Harbor Water Lillies – Carillon Point

25. June 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , , , ,

So I’ve been going through a photography crisis over the last couple of days.  There is this video podcast I watch called “The Grid”, and the show is presented by a couple of guys I really respect.  I’ve been a bit behind with the shows (mainly due to work) and had the chance this weekend to catch up.  Well on a few shows the two presenters (Scott Kelby and Matt Kozlowski) carried out some blind reviews, where people send in their images and basically Scott and Matt tell them what they really think.

Unfortunately sometimes what they think isn’t nice to hear.  That said if an image sucked (and a lot of them did) they give the message in a respectful way, clearly stating what’s wrong and what you need to do.  Well as I’ve been watching the shows I’ve been going through my own pictures and have seen a lot of the “mistakes” they raised on the show.  One of the things they said on The Grid was that people tend to tell you nice things on Facebook and Flickr, friends don’t say things like “I don’t like that image”, they just don’t “like” it.

As a result looking through my “images to post” directory I found I didn’t like any of the shots anymore as I keep seeing errors and mistakes.

Tonight’s image is another shot from Carillon Point, this time from right down on the waterfront just by the harbor.  Just in front of the boats is this small separated area for small row boats and kayaks.  The water is covered in water lillies and lit from small lights that edge the water.

When I took the shot I loved the lillies and the reflections on the water.  Looking at the image at home I noted that the water in the bottom left corner was a bit “scummy” – and that’s being nice.  This was an attention to detail issue that was raised on the podcast.  So I spent an hour cleaning the water in Photoshop.  (Now I’ve said that you will all be looking in the corner at the water).

The end result is a better picture, but after this weekend I still feel I have a lot to learn.

Tonight the Halo dudes decided to cut up some fresh berries.  Fortunately they didn’t make too much mess.

Restaruants – Carillon Point

20. June 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , ,

I’ve posted a few pictures of Carillon Point and talked about the waterfront, harbor and the restaurants and Woodmark Hotel.  All the other shots I’ve posted have been down by the water, I posted one image that looked down at the water from the upper area where the shops and restaurants are but nothing really from around the shops and the hotel.

So tonight’s image is from the upper section.  There’s this really nice paved area that is almost like a very large roundabout with shops.  Cars can drive round the area to drop people off or you can hand your car to a valet service for the restaurants and hotel.  But there is very little traffic.  In the middle are these large pillars with lights on top and a seating area where you can sit and watch the world go by.

Around the outside of the roundabout are a number of restaurants, shops and, of course, the hotel.  You can’t actually see the hotel in the shot below (it’s to the left of the image), but you can see the restaurants and bars lit up.  It’s actually a really nice quiet place to hang out (if it’s a nice evening).  You can enjoy a lovely meal while watching the sun set over Lake Washington (that was behind me when I took the shot).

Party time tonight as the new camera is here tomorrow, so Carter and Master Chief helped me blow up some balloons.

Harbor Stairs – Carillon Point

17. June 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , , ,

Here’s another image from Friday night at Carillon Point.  In the picture you can see the waterfront at the bottom of the stairs, you can also see the pier that goes out into the lake and around the harbor (on the left).  All along the water front and the pier are big round lights that make it look really nice once the sun has set.

The sun had gone down so I captured this shot with a long exposure so it almost looks almost like daylight.  The clouds in the sky are clearly visible in the picture, but when I was there you couldn’t really make them out.

At the top of the stairs are the restaurants and the Woodmark Hotel.  This is a really nice hotel that overlooks Lake Washington.  If you could make out the skyline on the other side of the lake (on the horizon) you’d see Seattle.

Fortunately there weren’t too many people working around, they were all in the restaurants enjoying their dinner.  But I wouldn’t be surprised if they all walk off their meal after they leave walking along the waterfront.  As it was quiet, I had plenty of time to compose the image and take a few shots.  I think the exposure time was around 4 seconds, so ironically even if someone did walk past they would only appear as ghosts.  That said there was very little work to do in Photoshop.  Hope you like the shot.

Cater and Master Chief started a game of “Find-it” just after breakfast and they were still playing 4 hours later!

Rose – Carillon Point

15. June 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , , , ,

I wanted to post something different tonight so I waited until the sun went down and hit the road.  At first I was looking for something interesting to shoot in Redmond Town Center, but the security guys don’t like me there (you’ll have to read an earlier post to find out why) so I kept driving.

In the end I found myself in Carillon Point in Kirkland.  This is a private harbor for local residents who clearly have some money – you should see the size of the boats.  They have lots of lights along the water’s edge and piers that head out and around the harbor, these piers are also lit up.  On the water front there are loads of bars and restaurants and they were all full of people.

So there I am walking around with a camera bag around my neck and a huge tripod and camera in my hand – everyone is looking at me like I’m nuts.  I took lots of shots and got some really nice images – it’s very pretty there.  I even bumped into a friend from work and stopped to talk to him and his wife for a bit.  When I was done I started walking back to the car.

Just before I reached the car I noticed these huge pink roses in a massive bush.  There were three roses and they bigger than both my hands together.  Just by the roses there was a large group of people standing outside a bar drinking.  Anyway I thought a close up shot of the rose in focus with the boats in the background in soft focus may look nice so I set up my tripod and took a few pictures.

When I got home I showed Lisa all my shots and she fell for this rose image so that’s the one I’m posting tonight.  This was taken with quite a long exposure so while it looks pretty light outside it’s really not.  The sun had set and the sky was dark.  Anyway I think it came out well, hope you like the image.

The guys found a mouse trap today and started to play with it, big mistake!

Harbor – Carillon Point

25. April 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , , ,

As promised I don’t want to post tulip pictures every night (even through I have enough for the rest of the year), so tonight I’m having a break and posting this image of the harbor at Carillon Point.  Today has been a rainy day and pretty grey outside, so this image reminded me of the sun we had last week and what’s to come.

Lisa, James, Abi and I drove to Carillon to see if we could get any nice pictures and we did well.  The white puffy clouds against the blue sky looked great and there were not too many boats in the harbor.  You can’t see it but Seattle is on the other side of the lake.

I’m waiting for a clear night as I want to go back and see if those street lamps light up and look any good when it gets dark.  I think a similar shot at night, maybe even with moonlight would look very cool.

However, enjoy this break as tomorrow it’s back to tulips.

Carter and Master Chief got scared by something at work today and I found them running away.

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