Foggy Seattle

greenpea · January 19, 2009

For most of the past week we've had unusual weather here in Seattle. Super high pressure and a very stable inversion (meaning the temperature gets warmer higher up). This helped lead to some interesting morning fog conditions. This morning I got up early and spend an hour driving all over the city trying to find a spot that gave me a view. Everywhere that had a view point seemed to be totally fogged in. At the point of almost giving up the fog suddenly cleared and gave me a view of a ship in Elliot Bay waiting to be filled with grain.

#1

Parked the car pulled out the camera and started taking pictures of the ships in the bay surrounded by fog...

#2

The conditions would get to the point where there was almost no contrast. But at least it was easy to meter.

#3

after much waiting, Mount Rainier finally appeared.

Feeling as though I had taken too many pictures of boats and fog, and feeling as though I really needed coffee, I packed up and went to a nearby starbucks to refuel. There I met another photographer who told me about his experience shooting the city in the fog at nearby Ella Bailey park. I decided to check it out. I was shooting almost directly into the sun, but this is what I got...

#4

#5

Thanks for checking out my pics. All c&c welcome.

Cuong · January 19, 2009

Andrew, great job.

#3 and #5 are my favorite. The weather is so dynamic, you never know how it'd end, but looks like you have a fantastic morning.

Cuong

schmoo · January 19, 2009

Gorgeous, Andrew! I love the first shot, and your final shots from the park. I would have thought fog was more common than it is up in Seattle, given how moist it is. Well, just goes to show ya.

kitvan · January 19, 2009

love the shots! I miss Seattle so much:cry

one suggestion, if you want to emphasize the silhouette quality of these photos, you might open up Levels in photoshop and bring the left slider (shadows) to the right a bit

dlplumer · January 19, 2009

Great moody set. I like 1 and 4 especially

kitvan · January 19, 2009

i hope you don't mind, but I did a simple Levels adjustment on this one.

40 1.20 190

grimace · January 19, 2009

Beautiful series Andrew!!

greenpea · January 19, 2009

Cuong wrote:

Andrew, great job. #3 and #5 are my favorite. The weather is so dynamic, you never know how it'd end, but looks like you have a fantastic morning.

Cuong

Thanks Cuong! On #3 I waited forever for Mt. Rainier to clear up enough to be able to make out the mountain, then I just got lucky with the seagull.

schmoo wrote:

Gorgeous, Andrew! I love the first shot, and your final shots from the park. I would have thought fog was more common than it is up in Seattle, given how moist it is. Well, just goes to show ya.

Thanks schmoo! We do have plenty of fog, but usually the fog is much more evenly covering the city with the bay completely covered, and the fog is usually accompanied with gray skies, which doesn't make for the best photos.

kitvan wrote:

love the shots! I miss Seattle so much:cry

one suggestion, if you want to emphasize the silhouette quality of these photos, you might open up Levels in photoshop and bring the left slider (shadows) to the right a bit

Thanks for the advice kitvan! I had a few photos were I think they were more pure silhouette's out of the camera, but I didn't get the seagull. I'll give it a try.

dlplumer wrote:

Great moody set. I like 1 and 4 especially

Thanks Dan! #1 was the scene that got me to get out of the car. With #4 and #5 I was shooting almost directly into the sun doing everything I could to keep from completely blowing it out. After a couple of pics, I was suprised that I was actually getting anything to turn out. #4 was iso 200, f18, 1/2000 sec...no need for a tripod

kitvan wrote:

i hope you don't mind, but I did a simple Levels adjustment on this one.

40 1.20 190

Thanks kitvan, I appreciate the start on setting my level adjustments.

grimace wrote:

Beautiful series Andrew!!

Thanks Adam!

coscorrosa · January 19, 2009

Sweet, really moody shots of Seattle, the backlit shots work really well with the fog. I had my camera with me this morning but the only thing I captured was memories and frustration (stuck at work).

Anyway, great shots!

greenpea · January 20, 2009

coscorrosa wrote:

Sweet, really moody shots of Seattle, the backlit shots work really well with the fog. I had my camera with me this morning but the only thing I captured was memories and frustration (stuck at work).

Anyway, great shots!

Thanks Ron!

In a moment of over optimism I decided to also my camera today, but I also doubt that I will get out of my office until after dark :cry

aktse · January 20, 2009

clap

clap My favorite is the one of Rainer peaking out of the clouds!

greenpea · January 20, 2009

aktse wrote:

clapclap My favorite is the one of Rainer peaking out of the clouds!

Thanks April!

I was waiting with my camera pointed at that scene for what seemed like forever, watching the fog start to clear up then completely cover up the mountain again. I wanted THAT picture, but was annoyed I was probably missing some other shot with the fog around the buildings in the city. Finally the fog cleared up, however I must have 50 images where the fog was obscuring everything but the very tip of the mountain.

Foggy Seattle

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