A few from work today (Seattle)

coscorrosa

It started last night, I knew there'd be a full moon, and that it would be setting west just as the sun was rising this morning. I set my alarm for 5AM and put the odds at about 33% that I would actually honor it (pretty high odds for a Monday). It went off, I was about to shut it off, and then I decided I should at least peak outside. Once I saw the full moon out my window I got a little more motivated and got ready and headed in to work early to take photos of the moonset over Elliott Bay in Seattle.

When I got to work, I realized that the moon was setting a little too far south for me to get the shot I was going for.

So, I took some other shots instead. And then before I went home, I took some photos of the sunset (equinox is quickly approaching, so I only had to work 12 hours (ok, 10 hours minus lunch and foosball) to pull this off instead of the 18 at the beginning of summer).

Anyway, here's the shots, first two from the morning, final two from the evening.

Moonset over Safeco Field (home of the last-place Mariners) and Qwest Field (home of the last-place Seahawks) :



Qwest Field and downtown Seattle:



Qwest Field and downtown Seattle just after sunset:



Qwest Field 25 minutes after sunset (the taller building on the right is where my office is located):

Awais Yaqub

Oh my God
Ron these are perfect just beautiful

swintonphoto

All wonderful. Number 3 is my favorite. Lovely flow to the image.

schmoo

coscorrosa wrote:

I only had to work 12 hours (ok, 10 hours minus lunch and foosball)

Spoken like a true.... well, I dunno, but that sure is funny!

hawkeye978

Great shots, I particular like the colors in 3.

nachtmerrie

First of all, I love the lighting.
I'm getting tired of seeing pretty shots of pretty places, but the mundane lighting throws everything off.
My favorite is the third photo. I love how the road leads my eyes all around the photo.
Great job. =D

dlplumer

Fabulous Ron. Would you mind sharing how you shot these: tripod, exposure, filter, etc.

Dan

PeterLyons

Holy smokes... every one of those is fantastic! Not bad for a day's work.
I'll bet the three from the same location would make a beautiful triptych.

coscorrosa

schmoo wrote:

Spoken like a true.... well, I dunno, but that sure is funny!

Come on schmoo, let it out, no reason for self-censorship

Here's a few to choose from:

1) Overpaid/under-worked prima-donna software developer

Actually, I think that's all you need.

coscorrosa

dlplumer wrote:

Fabulous Ron. Would you mind sharing how you shot these: tripod, exposure, filter, etc.

Dan

No problem.

All shots were on a tripod, no cable release (it's busted right now), but I did have mirror lock-up enabled.

The first shot was a single exposure (f/16 ISO 250 for 15 seconds at 24mm, shot with a 24-105, or as I like to call it, 24 or 105 since that seems to be the focal lengths I use most of the time with it). The white balance was cold (3250K) because daylight or cloudy would have been way to warm (it seems like night exposures of city skylines are always warmer than they should be). I shoot in RAW so I could change it later obviously, but I knew to look out for it.

The second shot is a merge of three exposures, 2 stops apart, with the middle exposure 1.3 stops under exposed using evaluative metering (that shot was f/13 ISO 400 for 8 seconds at 16mm with my 16-35mm lens). I didn't actually need to do three exposures on this from an exposure point of view, but I wanted to get more car light trails.

The third shot is another HDR merge (pretty obvious). I shot it with a 3-stop hard ND filter, three exposures, 2 stops apart (f/18, ISO 100, 15, 4, and 30 seconds). I could have also gotten away with one exposure but only if I had a 5-stop ND filter which I don't (though I do have a 3 and a 2 stop and could stack them, but that's not the kind of math I'm prepared to do in the field). Believe it or not, I actually had to take down the saturation quite a bit on that shot, the colors at sunset were ridiculous.

The fourth is also an HDR merge of three exposures, same deal, 2 stops apart, but only shot at f/13 because I didn't care about having long exposures for the car lights like the other shots.

coscorrosa

To everyone else who commented...
Thanks for the comments and feedback. There was another ridiculous sunset tonight but I was without camera, might have to go back for a second attempt tomorrow. This is probably my favorite place for sunset shots of the Seattle Skyline, Kerry Park and Alki Beach (the other two popular spots for Seattle skyline shots) are better at sunrise I think.

dlplumer

coscorrosa wrote:

No problem.

