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Guess The Photo, Win a $100 Gift Card

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The Nikon D7000 is the best general-purpose DSLR I’ve ever purchased and the camera I recommend for most users, except for those that must have a full-frame body. There are some point and shoot cameras that take pretty good photos, but nothing beats a good DSLR. They offer much more control and much better optics than any point and shoot. They’re not the most mobile solution, but it’s a trade off that I’m willing to make in most situations.

Here is a photo I shot last night with my Nikon D7000 and Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 zoom lens. This is exactly the image I had in mind when I took the photo. This is how it came out of my camera, with only minor adjustments applied to the RAW file while converting it into a JPG using iPhoto. No tweaking or Photoshop involved beyond contrast and levels adjustments, which are a must w/ RAW photos since they’re not processed in-camera like JPGs are.

So what do you think this is a photo of? I’ll give you a hint – I shot it in San Francisco.

Put your guesses in the comments section below and the GBM reader that has the best/most accurate guess gets a $100 gift card to their choice of Amazon.com, Best Buy or Apple (Apple Store or iTunes). If more than one person gets it right/near right we’ll pull a random # from Random.org of all the comments in that group. You may submit up to one guess per day. If nobody comes close, I’ll start dropping hints in updates to this post, so check back soon.

You must be a U.S. resident and at least 18 years old to participate. We’ll choose a winner who’s submitted the best guess next Friday (3/11/2011) and contact the winner by email. Void where prohibited. GBM & Notebooks.com contributors and their immediate families are not allowed to enter.

Click the above thumbnail for a larger version of the photo.

66 Comments

66 Comments

  1. smk268

    03/04/2011 at 3:32 pm

    An airplane on approach.

  2. Larry

    03/04/2011 at 4:44 pm

    Freeway into san Francisco

  3. Steven

    03/04/2011 at 5:06 pm

    The Bay Bridge

  4. Sean Lang

    03/04/2011 at 5:35 pm

    the city skyline?

  5. Orgwizard2000

    03/04/2011 at 9:44 pm

    looks like someone took a picture from the cockpit of an airplane while it was taking off or landing.

  6. Holly

    03/05/2011 at 12:30 pm

    I’m gonna go with… Traffic!

  7. Xavier Lanier

    03/06/2011 at 4:55 pm

    Thanks for guessing everyone, but nobody’s 100% right yet tough. Her’s a hint:
    Details are everything.

  8. Walteezy!

    03/06/2011 at 6:08 pm

    downtown San Francisco near the Moscone Center.

  9. Walteezy!

    03/06/2011 at 6:08 pm

    downtown San Francisco near the Moscone Center.

  10. [email protected]

    03/06/2011 at 6:29 pm

    Inside th Treasure Island Tunnel

  11. Pete

    03/06/2011 at 8:14 pm

    Going through at a traffic light

  12. Enkay18

    03/06/2011 at 9:34 pm

    It’s pic of traffic at toll booth lanes near golden gate bridge

  13. Pete

    03/06/2011 at 10:08 pm

    Picture out the rear window in the middle lane going across the bridge on a foggy night. .. yup.. that’s it. lol

  14. Staraptor

    03/07/2011 at 12:10 am

    Golden Gate Bridge

  15. Brian

    03/07/2011 at 3:48 pm

    Fisherman’s Wharf

  16. Melissa

    03/07/2011 at 8:39 pm

    Traffic at golden gate bridge!!! :)

  17. Walteezy

    03/07/2011 at 11:32 pm

    highway 24

    • Hotpepperlopez

      03/07/2011 at 11:48 pm

      China Town

  18. Kennylopez4

    03/08/2011 at 12:25 am

    Firework

  19. Jason

    03/08/2011 at 3:57 am

    Yerba Buena; off a trail behind some condominiums?

  20. Eva

    03/08/2011 at 6:04 pm

    I think it’s the Golden Gate Bridge

  21. Enzo777

    03/08/2011 at 7:46 pm

    The house from Full House the show and the skyline behind it

  22. Enzo777

    03/09/2011 at 12:33 pm

    At&t park with the skyline behind it

  23. Hulye

    03/09/2011 at 3:08 pm

    It looks exactly like a $100 gift card running away from me on the streets of San Francisco…

  24. Boci

    03/09/2011 at 3:12 pm

    Could it be some sort of train station, train tracks, or something that runs on rails? Like looking out from the back of a train/subway, etc. I never been to SF so I don’t even know if there are rails there. Just guessing.

    • Boci

      03/10/2011 at 5:17 am

      Further investigation reveals, that there are indeed some rapid rail system in/around SF called BART.

  25. joe

    03/09/2011 at 4:57 pm

    hard to pinpoint exactly where it is. I dunno if just saying traffic is specific enough. if not i’ll say the bay bridge like everyone else. but what it is is a time lapsed picture with you using the zoom on the camera.

  26. Amanda

    03/09/2011 at 9:01 pm

    muni near the wharf

  27. Chuong Nguyen

    03/09/2011 at 10:22 pm

    A new ad for the Sprint Now Network?

  28. GBM guest

    03/09/2011 at 10:42 pm

    Some rail station with a city in the distance.

  29. kneebuster

    03/09/2011 at 11:00 pm

    It looks like you were riding on BART. The key to the shot is that you were zooming your lens as you took it.

  30. Technogasms

    03/10/2011 at 1:04 am

    I’m guessing it is the Ferry Building near the Bay Bridge.

