Canon EOS 5D w/ EF 100mm f/2 USM @ f/2.2, 1/125 sec., ISO 1600

Getting to the Top of the Rock

The Top of the Rock Observation Deck is located atop 30 Rockefeller Plaza, the building which towers over the ice skating rink and Christmas Tree in Rockefeller Center during Christmas time. Take the D or F train to 47 – 50 Streets – Rockefeller Center. The entrance to the Observation Deck is on W 50^th Street between 5^th Ave. and 6^th Ave. Public transportation is recommended; if you choose to drive, you will almost certainly need to park in a garage which will be very expensive.

Canon EOS 5D w/ 135mm f/2 L USM @ f/5.6, 1/1000 sec., ISO 250

The Top of the Rock Observation Deck is open 8 AM – 12 midnight, 7 days per week. The last elevator goes up at 11 PM. Before arriving at the top you will watch a short video on Rockefeller Center. Once you do arrive at the observation deck, there is no time limit – you can stay as long as it’s open.

Tickets are available at the box office and online. If you are planning your visit ahead, I highly recommend you buy your tickets online so you can reserve your time slot and be assured of entry.

Photographing from the Observation Deck

There are three levels to the Top of the Rock. The lower two levels are surrounded by safety glass. Shooting from here, get your lens as close to the glass as possible and use a hand to block light from the sides in order to get rid of glare. The top level is completely open air and is your best bet for an unobstructed view of New York City.

This attraction is open throughout the day, but the best time to visit is surely sunset. During this short span of time the sky and the city below will change to all sorts of dramatic colors. And due to your 360 degree view, the city will be light in the west while darkening towards the east. If you have a wide enough lens, you can literally get a photo of the sky fading from light to dark across your frame.

Canon EOS 5D w/ 24mm f/1.4 L USM @ f/2.2, 1/80 sec., ISO 1600

Once the sun goes down, you have a different but equally inspiring view: the dark night sky against the infinite blanket of lights throughout New York City. With a DSLR, the city lights are so bright a tripod really is not even necessary to shoot once it’s dark — turn off your flash, turn up the ISO and keep your hands steady. The following photo was made at 1/50 sec. and ISO 1600.

Canon EOS 5D w/ EF 24mm f/1.4 L USM @ f/1.8, 1/50 sec., ISO 1600

Gear for the Top of the Rock

Tripods are not allowed on the Observation Deck. Security guards are on the look-out, and will ask you to put your tripod away if they see you setting one up. I do not know if this same rule applies to small travel-sized tripods such as gorillapods, which you might be able to place on the barrier and hold steady with your hands. Try asking a security guard if it’s OK.

Since you cannot use a tripod, a camera that is capable of good image quality at high ISO can do wonders for shooting from here during and after sunset. Fast lenses and Image Stabilization/Vibration Reduction also come in very handy. You will be challenged to get a reasonably fast shutter speed and hold your camera steady, but since the city lights are so bright this task is not as hard as it sounds.

Canon EOS 5D w/ EF 50mm f/1.4 USM @ f/5.6, 1/100 sec., ISO 800

Getting to Alcatraz

The only access to Alcatraz Island is through Alcatraz Cruises, whose ferry boats leave from Pier 33 in Fisherman’s Wharf. You can get to the pier on The Embarcadero’s F line street car.

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Most tours to Alcatraz begin in the morning and continue throughout the day, but there is also a night tour on Fridays which is said to be particularly impressive because the island is illuminated, and you have a beautiful view of the San Francisco skyline. You absolutely need to plan ahead and buy your tickets weeks in advance because tours sell out very quickly. I managed to get Friday Night Tour tickets two weeks in advance, and my guess is that I cut it close.

Exploring Alcatraz

There will be an introductory speech by a park ranger when you depart the boat onto Alcatraz Island, but aside from that tours are self-guided. You’ll walk up the hill, enter the prison, grab a headset and let the recording’s narrator guide you around the facility. You can pause the audio tour in order to spend more time exploring, or backtrack after it finishes. Since you are not led by a guide, you can stick around as long as there are ferry boats to get you back to the city.

Photographing Alcatraz

The photo opportunities start before you even arrive on the island. Get to the pier early so you can be one of the first people onto the ferry — head to the front of the boat on either the first or second level. If it is a clear day you will have views of the areas of the city surrounding the pier, and the island from afar. And if it’s a foggy day, you will be sailing out into the mist and the island will eerily emerge from the gray right in front of you.

