Favorite Photo of the Week: Factoria Sunset & Gasworks Park

Late posting today as I had a book club meeting. After photography and travel, my next favorite activity is reading and talk about books. Needless to say I had a wonderful time. As for the photos, I had two and I just could not decide between the two. So I decided not too. I hope you don't mind :o).

Favorite #1 - Gasworks Park 10.08.11

The starbursts and framing are what I love the most and that I was able to get a night shot even with a lot of wind.

Settings: ISO 800, 24 mm, ss13.0secs, f/23 (full manual on tripod)

Post Processing: Cropped and added orange and brown photo filters

"No matter the sky is black or blue,
No matter there is stars or moon,
As long as Your heart is true,
Sweet dreams will always be with You." - Unknown

Linking up with Fabulous Friday and Favorite Photo Friday. Be sure to check out the other photos!

   

Favorite #2 - Factoria Sunset 10.15.11

I still can't believe that this sky is SOOC, I am really proud of that. 

Settings: ISO 800, 109mm, ss1/100, f/7.1 (full manual)

Post Processing: Spot removal and noise reduction

"When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs.  When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence." - Ansel Adams

Linking up with Favorite Photo of the Week and Photo Friday Link Party. There are many great shots to check out by clicking below.

 

Good to Wow Edit: Pumpkins 10.15.11

The time has come to edit my pumpkin pictures for the Good to Wow Challenge. This week I used white balance settings other than auto to capture my SOOC shots. I was very impressed with how they turned out and when I went to edit them there wasn't a clear need for editing. I wanted to try split toning as Ashley had suggested on her post, but I just didn't have the right kind of highlights and shadows. So I decided to keep the shots SOOC and make a collage. I have been wanting to give one a try for a while and I thought this was the perfect time.

To do so, I went to Click it Up a Notch and found an old post where Courtney links to free Photoshop and Lightroom collage templates. I decided to use Lightroom for this as my trial for Photoshop is quickly approaching its end and I already have the full version of Lightroom. The link Courtney provides is to a great assortment of templates and an easy to follow tutorial of how to use them - it can be found here. I followed the tutorial, added my SOOC pumpkin shots (with the exception of one as it just did not fit so I used a shot I did for Shades of Autumn), added a quote to the empty box in Photoshop and ta-da! A collage was created. I like the simplicity of it for my first attempt and I love seeing all of the shots together. I would love to add borders around each image in the collage. Is that possible in Lightroom? Regardless, I am proud of how this turned out. I think it is fun and a great capture of this time of year.

I would love to hear your thoughts. How do you do collages? Do you know how to add borders? Any freebies to share :o)? Thank you for stopping by!

Linking up with Good to Wow: Edit. Check out the amazing before and afters! 

I Learned: Factoria Sunset 10.15.11

This week I learned that sometimes the most beautiful moments happen in the most unexpected places. On Saturday while driving around trying to find a place to photograph the sunset from, we pulled into a driveway to turn around. The driveway was to the Tmobile Complex in Factoria and it just seemed like there might be a spot to view the rapidly changing sky. After a few twists and turns and almost turning back, we reached the top building in the complex and were rewarded with one of the most beautiful sunsets I have seen that was not at the beach or on the water. I did nothing to the sky in post processing and it is almost an exact match to what I saw. I did remove a few spots in the tree line with spot removal in Lightroom and do some noise removal. Then I used the healing brush in Photoshop for some spots on the buildings. Who would of thought that these colors and view (I think of Seattle) could be found at a corporate complex in the middle of the city? I wonder what other unexpected places I can find next :o)?

Settings: ISO 800, 109mm, ss1/100, f/7.1 (full manual)

"If you do not expect the unexpected you will not find it, for it is not to be reached by search or trail." - Heraclitus


Linking up with the fabulous linkups below. Be sure to check out the other photos, you never know what unexpected inspiration you might find!



