Sunrise – Page 3 – Circadianreflections Blog

P52 34/52 Dawn Santa Clara County

August 24, 2014August 24, 2014Posted in California, hikes, Landscapes, Photography, Project 52-2014Tagged Dawn, landscape, Lonely Tree, Photography, Project 52, Sunrise4 Comments

Mornings are arriving a little later, and chillier these days and with that I’m finding it a little harder to get out of the house for a hike or walk. Once I get out I am usually very happy that I did.
This morning was especially nice as we had a lot of clouds which meant there might be some color, and I got lucky and had “God Rays” too, and there was a bonus; the sign marking the trail’s boundary is gone!

YEAH! I have spent years framing around it, cloning it out, or cropping it out. It was lovely shooting and not have to deal with it, or deal with it later in post development. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they don’t replace it, and if they do they put it somewhere that doesn’t hinder the view.

P52 25/52 Summer Solstice Sunrise

June 21, 2014June 21, 2014Posted in California, Landscapes, Photography, TravelTagged Golden Gate Bridge, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Landscape Photography, Marin Headlands, San Jose California Nature Photographer, Summer Solstice, Sunrise, Travel and TourismLeave a comment

My friend Anne and I shot from up here a couple of years ago hoping for a big, fluffy layer of fog, but we didn’t have any fog that time, so we’ve been planning since to return to try again. Finally we both were free, and the Marine layer or fog is returning to the Bay Area. Summer’s can be foggy and cold.Mark Twain wasn’t kidding when he said, “The coldest Winter I ever spent was the Summer I spent in San Francisco.” Or something like that.

So, I got up at 3AM and left the house at 4:45AM and drove an hour north to meet Anne in Marin Headlands.

While we were making images during the Blue Period there was a man who sang a wonderful Summer Solstice Sun Greeting song (The song sounded Native American. ) accompanied by a flutist. They were above and behind me so I couldn’t see him, but his voice carried over the ridge strong and passionate; it was lovely and gave me Goosebumps!

Driving down the mountain Anne and I pulled over in one of the turnouts to check out the color and just then the light of the rising sun hit the North Tower, and the grasses on the ridge. I had to pull out my camera. This is the image I made from that stop.

We didn’t get the shot we’ve envisioned because the fog wasn’t quite thick enough, but it was a lovely morning spent with Anne, some fog, a little color, and a Welcome song to greet and ring in the new season. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Happy Summer Solstice!

Daybreak St Thomas Is.

March 27, 2014March 27, 2014Posted in Photography, TravelTagged cruise, San Jose Nature Photographer, St Thomas Island, Sunrise, Travel and Tourism1 Comment

I took this image in September 2012 while on a Cruise.

I woke up early to catch the sunrise then I watched us pull into the harbor, and finally dock in port. The Captain and Crew did what I thought was an amazing job of docking the Freedom of the Seas; an enormous ship! We pulled in backwards or in reverse and basically paralleled parked that baby behind a Disney Cruise ship and the end of the pier, and floating next to dock were lots of sailboats anchored near the docking lane like these in the image. It really was the most memorable docking in my life to date. The sunrise was quite beautiful too.

Landscape in Lodi

November 4, 2012November 4, 2012Posted in California, Landscapes, Nikon, PhotographyTagged 24mm f2.8 Prime lens, California, Dawn, Landscape Photography, Lodi, Nikon, Nikon D700, Sandhill Crane, SunriseLeave a comment

Landscape in Lodi, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

Via Flickr:
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

Dawn from the outer edge of a freshly mowed corn field waiting for the Sandhill Crane Fly-out.
It was a very peaceful, easy morning…until the Geese woke up.
Good grief they’re a noisy bunch!

Nikon D700| Nikkor 24mm f2.8 AF-D| f16| 0.4 sec| ISO 200| Manual Priority| Tripod

California, Nikon D700, Nikkor 24mm f2.8 AF-D

Test Driving Adobe’s ACR 7.0

May 25, 2012May 25, 2012Posted in Photography, UncategorizedTagged Adobe Camera RAW, Eastern Sierras, Nikon D700, Photography, Photoshop, Silver Lake, SunriseLeave a comment

I recently received the new version of Photoshop CS6. I downloaded it and had some time to play with ACR 7.0 today.

ACR is the acronym for Adobe Camera RAW. The latest version has had a total revamp. They’ve retooled all the sliders and the algorithm giving us more control to recover highlights, shadows the blacks, and whites.

They’ve replaced the Recovery slider with several new sliders.they’ve given us a Whites, Blacks, Highlights, and Shadows sliders.

I’ve got quite a few files in my archives that I’ve been saving for the time my editing software would be able to recover the data and save the photo. Let’s look at what I’ve been able to recover today.

I took this photo in January 2012 while on a New Year’s Trip in the Eastern Sierras with friends. I haven’t done any retouching to it at all in this shot. I only added my tag, and resized it for the web.

It’s completely blow out in the upper left sky where the sun was shining, and a lot of the mountain range is lost in the shadow. I thought I used my 2 stop Graduated Neutral Density filter on this shot, but by the looks of it I grabbed my 1 stop by accident.

Here’s what I was able to recover using CS6 new ACR 7.0.

It’s amazing the amount of color that I was able to recover, and there are even a few wispy clouds there that couldn’t be seen!

I made all the adjustments in ACR using the new highlights, shadows, whites, and black sliders. I also adjusted the contrast, and exposure then I opened it in Photoshop to remove some spots, add my tag, and resize it for the web.

ACR 7.0 made the upgrade worth it to me.

“I’m waiting for you Morning Star…herald of the dawn.” ~ Deborah M. Zajac

May 25, 2012Posted in California, Landscapes, Nature, Nikon, Photography, TravelTagged Convict Lake, D700, Eastern Sierras, Landscape Photography, Nature, Nikon, Photography, Sunrise, WinterLeave a comment

“Rise quickly for I am numb with Winter’s morning chill.
My fingers ache for your warm embrace.”~

That’s my plea every sunrise shoot, and to be honest most nights too! My fingers are the first to go numb, and I’ve not found a hand-warmer or pair of gloves to keep me warm enough to thwart the chill.

This is a shot from Convict Lake taken the third morning of 2012. Seeing sunrises like the one my friends and I saw on this morning make the early rise, drive time, and standing in the cold worth it!

San Jose Morning

March 20, 2012March 20, 2012Posted in California, Nature, Nikon, Photography, TravelTagged D300s, Nikon, Photography, Sunrise, TravelLeave a comment

I met some friends this morning at 5:30A.M. to try to shoot the Crescent Moon as it rose behind Mt. Hamilton, but the clouds covered the summit obscuring the moon. We left that location and moved a couple of miles southeast to try to catch the sunrise, but the clouds, still low and thick also blocked the sun. We were treated to some lovely reds, pinks, and golds though, so I turned my lens toward downtown and photographed the beautiful morning sky with the Old Bank of America Tower in view.

For the History buffs:
The Old Bank of America Building was built in 1925. It’s one of the oldest skyscrapers in Silicon Valley. One of the first to be designed as Earthquake proof. It is a designated San Jose Historical Landmark, and in the National Register of Historic Places-Historic District.
Today it is used for office space.
~ Wiki-pedia

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 80-200mm@155mm+ Tamorn 1.4TC| |f11| 1/5 sec | ISO 200| Manual Mode| Tripod|

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