I-90 Bridge. Mercer Island, WA. May 5, 2008. 8:24 PM.
Nikon D300. Nikon 18-200mm VR lens @ 27mm.
Program Exposure. 1/15 sec. @ f/4. ISO 200.
On Monday night
Julie and I took to the streets of Seattle hoping to catch a cool sunset. What we found were lots of clouds—apparently 36 hours of pleasant weather is all Seattle can handle in May. Nevertheless, at hour 37 Julie and I drove to
Mercer Island and setup on the I-90 bridge. I recorded the image above minutes before sunset. I used a
Lee 0.9 neutral density graduated filter in a Cokin “P” series mount to capture the sky. The 0.9 ND grad has a range of about three stops which allows the camera to see both the sky (bright) and a darker foreground.
I-90 Bridge. Mercer Island, WA. May 5, 2008. 8:47 PM.
Nikon D300. Nikon 18-200mm VR lens @ 105mm.
Shutter Priority. 6 sec. @ f/16. ISO 200.
Lee 0.9 ND Grad filter.
This is another view from the same spot. The sky is slightly darker than the previous photo which allowed me to slow down the shutter speed and capture traffic moving. I employed the use of the same graduated filter to even out the light between the earth and sky.
South of Dr. Jose Rizal Park. Seattle, WA. May 5, 2008. 9:52 PM.
Nikon D300. Nikon 18-200mm VR lens @ 18mm.
Aperture Priority. 25 sec. @ f/8. ISO 200.
This photo comes from a few hundred feet south of
Dr. Jose Rizal Park. I’ve taken pictures from this vista before and I knew Julie could get a few “winners” if we checked it out. I tried to set a custom white balance using the Expo Disc, but the D300 kept spitting back “No Gd” on the top LCD. Accidentally I took a picture using a previous custom white balance (probably from shooting on the Ballard Bridge) and it just happened to look much better than any other setting in my camera. Experimenting with different controls between frames takes quite a bit of time when you’re shooting 25 second exposures; I just left the WB on custom and rolled with it. The foreground is lit by very bright streetlights that were just behind the camera. If you look closely you can see an old shoe that someone threw out a car window.
Near Pacific Medical Center. Seattle, WA. May 5, 2008. 9:52 PM.
Nikon D300. Nikon 18-200mm VR lens @ 31mm.
Manual. 10 sec. @ f/8. ISO 200.
This shot is from a bridge near the Pacific Medical Center in Beacon Hill. Julie and I spotted a guy shooting from this spot when we were at the last setup and figured it would be worth checking out. We chatted with the photog for a bit and compared shots. He was shooting a Canon 20D on a big, heavy tripod. I noticed he had a
Glazer’s Camera sticker on his pod—nice. As Julie can confirm, I admitted to being jealous of the Glazer’s badge.
All of the above images were made with the Nikon D300 on Vivid picture control and +3 saturation. I also used a Manfrotto ball head and tripod—with the amount of coffee I drink there’s no way I’d ever be able to hold the camera still at these shutter speeds.
May 9th, 2008 on 2:47 am
Great photos. I love the colors in the one with the shoe! I’ll have to go through mine and see if any turned out! I think i’m going to try to do a photoshoot with my friend Libby here in L.A. so you’ll have to check those out too!