  

Tones on Tuesday #5 10.18.11

Welcome back to Tones on Tuesday! I have to mention how wonderful it was to see so many new faces linking up last week. Wonderful and yet it made picking a few to showcase so much tougher! I wouldn't have it any other way though :o).

Here my three showcases from last week. I have made a button for those who have been showcased so be sure to grab it!

Jeanne from Butterfly Tales

What I love about this picture is that it is not a simple black and white, it has a bit of color. I love how the texture and the tones work together to convey a vintage mood. Thank you for linking up Jeanne!

Ashley Sisk from Ramblings and Photos

Ashley has been sharing some amazing history from her Europe trip. These photos are from the Catacombs in Paris and the tones communicate a moody vibe that works so well with these images. I also love the soft feel of all of her black and white photos. Thank you for linking up Ashley!

Rachel from Crinkle Photography

The perspective of this shot is so interesting and I think the black and white seems to freeze this moment in time. Thank you for linking up Rachel!

Be sure to grab your button if you were showcased! (button for linking up can be found after the guidelines)

<br /> <a href="http://scatteredhorizons.blogspot.com" target="_self"><img border="0" alt="Scattered Horizons" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nb2adXWvuDU/Tp0bdkcJBlI/AAAAAAAAAM8/34ueiklmgZc/s1600/showcasedtt.jpg"></a> <br />

Now it's your turn to share your photo with altered tones. Here is the guidelines for Tones on Tuesday:

• The basic idea is to share one photo where you have altered the tones. Such as a black and white photo or a sepia toned photo. Feel free to share the original and edit, or just the edit.
• Please share a photo that you have taken and edited yourself.
• If you have more than one photo in your post please indicate which one if for Tones on Tuesday.
• Please link up with your permalink and not your blog address.
• Attach the Tones on Tuesday button to your post
• Leave comments for the other participants, share the love :o)!
• Have fun!

<br /> <a href="http://scatteredhorizons.blogspot.com" target="_self"><img border="0" alt="Scattered Horizons" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oheKkR_BFoQ/ToqWTprynwI/AAAAAAAAAJE/eQ5mj0lgqx4/s1600/tonesontuesday2.jpg"></a> <br />

Disclaimer - By participating you give Scattered Horizons permission to share your photo on this blog. Photographers will be given credit for their work.

For my photo this week I wanted to try something I had in mind when I envisioned this link up and that is coloring the tones of a photo. In this case I used two photo filters in Photoshop - one brown and one orange to get the effect I wanted. As I was editing I was having trouble getting the result I wanted, until I realized I wasn't sure what I wanted. This leads me to my photo tip for Photo Tip Tuesday. My tip is to have an intention, an intention for capturing the photo with your camera and an intention for editing. This is not always necessary and "accidents" or the unplanned can be beautiful. However, I find that when I have an intention for what I want to communicate I am able to focus and bring about the best possible shot. 

For this photo, my intention when shooting was to capture the Seattle Skyline framed through the structures at Gasworks Park and to capture the starbursts of light. Therefore I used a high aperture number to get the starbursts and set up my tripod to get some of the structure on each side. In editing, my intention was to remove some of the gray in the photo and replace it with warmer tones to showcase the light. Thus the orange and brown photo filters. I would love to know your thoughts and if you find having an intention helps or hinders you. Thank you for stopping by!

SOOC - except for the removal of a streak from a plane due to slow shutter speed

Settings: ISO 800, 24 mm, ss13.0secs, f/23 (full manual on tripod)

Edited in Photoshop with Orange and Brown Photo Filters

"It is one of life's bitterest truths that bedtime so often arrives just when things are really getting interesting." - Lemony Snicket

Linking up with Jaymi's Photo Tip Tuesday. I learned so much last week and I can't wait to learn more! Also linking up with Capturing Beauty and The Creative Exchange. Be sure to check out the other beautiful shots. 

