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Guess The Photo, Win a $100 Gift Card
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.
smk268
03/04/2011 at 3:32 pm
An airplane on approach.
Larry
03/04/2011 at 4:44 pm
Freeway into san Francisco
Steven
03/04/2011 at 5:06 pm
The Bay Bridge
Sean Lang
03/04/2011 at 5:35 pm
the city skyline?
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.
Holly
03/05/2011 at 12:30 pm
I’m gonna go with… Traffic!
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.
Walteezy!
03/06/2011 at 6:08 pm
downtown San Francisco near the Moscone Center.
Walteezy!
03/06/2011 at 6:08 pm
downtown San Francisco near the Moscone Center.
[email protected]
03/06/2011 at 6:29 pm
Inside th Treasure Island Tunnel
Pete
03/06/2011 at 8:14 pm
Going through at a traffic light
Enkay18
03/06/2011 at 9:34 pm
It’s pic of traffic at toll booth lanes near golden gate bridge
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
Staraptor
03/07/2011 at 12:10 am
Golden Gate Bridge
Brian
03/07/2011 at 3:48 pm
Fisherman’s Wharf
Melissa
03/07/2011 at 8:39 pm
Traffic at golden gate bridge!!! :)
Walteezy
03/07/2011 at 11:32 pm
highway 24
Hotpepperlopez
03/07/2011 at 11:48 pm
China Town
Kennylopez4
03/08/2011 at 12:25 am
Firework
Jason
03/08/2011 at 3:57 am
Yerba Buena; off a trail behind some condominiums?
Eva
03/08/2011 at 6:04 pm
I think it’s the Golden Gate Bridge
Enzo777
03/08/2011 at 7:46 pm
The house from Full House the show and the skyline behind it
Enzo777
03/09/2011 at 12:33 pm
At&t park with the skyline behind it
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…
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.
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.
Amanda
03/09/2011 at 9:01 pm
muni near the wharf
Chuong Nguyen
03/09/2011 at 10:22 pm
A new ad for the Sprint Now Network?
GBM guest
03/09/2011 at 10:42 pm
Some rail station with a city in the distance.
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.
Technogasms
03/10/2011 at 1:04 am
I’m guessing it is the Ferry Building near the Bay Bridge.
Tom McKee
03/10/2011 at 2:04 am
Crossing the Golden Gate @ night
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.
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.
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!
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.
sowmya
03/10/2011 at 10:08 am
router led lights
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.
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…
Skrueger
03/10/2011 at 3:37 pm
approaching streetcar
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…
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?
Dollar Van Demos
03/10/2011 at 6:26 pm
Sutro Tower
carrie
03/10/2011 at 8:00 pm
approaching the toll booth on the golden gate bridge
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
Copicut
03/11/2011 at 12:49 pm
Airport runway
_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.
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?
Abadgabe
03/12/2011 at 12:47 am
On the bay bridge near the Fremont street exit.
joe
03/12/2011 at 3:49 pm
So what’s the answer????
Exiled44
03/13/2011 at 4:55 pm
Looks like the Freeway going into the city.
Sreekanthmca
03/14/2011 at 1:58 pm
crackers
[email protected]
03/15/2011 at 2:28 am
Front of plane
cockpit landing
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.
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?
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?
Gj96
03/16/2011 at 1:51 pm
The first time you activate the HTC Thunderbolt
joe
03/19/2011 at 1:23 pm
seriously who won?
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…
Trent_thomas01
09/16/2011 at 1:39 am
a hiway
Yosann Wolduu
09/21/2011 at 12:01 am
Street Lights And Cars Coming Straight At You !