Here is another photo of Portland as seen from the hills in the SW neighborhood. You can see Mt. St. Helens in the background as well as the tip of Mt. Adams to the left of the old Benjamin Franklin building. This is one of the better times to photograph the city since the sun had already set but the sky was bright enough to show the mountains and clouds. The sky is also the perfect cobalt blue that photographers look for as well as the ability to use your shutter priority to enhance the trail effects from cars as well as the lit buildings. I was using my Sigma 17-70mm lens and I still had my CIR-PL and my warming filter attached when I took this shot. I made sure to use my tripod, bubble level and remote switch to avoid any camera shake or blur. I had the focal length opened up at 17mm in order to get the most panoramic photo that I could. The camera was in shutter priority so the aperture was at F-2.8 and I set the shutter speed to 10 seconds in order to offer the most trail effects from the cars below as well as illuminate the cobalt blue sky and enhance the lights from the city. I set the ISO at 100 and the white balance at +2. The sun had set around 8:16pm and this shot was taken at 9:12pm. I was facing NE and the sun had set almost directly behind me.
Tag Archives: Portland at sunset
Portland, OR
[/caption] Downtown Portland Oregon on the last day of summer 2010. The cloud formations in Portland had been creating some dramatic shapes so I decided to take some shots at sunset and twilight. September and early October always seem to be the best times to get great sunset shots throughout Oregon and This time was no exception. The sun set at about 7:25 and this shot was taken at 7:54, just after sunset. Since the glare was still pretty high, I attached my ND4 along with my CIR-PL, warming filter and UV filter. Since the clouds were moving pretty fast I reduced the shutter speed to only 13 seconds. This allowed me to smooth out the river movement but also capture the clouds without getting too much blur effect. I was using my tripod, bubble level and remote switch during the whole evening since the light was too low. I had the ISO at 200 and the F stop was at F8. I was using my 18-55mm Canon lens and had the focal length at 24mm. I also had the white balance at only -0.3 since the ND4 filter had darkened the shot pretty well. Whenever I want to get the best panoramic shots of Portland I almost always go the the east side of the Willamette river and stroll down the jogging and biking path that parallels the I-5. There are several great places to set up your tripod and several areas to stop along the way.