Authors Photos

My top 5 Photo locations around Los Angeles

Los Angeles is a real gold mine for photography, the vastness of the city and many diverse areas make it an amazing place to shoot and there’s always somewhere new to try and get something worth keeping for the portfolio. Here is a list of my top 5 places to go where you are guarunteed to get a good photo or two.

1. Mulholland Drive.
The lookout point here is frequented nightly by amateur and professional photographers alike, Ive struck up many a conversation with tripod wielding camera enthusiasts up here looking to get ‘The Shot’ and the thing about being up here is its real hard not to get it. I was lucky on this particular night there was a show on in the Hollywood bowl and the search lights were on which added a nice touch to the image. Park in the car park and go up the stairs to the left, past the circular concrete viewing point and down the hill slightly for a better view. The shot itself was taken with my old Canon Rebel XTI, f8, 20 second exposure at 40mm.

A couple of words of advice if you’re thinking of going up here and taking some photos is to make sure its a nice clear evening before you go, The LA haze can ruin it completely and on bad evenings its not even possible to see downtown from there, Also watch out for the park ranger, if hes diligent, he’ll be there at sunset on the dot to lock up the gates and he will want you to leave promptly.

2. 6th Street Bridge.
A personal favorite of mine, Visited here with a friend after work one day, about 6.30pm and the sun was then setting, took several attempts to get this one without any cars going by. Shot is a HDR image, 3 exposures merged in Photomatix and enhanced with Tone Mapping. I love taking HDR shots as well as normal photos as you’ll never quite know what you’ve got until you get home and process it all through the software. Tip: If you can afford to,  use Photomatix for HDR work as the HDR options in Photoshop are very limited and just don’t cut it compared to this software being used.

3. Santa Monica.
Santa monica has many great places to shoot and ive taken many many shots around here, This is another HDR shot taken right after the sun went down and about 2 shots before my last battery died for the day. Once more its 3 Auto Bracketed Exposures blended in Photomatix and tone mapped to my liking. The pier is also a great place to shoot, above and below especially for Bracketed exposure shooting.

4. Fourth Street Overpass.
A very popular location and one thats been used many times in magazines and advertising, the 4th street overpass is a great shot that everyone learning photography should go and try. This shot is looking over the 110 freeway, south(ish) towards Figueroa street thats behind the Bank of California building, Aside from this view theres some stunning views of the central downtown buildings including US Bank tower and the Westin Bonaventura Hotel. This was taken at f8, 30 second exposure at 17mm.

5. Korean Friendship Bell.
This shot of the Korean Frienship Bell in San Pedro had me frantically driving through the freeway traffic to make it there in time for the sunset, the drive as well worth the effort, I took several shots of this as the sun set and each one was stunning. Also just down the road is the beautiful Point Fermin lighthouse which is equally photogenic and has produced some wonderful images for me. This Image is again a HDR, 3 exposures and Tone Mapped.

How about you ? do you have a favourite location you would like to share with others ?? some little gem of a location that youve found that you would like to see other peoples take on ??? please feel free to comment below and share your suggestions.

Tags: 110 freeway, 6th Street Bridge, Bank of California, Canon Rebel XTI, Figueroa street, Fourth Street Overpass, HDR, Hollywood bowl, Korean Friendship Bell, los angeles, Mulholland Drive, photography, photomatix, Photoshop, Point Fermin lighthouse, San Pedro, Santa Monica, sun set, Tone Mapped, top 5, Westin Bonaventura Hotel