Cherry Blossom Redux

Hanging Cherry Blossom, March 1, 2010
Adobe Systems courtyard, Seattle, Washington
Nikon D80, Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 220mm, f/8.0, 1/125s, ISO 400
Developed in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.6

A year ago I shot the cherry blossoms in the courtyard at work with a rented lens. I love that shot, so it was my intention to recapture the magic this Spring. Two things are different:

1. It's not Spring. Not by the calendar anyway. But thanks to the balmy winter out here on the Pacific coast the local flora thinks it is. These trees are actually some of the last in the area to bloom; most of the cherry blossoms in my neighborhood are already falling to the ground. It has been painstaking waiting for them to pop.
2. I got a new lens and it's not a rental. More on that... now.
   

My buddy Erik bought himself a big, big shiny new lens that replaced his old 70-300. He kindly sold the older lens to me at a steal. This lens gives a me a little more reach and a modicum of sharpness over the 18-200. It arrived last week, just in time for me to test it out on the cherry blossoms. I'm pleased with it, mostly, but the minimum focus distance of five feet has posed some challenges. I did try out both my Lensbaby and the nifty 50/1.8 on the blossoms, and I hope to post some of those shots to you soon; I like them a bit more than this one.

Might even have more blossoms to shoot, if they last through the weekend and I can find some more time to shoot them on Monday.

And just for kicks, here's an alternate rendition of the photo. Started with the Aged Photo preset in Lightroom and adjusted to taste. Although I'm not overly impressed with these results, I do need to try other looks like this more often.

Instead of Working

Coffee Break Canal, January 25, 2010
Lake Washington Ship Canal, Seattle, Washington
Taken with Palm Pre
Developed in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.6

I don't drink coffee. I do like to walk outside and take photos. And sometimes Chase Jarvis is right. But having Lightroom helps quite a bit.

Light in Multiples

Night Light, January 23, 2010
Mukilteo Light Station, Mukilteo, Washington
Nikon D80, Tokina 12-24mm (AT-X 124 II) f/4.0 @ f/16.0, 30s, ISO 100
Developed in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.6

My wife is a very kind woman with an incredible amount of patience for my hobbies. Last night I dragged her up to Mukilteo, a little port nestled between Puget Sound and Boeing's Everett factory. She thought I was merely on a beer run with the coincidental opportunity to take some photos, but it was actually the other way around. I was there for the photos, meaning my lovely wife felt a bit abandoned while I fiddled with the camera. Rather than hang out in the cold with me, she waited it out at the brewpub.

Admittedly, I wouldn't have even known that the lighthouse was there if I hadn't been investigating Diamond Knot's brewery and ale house on Google Maps. Street view is an amazing thing, though it was predictably out-of-date and failed to display the ongoing construction at the park. I was able to scramble over some rocks and invade the light station grounds. (I wasn't the only stray tourist inside the fence, either.)

This image is a composite on two different levels. First is that it was taken with multiple long exposures, combined in Photoshop. Second is that each of the shots required multiple bursts of light from my flash. In order to create the exposures, I had the shutter open on bulb and manually popped the flash multiple times from different locations. Must have looked odd, me starting the exposure at camera then running off to a different corner of the building to fumble with the flash controls through my gloves, eyes on my watch the entire time, finally running back to the camera to close the shutter. Honestly, I was hoping that just one of those exposures would have come out as a good photo, but the building isn't lit externally so flash from multiple angles was wholly necessary. I composited in Photoshop to balance the different exposures and eliminate shadows.

By the by, the beer at Diamond Knot was good. I recommend their Industrial IPA, if you can get your hands on it.

Thar She Blows

Kaua'i Spout, July 1, 2009
Spouting Horn Park, Kaua'i, Hawaii
Nikon D80, Tokina 12-24mm (AT-X 124 II) f/4.0 @ f/6.3, 1/500s, ISO 400
Developed in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.6

No grand tales on this one. Spouting Horn was only a short drive from our hotel on Kaua'i and provided a easy afternoon diversion. There was a little souvenir market lining the upper lawn, nothing but disused sugarcane fields up the slopes, and feral chickens everywhere. Pure Kaua'i.

Waking Up Early on the Feast of Stephen

Dougan Creek Confluence, December 26, 2009
Dougan Creek Campground, Washington
Nikon D80, Tokina 12-24mm (AT-X 124 II) f/4.0 @ f/22.0, 1/2s, ISO 100
Developed in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.6

On Boxing Day (aka the Feast of St. Stephen), Erik and I got up early to look for photos at sunrise. We made a slight miscalculation in that the time given for sunrise is when the sun actually breaks the horizon, which is significantly after the best light. Regardless, we were down in the canyon and well hidden from direct light.

Dougan Falls is up the Washougal River from my parents' house. The campground is now closed, but it's a short, pretty drive up to the falls. Clambering around on the slime-covered rocks below the falls is treacherous even in warm weather, and the windy at-freezing temperatures we found on Saturday caused us to use much extra caution when moving our tripods along the icy river bank.

This scene is found downstream from Dougan Falls, where Dougan Creek meets the Washougal River. I abandoned Erik for a while and clambered through the brush, looking for a better angle up river towards the falls. To my surprise I found Dougan Creek. You never know what you're going to find on St. Stephen's Day. (No old men gathering firewood, though.)

Deck the Phones

Here's a holiday treat for you folks. I took a few of my photos from winters past and cropped them into photos sized for use as a smart phone background image. The size is 320x480, the right size for my Palm Pre (and coincidentally the iPhone).




I'll dispense with the full image statistics this time. Suffice to say they were all taken with my D80 and processed with Lightroom. The first two were from December 2008, the last one is from December 2007. If memory serves, first and last were taken with the 50mm and the center one was the wide end of the 18-200mm.

I'm not wholly satisfied with the middle one; I think it's a bit too blue. I might fix that before I use it on my phone. Right now I've got the first one as the background on my Pre, and the ringtone is a cute little intro to "Jingle Bells" from a Mormon Tabernacle Choir album.

'Tis the season.

Spotlight on Green

Posing Lizard, July 1, 2009
Kiahuna Plantation Resort, Po'ipu, Hawaii
Nikon D80, Nikkor 18-200 f/3.5-5.6 @ f/5.6, 1/500s, ISO 400
Developed in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.5

Ah, Hawai'i. I'm not through with you yet. I still have many photos of you in my catalog left to develop and publish.

This little guy wasn't camera shy. We found him while walking around the gardens at our resort, Kiahuna Plantation. The wife's sharp eyes caught him first, nestled in the leaves of a bush. I'm sure he's some sort of common lizard that Hawaiian residents sick the cats onto, but for us he was quite charming.