  

Good to Wow SOOC: Pumpkins 10.15.11

For the Good to Wow Challenge this week the prompt was pumpkins. I was not too excited about heading out to capture the shots as the sky was overcast and the first pumpkin patch we drove by was so crowded that I couldn't see how I would get the photos I wanted. Driving down the road a ways we found a road side farm stand with a small pumpkin patch. The people there were friendly and it was the perfect setting to take my time shooting different angles. As for the overcast sky, I mentioned yesterday that I used the cloudy setting for white balance on my camera as I don't think I can dial in the Kelvin setting. I think it brought out the orange of the pumpkins and made the pictures feel warm. In some cases maybe a little too warm, but overall I am happy with the outcome. All in all it was a very productive day of shooting as you can see by the fact that I am once again breaking my own rule and posting more than one photo :o). Thank you for stopping by and I would love to know what you think about the white balance. Oh, and if you have a favorite please let me know. I had a very hard time narrowing these down!

Here are my straight out of camera shots...

Settings: ISO 200, 55 mm, ss1/100, f/5.6 (full manual)

Settings: ISO 200, 51 mm, ss1/320, f/5.6 (full manual)

Settings: ISO 200, 55 mm, ss1/200, f/5.6 (full manual)

Settings: ISO 200, 40mm, ss1/250, f/5.6 (full manual)

Settings: ISO 200, 55mm, ss1/160, f/6.3 (full manual)

Settings: ISO 200, 44 mm, ss1/320, f/5.6 (full manual)

"Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all." - Stanley Horowitz

Linking up with Good to Wow! Head over and check out the other SOOC shots.

Shades of Autumn: Yellow 10.15.11

I love Saturdays! Lately I have been spending them photographing and trying out techniques I learn during the week. On a great Saturday of shooting I get in two "sessions." This Saturday was a great Saturday! I spent the morning at a roadside stand and pumpkin patch photographing pumpkins for the Good to Wow Challenge. I then spent the evening at the Tmobile Building in Factoria capturing one of the most beautiful sunsets I have seen that is not at the beach. These pictures will be shared throughout the week.

During my great Saturday of shooting I also found quite a few examples of the color of the week for the Shades of Autumn Challenge - yellow. I didn't have too much trouble finding the color yellow. I was very excited when I saw the results of my shooting as I played around a bit with white balance after reading a post by Courtney at Click it Up a Notch and the article she referenced. While I was not ready to go with Kelvin White Balance fully, I did choose a setting other than auto to match the conditions. Most of these were photographed using the Cloudy White Balance setting. They were edited with Adobe Lightroom 3 with just minor adjustments to basic settings and some yellow hue shift to really make the yellow pop. I would love to know what you think!

Settings: ISO 200, 55mm, ss1/200, f/5.6 (full manual)
Taken at Frager Farm Stand and Pumpkin Patch in Kent, WA

Settings: ISO 400, 55mm, ss1/100, f/6.3 (full manual)
Taken at Old Fishing Hole in Kent, WA

Settings: ISO 800, 55mm, ss1/40, f/4.0 (full manual on a tripod)
Taken at the Tmobile Building in Factoria

Settings: ISO 200, 55mm, ss1/320, f/5.6 (full manual)
Taken at the Frager Farm Stand in Kent, WA

"I know the lands are lit, with all the autumn blaze of Goldenrod." - Helen Hunt Jackson

Linking up with the Shades of Autumn Challenge. Check out the other yellow shots!

Project 64: Burnt Orange Plant 10.15.11

Another week and another color for Project 64. This week the color was burnt orange which seems very appropriate with the fall foliage popping up everywhere. I love the colors of fall and how things change in some cases slowly and in others quickly. I saw many examples of burnt orange in the leaves and pumpkins I was photographing for other prompts, but I wanted to stretch myself. So yesterday while photographing the sunset at the Tmobile building in Factoria (more about that later this week) I saw this plant. The light was very low so I had to use a tripod to get the shot. I think it really works with the soft lighting that showcases the color and the interesting lines of the plant. In post processing I did a very clean edit in Lightroom by adjusting most of the basic settings and doing a tiny bit of noise reduction. This is yet again another plant I have no idea the name of, but I am ok with that :o). Thank you for stopping by and I would love to know what you think!

