This Evening's Moon Rising Above Truckee, California

I attended a Christmas party in Downtown Truckee, California this evening. But, right before I went in, I knew I had some work to do...

I knew the moon would be rising any moment, and I had the camera in the car. So before I went in to enjoy the fun, I enjoyed this Christmasy moment in my favorite little mountain town.

Shot with the Canon R5 MarkII and a 100-500 Canon lens, set at 300mm. The ISO was 400, the shutter speed was 8 seconds, and the lens aperture was f/25. A small lens aperture was used so I could get both the candy cane and the moon in focus. And of course, a tripod was used...

It's already up on my website truckeetahoephoto.com, and Christmasy gifts are already available.

I hope you all are enjoying the holiday season!

Scott Thompson
Scott Shots Photography
www.TruckeeTahoePhotos.com - Art
Scott Shots Photography - Services

Downtown Truckee Christmas Slideshow

Please enjoy this little slideshow I put together of Downtown Truckee Christmas photos.  All of these images are available as large fine art print. Thank you for looking!

-Scott Thompson

New Snowy Downtown Truckee Photo

After shooting some friends signing and performing at the Cottonwood Restaurant a couple days ago (post with those photos), I took a walk in Downtown Truckee for some snowy photo fun. We were finally getting a decent snowstorm. It's been a slow year for the snow, there is usually a lot more of it by this time of year.

Mix the nighttime snow with the Christmas lights, and streetlight... and you get a very photogenic scene! There was a homeless guy walking around the area, looking like he was out of his mind and acting strange, so I had to work fast. Just a few quick photos and then I left. I didn't like the way he was looking at me and my somewhat expensive camera. I'll be back for more photos when we get more snow soon. For now, I am happy with this shot!

Shot with a Canon 5DS R and a 24-105mm lens, set at 45mm. The ISO was 2000, the lens aperture was f/4.0, and it was a 1/80 of a second long exposure. Shot handheld with lens image stabilization on. Longer exposures do not work well with scenes like this. If it were a long exposure on a tripod, the snow would look like long white lines instead of little white spots. With a very long exposure, you might not event see the snow at all.

Fingers crossed that I'll be back to this scene soon. We are supposed to get more snow today, but so far it's only been rain. Bring on the colder temps!

Thank you for looking and I hope you are all having a great day.

Scott Thompson
Scott Shots Photography
www.ScottShotsPhoto.com

Christmas Tree Lighting In Truckee, California

Last night's Christmas Tree lighting in Downtown Truckee, California was a lot of fun. It has been a while since I'd been to a tree lighting. The main street in Downtown Truckee was shut down and there was a very large crowd of people. Lots of the shops were open late and treats were being given out to attendees.

The vibe felt like it was straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting. Very warm smiles everywhere, and everyone was having a great time. Of course, I brought my camera and got a few photos of the tree right after it was lit up.

Shot with a Canon 5DS R and a 24-105mm lens. The ISO was 2500, the lens aperture was f/4.0, and it was a 1/30 of a second exposure. Shot handheld with no flash. Fortunately, the lens has nice image stabilization built into it so it was a sharp photo even though it was a somewhat longer exposure.

A lot of work was done to this image in Photoshop in order to get the most detail out of the shadow areas and sky. I also used Photoshop's newer AI noise reduction in order to get rid of most of the digital noise. The ISO 2500 setting can be very noisy with this camera the the AI noise reduction did an incredible job at cleaning up the noise. The image is not going up on my website, it probably would not look great when printed big. But I think it looks nice for blog posts and social media posts.

Truckee does a great job of decorating for the holidays. Here are a few more photos from previous years. I hope to get more similar images this year but I will have to wait until we get a decent amount of snow...

Interested in buying a Scott Shots print as a gift? Please use the coupon code WINTERSCOMING for 15% off your order at www.ScottShotsPhoto.com. (Expires 12-21-23)

Thank you for looking and I hope you are all having a great weekend!

Scott Thompson
Scott Shots Photography
www.ScottShotsPhoto.com

More New Snowy Truckee Photos

Life has been busy lately, I almost forgot to share these new photos.

The image below was shot a few days ago right after the big snowstorm that we had. Yup, it's another Downtown Truckee photo... Yes, I shoot a lot of images of Truckee, California. It's where I live and it's a tourist town so I sell lots of prints as souvenirs at Gallery 5830'. I also license these images as stock photography to local businesses. In fact, our local Chamber of Commerce has already licensed this new image below and it was in their email newsletter this morning, woohoo!

