The Los Angeles coastal seaside community of Manhattan Beach takes their Christmas festivities seriously, lighting its iconic Roundhouse a week before Thanksgiving with holiday lights and trees.
I got up really early today to pick up the lights by the morning light and ran into my friend Leticia, (a newsletter subscriber, thank you!) who already had her tripod out to do the same thing.
She offered to lend me her globe for a cool upside down look. My shot was on an iPhone 13 Pro, with the telephoto lens focused on the globe. The bigger lens produced the dreamy out of focus background.
The above shot was taken at 6:09 a.m. I was stalling for 6:30, the scheduled time for the sunrise. I thought I'd get a slightly brighter sky against the still lit tree. The shot below was at 6:18.
By 6:19, the Pier lights were shut down.
You've got to move fast for this shot! Because by 6:26, the Pier tree lights were gone too.
Today, on 11/18, sunset is scheduled by 4:48 p.m., which means we'll probably have about ten minutes or so to catch the lit tree against the brighter sky. Good luck shutterbugs!