Anatomy of an amerture's "photo shoot"

[handicap18]

Not really an atanomy, but more of a blog or diary or journal entry into my most recent "photo shoot". This weekend DW is away and since I work on Fri and Sat's the kids are with my parents. So when work ended on Sat I had some free alone time and thought I'd use it for some photo idea's I've had for a while, but haven't had the time.

First idea: Came across a great area in Quincy, Ma that has an unbelievable view of Boston and the surrounding area. Its a new golf area called Granite Links. Sits high on a hill with great views. Each of the last 2 or 3 Saturdays the light in the late afternoon has been great. Of course I didn't have my camera with me. So yesturday rolls along, I grab my camera bag and leave for work and of course,,, its raining out! Rained most of the morning, then started to clear as the day went on, but it was still overcast. Got done with work a bit early and drove over to Granit Links and the light was just awful. Way to cloudy. I didn't even bother taking the camera out of the bag. I sat in the parking lot listening to the radio for about 1/2 an hour or so, then decided it was getting to dark and the clouds we're moving. I'll try another day. Since it had stopped raining I thought I'd check out the area for idea number two:

Charlestown Navy Yard, Charlestown, MA. Home of "Old Ironsides" The USS Constitution. Its the oldest commissioned war ship in the world. Was used back in the 1700's and 1800's. Its been refirbished many times, but pretty much remains the same as when it was built. It is taken out of its berth a few times a year for special occassions, but it powered by tug boats.

When I drive to work in the morning I can see the top of the masts of this vessel from the highway and notice it has some nice lights and have always wanted to get a picture of it lit up.

I find a spot to park and walk to the Naval Yard. I left the tripod in the car as this is official military grounds and I really didn't want to call a lot of attention to myself.

It was still a bit early, 330pm or so for the kind of picture I'm looking for, so I walk around. There was a Canadian Navy ship there and a retired Destroyer from WWII. I thought about going onboard the Constitution as it was still opened, but I just roamed around instead. The area has changed a lot since 9/11. You can't walk very close to the ship at all unless you go through a security checkpoint and to walk to see the other side of the ship takes you around 3 or 4 buildings. There must be a 50 yard buffer around the ship.

Anyway, I find my way around the buildings to view the side of the ship not facing port. Looks like its low tide because the ship is kind of low on the pier. But I finally take the camera out and play around with some settings:

ISO 800, f/4, 1/40th 29mm handheld

Lighting isn't great, but I make the effort. Take a few more, then try out the 70-300VR to get a closeup or 2:

ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/10th 300mm handheld VR on

and
ISO 800, f/4.8, 1/15th, 97mm handheld VR on

Figured at this point I'll kill some time, let it get a bit darker and walked around the pier a little more and got some nice shots including:

ISO 1600, f/4.5, 1/40th, 55mm handheld

ISO 1600, f/3.8, 1/40th, 24mm handheld

ISO 1600, f/3.5, 1/40th 18mm handheld

I walked back to the Constitution and the lighting was a bit darker more of what I was looking for, but the mast lights haven't been turned on yet.

ISO 1600, f/3.5, 1/40th 18mm handheld

I'm shooting in manual mode because there is a big difference in light between the black color of the ship and the very light color of the sky and water. The meter in my viewfinder is telling me that overall the setting I have are not correct, but they are correct for the ship. I'm not as worried about the exposure for the sky. So I ignore the bars on the meter.

I take a few more pictures with slightly different shutter speeds, but they're a bit to dark. As I'm playing with setting I hear a bunch of military shouting, a bugle playing, then more shouting and all of a sudden one of the ships canon's goes off. Wow was it loud, especially as it echoed off the surrounding buildings. Here is a picture a few seconds after, you can see a bit of the smoke. I wish I knew about it, that would have made for an excellent picture:

ISO 1600, f/3.8, 1/30th 22mm handheld:

After that they took the flag down to officially close the ship for the day. This was just after 4:30 (made note to self to remember this time to visit another day to get better shot of canon going off).

So the flag comes down and the mast lights go ON! Yay, just what I've been waiting for:

ISO 1600, f/3.8, 1/25th 27mm handheld bracing on a fence

After this shot I notice the reflection in the water off the side of the ship. So I fire off a few more. Since its getting dark I need to start to lean against a light pole for more stability. Shutter speeds are getting slower now.