Canon EOS 5D w/ EF 135mm f/2 L USM @ f/7.1, 1/320 sec., ISO 100

Since most tours are during the day, your tour won’t be terribly dark. There are tall windows on most walls and skylights in the high ceilings. Of course this is a prison and there are dank, dark areas in corners, cells, the cafeteria, etc… Fast lenses and IS are helpful. That said, the night tour is a completely different story. I have not been there at that time, so I leave it up to you to decide what gear is best for Alcatraz at night.

Canon EOS 5D w/ EF 24mm f/1.4 L USM @ f/3.5, 1/25 sec., ISO 500

I saw many DSLRs, but no tripods. There are a lot of people walking in every direction — I think a tripod would be more trouble than it is worth. As far as the rules go, I do not know if tripods are officially permitted. I could not find any mention of tripods on either the National Parks Service site nor on the Alcatraz Cruises site. Furthermore, the only mention of photography that I was able to find was about special permits for commercial shoots.

Aside from the prison itself, make sure to check out the San Francisco skyline from Alcatraz Island. When your audio tour brings you to the warden’s office, pause the recording and head outside into the courtyard for spectacular views.

Canon EOS 5D w/ EF 50mm f/1.4 USM @ f/10, 1/320 sec., ISO 100

Getting to Gantry Plaza State Park

The park is located on the East River along Center Blvd. between 49^th Ave. and 47^th Rd. in Long Island City. The Long Island Expressway is just a few blocks away; those driving westbound would get off at the Van Dam Street exit, and those driving eastbound would get off at the Pulaski Dr./Borden Ave. exit. I visited on a weeknight and found parking one block away from the park within minutes.

Nearby subway stops are:

• 7 train, Hunters Point Avenue Station
• G train, 21st Street Station

Certain Long Island Rail Road lines stop at Hunterspoint Ave.

View Larger Map

The View at Gantry Plaza State Park

This park provides a great view of the midtown Manhattan skyline. You can see the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and the United Nations.

Hours of operation are 8 am – 10 pm and if you arrive during these times you can go out on the walkways that extend into the river for unobsructed views of the skyline in front of you, as well as views up and down the river.

If you arrive after 10 pm the park’s walkways will be closed, but you can still shoot the skyline from the public sidewalk. This shot was taken late at night after the park had been closed and roped off:

Canon EOS 5D w/ EF 135mm f/2 L @ f/13, 1/8 sec., ISO 400

The walkways out onto the water are great for shooting the sunset. Since you are looking west towards Manhattan, the sun will set behind the buildings creating a silhouetted skyline. One of the nicest sunsets I have ever seen in New York was from this vantage point.

Canon EOS 5D w/ EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM @ 95mm, f/20, 20 sec., ISO 100

Gear

A tripod is very useful in Gantry Plaza State Park. Not only can you use it to get long exposures during and after sunset, but the extended shutter speeds are also useful for creating a smooth, whispy texture on the waters of the East River. This effect is my personal preference over the choppy water surface that shows up at fast shutter speeds.

If you do not have a tripod, there are many chairs, benches and other surfaces on which you can rest your camera in order to take long exposure shots. Just don’t drop your camera in the river.

You’ll find a use for all your lenses here. Aside from the standard mid-range focal lengths, you can use ultra-wide angles to to create super wide images encompassing the entire visible skyline, as well as telephoto focal lengths to isolate individual parts or even single buildings.

A Different View of the Skyline

Gantry Plaza State Park is a nice place to visit for a different perspective on the NYC skyline. It’s not as heavily visited as Brooklyn Bridge Park so there will be less people around, and you’ll get a point of view on the skyline that is not seen as often as the classic “Brooklyn Bridge shot”.

Getting to Citi Field

Driving Directions

Citi Field is located on Roosevelt Avenue is Flushing, NY. The Driving & Parking page on the Mets’ website has detailed instructions for driving and parking based on how close to game time you plan on arriving. Most directions include taking the Grand Central Parkway towards Flushing Meadows-Corona Park and following the signs for Citi Field.

Street parking is extremely limited — plan on paying about $20 to park in one of the official lots during the regular season.

Public Transportation

Take the 7 train to the Mets-Willets Point stop. Outdated information or signs might still read “Shea Stadium” — Citi Field is in the same location.

Photographing Citi Field

If you arrive early enough to walk around and visit the concessions, head to the “Taste of the City” area on the field level in left field for a panoramic view of the stadium. Here’s the view standing at the top row of the outfield seats behind the Box Frites stand:

Canon EOS 5D w/ Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6 lens @ 21mm, f/11, 1/125 and ISO 640

Here is the same point of view, but photographed with an ultra-wide angle 12mm lens. You could get a similar effect by shooting a series of photos from top to bottom and left to right, then stitching them together in Photoshop.

