twilight

Wide Panorama of Pass-A-Grille Beach St. Petersburg Florida Fine Art Photography

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Click for 2000px version - 5 shot panorama of Pass-A-Grille Beach St. Petersburg Florida available for commercial license & fine art printOn the same stormy evening I photographed the kiteboarder out on Pass-A-Grille Beach I made this 5-shot panorama of the beach as empty as you will ever see it.  This shot was made handheld which is surprisingly not hard to keep aligned if you have a grid view inside your DSLR's viewfinder.  I put the lower third of the gridline in the viewfinder straight on the horizon allowing me to make the shot without the tripod.  What I had to watch for was leaving enough overlap (about 1/3 of a frame) so that Photoshop could work its stitching magic with its Photomerge automation.

Pass-A-Grille Beach is one of my favorite spots in all of Tampa Bay as it represents the very tip of the main Gulf Blvd beaches in Pinellas County.  It definitely has a "land's end" feel to it, especially at a time like this after a storm at twilight.

St. Petersburg Downtown Waterfront Skyline at Twilight

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St. Petersburg Florida waterfront at Twilight, this image available for fine art print & commercial license - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 10 sec tripod mounted with cable releaseThe waterfront of St. Petersburg, Florida is home to the third largest continuous waterfront park in North America (behind Vancouver and Chicago).  This is why at the very edge where the city meets Tampa Bay as viewed from the water the first thing you will see are trees.  This long park system is my favorite part of the entire city.  

I made this photograph from a secret-ish spot on The Pier allowing for a low near water-level viewpoint of the St. Petersburg skyline.  The ten second exposure allowed for some motion blur on the surface of the water and for pulling out the last remaining light in the twilight sky. 

Treasure Island Sunset Beach St. Petersburg Florida - why we live here

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Sunset Beach, Treasure Island, St. Petersburg, Florida - my favorite beach - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 2 sec tripod mounted with cable releaseIt seems to me Florida is a very specific place to live.  It is warm and its extremely long coastline is all beach.  These two things are why we live here.  Being a specific place to live, it lacks certain things, most notably mountains and four seasons.  Instead of mountain views there are amazing sunset and twilight sky views that fluctuate in color throughout the year.  Intesad of four seasons there are essentially two, the humidity season (April through September) and the dry air season (October through March).

I value being able to go swimming at the beach in February.  I like wearing shorts 362 out of 365 days per year.  I pay a price in sweat for those things though.  Therefore, in the remaining days of the dry air season, I savor each one, like today.  

Why do you live in Florida?

Panorama Tampa at Twilight Views from a Parking Garage

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Downtown Tampa Panorama at Twilight Bird's Eye View - click for 1200px image - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 5 sec 3-frame panorama tripod mounted with cable release

It is hard to pry me out of St. Petersburg.  Thankfully, a new client hired me to make some images of Tampa for their new website giving me the opportunity to cross the Howard Frankland Bridge with my DSLR and tripod in tow.  Of all the photographs I took that afternoon and evening, in this post a selection of images taken all from the same spot atop a parking garage are featured.  I had never been to the top of this parking garage before.  I just stumbled upon it as I was searching for bird's eye vantage points of downtown Tampa.  It was a little hard to get into, as I had to risk walking up the narrow entrance ramp before I found an actual parking level that had elevators to the top.  I later found out the actual entrance is inside a building on the other side.  After walking the last three flights to the roof (the elevator I was in did not go to the top) carrying all my gear, I was glad I as always was properly attired with the best footwear possible.

University of Tampa from above at dusk with light trails - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/16 ISO 200 5 sec tripod mounted with cable releaseIt was a very unique feeling being alone on the top of that garage.  There were only two cars left parked on the far side from me.  It was after 5:30pm and everyone had already gone home for the day.  I felt like I was in a secret spot with a view of all downtown Tampa.  All this added up to a feeling of peace.  My Nikon D300 was on my Induro CT214 tripod, so I had no weight on my body from gear.  I could move about freely looking for shots.  At first there was too much light to make the light trail shots I wanted to, so I passed the time by observing and wondering.

