Sunday, Sunset Sunday

This past weekend was the first lazy Sunday that we have had in over two months which was rather fitting given that rather massive storm that rolled through Friday and Saturday.  By mid-day Sunday I was going rather stir crazy and wanted to get outside for a bit. Two things I really love about this time of year are 1) all that rain cleans up the air, and 2) early sunsets mean I can get outside, take some pictures and still get home in time for dinner.

Yesterday was the best of both worlds.  The storm that rolled through all last week did a fantastic job of cleaning the air, and Sunday was a beautiful day with an early sunset and enough clouds rolling in to make an interesting color.  The four of us packed up the car and went down to Golden Gardens. As soon as we got there the sun was nearing the clouds. I quickly got everything ready, went down near the water lined up the shot and within 5 minutes managed to get the best shot of the evening.

Goodness Gracious Great Ball of Fire
ISO100, f/11, 1/400 second

The sun went down pretty quickly after this so I consider myself lucky I got there in time.

Once I got "the shot" I figured I would kill some time playing around. I haven't taken a panoramic shot with this camera and figured I might as well try it out.  To add to the fun, I remember reading that for maximum resolution you should shoot panorama with the camera in portrait mode for a landscape shot and in landscape for a portrait shot. I like the shot, but the sky isn't as interesting as it was 10 minutes earlier, and I find it odd that it looks as if I am standing at a corner even though the sidewalk went straight from my direct left to my direct right. Looking at this makes me interested in trying to create those "tunnel" type panoramas I have seen a few times online.  Maybe I will try to figure out how to shoot/process one of those sometime soon.

Panorama of 11 shots taken in portrait mode.
Full resolution is 19,885 x 5,251 pixels

 Of course, I had to play with my new Rokinon 14mm while I had the chance.  I'm still trying to figure out the best uses for this lense ASIDE from astrophotography (something I have yet had the opportunity to do with this thing).  Two things I noticed from my previous attempt at using this lens: 1) it is difficult to focus, primarily because I never feel that I can get close enough to see enough detail to properly focus; and 2) because this lens has such a wide field of view, you really need something in the foreground to add interest to the shot. To get that "item of interest" I walked down to the water and set up right near a rock.  It was quite the precarious position as the rocks were slippery, I wasn't wearing the greatest of shoes, and I was carrying a camera around my neck.  I spent a few minutes down there and eventually got the shot below.

Composite of three exposures.

I had the damndest time trying to get the rock properly exposed, and still feel that it is quite under-exposed.  In fact, this shot is even a composite of three exposures, one for the sky, one for the water, and one, trying to expose for the rock. Even with the composite, the rock is underexposed. I probably could have gotten it if I was able to take a longer exposure, but there was no way I would be able to hold still long enough, I was slipping all over the place.

What I really want to do is get the shot I saw a few weeks ago from the bus while on the Aurora bridge.  While looking north as the sun was setting, I could see Mt Baker bathed orange reflected off the clouds.  I haven't seen anything like it the entire time I have lived here. It was awesome. I was pretty upset that I didn't have my camera with me, especially given that I brought my camera to work a few days earlier with the intent of taking sunset pictures. Oh well, I'm going to keep my eyes open for similar conditions in the future and figure out how the hell to get the shot.  Maybe I could find someone to let me in to or on top of the the UW tower on Brooklyn. Either that or maybe I can get to the top of the condo tower near there, or Hotel Decco. Regardless, next time I think conditions may be good for that shot, I'm going to find a way to take it.