Bay Area, California

Sigma dp0 Quattro

We had some nice clouds formed overhead, so I headed to nearby Mt. Hamilton for sunset. This mountain is behind San Jose, the capital of the Silicon Valley in the San Francisco Bay Area. The sun was was just about to disappear behind the clouds, and gave a nice backlight on the dry gold-brown grass in the foreground.

I processed a balanced, a paintery, and a photographic HDR photo from three RAW exposures, blended them selectively, and carefully adjusted the color balance and curves. I welcome and appreciate constructive comments.

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- ƒ/7.1, 27 mm, 1/160, 1/640, 1/2500 sec, ISO 200, Sony A6000, SEL-P1650, HDR, 3 RAW exposures, _DSC0247_8_9_hdr3pai5pho1h.jpg

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography

We have roses in our backyard. I took this shot with an ultrafast f/0.85 vintage X-ray lens made by JML Optical. The depth of field is very shallow at about 5 mm. This lens has a fixed focus distance, e.g. I have to focus with my feet, which can be challenging with the very shallow depth of field. The focus peaking feature of the Sony camera helps. The lens is always fully open since it has no diaphragm.

I processed a balanced and a soft HDR photo from a RAW exposure, blended them selectively, and carefully adjusted the color balance and curves. I welcome and appreciate constructive comments.

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- ƒ/0.85, 64 mm, 1/1000 sec, ISO 100, Sony A7 II, JML 64mm f/0.85, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, _DSC2676_hdr1bal1sof1g.jpg

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © 2024 Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography

A bunch of photographer friends went for night shooting to Hakone Gardens, a Japanese garden in Saratoga, California. The park was closed, so it was just us photographers and two models. I got a special permit from the event organizer, thank you Tony for this unique opportunity! The garden has cherry trees and wisteria that are currently in full bloom. This tree is called しだれ桜 (shidare sakura), meaning weeping cherry tree, possibly because of the low hanging long twigs.

I processed a realistic, and a photographic HDR photo from a RAW exposure, blended them selectively, and carefully adjusted the color balance and curves. I welcome and appreciate constructive comments.

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- ƒ/5.6, 16 mm, 0.6 sec, ISO 200, Sony A6000, SEL-P1650, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, _DSC7624_hdr1rea1pho1g.jpg

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography

Thank you for visiting - ❤ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

This is an older photo, taken somewhere along highway 880 in Milpitas, California. The sky turned all red at sunset.

Do you recognize the title?

I processed a balanced HDR photo from a RAW exposure, and carefully adjusted the curves and color balance. I welcome and appreciate your critical feedback.

-- ƒ/5.6, 45 mm, 1/40 sec, ISO 200, Sony NEX-6, SEL-P1650, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, _DSC5227_hdr1bal1c.jpg

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography

San Jose, California

Nikon Zf / 28SE / TIffen 15 Deep Yellow filter

Love soaking in the evening light and beautiful fall foliage in the local neighborhood.

Google bicycles, colorful. Silicon Valley, San Francisco Bay Area

Thank you for visiting - ❤ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, get beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

On Saturday mornings I go for meditation at the beautiful Hakone Gardens in Saratoga, California. This is the roof of the Upper House where we mediate.

I processed a paintery HDR photo from a RAW exposure, then desaturated the image.

-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, NEX-6, _DSC7359_0_1_hdr3pai1h

Hiker's view from the start

photopainting

Taken during my evening hike at Rancho San Antonio Open Reserve tonight.

Photograph Details -

Nexus 6 - Awesome camera with excellent details in shadow areas. Tends to overexpose. However, if you meter for the highlights (in other words - touch the bright areas in the frame..for example around the sun here)..it does an excellent job.

Post Processing - I used Snapseed 2.0. Lifted Shadows, adjusted ambiance, saturation, selective saturation burn, contrast, and sharpness. All on my mobile device (Nexus 6).

I am really impressed with how tools for photography have become completely mobile. It is scary enough for me to start thinking that DSLR will become obsolete for 80% of my use cases and 100% of a casual photographers use case!

I am planning to do an instructional video for editing using Snapseed.

Seen from near the Mt. Um cube

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry chats with Fast Company Contributor E.B. "Liza" Boyd about Internet policy - during a swing through Silicon Valley - during the Virtuous Circle Conference on October 10, 2016, at the Rosewood Sandhill Hotel in Menlo Park, California. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

I still remember the first time I flew into SFO and drove south to Silicon Valley and chuckled at how ridiculous the Excite@Home logo looked next door to this stately sign of a real business.

padailypost.com/2018/08/14/a-bit-of-silicon-valley-histor...

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry chats with Fast Company Contributor E.B. "Liza" Boyd about Internet policy - during a swing through Silicon Valley - during the Virtuous Circle Conference on October 10, 2016, at the Rosewood Sandhill Hotel in Menlo Park, California. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

photopainting

palo alto, calif.

Apple - Cupertino

www.air-accord.com/

It was pretty windy so unfortunately I got a bit of tripod shake so the 3 exposures didn't align perfectly.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry chats with Fast Company Contributor E.B. "Liza" Boyd about Internet policy - during a swing through Silicon Valley - during the Virtuous Circle Conference on October 10, 2016, at the Rosewood Sandhill Hotel in Menlo Park, California. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry chats with Fast Company Contributor E.B. "Liza" Boyd about Internet policy - during a swing through Silicon Valley - during the Virtuous Circle Conference on October 10, 2016, at the Rosewood Sandhill Hotel in Menlo Park, California. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

This photo was a pain in the ass to color correct, by the way. I'm still not really happy with it.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry chats with Fast Company Contributor E.B. "Liza" Boyd about Internet policy - during a swing through Silicon Valley - during the Virtuous Circle Conference on October 10, 2016, at the Rosewood Sandhill Hotel in Menlo Park, California. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

This is Doug Engelbart's old office in SRI International.

View from Page Mill Road above Palo Alto along my temporary commute route (while my usual route is being cleared of a huge rockslide from the recent rains.) The cluster of tall buildings at the right is downtown San Jose; the white dots at the horizon are Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton in the Diablo Range.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry greets members of Silicon Valley's clean energy community before a roundtable discussion on October 10, 2016, at the Four Seasons Silicon Valley Hotel in East Palo Alto, California. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

@ Googleplex, California

Yahoo!

just another up your trunk shot. View On Black

San Pedro Rock at Point San Pedro Headlands aerial in Pacifica, California formed where the Pilarcitos fault meets the Pacific Ocean - Copyright 2018 David Oppenheimer - Performance Impressions aerial photography archives - www.performanceimpressions.com

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry sits with members of Silicon Valley's clean energy community and his State Department staff at the outset of a roundtable discussion on October 10, 2016, at the Four Seasons Silicon Valley Hotel in East Palo Alto, California. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

I think tape drives are on their way back.