Microsoft in Fall – Redmond

12. October 2012 · Comments Off on Microsoft in Fall – Redmond · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , ,

I was at work today trying to decide what to post.  As usual I have hundreds of “backup pictures” and don’t really like any of them anymore.  Anyway I work in one building on the Microsoft Campus and had a meeting in another across the road.  As I crossed the road I noted all the leaves on the path and the beautiful colors in the trees.  So after my meeting I went back to my office and grabbed my camera.

Now a year ago I would have taken a picture at head height and the image would have been “very nice”.  But these days I’m always looking for a different perspective and I loved those leaves on the floor.  So I got done and lied on the ground.  I got this picture and immediately loved the image.  As I’m lying there of course some senior leaders walk out of the building and give me “that” look.  You know the one, the one that says, “You’re an idiot”.  But at the end of the day I love the picture so I don’t care.

The sky looked pretty white while I was outside but when I got home I managed to bring a little texture back into it which really helped the image.  The bright yellows and reds of the leaves in the trees look great, and I really love those fallen leaves too.

So I’m very happy with the end result.

Master Chief was all excited about the new iPhone 5 until Carter showed him his Windows Phone.

Sailing in Fog – Seattle

11. October 2012 · Comments Off on Sailing in Fog – Seattle · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , , ,

You know when summer is over and fall is coming when the fog rolls in and you lose the sky in the morning.  That’s been happening a lot here lately so I thought I should capture some examples.  Normally I see it on the way to work in the morning as I live at the top of this hill and on the way to work I drive past a large lake.  The fog (I guess) builds up on the lake and then rolls onto the land and I hit it as I drive down the hill.

Anyway, in the past I’ve seen some amazing “fog” pictures, you know the kind of thing, fall trees by a field with a fence and fog coming off the field (I so loads of those) so I thought I’d try to capture some myself. This does of course require me to get up early enough so I have time to stop of the way to work and take a picture (that may be a problem).

But I do have this picture of a sail boat on Elliott Bay with a foggy Seattle skyline.  So I thought I’d start with that.  Ironically this was captured a while ago but I like the image so I thought I’d post it tonight.

The downside of fog I’m finding (in pictures that is) is that my images have no (or very little) contrast or color and look a little boring.  So I had to boost the contrast to make this even slightly interesting.  Now this could be because I suck at photographing fog, but it also could be that there is little foreground interest in this image.  There is the boat (that’s white with a black sail) and then there is just loads of water.  So I shouldn’t be surprised that this is pretty washed out.

Anyway I’ll keep trying and see what else I can get.

Oh, by the way.  My photo walk is this Saturday and I’m leading a group of photographers (28 in total) around Redmond.  So that should be interesting and will hopefully produce a lot of images.  Of course rain is suposed to be here on Saturday but as we live in the Pacific North West I’m hoping people will still turn up – I mean we are used to rain right?

Today, Master Chief was attacked by a huge green spider.  Carter Tried to help, I think it was because Master Chief’s uniform is also green!

Silver Cloud II – Redmond

10. October 2012 · Comments Off on Silver Cloud II – Redmond · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , ,

Those of you who visit my blog know I like to photograph cars.  Every week over summer Redmond would hold the “Redmond Exotics Car Show” and you’d get the chance to shoot loads of different types of cars – ranging from modern super cars to really old classics.  One weekend I came across this beautifully maintained 1961 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud II.  It was quite something, the paintwork was in great condition and the black bodywork and silver chrome worked really well together.

When the owner came over he started the engine and considering this was a V8 engine it was amazingly quiet, they really don’t make cars like this anymore.  The interior was all real wood and leather and was probably more comfortable than my sofa at home.  The owner was so proud of his car he was literally preening.  Mind you I would have been the same if this was mine.

What was odd was seeing this amazing old car next to modern exotics like Lamborghini’s and Ferrari’s.  Given the choice I’d pick the Rolls any day.

I suggested to Carter that he and Master Chief needed to make some new friends, so they met up with Marcus Fenix for a chat.

Water Drop – Home

09. October 2012 · Comments Off on Water Drop – Home · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , ,

So today I was feeling all creative.  It happens every now and then so I thought I’d better jump on the moment and do something different.  So I shot the water drop below.  So how did I go about doing this, and more importantly can you do this too?  Well the answer is yes, you need a little gear, and a lot of patience.

Here’s how to get your own version.  Firstly I did the dishes, not mandatory but I needed the sink in the kitchen and the dirty dishes were in the way.  Once I had a clean sink, I placed a large cutting board over one of the sinks.  Then I sent Abi off to find some of her more colorful dresses and tops, she came down with half her wardrobe (so be specific if you have a 9 year old when you ask the same).  I picked out this cute orange, yellow and purple leotard and placed it on the board.  Next I got a small glass bowl and placed that on top of the leotard and half filled the bowl with water.  With me so far?

OK, next I got some lights.  You can’t really do this with natural light as you need to shoot at a pretty high shutter speed and small aperture.  So I grabbed a couple of speed lights and set them up on either side of the bowl.  You could do this with one speed light you just might not have it evenly lit on both sides.

Then I grabbed the macro lens and placed the camera on a tripod and turned on the faucet – and the dripping began.

Now you have to start taking pictures and trying to time it as the drop hits the water in the bowl.  The lights fire and freeze motion and hopefully you get a nice picture.

It takes time to get the focus right (you need to do this manually) and you need a pretty small aperture (I used f/16 here) so you have a big depth of field (which using a macro lens is really no more than half an inch).

Tonight I took 687 shots and ended up with 49 that I really liked and kept.  Out of the 49 this one was my favorite.  You can see the leotard in the background which is in soft focus, but you can also make out the leotard’s patten in the water drop, which I think is pretty cool.  The whole thing took around an hour and it’s actually a lot of fun – go ahead, give it a go.

The guys were playing hide and seek tonight, Master Chief had a great hiding place but they found him in the end.

 

Reflection – Seattle

08. October 2012 · Comments Off on Reflection – Seattle · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , ,

I know what you’re thinking, didn’t I post a picture of this cup before?  Well yes I did, I posted a shot of the cup at night with a dark blue background sky.  Well I was in Seattle a couple of weeks ago and had the chance to shoot the cup again, only this time capturing a different composition.  The cup is at the entrance to Post Alley and is over a coffee house (wow what a surprise).  Well the coffee house has a big glass window and if you stand in “just” the right spot, you see the image below.

I really liked this image as not only do you see the cups reflection, but you see the Public Market reflection behind and the blue sky.  I really think this looks cool and despite my last posting of the cup I thought I should post this one tonight.  I think I like this version best.

One of the benefits of defining my own resolution around this picture-a-day thing is that I can post the same subject as many times as I like.  I will try not to post the cup again – honest.

I’d be interested in hearing what people think, which cup image do you like best (the link to the other one is here: http://blog.tonyseeley.com/?p=1080)

Today the Halo guys enjoyed a good game of “how long can you hang onto the stairs?”.

« Older articles
Newer articles »