[/caption] A picture perfect view of Seattle, Washington with all of the necessary subjects that make Seattle one of the most photogenic cities in the world….Mt. Rainier, Elliot Bay, Space Needle, towering sky scrapers and the industrial cranes that keep Seattle one of the top industrialized cities on the planet. This photo was obviously taken from Kerry Park and I made sure to set up during the later part of the afternoon in order to take advantage of the flawless blue skies. I made sure to use my tripod and bubble level and attach my CIR-PL and warming filter on my 17-77mm lens. I set the camera at normal and had the aperture set at F-5.7 and the shutter speed at 1/100 second. I set the ISO at 100 and increased the white balance to +0.3 in order to avoid too much glare from the sun but also wanted to be sure and avoid any under exposed photos due to the filters and setting that I was using.
Tag Archives: Space Needle
Happy 50th Birthday to the Space Needle
[/caption] Happy 50th birthday to one of the most spectacular and iconic buildings in the United States. A truly awesome piece of architecture that is as photogenic as it is majestic.
Seattle Space Needle, WA
[/caption] Downtown Seattle, WA with the Space Needle towering in the foreground offers a great view of the city. I have so many photos of downtown Seattle, WA and I still can’t stop comparing them. There are so many photographic opportunities that you can’t help but try to think of new ways to capture the cities personality. Once you’ve decided on the best geographical locations to photograph the city, your next approach is to choose the correct lens, camera mode and most importantly taking advantage of the changing weather conditions. It seems that Seattle’s weather either creates the most fantastic shooting environments or it can completely dash any chances in getting a descent shot. This shot was taken at Kerry Park and is located north of downtown. It’s the most popular place to take photos and for good reason. I was using my Canon T1i and my Sigma 17-70mm lens. I attached my CIR-PL and warming filter in order to saturate the sky and the buildings lights. I set the focal length at 70mm in order to surround the photo with the tall buildings and frame the Space Needle just off center. I made sure to use my tripod, bubble level and remote switch in order to avoid any camera shake or blur. The camera was in Program/Normal mode so the aperture shot at F-4 since I had my filters and set the ISO at 100 and reduced the white balance at -0.7. This photo was taken on 7/10/11 at about 9:50pm. The sunset was at about 9:30 and the cobalt blue sky created a great backdrop for the bright lit buildings. I felt pretty lucky that there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and that’s pretty rare in Seattle.
Seattle, WA
[/caption] Most people say that the view from Kerry Park is hands down the best place to view the city. It’s pretty hard to argue that statement especially when you can see Mt. Rainier in the background as well as the Space Needle in the foreground. It’s the only place that I was able to include the mountain with the city. You can also see all the way across Elliot Bay and view parts of the Olympic mountains as well as watch the boats enter the harbor. However, I can’t really decide if this is truly the best place to view the city. It is by far one of the best places but I don’t know if I agree it’s the best. As a photographer, there are several parks to get some amazing panoramic photos and unfortunately Kerry Park is on the north side of the city which limits your view of how massive and long the city really is. There are also a lot of tall trees that obscures the views as you can see in this photo. However, Gas Works park and West Seattle allows you a much better panoramic view of the city. I had to use my 12-24mm lens to have the Space Needle and Quest field in the same frame when I took my photo from West Seattle. You can also see that photo that I took and posted on my blog on 8/1910. I also wrote a very extensive article when I first returned from my photography trip last summer. Gas Works park offers some great views as seen from the east part of the city. I will admit that Kerry Park is the most well kept and tranquil park that I have visited so far in Seattle but I don’t think it offers the best panoramic views of the city. My vote for the best place to view Seattle is in West Seattle. But then again that’s just my opinion. To get this shot I was using my Canon EOS Rebel T1i along with my 18-55mm lens. I was using my CIR-PL and my warming filter. There was a huge wildfire that started in the Olympic mountains a few days earlier which caused the orange haze as seen in the background. The 90 degree weather and stale air didn’t help either. However, it did create a really nice hue around mt. Rainier. I was using my tripod, bubble level and remote switch since we visited the park to get some nice sunset shots. The camera was in Program/Normal mode so the aperture was set at F5 and the shutter speed was at 1/20 second. Due to the glare from the haze I set the ISO to 100 and the white balance to -1.3. This photo was taken at 8:17pm so the sun hadn’t set yet. I believe the sun set around 8:50pm. Unfortunately many of my sunset photos didn’t come out as planned since the forest fire had created a strong glare and each time I took a photo after sunset the glare from the lights made the photo look blurry. However, I was able to get a few keepers and I will be posting them on my blog soon.