Canon EOS 5D w/ Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6 lens @ 17mm, f/7.1, 1/50 and ISO 640

If you are sitting in certain field or promenade sections underneath the overhang, you may end up with a big, dark mass across the upper third of your photographs. I crop out most of it and turn this into another opportunity for panoramas.

Canon EOS 5D w/ Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6 lens @ 12mm, f/7.1, 1/125 and ISO 640

One of the best times to shoot your photos is 10-15 minutes after sunset during a night game, when the ambient light and the stadium’s lighting will be balanced just right to give you an image with both the green grass on the field and a deep blue tone in the sky. Expose for the field and not the seating in front of you (which might be in shadow) so as to avoid blowing out the highlights.

Canon EOS 5D w/ Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6 lens @ 12mm, f/7.1, 1/60 and ISO 640

If you are interested in photographing the action, seats close to the field will obviously give you a good position. Otherwise, you’re going to need a very long lens. I have found that when sitting in the promenade or upper deck, a 300mm lens will fill an acceptable (but still small) portion of the frame with the players. If you don’t have any longer glass, 300mm might give you a good base image from which you can crop a tighter frame.

Canon EOS 5D w/ EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM lens @ 300mm, f/5.6, 1/200 and 640 ISO

This image was shot from the same location as the panorama shown above.

After a night game, the exterior of Citi Field looks very impressive lit up. Nearly every angle is interesting, but if you want to get a straight-on view of the building, there is a light pole and a line of bricks in the ground that line up perfectly with the middle of the facade. You can walk along this line until you are far enough back to fit the whole building in your frame.

Canon EOS 5D w/ Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6 lens @ 12mm, f/4.5, 1/125 and ISO 1600

Take note of the lights at the base of each column, half way up the building. Those lights are extremely bright. Be careful that the dark night sky doesn’t throw off your exposure, or you’ll end up losing a considerable amount of highlight detail.

Other Ideas

Here are a few other ideas that I have not covered in-depth:

• According to the seating chart it looks as though you can get a central view of the entire stadium from behind home plate by going to the area between sections 513 and 514 in the upper deck.
• The Jackie Robinson Rotunda, the main entrance at the front of the stadium, is very ornate but also very crowded. Try not to hold up traffic, and use your camera’s neck strap so you don’t drop anything over the railings.
• The large flower bed in front of the stadium makes a good foreground for landscape-style shots of the exterior in daylight.

Gear

As you can tell from the samples in this article, I think ultra-wide angle shots make for a very interesting photograph at Citi Field. Most of these photos were taken with a Sigma 12-24mm lens on a full-frame Canon EOS 5D. That’s the widest rectilinear lens you can get on a 35mm digital camera.

Huh?

Basically, that means you won’t be able to get photos this wide without (a) similar equipment, or (b) stitching together panoramas. Don’t be deterred though… most DSLR kit lenses have a wide angle capable of getting shots that still encompass a great deal of the stadium. Just shoot at the 17-18mm end of your zoom.

Unfortunately, most compact point & shoot cameras do not have a very wide angle field of view. The majority of them have about a 35mm equivalent field of view on the wide end, which is of course not anywhere near these 12mm shots. I prefer compact cameras that advertise a “wide angle” lens, which usually works out to be around a 28mm equivalent field of view.

With regards to shooting the players, you will want the most telephoto lens you have available. On a compact camera, this obviously just means zooming in as close as you can get. For DSLR owners, this means the long glass. Both Canon and Nikon make consumer-grade telephoto zoom lenses around the 70-300mm range and I have never been denied entry to either Shea or Citi for carrying one of these. If you’ve got monstrous, heavy professional gear, or even just a moderately-sized 70-200 lens, you may want to do some research ahead of time to figure out whether that will be permitted inside the stadium. You don’t want to be leaving that sort of expensive equipment unattended in your car.

If you don’t have very telephoto glass or your lenses are denied entry by security, you can fall back on Photoshop if your camera has enough megapixels. Modern entry level cameras in the 12-15+ megapixel department often have plenty of leeway for cropping out portions of the frame and retaining an acceptable amount of detail.

Down along the water between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges by Plymouth Street, you’ll find a small park where an untold number of photos of New York City have been shot. The western portion of the park, Empire-Fulton Ferry, is locked at night however the smaller part to the east, almost directly underneath the Manhattan Bridge, is more accessible.

Getting There

Walk Across the Bridge

The most scenic way to get here is to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. Taking the 4, 5 or 6 train to Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall will put you just a few steps from the pedestrian walkway. The bridge is just over one mile long — walking slowly and shooting photos along the way, I usually make it from one side to the other in 45 minutes. If this is your first time, consider giving yourself an hour or so.