ISO 1600, f/3.5, 1/20th 18mm handheld leaning against a pole

I tried a few along the way using ISO 800, but the shutter speed was to slow so I stuck with 1600 since I didn't have the tripod. So I took a few more before moving on:

ISO 1600, f/3.5, 1/13th 18mm handheld with polepod

I walked back around the buildings to the other side of the ship. I was going to just head back to the car, but forgot about the city buildings in the background. I took 1 handheld, then took out the flimsly table top tripod and rested it on one of the large pilings. Took a while to straighten the camera out without tipping it over (I think I'm going to get a gorilla pod to keep in my bag now). But I got the shot I was looking for.

ISO 1600 f/3.5, 1/10th 18mm handheld resting against a fence:

And finally, though its a bit crooked, but the whole ship is in the frame (I'll fix it later):
ISO 1600 f/5.6, 1.6 sec 18mm mini tripod

It ended up being a better shoot than I though it would. I got a few good shots and more so got some great idea's for going back again. I'll make another stop over the summer when the sun rises earlier and I have time before work and before traffic gets to busy. Looking at the views from the side not facing port the sun will rise behind it. Right now the stern faces southeast and the bow faces northwest. I'll also try sometime going back again the same time of day when the weather is better and hope to get the sunset behind the ship and the city. I also want to go back and do the firing of the canon again.

I thought about doing this anatomy/blog/journal after I got home. If I thought about it before hand I probably would have taken some more pictures of the area to show the long walk around as well as my polepod and fencepod.

Hope you enjoyed it and maybe got a few ideas or any other information out of it.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

As I'm playing with setting I hear a bunch of military shouting, a bugle playing, then more shouting and all of a sudden one of the ships canon's goes off.

Maybe they were shooting at you, LOL!

Great pictures, really enjoyed them. It's on my To Do list to get the kids up there to look around, tour the ship. I remember when I was in school going to see the film "The Whites of Their Eyes" (about the American Revolution I believe). Last time I checked it was still playing. :

 

[tinksdad]

Those are great!! I've never spent much time in Boston. Maybe one of these days.........

 

[jann1033]

Maybe they were shooting at you, LOL!

Great pictures, really enjoyed them. It's on my To Do list to get the kids up there to look around, tour the ship. I remember when I was in school going to see the film "The Whites of Their Eyes" (about the American Revolution I believe). Last time I checked it was still playing. :

same thing i thought...wondering if you heard a whistling sound whoose past your ear

nice photos/interesting reading and it calls to mind a question ( of course) i have about that lens...other than at night /dark ie fireworks have you ever needed a tripod for the 300mm end?

 

[handicap18]

nice photos/interesting reading and it calls to mind a question ( of course) i have about that lens...other than at night /dark ie fireworks have you ever needed a tripod for the 300mm end?

With my previous 70-300mm lens I did need a tripod a lot because of camera shake. Even though its not a huge lens, I still got a lot of camera shake. With this new 70-300mm the VR (Nikon's version of IS) takes the camera shake away. I really like using it. The VR works perfectly. Yesturday I only used it a few times. I mostly used the 18-70mm lens.

 

[Shifletjl]

I enjoyed reading your "blog" and learning your thought process as you composed your shots. Nice Pictures! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Groucho]

It's funny how different that can be to the usual Disney photography, which is mostly "I gotta quick take that picture" and "geez just have a second to get that picture"... a very different situation to a nice relaxed photoshoot like yours.

Interesting how the sky becomes bluer and possibly even brighter as it gets darker. I've been seeing the same issue with my trip pics - lots of gray skies. Have you tried brightening up the original RAWs (I assume you shot that way)? I've been really impressed at how much difference that can make, and can make a drab day look much better. Our cameras have the same sensor so you should be able to have basically the same results. I'm thinking specifically of the first shot and the skyline shot, those could probably gain a bit of pop with a little tweaking - and maybe punch up the saturation a tad, perhaps pull back on the contrast...

Ain't it great to have a usable 1600ISO, too?

 

[spoon2003]

Kyle,
Once again you've made an ordinary subject (well, ordinary for me as I've pass/seen Charlestown/USS Constitution numerous times)extraordinary. Excellent shots.

Sue