Blue Skyscraper to Blue Infinity with Moon - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1.6 sec tripod mounted with cable release - lens correction in Photoshop CS5 to straighten buildingBehind where I knew I wanted to do most of my shooting stood a tall blue skyscraper trying to reach to the Moon.  I thought it interesting how the color of the building nearly blended in perfectly with the twilight sky.  I debated for awhile on which to include in this post, the lens corrected image you see above (building is straight) or the non-corrected one with the building bending inward appearing to reach for the heavens.  

Sykes Building Downtown Tampa Twilight - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/16 ISO 200 10 sec tripod mounted with cable releaseI really enjoyed being alone atop that parking garage waiting for the evening to transition from dusk to twilight.

Vivid Florida Waterfront Neighborhood Twilight Palm Trees

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The best part of living in Florida, its sunset & twilight views - Nikon D300 with Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D @ f/8 ISO 200 10 sec on Induro CT214 tripod with Nikon MC-30 cable releaseIf you are a photographer living in Florida, very likely you will, at least at first, be most drawn to photographing the magnificent twilight and sunset skies Nature provides on a daily basis.  The time of the transition from day to night is my favorite part of the 24-hour day cycle.  I have a fantastic view of this from my back patio, but to be honest, I do not take advantage of it enough.  In summer with the later sunset time, it is easier as I often take Kiki for our evening walk between 8pm and 8:30pm.  Now back in regular time, with sunsets coming before 6pm, our walks are in all darkness, but those provide stargazing opportunities.

Vivid twilight photographs are not difficult to make.  All you need are:

  • a western view (or eastern if clouds available to reflect twilight)
  • a sturdy tripod
  • the correct shutter speed to pull the most color from the sky

The DSLR and the lens used do not matter that much.  The sturdy tripod eliminates problems of camera shake resulting in blur.  The correct shutter speed eliminates exposure problems, but since you are using a very long exposure, there is a wide range of choices depending on one's desired results of a brighter or darker twilight image.  So unlike many other types of photography, the margin for error in twilight shooting is far greater than say a sunset portrait.

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    • Sunset Beach Florida Panorama Landscape at Twilight

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    Sunset Beach Treasure Island Florida at Twilight - click to view at 1800px - 4-shot panorama image - available for commercial license and fine art print

    I have heard that Montana is called Big Sky Country.  Picturing that in my mind has fascinated me for years.  I have lived in claustrophobic places, where glimpes of the sky are all that is allowed.  Fortunately, for a majority of my life I have been able to gaze westward across a 180 degree expanse of the Gulf of Mexico.  The horizon is not infinity, it is Texas.  Still, since 1992 when I first discovered Sunset Beach, it has become a sacred place to me.  

    A whole novel could be written about my time on that half mile strip of sand over the past 19 years, though I would not want to share those stories, at least not yet.  For now I will only share the view that has given me solace and freedom of mind.  

    Mahaffey Theater to Marina St. Petersburg Waterfront Panorama Florida

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    Click to see 2500px wide version - Mahaffey Theater on the left St. Petersburg downtown center - image available for fine art print & commercial license, call today! 813-240-5357

    • This panorama photograph available for fine art print & commercial license, inquire today! 

    I am spending more time at the new Dali Museum and discovering the very different views of the downtown St. Petersburg waterfront it offers.  The above panorama photograph was made from a parking lot across from the museum at twilight.  Here I detailed my process for creating such panoramas. 

    From this vantage point The Pier does not dominate the waterfront, and can only barely be seen behind the sailboat masts toward the right of the photo.  Instead, the Mahaffey Theater is the most prominent structure.  There is also a gradual light falloff from left to right instead of the harsher light falloffs when photographing directly into the sun.  I look forward to returning to this location to find more panorama photograph opportunities.