Berkeley Lab’s Photography team is always taking new images, each with a specific purpose and audience. In this new monthly series, we’ll highlight a sampling of these photos. For access to all of the Berkeley Lab photos, available to the Lab community and the general public with minimal restrictions, go to the LBNL photo archive.
Today we’re featuring some beautiful sunsets from the Lab.
One of the responsibilities of our photography team is to keep the Lab’s image archives updated with photographs that both showcase the site and highlight the natural beauty that makes Berkeley Lab unique among national laboratories and similar institutions.
The Lab’s scenic location offers stunning photographic opportunities. However, the area’s geography and the varying elevations of our buildings present a unique challenge in capturing a single iconic image.
Thor Swift, lead photographer, is always looking for visually interesting ways to highlight the beauty of the Lab and the surrounding areas, and sunsets are one beautiful option. While there have been variations of this view taken by Lab photographers over the years, they need to be updated regularly due to architectural changes that happen over time.
One of the previous attempts at the hillside photograph, the weather did not cooperate.
To capture this shot, Thor climbed the hillside between the Lab and the Lawrence Hall of Science. For safety, two people were required at the shoot—one to take photos and the other to assist and ensure a safe process.
Using Adobe Lightroom, Thor edited the images and stitched them together into the single image above. Any use of compositing, generative AI, or other photo editing techniques is documented in the image metadata to maintain trust in the integrity of our photographs.
The results are simply magical and are available to the Berkeley Lab community to use for communications and branding work. Please note that there are restrictions on commercial uses and some limitations on use due to privacy laws.
Some past examples of similar photographs of the Lab and its environment.
The image above is an older photo version of the hillside photo – many of the buildings in the foreground are no longer there, or look substantially different.
Tips on searching photos.lbl.gov – https://photos.lbl.gov/bp/#/pages/49786
Usage and other frequently asked questions – https://photos.lbl.gov/bp/#/pages/49785
End user terms for photos on the photos.lbl.gov – https://photos.lbl.gov/bp/#/pages/50370
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