There are two lanes on the pedestrian walkway. One is for bicycles and the other is for pedestrians. Beware the bike lane. You may be sight-seeing, but most people on bikes are commuting and have little patience for meandering pedestrians. If you step into the bike lane you will likely be shouted out of the way. Some cyclists carry whistles. A few even carry air horns. Keep to your side of the bridge.

Once you reach the Brooklyn side, take the first exit off the walkway, take Front Street to Old Fulton Street, hang a right and walk back towards the water. At the end of Old Fulton Street is the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory with the Brooklyn Bridge on your right and the skyline ahead of you. This is a decent view so spend some time here if you like, however I prefer the view from the aforementioned park — walk along Water Street towards the Manhattan Bridge, make a left on Main Street and look for the entrance (Google Maps walking directions). After you’re finished in D.U.M.B.O. you can grab a yellow cab back home.

Bonus photo opportunity: keep an eye on the Empire State Building as you get closer to the Brooklyn side. At one point, you’ll be able to get an angle that places the Empire State Building directly in the arch of the Manhattan Bridge.

Subway

Take the F train to York Street and walk to the park (Google Maps walking directions).

Take the A or C train to High Street and walk to the park (Google Maps walking directions).

Drive

Take the BQE to Cadman Plaza.

I’ve driven here numerous times and while I don’t necessarily recommend it unless you are far removed from public transportation, it is possible. Parking can be bad, but not terrible. I usually find a parking spot somewhere around Water Street within 10 minutes. Pay attention to the posted signs and don’t park anywhere that will get you ticketed.

Parking may not be a problem, but the BQE can certainly ruin your day. I would not go anywhere near this road any time even close to rush hour. Heck, I avoid it during daylight hours in general. I have been stuck in stand-still traffic on the BQE at 3 AM. The road is in complete dis-repair and major sections are closed for construction.

Safety

Use caution when walking to and from the subway. Some of these routes may not have sidewalks or pedestrian paths.

At the time of this writing, Google Maps walking directions are in beta. This means there may be errors. Double-check your route if you are unsure of where you are going.

Safety-wise, I have never had a problem walking around here. Nevertheless, be cautious, tell someone where you are going and try not to travel alone when going to unfamiliar neighborhoods such as these. Use an inconspicuous camera bag and don’t flash your gear around.

When the weather is nice, the park can be very crowded. In the Spring and Summer, it can get packed. On the other hand, I have been here in the dead of winter in the freezing cold without another soul in sight.

Shooting the Skyline and Bridges

There are countless different photos you can shoot from this location, many of which will be crowd pleasers. It’s easy to get postcard-style shots, but if you’re creative you can certainly come away with something impressive and different.

A wide angle lens should be able to include both bridges in the frame. You could also shoot multiple frames and stitch together a panorama, like so:

A telephoto lens can be used to isolate parts of the bridge or individual skyscrapers.

Of course the classic photo at this location is a shot of the Brooklyn Bridge with the NYC skyline in the background.

My favorite time to visit this location is sunset, particularly for the 30 minutes or so after the sun goes down and the sky turns a deep shade of blue. I’m not very fond of the brownish hue the sky takes on after night falls, and so I like to play with black and white photos when the sun is gone.

You will notice that some people climb out onto the rocks in order to get a better angle on the scene (or to get away from all the other people in the park). If you choose to follow their lead, be very careful. The rocks are wet and slippery — you could very well fall. I have. It hurts. You could break a camera, or a leg.

Gear

If you are planning to hit this location at sunset or at night, a tripod is almost essential. The flash on your camera isn’t going to light up much more than the rocks beneath your feet. Not only does a tripod stablilize your camera in low light, but long exposures also give the flowing water of the East River a smooth, wispy texture. If you do not have a full-size tripod or would rather not carry one, consider picking up a travel-sized Gorillapod. These are light-weight tripods with flexible legs that can wrap around street poles, benches and other stationary objects.

• Point & Shoot Gorillapod – good for compact digital cameras.
• SLR-Zoom Gorillapod – good for SLR cameras with detachable lenses up to 6.6 lbs.
• Professional Gorillapod – Designed for heavy professional cameras and lenses.

I am a big fan of traveling light and often carry a Gorillapod. Aside from stabilizing your camera, they are also great mini light stands for off-camera flash.

Wrap it up with some good food

After you’re done with the photography, there are some excellent eating options in the neighborhood. Grimaldi’s makes a mean pizza, Water Street Restaurant & Lounge has a dining room and bar, and The River Café is fine dining at its best. If it’s early enough, you can even pick up some sweets from Jaques Torres.

