From Dr. Jose Rizal Park in Seattle

greenpea

Inspired by the amazing HDR photos captured by dgrin new comer coscorrosa, I decided on Saturday morning to check out one of the spots he captured his pictures from Dr. Jose Rizal Park.

Here's my attempt (not HDR).

Definitely a great spot to get some classic Seattle skyline shots.

Thanks for the inspiration Ron!

schmoo

Andrew,

coscorrosa's shots were enough to get me to find new places to capture great Seattle skyline shots. And I don't even live there!

I'm really pleased that you were able to find inspiration to try something new. Most of the time that's the hardest part of the equation. I love the movement you captured in these three shots. How late were you there? I think the sky being darker may have emphasized the lights a little more.

Seattle looks to be such a beautiful city.

greenpea

schmoo wrote:

Andrew,

coscorrosa's shots were enough to get me to find new places to capture great Seattle skyline shots. And I don't even live there!

I'm really pleased that you were able to find inspiration to try something new. Most of the time that's the hardest part of the equation. I love the movement you captured in these three shots. How late were you there? I think the sky being darker may have emphasized the lights a little more.

Seattle looks to be such a beautiful city.

Thanks schmoo!

I did get out there a little late. The goal was to leave at 5:45, in reality it was more like 6:15, then there was the starbucks stop, the missed freeway exit, the wrong turn on 15th Ave SE, etc. etc. Typical stuff when you go to a new spot that you didn't scope out first.

I will definately be returning to this spot again, and next time at least 30 minutes earlier.

schmoo

greenpea wrote:

Thanks schmoo!

I did get out there a little late. The goal was to leave at 5:45, in reality it was more like 6:15, then there was the starbucks stop, the missed freeway exit, the wrong turn on 15th Ave SE, etc. etc. Typical stuff when you go to a new spot that you didn't scope out first.

I will definately be returning to this spot again, and next time at least 30 minutes earlier.

:lol

That's funny because I do the exact same thing even when I'm headed somewhere I've been 10,000 times (like work)

I actually thought the sky looked a bit bright, not dark. It never occcurred to me hat you were running late. Still great shots and I'm glad you know the way there, now!

coscorrosa

Cool!!!

Glad you (eventually) found the spot - just remember that your tripod can also be used as a weapon, it's not exactly the best part of the city! (Though to be fair, I haven't really had any issues, and there's generally enough traffic where I don't worry about it, the only time where it's a little sketchy would be well after sunset). And I do park there every day for work and haven't had my car broken into

I have the same "late arrival" problem (to places known and unknown) usually I get stuck in traffic or get lost (or both), and the expletives start flying from my mouth with increasing velocity. But it usually works out, even though I'm pretty stressed by the time I get to my destination.

If you saw the big building at the top of the hill, I was able to take shots from its 9th floor balcony, I'm going to see if I can con the people at work into letting me do that again, it's a great perspective, though the shots from the bridge and the park are obviously good too.

In general I like this location better for just after sunset than just before sunrise (once the sun starts setting a little further north the color will be even better near the buildings). Like anywhere else, the conditions are always changing, so it's definitely worth coming back to.

As far as the HDR thing, the shots I posted earlier (except for the last one of King Street Station, which is a normal shot) were my first real attempts at HDR (I've dabbled before in CS3, but never came away impressed, I would usually have to do major tweaking with the saturation, levels, contrast, etc. before it would look OK, and even then the dynamic range wasn't as good as I thought it would be). I then tried Photomatix and thought it blew CS3 out of the water, and needed some new material to test it with. I'm sure CS4 will be for HDR what CS3 was for panoramics (CS2 was horrible for that!), but for now, I'm pretty impressed with Photomatix. Now I bracket all my landscape shots in case I want to go HDR later (all I lose is hard drive space!). So if you're curious about HDR, you might want to give Photomatix a try, it'll stick a big watermark on your result until you register to it, but it should give you an idea anyway.

greenpea

coscorrosa wrote:

Cool!!!
Glad you (eventually) found the spot - just remember that your tripod can also be used as a weapon, it's not exactly the best part of the city!

Yah, I was a little nervous about the spot. I was actually parked at the far north end of the park between the bridge and the park, and set up just a few feet from the car.

If you saw the big building at the top of the hill, I was able to take shots from its 9th floor balcony, I'm going to see if I can con the people at work into letting me do that again, it's a great perspective, though the shots from the bridge and the park are obviously good too.

I didn't think about going into the building (Pacific Medical Center?), that's a great idea! As for the bridge, I did venture out on it, but it seems like a bus would go by mid-way through any attempt at a panorama, shaking the entire bridge :pissed

In general I like this location better for just after sunset than just before sunrise (once the sun starts setting a little further north the color will be even better near the buildings). Like anywhere else, the conditions are always changing, so it's definitely worth coming back to.

