Providence/RI Photo of the day - by Garris

[Cotuit]

I was on top of the little garage at Weybossett and Empire.  Is that the one you mean, Cotuit?

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Yup, that used to be on my walk to work, I love that view.

[Recchia]

I forgot I took this picture, I had meant to post if after Garris had posted some from around the state...

Dutch Island Lighthouse, off the coast of Jamestown (it's being rehabbed using Transportation Enhancement Funds from RIDOT):

[Cotuit]

[Gusterfell]

Nice pic, Cotuit.

[Cotuit]

Nice pic, Cotuit. 

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Thanks, here's another:

[Garris]

Hey everyone,

I just spent a fantastic week of vacation in the Pacific NW in Portland, the Columbia River Valley, the Oregon coast, and Seattle. During a long layover, I even rode a round trip on the new Minneapolis LRT during a long layover there on the way back. Portland and Seattle are really wonderful cities, and I have tons of impressions to share later, as well as a generous amount of photos as well.

I'll likely post the photos later in the "photos" section of UP over the next few weeks. Of course, not much time for photos of Providence in the interim, but it looks like some nice shots (I love the 15 West illumination!) have been posted during what appeared to be an otherwise slow Prov news week.

Here's a preview with one of my favorite shots from my trip. Is Seattle America's most photogenic skyline? Well, in my opinion, that's Chicago, followed closely by New York. But Seattle may be #3...

More later!

- Garris

[Cotuit]

Here's a preview with one of my favorite shots from my trip.  Is Seattle America's most photogenic skyline?  Well, in my opinion, that's Chicago, followed closely by New York.  But Seattle may be #3... 

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I think Pittsburgh beats Seattle, we may have to take a collection to send you to Pittsburgh to take some photos.

[Garris]

I think Pittsburgh beats Seattle, we may have to take a collection to send you to Pittsburgh to take some photos.

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I've been to Pittsburgh as well. Actually, from certain vantage points, the two skylines look very similar. However, and it's tough to tell from the wide-angle photo I had above, the Seattle skyline is just much bigger, with more buildings and a more linear orientation along the waterfront (somewhat like Chicago). I'll post some more Seattle photos in the photo section later this week or next, and you'll see what I mean...

For those going to Pittsburgh, I've read that some of the best skyline shots are actually taken from their new baseball stadium...

However, I'll be happy to take a collection to send me to Pittsburgh since I never took photos when I was there .

- Garris

Edited September 11, 2005 by Garris

[Garris]

North Main at dusk a couple of days ago...

- Garris

[Gusterfell]

Enjoy!

This is an oldie:

And one from Newport

[Cotuit]

Good stuff, obviously not taken today.

[Garris]

Is it ever possible to get sick of looking at the Providence skyline?

NEVER!!!

Here's a view from the East Providence Bike Path this evening... Westin 2 and 110 are going to look fabulous from this perspective, as they'll fill in holes. I think that if I can get a shot from the West out a window from the VA Hospital, I will have a photo of the skyline from near every vantage point...

I was testing out my camera to try to see why I've been having so much lens flare and ghosting in my night shots recently. I "lost" a lot of my Seattle and Portland night photography from my recent trip due to this phenomenon. I'm open to any ideas. Of course, this evening, for some reason, I wasn't able to cause either phenomenon... Here are my ideas for the causes...

1 - The UV filter on my 22-55 mm lens

2 - The 22-55 mm lens itself (too many optical levels, or the lens is just bad, being the cheap lens that came with the camera kit)...

3 - My F8 setting for my night shots is too open... Maybe something on the order of F15-17 is needed?

I was able to induce a bit of ghosting, and taking off the UV filter seemed to help, but not for the lens flare.

Help! If anyone knowledgable has any ideas, I'd be willing to post one of the really bad shots for ideas...

- Garris

Edited September 23, 2005 by Garris

[Garris]

Ah, I have to find someplace else to photograph in Providence besides Prospect Park. It's just too easy... Like shooting fish in a barrel. What a marvelous view!

Here's a panorama tonight after the rain ended... I thought about posting the longer image, but it would completely mess up the formatting of the message thread... Maybe I'll post a direct link to the larger panorama later...

I have one or two more good shots I'll post later...

- Garris

Edited September 30, 2005 by Garris

[Garris]

The capitol Thursday night after the rainstorm, from Prospect Park...

- Garris

[Frankie811]

Wow, what a GREAT picture!!!

[Baines]

Is it ever possible to get sick of looking at the Providence skyline?

NEVER!!!

