I wanted to highlight a favorite spot among photographers around Chicago and that is the lakefront at Fullerton Ave, or as we usually all refer to it as just Fullerton.

This piece of Chicago Lakefront Real Estate is full of character and has a great view of the skyline.  During the summer it is full of runners, bikers, yoga classes, couples taking in the view, etc.  During this time it can be hard to get the shot you want due to all the traffic.

Monday Night, Brian Koprowski and I ventured to the city and hit up this spot.  We get there a little early for magic hour so we decide to waste some around Lincoln Park which was a bust.  As we got back to the lakefront we see that a couple had decided to plop down on the rocks right where we would want to shoot from, so some patience was going to be needed.  But after a while we realized they were not moving, so some creative compositions and some slight Photoshop removal was going to be needed.

Brian pulled out his 10-stop filter which I tend to forget I have so I busted it out.  We remember the shot Matt Frankel posted the other day of Fullerton at sunrise with his.  So we start messing around with those.  Now most photographers who use these know how long they want there exposure to be, but Brian and I were kind of guessing/calculating the exposures.  I was using the exposure calculator I have on my phone, but it seemed a little off.  So I went with trial and error and ended up with a 3.5 minute exposure for the sky and a 5 minute exposure for the foreground and water that I ended up blending for this shot:

This is one of my favorite shots, I think one because it does not look like I am in the middle of Chicago and two it is one of the first shots I have done with the 10 stop filter.
 

Brian snapping some exposures of the skyline.  I would love to get a couple out here for an engagement shoot, or any other type, have some good ideas for this spot.  So hint, hint, any couples wanting some sunset/night shots with the skyline, let me know!

And we will finish with a simple two shot skyline Pano.   A beautiful spot to just take this in.  It was crystal clear this night and the buildings seemed almost too perfect. 

I will highlight other Chicago “Hot Spots” as I photograph them. 

On an end note, what does everyone think of the new Flickr updates?  Uploading is nice now, though the description box could be bigger to see what I am actually putting in there and not having to fix it afterwards.  I do like the bigger photograph on the photo pages.