All shots were on a tripod, no cable release (it's busted right now), but I did have mirror lock-up enabled.

The first shot was a single exposure (f/16 ISO 250 for 15 seconds at 24mm, shot with a 24-105, or as I like to call it, 24 or 105 since that seems to be the focal lengths I use most of the time with it). The white balance was cold (3250K) because daylight or cloudy would have been way to warm (it seems like night exposures of city skylines are always warmer than they should be). I shoot in RAW so I could change it later obviously, but I knew to look out for it.

The second shot is a merge of three exposures, 2 stops apart, with the middle exposure 1.3 stops under exposed using evaluative metering (that shot was f/13 ISO 400 for 8 seconds at 16mm with my 16-35mm lens). I didn't actually need to do three exposures on this from an exposure point of view, but I wanted to get more car light trails.



The third shot is another HDR merge (pretty obvious). I shot it with a 3-stop hard ND filter, three exposures, 2 stops apart (f/18, ISO 100, 15, 4, and 30 seconds). I could have also gotten away with one exposure but only if I had a 5-stop ND filter which I don't (though I do have a 3 and a 2 stop and could stack them, but that's not the kind of math I'm prepared to do in the field). Believe it or not, I actually had to take down the saturation quite a bit on that shot, the colors at sunset were ridiculous.

The fourth is also an HDR merge of three exposures, same deal, 2 stops apart, but only shot at f/13 because I didn't care about having long exposures for the car lights like the other shots.

WOW! Very impressive. Thanks Ron

Marc Muench

#3 thumb

I am still waiting for my answer from Canon on why they only design a max of 30 sec exposures in camera....

coscorrosa

Marc Muench wrote:

#3 thumb

I am still waiting for my answer from Canon on why they only design a max of 30 sec exposures in camera....

Thanks, #3 is my favorite too.

I'm also waiting for Canon... to release the 5D MII. Any bets on who will get their answer first?

boblu262

Wonderful images!
Its hard to pick a favorite, but put a gun to my head (please don't) and I'd hang #2 on my wall.
Thanks for sharing your process!

coscorrosa

coscorrosa wrote:

Thanks, #3 is my favorite too.

I'm also waiting for Canon... to release the 5D MII. Any bets on who will get their answer first?

Well, guess we know the answer to this question now

Tee Why

Nice shots, I like the colors and the composition (feels better balanced) of the 3rd shot the most.

coscorrosa

A few more
These were taken on Wednesday (the first set was on Monday). The best sunset of the week, of course, was on Tuesday, when I didn't bring my camera to work.

I didn't intend to shoot at sunrise, but, since I was there...





And then sunset and after (someday I'll get tired of this composition, but it hasn't happened yet...)

hawkeye978

Number 3 in that second sequence is beautiful. The pink sky really complements the rest of the image. Is that a HDR merge also? What software are you using to do the merge?

Elaine

Wowza! Gorgeous! Love #3 as well, but they're all splendid.

boblu262

Wow
I can see why you don't get tired of that composition. Every sunset produces a new "painting."
Excellent work ... Inspiring.

The vantage point is fantastic! From where are you shooting? Hill, building?

coscorrosa

hawkeye978 wrote:

Number 3 in that second sequence is beautiful. The pink sky really complements the rest of the image. Is that a HDR merge also? What software are you using to do the merge?

Yep, that's a merge of 3 exposures (2 stops apart), shot with a polarizer (which brought out the pink the sky) and a hand-held 3-stop split ND filter. I used Photomatix to create a TIFF which I then opened in Photoshop to play with the levels/curves, sharpen, etc.

coscorrosa

boblu262 wrote:

I can see why you don't get tired of that composition. Every sunset produces a new "painting."
Excellent work ... Inspiring.

The vantage point is fantastic! From where are you shooting? Hill, building?

Thanks! The shot is from the 12th Ave. S bridge which connects Beacon Hill with the International District, and goes over the top of I-90. The freeway that goes through downtown is I-5.

coscorrosa

Elaine wrote:

Wowza! Gorgeous! Love #3 as well, but they're all splendid.

Thanks, all I have to do is take the lens cap off, it's pretty awesome view.

jeffmeyers

Ron,

I'll bet you're glad you got up. I can totally relate to that story. You don't know how many times I just shut the alarm off and rolled over.

I really, really love the third image. The colors, the exposure and contrast all seem to work together to create just the right mood. Great photography!