Here's a view from the East Providence Bike Path this evening... Westin 2 and 110 are going to look fabulous from this perspective, as they'll fill in holes. I think that if I can get a shot from the West out a window from the VA Hospital, I will have a photo of the skyline from near every vantage point...

I was testing out my camera to try to see why I've been having so much lens flare and ghosting in my night shots recently. I "lost" a lot of my Seattle and Portland night photography from my recent trip due to this phenomenon. I'm open to any ideas. Of course, this evening, for some reason, I wasn't able to cause either phenomenon... Here are my ideas for the causes...

1 - The UV filter on my 22-55 mm lens

2 - The 22-55 mm lens itself (too many optical levels, or the lens is just bad, being the cheap lens that came with the camera kit)...

3 - My F8 setting for my night shots is too open... Maybe something on the order of F15-17 is needed?

I was able to induce a bit of ghosting, and taking off the UV filter seemed to help, but not for the lens flare.

Help! If anyone knowledgable has any ideas, I'd be willing to post one of the really bad shots for ideas...

- Garris

Absolutely fantastic shot...I never saw that vantage point. You are so right- a 360' and 430' will fill it out wonderfully!

[Cotuit]

My kingdom for a tripod. Monday night at Peerless:

[NCB]

The capitol Thursday night after the rainstorm, from Prospect Park...

- Garris

Great Picture!

[Garris]

Great Picture!

Thank you!

Here are two panoramas of a place we don't hear about that often - the small Bay town of Pawtuxet Village in Warwick. I'll have a few more normal sized photos later...

- Garris

[Garris]

My kingdom for a tripod. Monday night at Peerless:

Great minds think alike with photo ideas, except this is Washington Street (Westminster has to get rid of those Christmas lights, BTW)...

More shots from Washington Street and downtown in general later in the week...

- Garris

[Recchia]

Yeah Pawtuxet! Do I even have to say "great shots" again Garris? I think it goes without saying now...

[rbensen1]

Beautiful work Garris. You've been getting some great light and skies to work with, especially on the Capitol Building shot.

Your ghosting and spotting, I'll take a stab at. First I'd say try using a lens hood for the spotting, theres no way to get rid of ghosting-movement when the lens is open for a period-maybe try to use that to your advantage. If you bring down the ISO a bit you also will reduce the spotting-at least thats my experience. I hadnt thought of stopping down the aperature but that might also work. Obviously you're using a tripod so a longer exposure wont be an issue. I've done some night work and have found that the angle you take in reference to the major light source also affects the amount of spotting you'll get. Good Luck with solving this one, although from your results you dont need too much. Send me a PM some time and let me know how it goes.

[Garris]

Your ghosting and spotting, I'll take a stab at. First I'd say try using a lens hood for the spotting, theres no way to get rid of ghosting-movement when the lens is open for a period-maybe try to use that to your advantage. If you bring down the ISO a bit you also will reduce the spotting-at least thats my experience. I hadnt thought of stopping down the aperature but that might also work. Obviously you're using a tripod so a longer exposure wont be an issue. I've done some night work and have found that the angle you take in reference to the major light source also affects the amount of spotting you'll get. Good Luck with solving this one, although from your results you dont need too much. Send me a PM some time and let me know how it goes.

Thank you for the great suggestions!! I've tried some of them so far, and here's what I've determined to date...

- I'm already using ISO 100, so that isn't an easy to fix component ...

- Things improved dramatically after I took my UV filter off my roughly 20-55mm lens... (the filter must be cheaply coated...)

- Longer exposures with a smaller aperture seem to help...

- The directionality of nearby light seems to be key as well, but this often isn't modifyable...

I think a big part of the problem is just that one of my lenses (the stock 20-55mm that came with the Digital Rebel) isn't nearly as high quality as my other lenses. I think it probably isn't as well coated and, given its long focal lengths, I'm probably getting reflections off its many zooming mirrors. The night I made the panorama I posted above, I did some tests with various lenses, and I had far more artifact with the 20-55 mm than the other lenses on nearly identical shots with nearly identical exposures.

It's too bad I didn't realize this before my Pacific NW trip. I lost most of my night shots of Portland due to artifacts (in one photo, there is so much ghosting it looks like Portland is being attacked by UFO's!). If you're interested, I'll post one of those terrible images .

When I save up some money, I'll probably buy a new lens to replace the stock 20-55mm.

Rbensen1, if you photograph as well, you should post some of your work here!!

- Garris

[Gusterfell]

Great pics as usual, guys! I especially like that shot of the state house, Garris.

Took these on different occasions over the last week or so.

[ZachariahDaMan]

Great pictures Gusterfell! I like the second one the most.