Prior to the photo above, I took a 5:30 am walk with the camera in the little main area of Historic Downtown Truckee. I had posted some Christmas photos of Truckee a few days ago but they had a lot less snow in the images. These new photos are of Truckee with a proper fresh coat of snow.

It was looking incredible out!!!

Today, I did some rearranging of artwork on the walls of Gallery 5830'. The little prints on the left wall are brand new. 8"x12" metal prints that are ready to hang and are reasonably priced. One of the cool things I like about this gallery is that they accept certain crypto currencies for payment.

We've been trying to display more winter images for the holidays, there are plenty on the wall now. Tonight is the last "Festive Fridays" in Downtown Truckee. The gallery will be open late and I will be there, enjoying the holiday fun!

Thank you for looking and I hope you are all having a great day. Enjoy the weekend. CHEERS!

Scott Thompson
Scott Shots Photography
www.ScottShotsPhoto.com

Last Night In Downtown Truckee, California - New Photos

When the snow started falling last night, I headed to Downtown Truckee for some Christmas photography fun. Truckee is the perfect little Christmas town, the lights, snow, and historic buildings make it feel like a scene out of a Hallmark movie. Large snowflakes mixed with the downtown lights are a favorite subject matter of mine. Unfortunately, on the drive down the snow started letting up and the sky was more clear than I had hoped for. No problem though, I was still super happy with the way things were looking and I ended up with a few new "keeper" photos.

All of these were shot on a Canon 5DS R and with either a 24-105mm lens (tripod used) or with a 16-35mm lens (handheld). The handheld shots were at a very high ISO, and the tripod shots were about 6 - 10 second long exposures. No filters or flash units were used.

Of course, I had to capture some new images of Gallery 5830', where I sell my prints. They are going to be building a fresh new website soon so I have been trying to get them some cool new images...

Thank you for looking, I hope you all have a great weekend! We are supposed to get a big snowstorm this weekend, my fingers are crossed in hopes that it's true and not just hype... Cheers!

Scott Thompson
Scott Shots Photography
www.ScottShotsPhoto.com

Great photos for Christmas and Holiday Cards.

And Scott Shots Holiday Gift ideas.

My family and I took our Holiday card photos over the weekend and it got me thinking. Taking a holiday photo on self timer can be difficult and frustrating. And not everybody lives in a beautiful town like Truckee, CA where we have early snow and incredible natural backgrounds to choose from. For these reasons and many more, some people prefer to give Christmas and Holiday cards without a picture of themselves on it.  I can help those people out...

"Snowy Candy Cane in Truckee" - This snow covered Christmas candy cane was photographed in historic Downtown Truckee, CA.

There are many Scott Shots that would make great Christmas and Holiday cards. Did you know you can order greeting cards right through the www.ScottShotsPhoto.com shopping cart? Just click on an individual image in the website or on this blog and look for the "buy photo" button above the image.  The shopping cart with purchasing options will pop up. Look for the "products" tab and you will find all kinds of gift items, including greeting cards, that would make excellent Christmas and Holiday presents. 

"Snowy Christmas Tree in Truckee" - This snow covered Christmas tree was photographed in Historic Downtown Truckee, CA.

Items available through the Scott Shots shopping cart that would make great gifts include:

• Greeting Cards
• Photo Puzzles
• E-Clings (laptop and iPad covers)
• Small Prints
• Canvas Gallery Wraps
• Ceramic Mugs
• T-Shirts
• Playing Cards
• Mouse Pads
• Coasters
• Refrigerator Magnets
• Key Tags

Below are more images that would make great snowy scene Christmas and Holiday gift items or greeting cards. When purchasing at www.ScottShotsPhoto.com, use the coupon code HOLIDAY for %10 off any one purchase (Expires 1/1/2012). Thank you and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

-Scott Thompson

"Snowy Truckee River in Autumn 1" - Photograph of snow covered cottonwood trees along the Truckee River in Downtown Truckee.

"Snowy Truckee River 1" - This foggy and snowy scene of the Truckee River was photographed in Downtown Truckee, CA.

"Icicles 3"- Photographed near Alder Creek in the Tahoe Donner area of Truckee, CA.
Photographed.

"Shack near Brockway Summit"- This old shack was photographed along Hwy 267 near Brockway Summit, CA.
Photographed.