I would love to try the spot for sunset. However its a lot easier for me to get out for sunrise shots. My other favorite sunrise spots are Alki, Kerry Park, and the Arboretum.

As far as the HDR thing, the shots I posted earlier (except for the last one of King Street Station, which is a normal shot) were my first real attempts at HDR (I've dabbled before in CS3, but never came away impressed, I would usually have to do major tweaking with the saturation, levels, contrast, etc. before it would look OK, and even then the dynamic range wasn't as good as I thought it would be). I then tried Photomatix and thought it blew CS3 out of the water, and needed some new material to test it with. I'm sure CS4 will be for HDR what CS3 was for panoramics (CS2 was horrible for that!), but for now, I'm pretty impressed with Photomatix. Now I bracket all my landscape shots in case I want to go HDR later (all I lose is hard drive space!). So if you're curious about HDR, you might want to give Photomatix a try, it'll stick a big watermark on your result until you register to it, but it should give you an idea anyway.

Yah, David Parry (devbobo) turned me on to photomatix. I've been meaning to give it a try. CS3 really doesn't do that great of a job.

300m

First and formost folks great shots!! this is my 1st post here and new to smugmug. I followed the links to the other shots of Ron's. Ron, great pictures also. Thanks for the below!! I have been struggling trying to understand HDR, using Photoshop, even upgraded to extended to get the HDR tools. I treid it on a -4 to +4 in 1ev step I took at sundown on a canon, my second attempt and the shot is so flat I have been wondering as it's mate looks fine. Thanks for that information!

I really like the night shots you both took, thanks for sharing

coscorrosa wrote:

As far as the HDR thing, the shots I posted earlier (except for the last one of King Street Station, which is a normal shot) were my first real attempts at HDR (I've dabbled before in CS3, but never came away impressed, I would usually have to do major tweaking with the saturation, levels, contrast, etc. before it would look OK, and even then the dynamic range wasn't as good as I thought it would be). I then tried Photomatix and thought it blew CS3 out of the water, and needed some new material to test it with. I'm sure CS4 will be for HDR what CS3 was for panoramics (CS2 was horrible for that!), but for now, I'm pretty impressed with Photomatix. Now I bracket all my landscape shots in case I want to go HDR later (all I lose is hard drive space!). So if you're curious about HDR, you might want to give Photomatix a try, it'll stick a big watermark on your result until you register to it, but it should give you an idea anyway.

greenpea

300m wrote:

First and formost folks great shots!! this is my 1st post here and new to smugmug. I followed the links to the other shots of Ron's. Ron, great pictures also. Thanks for the below!! I have been struggling trying to understand HDR, using Photoshop, even upgraded to extended to get the HDR tools. I treid it on a -4 to +4 in 1ev step I took at sundown on a canon, my second attempt and the shot is so flat I have been wondering as it's mate looks fine. Thanks for that information!

I really like the night shots you both took, thanks for sharing

Hey John, welcome to dgrin!

Check out photomatix, its FAR superior to photoshop.

Along with Ron's amazing work, also check out some of devbobo's HDR panoramas that he created from pictures he took at the Dgrin Glacier shootout.

300m

Andrew,
Thank you for the welcome. I just downloaded the trail of Photomatix. I have only taken 4 multi exposures. None really planned but I get an idea from these 2 that I have done in Photomatix tonight. They sure stunk in CS3. 1 sunset and the house down the street. I need to read some more of this HDR book I bought from Christian Bloch. Then maybe I will understand more of the HDR shots. WOW to Davids shots!
thanks for the link I enjoyed the photo's

shinymama

Hey now, I live 3 blocks away from that spot and I've NEVER had a problem with any "weird" things at all!

It's a great spot and I agree with sunset being the best time to be there. I've taken some spectacular pictures from that bridge even without a tripod.
If you go all the way to the end of 12th ave (about 8 blocks or so) up the hill before it turns into S.Hill street, there is a nifty overlook that is good for picture taking also.

greenpea

shinymama wrote:

Hey now, I live 3 blocks away from that spot and I've NEVER had a problem with any "weird" things at all!

Yah...I think its just me, I'm pretty much a wuss.

It's a great spot and I agree with sunset being the best time to be there. I've taken some spectacular pictures from that bridge even without a tripod.

Only problem with the bridge was it seemed that every time I got set up a bus would come by.

If you go all the way to the end of 12th ave (about 8 blocks or so) up the hill before it turns into S.Hill street, there is a nifty overlook that is good for picture taking also.

Thanks for the suggestion! I'll have to check that out.

Awais Yaqub

Beautiful !

greenpea

Awais Yaqub wrote:

Beautiful !

Thanks Awais!