Aimless Driving

It was rainy/misty, cloudy and chilly last night but I decided to go out anyway and try to capture SOMETHING. I drove around for a bit until I ended up at the Space Needle where the lights on the Needle illuminated the passing clouds very nicely. I only had one shot to get this before my lens was speckled with mist.

Light in the Clouds


I left the Space Needle and drove around downtown more until I came across the Seattle Public Library. It's a gem of a building, and at night it actually looks like a gem.

Seattle Public Library


SPL Structure


I finished the night off by heading to Pike Place Market, which is really quite cool looking at night.

Pike Place, After Hours

Happy New Year

Yesterday I received my Sigma 12-24mm lens to pair with my 5D. So last night I met up with Kelly, Ed and Tommy at Gasworks Park for some night photography. This lens is SO WIDE!





Afterward I went over to Log Boom Park and took a couple shots.

Steely Night




Today I went over to Kubota Garden south of Seattle, I had never been there. It was very nice, but it'll be great during the spring and summer.

I love Seattle!

I went to the Jose Rizal Bridge last night just after sunset. I met another photographer, Raj, there and we walked down and through a hole in the fence that separates the dog park and the freeway so we could get a closer and slightly different view from this wonderful location.

This is the last image taken with my buddy's 5D, now I am just waiting to sell my 40D and 17-55mm lens so I can get myself a new camera!

Dusk

Above the Inversion at the Newcastle Golf Club

On Christmas Eve I got up at about 5am so I could drive out to North Bend and hike up to the top of Rattlesnake Ledge because there was a nice temperature inversion. If there is enough low-level moisture, this is often a recipe for a low layer of clouds and fog. Last January some friends and I hike up Rattlesnake Ledge and were treated to a spectacular sunset above the inversion.

This year I was hoping to catch sunrise. However the inversion layer was much shallower than I thought and it only extended east to Issaquah. So I drove around the Sammamish Plateau and then Cougar Mountain trying to find someplace at the right altitude with a view. I was about ready to give up when I found the Newcastle Golf Club. This place has a SPECTACULAR view! I really don't know if I was supposed to be there (there was a sign that said golfers only where I was shooting) but the grounds keeper didn't ask me to leave (in fact he asked for my business card, which I had).

I was also shooting with my buddy's Canon 5D, he let me borrow it since I am in the process of moving to a full frame camera.

You can see (and order) them all here. Here are a select few:


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And in this image you can see some nice Kelvin-Helmhotz waves!

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Zenfolio Site (for ordering images) Launched!

I've created a Zenfolio site where people can now order both prints and framed art from! It is set up so that you can order a print (or framed art) in the size that you want and it will be printed by Mpix (one of the highest quality online photographic printing companies) and they will ship it to your door!

As time goes on, the site will be updated with some of my more recent photos while older ones will come down so it won't get too cluttered.

It is also now linked with a slightly updated reidwolcott.com.

Just in time for the holidays too! Happy shopping at reidwolcott.zenfolio.com!

The Beauty of Clouds

What can I say, I love clouds. These three images we taken yesterday evening. The first is a 128 second exposure at the Mulikteo Lighthouse, the second is a 122 second exposure from Log Boom Park and the last is from Kerry Park on Queen Anne. I drove all over the place yesterday!

"Brush Strokes"


"Calm Waters"


"Hint of Blue"

Before & After Post-Processing

I have had a couple requests for some before & after post-processing images. Here are some particularly drastic examples from this weekend.

Feel free to ask questions in the comments section!

Dynamic Range
All of these shots were taken just after noon so the sun was almost directly overhead, this is usually the worst time to take photographs. It causes a HUGE dynamic range that cameras just cannot resolve. When working in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) I use the fill light slider to bring back some detail in the shadows and the recovery slider to recover some of the details in the highlights.

White Balance
Another adjustment made was warming the white balance a bit to get rid of the blues in the shadows, this has the added benefit of warming the highlights too, making it appear as though the photo was taken later in the evening.

Enhancing the Sky
One trick I learned recently was how to make the sky pop! The trick is to reduce the luminosity and increase the saturation of the blues. This will darken the sky if it is a little overexposed. Note: this will not work if the sky is completely blown out (overexposed).

Enhancing the Waterfall
In order to bring out the waterfall a little I opened the image up in Photoshop CS4 and used the dodge tool set to highlights (at around 10%) and drew over the top of the falls.

Vignetting
Another option I've been toying with lately is adding vignetting to my photographs. It is very easy to over-do this option so be careful here.

"The View From Above"


"Through the Nooks and Crannies"


"End of the Trail"

Blue Angels at Seafair 2009

Some shots from this weekends Blue Angels demonstrations. Thursday I shot them from Genesee Park, Friday from the roof of the Atmos Building and Saturday from the I-90 floating bridge. You can see them all here.

Passing Showers

I was hoping there would be some great thunderstorm action here today but I only saw one strike... On my way down to SeaTac (to pick up Melissa from a BBQ) I stopped at the Jose Rizal Bridge and took this image of the showers approaching Seattle.

"Passing Showers"

Richmond Beach Saltwater Park

This evening I drove out to Richmond Beach Saltwater Park to see if there were any noctilucent clouds (the answer was no). I don't believe I've ever taken photos here before. It's not too far from our place and it has a beautiful overlook of the Puget Sound. I'll have to head out there more often. I came away with these photographs.

"Swirling Mass"


"Moonset through the Rainfall"