Settings: ISO 800, 36mm, ss1/15, f/5.6 (full manual on tripod)

"You don't take a photograph. You ask, quietly, to borrow it." - Pentax Advertisment

Head over to Project 64 to see the other burnt orange finds and Sunday Snapshot to see the shots people want to remember!

 

Under the Aurora Bridge 10.08.11

I am attempting to wrap up my Clickin Walk photos from last Saturday. The last stop of our walk through Freemont was under the Aurora Bridge on Lake Union. I have always been drawn to water in all aspects of my life. My favorite place to be is walking along the shore next to the vast ocean and hearing the waves.  While not exactly the same, a lake provides some of the same type of contentment for me. That being said, the last stop on the Clickin Walk was my favorite. I could have spent hours walking around and finding different angles. As it was, I walked away with a ton of pictures. The one below was one of my favorites. I was trying to capture the color of the water, the boats and the beautiful sky. The first shot is SOOC, the second a clean edit in Lightroom and the last a black and white edit because I just couldn't help myself :o). I would love to hear your thoughts and which one is your favorite. Thank you for stopping by!

SOOC

Settings: ISO 800, 55mm, ss1/500, f/8 (full manual)

Lightroom Clean Edit

Lightroom Black and White Edit

Photoshop PW Black White Beauty Action Applied

"Water is the driving force of all nature." - Leonardo da Vinci

Linking up with SOOC Saturday, A Moment in Time, Scenic Sunday and SkyWatch. Please check out the other amazing photos!

  

Favorite Photo of the Week: Foggy Morning 10.08.11

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I had a lot of trouble picking a photo as a favorite of the week because I didn't have a lot that inspired me. This week I had the opposite problem. Last Saturday was a very good photography day for me with an inspiring morning of beautiful lighting, a skill stretching walk through Freemont on the Clickin Walk and a fun night shoot at Gasworks Park. I was very tempted to post a bunch of favorite photos, but after looking at all of my contenders there was one that I kept coming back to. My edit for the Good to Wow Leaves challenge is simply my favorite for the week. You can see the SOOC shot here and read about the edit here. I would love to know what you think!

Settings: ISO 200, 42mm, ss1/100, f/22 (full manual)

Edited with Photoshop - Healing Brush and PW Lovely and Ethereal Action

"Beauty awakens the soul to act." - Dante Alighier

Linking up with these fabulous Friday link ups! Please spend a moment or two visiting the amazing photos of those who also participate!

    

Good to Wow Edit: Foggy Morning 10.08.11

Today was one of those long, exhausting days. It wasn't a bad day, actually the opposite during the teaching portion. I just had a TON of stuff to get done tonight before I left that required a lot of mental and physical energy. When I came home to do my edits my brain was fried and I kept trying different things, using different presets and actions, but nothing worked. In an effort to focus I thought about what was missing from the photos compared to how I saw the scene. I really liked the SOOC shots, but I thought they lacked a bit of the magic of the moments I was trying to capture. Looking through my Photoshop actions I saw Pioneer Woman's Lovely and Ethereal Action and I gave it a try. The ethereal quality was just what they needed. I did some minor healing brush work on the first one to remove some distracting light flares.

I would love to know what you think about the edits. Thank you for stopping by!

SOOC Shot

Settings: ISO 200, 42mm, ss1/100, f/22 (full manual)

EDIT

Edited with Photoshop - Healing Brush and Pioneer Woman's Lovely and Ethereal Action

SOOC Shot

Settings: ISO 200, 55mm, ss1/100, f/13 (full manual)

EDIT

Edited with Photoshop - Pioneer Woman's Lovely and Ethereal Action

"How beautifully leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days." - George Burns

Linking up with Good to Wow: Edit. Check out the amazing before and afters!