August Super Moon over the Giant Dipper, Santa Cruz, CA

This isn’t exactly the image I had in my head, but it’s close. There is a telephone pole on the left I wish wasn’t there, a light pole on the right that is spilling light, and flare into the image, and the train which is just about to the top of the hill hasn’t any running lights so, no light trails from it. I did get light trails from passing cars though.

I cloned out several wires that were running through the sky, but left the telephone pole because that’s beyond my Photoshop skills, and… it is what it is. I really dislike wires, traffic lights, signs, and garbage cans right in front of Historic, and beautiful buildings, and things!

One thing I am happy about is that this isn’t a view you see often in photos of the Giant Dipper.

This is my favorite Roller Coaster. It took me a couple of years to get the courage to ride it. I’ll never forget that first ride. I was 12 yrs old. That hill is STEEP and it scared the crap out of me, but it was fast, and thrilling! I still love riding it.

If you’re anywhere near Santa Cruz in the Summer I recommend giving this Coaster a ride. It’s fun, fun, fun!

For the History Buffs:
The Giant Dipper is a historic wooden roller coaster located in Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, an amusement park in Santa Cruz, California. It took 47 days to build at a cost of $50,000. It opened on May 17, 1924 and replaced the Thompson’s Scenic Railway. With a height of 70 feet (21 m) and a speed of 55 miles per hour (89 km/h), it is one of the most popular wooden roller coasters in the world. As of 2012, over 60 million people have ridden the Giant Dipper since its opening. The ride has received several awards such as being named a National Historic Landmark, a Golden Age Coaster award, and a Coaster Landmark award; it has been ranked annually in Mitch Hawker’s Best Wooden roller coaster poll.~Wiki-pedia

6 thoughts on “August Super Moon over the Giant Dipper, Santa Cruz, CA”

Great job with a tricky lighting situation. Excellent idea to take the moon with the telephoto and combine the two frames. I don’t mind the utility pole too much. Really like the composition, the color of the sky, the idea and the previsualization.

circadianreflections says:

August 13, 2014 at 8:45 am

Thank you very much Robert! I did use a lot of “artistic license” on this image. I knew I would be making a composite/blended image because I wanted the foreground elements in the Blue period which is my favorite time, and the Moon wouldn’t be over the tallest hill of the Giant Dipper until the sky was dark.

Switching to the telephoto lens: I wanted show the Moon’s “Super Size”. If I hadn’t switched to the telephoto lens moon wouldn’t have looked Super or how I saw it since I was using a wide angle lens for the foreground.

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