  31. Tom McKee

    03/10/2011 at 2:04 am

    Crossing the Golden Gate @ night

  32. Jim Bow

    03/10/2011 at 6:03 am

    Judging by the colours in the lines and the centrific nature of the radial patterns, the camera is moving. The central curves are the Most predominant so that suggest moving toward the centre with the shutter being closed as the camera is closer to the object at the centre. The wavy nature of the lines suggest walking rather than driving, as they would be much smoother if driving. As I live several thousand miles away from SF I have no idea where in SF it might be, but I am going to say that you were holding the camera while walking down a street with neon signs and street lights.

  33. Isaac Kim

    03/10/2011 at 6:14 am

    Trains n train station of some kind?
    trains zooming in and out of the city
    possible taken from a overpass of train station hub of trains below
    Never extensively toured SF so that will be my guess
    and i want my 8 minutes of my life back for the time spent glaring at this picture.

  34. Dan Bourque

    03/10/2011 at 9:48 am

    I don’t think the camera was moving for this effect. If you take a slow shutter shot (5 seconds, maybe) and adjust the zoom during that time, that’s the effect you’ll get. Most of the light streaks have the same squiggle pattern too, which suggests he wasn’t on a tripod. Near the center, there are a few clusters of light streaks that don’t conform to the pattern, which means it was moving. I can’t tell what the haze is though. Smoke? Steam? He wasn’t high enough for it to be clouds, because you can see some windows at the endpoints of some of the light streaks near the bottom-left. I don’t know SF enough to make a good guess. Good luck everyone!

  35. Dan Bourque

    03/10/2011 at 9:55 am

    Oh, and by the way, I just bought the D7000 myself last week. I agree; it’s an amazing camera! Crazy high ISO sensitivity.

  36. sowmya

    03/10/2011 at 10:08 am

    router led lights

  37. Danorms

    03/10/2011 at 1:59 pm

    I ran into this picture by looking up the thunderbolt. So my guess is a pic of a thunderstorm or thunderbolt in the bay area.

  38. Rockruleslp

    03/10/2011 at 3:18 pm

    im gonna guess you took the picture of passing traffic in downtown San Fran while riding a bike…

  39. Skrueger

    03/10/2011 at 3:37 pm

    approaching streetcar

  40. Ken Bour

    03/10/2011 at 3:46 pm

    What an imaginative and intriguing photo. I have studied it for a while and cannot come up with anything definitive. The foreground images appear to be trains (lights on the roof) converging on a station, but I can’t explain the squiggly lights radiating upward (or downward) into the distant sky. I first thought it was a very long time-lapse photo (train station, airport, heliport), but I am now wondering if the lines could have been created by a sliding zoom although it looks like it taken with a wide-angle lens. Hmmm…

  41. Ken Bour

    03/10/2011 at 3:50 pm

    I would love to make this image my desktop background. Would you be willing to upload a higher resolution image?

  42. Dollar Van Demos

    03/10/2011 at 6:26 pm

    Sutro Tower

  43. carrie

    03/10/2011 at 8:00 pm

    approaching the toll booth on the golden gate bridge

  44. Cianne389

    03/10/2011 at 10:21 pm

    This is an airplane taking over over traffic on the bridge !!

    • Cianne389

      03/10/2011 at 10:21 pm

      i meant taking off over traffic

  45. Copicut

    03/11/2011 at 12:49 pm

    Airport runway

  46. _klv

    03/11/2011 at 7:47 pm

    I would say it is city lights taken with a low speed shutter while holding the camera manually (hence the vibration). The tree bold white lines look like street lights while the other ones could be either reflections of further lights or distance lights.

    • _klv

      03/11/2011 at 8:17 pm

      it does not let me modify my previous post so I will add:
      ..holding the camera manually AND zooming (a 70-200 lens gives you plenty to play with). The side lights could be car lights if you actually are on a bridge. But I have never been in San Francisco so, I guess I’m in disadvantage.

  47. Dollar Van Demos

    03/11/2011 at 9:51 pm

    could be the San Mateo Bridge

    • Steven

      03/11/2011 at 11:17 pm

      So, who is the winner?

      • joe

        03/14/2011 at 7:17 pm

        guess there is no winner?

  48. Abadgabe

    03/12/2011 at 12:47 am

    On the bay bridge near the Fremont street exit.

  49. joe

    03/12/2011 at 3:49 pm

    So what’s the answer????

  50. Exiled44

    03/13/2011 at 4:55 pm

    Looks like the Freeway going into the city.

  51. Sreekanthmca

    03/14/2011 at 1:58 pm

    crackers

  52. [email protected]

    03/15/2011 at 2:28 am

    Front of plane
    cockpit landing

  53. Anonymous

    03/15/2011 at 3:34 pm

    It’s taken from a San Francisco cable car. This explains the slight movement that others have alluded to in previous posts.

  54. Boci

    03/15/2011 at 3:39 pm

    The article says this contest will be over on the 11th. Are we going to find out the result?

  55. Boci

    03/15/2011 at 3:39 pm

    The article says this contest will be over on the 11th. Are we going to find out the result?

  56. Gj96

    03/16/2011 at 1:51 pm

    The first time you activate the HTC Thunderbolt

  57. joe

    03/19/2011 at 1:23 pm

    seriously who won?

  58. Exiled44

    06/18/2011 at 5:45 pm

    Were you on a carnival ride? Lol. Who won & what is it? I want this picture as well…

  59. Trent_thomas01

    09/16/2011 at 1:39 am

    a hiway

  60. Yosann Wolduu

    09/21/2011 at 12:01 am

    Street Lights And Cars Coming Straight At You !

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