PortlandRL

It was a fairly dry and nice night on Saturday so I went out and shot some pictures around the city. I started with the intersection of SE 12th Avenue, SE Sandy Boulevard and E Burnside Street, an extremely complicated 9-way intersection that is due to be rebuilt in the near future. I decided that it would be wise to capture its old world complexity before it's gone for good.

For some reason I had the hardest time getting my camera to focus correctly. It was truly annoying. These were taken with a Canon PowerShot SD790IS on the 10 megapixel setting. I used a variety of exposure levels and long-exposure times.

I appreciate any feedback and comments, be it positive or negative.





The river was almost glass-smooth so I drove a few blocks down to the waterfront and walked out onto an open dock that essentially sits two inches off the water. There are no railings so I had to be very careful where I put my feet. Here are some pictures of downtown.



The Hawthorne Bridge, circa 1912 and rehabilitated in 1998.


The Marquam Bridge carrying I-5 over the Willamette River. It's an ugly sonofabitch...and yes I know the picture is slightly out of focus. The light was very minimal and the camera struggled with focus as a result.


Higher up on the embankment offered a wider view of downtown.


Here's a stub ramp to feed a freeway expansion that never happened.


Thanks for looking!

98JDMCL

NIIICE PIIICS!

This summer i need to hit up downtown toronto at night again! Nice work dude

PortlandRL

Thanks, man. I have gotten some constructive criticism from another board that suggests toying with the ISO settings to make it less blurry.

I have a list of more places I want to shoot and the weather looks like it will be staying dry. I will probably go out again tonight.

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

Buddy, nice shots! I like shot #3....

PortlandRL

Well I got a Nikon D3200 for Christmas and can't begin to express just how much better it is than the point-and-shoot cameras I've been using for years. I still have much to learn but here are a few shots I took a couple nights ago. I wasn't going to post these but Jefford requested them.

Some of these are a little darker than I was expecting as the LCD on the camera shows it being brighter than it really is. I'm not really happy with any of these....

Hawthorne Bridge by deloreanman14, on Flickr

Sleepy Birds by deloreanman14, on Flickr

Downtown Portland by deloreanman14, on Flickr

Phantom Bicycles by deloreanman14, on Flickr

Empty World by deloreanman14, on Flickr

All Control, No Traffic by deloreanman14, on Flickr

2012wagon

Beautiful.


I like the second series above you posted. Portland never looks that good when I am there in person.

Sarlacc

Does the D3200 have a live histogram? Trust that, not the LCD.

PortlandRL

Thank you. When are you here? Honestly I think the city looks best in summer.

It does not, sadly.

2012wagon

I spent two summers in Seattle. We would go down to Portland once a month.... Your pic makes the city look a lot cleaner than I recall

PortlandRL

That's because I chose spots that make it look good. I don't get anywhere near all the homeless camps with my camera because they're ballsy and emboldened and I would honestly fear for being attacked. My camera bag would likely be snatched in half a second and I'd be beat up on the sidewalk with some nasty AIDS infected needle hanging out of my arm.

asianspec

iTrader: (1)

Since your photos are a little under exposed than you like, try shooting with the sensor 1 stop more than the sensor thinks it's properly exposing Meaning +1 on the light meter and see how that works. A histogram would've been better but since you don't have one. I'd try the other way.

stogie1020

Nice stuff Andrew! I like the bike light shot!

Agreed, set the exposure compensation to +1 if you want a "brighter" picture (try +.3 and +.6 to get an idea of the impact).

Also, you may want to see how to change the metering mode of the camera from Center Weighted Average to Spot to have more granular control of the metering.

2012wagon

LMAO

I thought Portland had the nicest homeless people in the US

Ken1997TL

They're entitled jerks

Sarlacc

Is it because they are all former hipsters?

stogie1020

They are cold, wet and they eat penis shaped donuts...

2012wagon

LOL, greatest posts on homelessness, since Willie Brown wanted them all banished to a boat.

PortlandRL

Here's one I took out in the farmlands west of Portland and due to a few critical issues, it didn't turn out quite like I hoped.

Firstly, in the low light conditions, the auto-focus was about as useful as a cock-flavored lollipop and my efforts on manual focus weren't much better. As a result, the moon is in focus and the foreground (including the train) is slightly out of focus. Secondly, I need to dig in to my manual camera settings because I had the ISO set on 100 to prevent grainy images and yet the EXIF data on this shot shows the ISO at 2000 which explains the fact there's more grain in it than a box of Frosted Mini Wheats. Despite that, I'm happy with the framing, the color of the sky and the exposure level. It had the potential to be an AMAZING shot...but just couldn't make the final mile.

Night Train by deloreanman14, on Flickr

asianspec

iTrader: (1)

I don't think it's a bad shot but I get what you mean. Since you are doing landscapes, try using a smaller fstop So that you don't have to worry about focusing. remember aperture controls flash power and shutter controls your ambient light.

PortlandRL

Here's our newest downtown bridge.....it's.....uh.....called.....um.......... .....Tilikum Crossing.

Tilikum Crossing by Andrew, on Flickr