Getting to the Cliffs of Moher

If you’re driving, the Cliffs of Moher are located off R478 from Liscannor to Doolin. Visitors who are not familiar with roads in Ireland may find this drive extremely challenging. Roads in western Ireland are very narrow and often do not feature a shoulder. Additionally, the roads leading to the Cliffs are winding and steep. Depending on your approach, you may encounter one section colloquially referred to as “corkscrew hill”. These routes can be dangerous for novice drivers, and their difficulty level is compounded if you are not accustomed to driving on the left side of the road… and compounded again if you’re staying for sunset and will be driving home in the dark.

There is a parking fee of €8.

If you do not have a car or are not confident enough in your driving abilities, you can buy a ticket on one of the many tour buses that go to the Cliffs of Moher. There are a few that leave from Eyre Square in Galway City. In this case you are subject to the tour’s schedule and time limit.

Photographing the Cliffs of Moher

The walk from the parking lot past the visitor’s center takes you to the viewpoint you see in the photo above. Hang a right and climb the stairs up the hill to the highest point of the Cliffs: O’Brien’s Tower. It appears that you can go inside the tower and take the stairs to the top during the day; I was at the Cliffs after operating hours and the Tower was closed.

There are a number of signs posted warning people not to climb to the edge. Obey this warning – soil is unstable and winds are powerful. A number of people have unfortunately lost their lives at the Cliffs.

A moderately wide, standard or moderately telephoto lens should allow you to include the entirety of the cliffs in a single frame. General purpose zoom lenses as well as the kit lenses that come packaged with DSLR cameras fall into this category. I used the Canon EF 24-105 f/4L IS for most of my photos of the Cliffs of Moher.

A telephoto lens would make for some interesting detail shots of the cliffs, or perhaps finding an angle that compresses all of them closely together. I was able to fill the frame with some detail shots using the long end of my 24-105 lens, shooting from the area below O’Brien’s Tower.

If it’s a cloudy day, an ultra-wide angle lens can play with the clouds in interesting ways. Keep in mind though that extreme wide angles will push the Cliffs off into the distance and make them appear small… which is sort of the opposite of what the actually are — quite significant natural wonders. But again, this might be useful if you have a specific framing in mind. My shot of O’Brien’s tower seen above was taken at 12mm on a full frame camera. The image below is also ultra-wide angle.

My UWA lens here is the Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6 EX.

A tripod would be useful at the Cliffs during sunset. The IS on my Canon 24-105 lens, and the extremely short focal length of my Sigma 12-24 allowed me to get away with hand-holding at high ISO, but I definitely over-shot to ensure a few frames turned out sharp. I was not able to find any information on the Cliffs of Moher site regarding whether tripods are permitted, but this page does indicate that permits are required for commercial filming and photography. Nevertheless, there are definitely many places where a serious accident could occur if someone were to trip over your equipment.

If you are a fan of landscapes you will not regret a visit to the Cliffs of Moher. Their sheer massive size is something that cannot be fully understood until you’ve stood at the top in person.

Now, you could go to the visitor’s center and nab the traditional tourist shot, but where’s the fun in that? On the other hand, if you’re looking for a few different angles the Golden Gate Bridge then San Francisco photographer Bill Storage has all the information you’ll need. Bill’s “Photographers Guide to the Golden Gate Bridge” is a 4-part series on the various spots from which to photograph this amazing example of architecture.

• Park 1 — Baker Beach North
• Part 2 — Battery Spencer and Conzulman Road (Marin Headlands)
• Part 3 — Langdon Court and Merchant Road
• Fort Point, Horseshoe Bay amd the Visitor’s Center

Photo “Golden Gate from Langdon Court” courtesy of Bill Storage.

In “The Canon Powershot G9 in Japan” by Luminous Landscape, Nick Devlin discusses shooting almost excusively with a Canon Powershot G9 over his Leica M8 during a trip to Japan. Forgive us for posting an article that is almost a year old, but an enthusiastic comparison of a high-end point & shoot camera to the legendary Leica brand is fascinating.

When Devlin traveled to Japan in December of 2007, a friend suggested he try out the Canon G9 instead of his Leica M8. He was so pleased with the G9’s size, controls and image quality that his Leica spent most of the trip in the hotel room.

I will leave the Leica talk to the pros, but I can write with regard to the Powershot G9. I bought one last summer as a compliment to my Canon 5D, specifically for those times when I would prefer not to carry a DSLR. My favorable review of the Canon Powershot G9 at Of Zen and Computing contains some sample images, low-light high-ISO shots and movie clips.

Link via “The Canon G9: Better than a Leica?” by CrunchGear.