Pier 40, San Francisco

As far as the final result goes; I LOVE IT!!! As far as how you got it; I am very curious. The reflections of the lights on the water are clearer but (by geometry) further away from the lens then the real image. Is it because the reflected image bounces under the fog instead of through it? Did you use the TS-E lens to tilt the top out of the focal range? Or, did you use the Cokin #151 filter from top down? Any way you did it, it is fantastic and I would love to hear you tells us more about it. Thanks

It reminds me of the old LucasArt game "Monkey Island". I love it.

I would have liked to see the top of the boats mast. I dont know how to accomplish this without changing the composition overall Excellent

Mind blowing job. I Love this picture. It gives wonderful mood.Keep it up. Congrats on POW.

(Not that I believe that you would change your crop once you'd obviously made a careful decision on it. This is based on your other photos which all have very specific and considered compositions.)

 

The fade to haze on the right side give this photo it's meaning! Without it, you have a well executed shot of a boat at a pier. With it, you have the contrast and tension between a boat in a temporary state of quiet and stillness AND a reference to the adventures and mysteries that it experiences when it's actually out on the open water -- and in the unknown.

The atmosphere of the picture is chilling and eerie. The soft diffused look, the purple tone, and the points of lights creates this effect well. Interesting how the scene disappears (merges) into the fog on the right side, beckoning the eye to explore the left side of the picture. The photographer's intent was to create a surreal dreamy atmosphere and it works.

Not the right. The top, left, and bottom. Please.

Thanks for all the thoughtful comments and kind words. This shot was taken while the sky still had a bit of color in it. Daylight film, and I didn't use any filters. I shot hand-held (balanced on rail), wide open with the lens tilted so that the plane of focus was parallel with the pier, and shifted to reduce the effect of looking down. I focused on the line of lights reflected in the water. Another reason the reflected lights are sharp and the lights themselves are blurred is that the fog was much thinner near the water than at the level of the lights. I tried a variety of crops, and this one felt more like what I felt at the scene. Despite San Francisco's reputation, this condition is not very common - I haven't seen it since the El Nino year.

Minor point of interest: After seeing the comments and disagreements on cropping - particularly the right - edge, I noticed that different monitors render shots like this (no black or white point) very differently. Many monitor/graphics card combinations result in compressed gammas that change the mood a bit. If the leftmost two or three blocks of the gamma chart are all black, you are seeing something different than what others might be seeing:gamma chart.

Why are the elves so quiet so? Or have they reverted to their silent ways of yore?

 

Ill drop a comment later.

Great shot!!!! While a crop almost seems logical,

I love it the way it is.... as you look into the fog, everything fades away in real life, and the picture captured it very well.

This looks like one of those artworks that would lend its self very well to those little electric Christmas-tree lights drilled through from behind as an alternative version.

 

When Michael Woods mentioned Van Gogh, I didnt clue in at first. I think he actually meant Claude Monet. If not then I at least see more relation between this picture and Monets Impression: Sunrise then anything by Van Gogh. http://www.seanet.com/users/mfost/mon/0066mo.html

 

Quote from site listed above: When Monet gave the title Impression: Sunrise to a painting he showed in the historic exhibition of 1874 in Paris, he unwittingly gave a name to the most important artistic phenomenon of the nineteenth century and the first of the modern movements--Impressionism.

 

Thank you Bill Storage for the picture and the explanation, I appreciate them both.

no, no crop -just leave the damn picture alone, the top and left? that would lose a good part of the dock and the rigging, silly... the right??? I love the way that the scene fades off into the fog, it's a wonderful picture, Bill, congrats on catching it and on POW

Takes you back to the old sailing ship days

no, no - it's not van Gogh and not Monet. I still believe it's Turner. Turner made his inovations in watercolor paintings and this photo paints with light, just like watercolour. More: impressionism featured light, but Turner featured light and atmospheric effects - just like here. For more reference about Turner see: http://www.artchive.com/artchive/T/turner/

Great photo - very moody. Well done. And yes, it is definately 'Turner-ish'. If you want Van Gogh, check out Bills Daffodil Hill photo!

Very nice. Leaves me feeling kinda awestruck.

I'm only 16 and have just stepped into the world of photography and am fascinated. I'm killing myself to get the money for a camera ;P, but pictures like this are inspiring.

this photo is NOTHING compared to the rest of bill's work, trust me~ go look at those folders Now.

I can just hear the foghorns!

I say crop nothing. The vast emptyness on the right side, in my opinion, adds depth to the fog. Also, I've noticed that, as with real fog, the longer I stare at this photo, the more I see THROUGH the fog.

 

I don't pretend to be a "photographer". Right now I'm hoping to get beyond the snapshop phase. And I don't pretend to know all about composition, lighting, etc. But when I see a photo I like, I know it, and I like this. And I really think that that is what it is all about.

it is a wonderful photo..it lends to the mystery of the

viewer..

Wonderful

NIce Picture

Cette photo est vraiment superbe! cette brumme, cet enchainement de lumiere semblent tout simplement irrealistes. merci pour cet instant de reve.

i must admit, its damn spooky!!!! something from Sinbad? ;)