
this display. Sorry for the error, I do try to stay accurate. Apr2,09
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Nikon D40 | Sigma 10-20@10mm | f/7.1 | 114s | ISO200 | Tripod
Comments and faves
scott photos, Dyslexic3, MIKdotMIN, andyjdaviesuk, and 4660 other people added this photo to their favorites.
Antonio - arss5000 (67 months ago | reply)
stunning, perfect
Erik_Schlange (67 months ago | reply)
The light effect is amazing.
KICT [deleted] (67 months ago | reply)
O MY! This is perfectly captured. I LOVE IT!
scott photos (67 months ago | reply)
Wow - this is amazing!!
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eVo photo (67 months ago | reply)
This is brilliant! Quite different too - I love it!
ChezneyA (67 months ago | reply)
Amazing shot, perfect.
You are my winner!
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.Erik. (67 months ago | reply)
wow fantastic! Perfectly done, just amazing.
MIKdotMIN (67 months ago | reply)
Sweet opportunity for a great photo.
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Andy Frazer (67 months ago | reply)
I like how you caught the fence in the foreground.
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2ndPlace (67 months ago | reply)
Fantastic! Love how the moon fell between the beams of light.
andyjdaviesuk (67 months ago | reply)
Amazing photograph you have captured, well done!
Joe.Cleary (67 months ago | reply)
Great shot - I love the light beams.
usa.paul (67 months ago | reply)
Amazing capture! I don't think I could have done better with 10 shots.
TCB3 (67 months ago | reply)
Boy.....nothing wrong with that shot. Your only one is a keeper. What a light show!
telmo32 (67 months ago | reply)
Splendid..
You are my winner!
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t.sullivan photography (67 months ago | reply)
This shot is really amazing! It shows you know what you're doing to be able to get this on one try.
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David's digits (67 months ago | reply)
Fabulous.......
CatDancing (67 months ago | reply)
Lovely shot of this!
Allyn (allynedmonds.com) [deleted] (67 months ago | reply)
Excellent shot!
john curley (67 months ago | reply)
a beauty ...
B2 Photography (67 months ago | reply)
The shot of a lifetime. Great job !!
dodgyempire (67 months ago | reply)
Fantastic work...once again making an incredible image seem effortless, ...apart from all the effort you put in. good job.
Stargazer95050 (67 months ago | reply)
I read about an astrophotography tool "IRIS" that can to the Noise reduction afterwards instead of doing it when you shoot. Just switch off in-camera NR and take one black-frame at the same location and maybe same exposure time). I think this is the one or this.
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dizzyslover (67 months ago | reply)
Oh wow you are lucky to have caught such a beautiful sight!!
Dave G Kelly (67 months ago | reply)
Incredible. Even more incredible is that this event is number 1 & 2 on Explore.
mary pops (67 months ago | reply)
congrats for this wonderful captured!
perfect, cuz I feel something shining inside me when I look at it!
Gíslína Dögg (67 months ago | reply)
awesome!
floyka (67 months ago | reply)
Incredible shot, and thanks for sharing the story!
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▓▒░JASE░▒▓ (67 months ago | reply)
whoa...great work
Terri Estrada Photography (67 months ago | reply)
I think thats this shot is perfect! Great first shot.
Seen on front page of Explore
Conrado Tramontini (Conras) (67 months ago | reply)
Who needs words ...
great!
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lifefreezer (67 months ago | reply)
Fabulous...seen on explore
Reflexion Photography (67 months ago | reply)
thank you for sharing...wonderful photograph!
Pete.r (67 months ago | reply)
Just incredible!
3whiteroses [deleted] (67 months ago | reply)
Love it!
SurrealLogic (67 months ago | reply)
ay this is a beautiful picture. great idea
jeannemariee (67 months ago | reply)
Beautiful, I was there too last night but much closer and on the other side. The view and pictures from my angle weren't nearly as spectacular as this. Congratulations on such a magnificent shot!
{ Planet Adventure } (67 months ago | reply)
great shot !!
Congratulations!
Your pic becomes nominee of "Shield Of Excellence"
Please add this photo to
Shield Of Excellence Group.Please be sure this is tagged "SOE"
Cooriander (67 months ago | reply)
Gorgeous!!!
Butch19 (67 months ago | reply)
Nice capture. I chose different. This is what it looked like out farther. Actually taken before they lit it up. Didn't look as good after they lit it.
www.flickr.com/photos/66388057@N00/2044233028 /
Penny Haviland (67 months ago | reply)
Captivating! Outstanding job!
western light [deleted] (67 months ago | reply)
Beautiful photo! Hope your camera survived it all!
phil dev (67 months ago | reply)
Totally totally outstanding!
Breathtaking Photos (67 months ago | reply)
Awesome capture. I was invited to go but wasn't able to. I was unsure what it was about. WOW amazing. Next year for sure. Awesome........
pfeyh (67 months ago | reply)
i like your shot of this. it was just amazing to see this thing lit up. i think the fog really enhanced it. some of my shots were at higher ISO which shortened the exposure time enough. i didn't mind the added noise. i agree with you about the drive home too. sheesh.
Breathtaking Photos (67 months ago | reply)
Amazing. You really have to be ready and on the ball. No second chance. Great awesome congrads.
mikmin300 (67 months ago | reply)
Wow!!!! thats all i can say haha. That is truely an amazing capture, greattt jobb!
tollen (67 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Search the Best...Invited Photos Only, and we'd love to have your photo added to the group.
WOW, another marvelous night shot!
suzhouluhanxi (67 months ago | reply)
i really like it!
BeachStorm [deleted] (67 months ago | reply)
Absolutely gorgeous!