[/caption] The Pittock mansion offers a great view of the entire city of Portland as well as Mt. Hood, Aams, St. Helens and Mt. Rainier. Since you’re looking due east the lighting can be challenging as well as the huge trees that block some of the views of the city. You have to get pretty creative when trying to get the best shot and you really have to be patient in order to take advantage of the best lighting. The sunset was at 8:30pm and this photo was taken at 9:10pm so I had to try and get a good photo that took advantage of the city lights but also kept Mt. Hood in view. To get this shot I removed my CIR-PL and attached the warming filter and set the ISO at 100 and the white balance at -0.3. I had the camera in Program/Normal so the aperture was set at F-4 and the shutter speed at 1 second. I was using my Canon 28-135mm lens and set the focal length at 44mm in order to keep some of the vegetation from making an entrance on either side. I made sure to use my tripod, bubble level and remote switch in order to avoid any camera shake or blur. I arrived at the mansion at about 7:15pm and left just after I took this last photo at 9:10pm. Next time I plan on arriving before sunrise and try to take advantage of the sun coming up just behind the mountain.
Tag Archives: Portland sunset
Portland, OR
[/caption] Downtown Portland as seen from the Portland Viaduct bridge that’s located on SW Vista Ave. Trying to find the perfect panoramic view of Portland, without any obscurities, can be very frustrating and pretty much impossible unless you live in one of the many mansions that line the west hills. Unfortunately, there aren’t any parks like Seattle that provides the best views of the city. The tall and lush trees almost always play the biggest role in hiding the best views. Portland is also a very long and spread out city that makes it impossible to get all of the tall building in one photo. You pretty much have to choose which buildings you’re going to leave out. On this particular photo I ended up leaving out the Lloyd Center in order to include the KOIN tower and Wells Fargo building. I also had to crop out 1/4 of the bottom portion of the photo in order to remove the less than photogenic street below. A car lot and telephone poles don’t make for the best scenery. I decided to include this photo since it provides the best shot of the city, which includes the majority of the buildings that can be seen from the east. You can see Mt. Hood in the distance as well as part of the hallowed out Federal building with its crane sticking up. The one thing that I think really destroys a photo and that’s an unfinished building with a huge crane jutting out. I took this photo with my Sigma 17-70mm lens and attached my CIR-PL and warming filter since the sun had only just set and the light was still a little overexposed. The sunset was at 8:38pm and I took this shot at 8:55pm and the sun had set directly behind me. I made sure to use my tripod, bubble level and remote switch to avoid any blur or camera shake. The camera was in Program/Normal mode so the aperture was at F-3.2 and the shutter speed was at 1/6 second. I set the ISO at 100 and the white balance at -0.7. I usually visit the bridge during the day and I have never been happy with any of the photos mostly due to the color but if you visit during sunset the light is much better.