More Seattle shots

We couldn't visit Seattle without going to the city's legendary waterfront public market. I wasn't sure how I was going to like it, but it turned out that we had a really good time. There was plenty to take in, and many photo opportunities, as you'll soon see.

When you look at my exposure information, keep in mind that many of these images were a bit off once I got them on a large computer screen - a few of the indoor shots had to be lightened in Photoshop. (I mentioned before that I fell into the trap of relying on the LCD screen on the back of my camera in lieu of trusting my meter. Too bad I had the screen's brightness turned all the way up, which I neglected to remember. Grr - lesson learned - I won't be making THAT mistake again.)

This sign has been at the market for a long, long time, and it's an icon of the city, so I had to get a shot. A near cloudless, picture-postcard blue sky added to this one.

Canon EOS 5D, Canon 24-70 f2.8L, ISO 100, f5.6, 1/400 sec.

I wanted to get a general crowd shot, and I got this by doing nothing more than my holding my EOS high above my head and clicking the shutter, and this was the best of the bunch. The market was really crowded, especially for a weekday, and I wanted to capture the essence of the hustle and bustle. Many people who we talked to said that the market is twice as crowed on the weekend, which means that I'd never want to go there on a weekend.

Canon EOS 5D, Canon 24-70 f2.8L, ISO 1250, f5.6, 1/125 sec.

The produce selection was amazing to taste and sample, but from a photo perspective, the colors were amazing. This is one of the better shots.

Canon EOS 5D, Canon 24-70 f2.8L, ISO 1000, f5.0, 1/100 sec.

I like two things about this shot - the girl's hair, and the sign on top of the avocados. This didn't turn out quite as well as I would have liked it to, though - the detail in her hair is lost, and that's too bad, because it had some serious height (I almost asked her if she was from Jersey, but that's never a compliment, so I reconsidered, especially since I wanted to take her picture).

Canon EOS 5D, Canon 24-70 f2.8L, ISO 1000, f4.0, 1/100 sec.

I'm thankful that I got a chance to get a picture of a tradition at the market - the throwing of the fish at Pike Place Market. I could have stood there all day to watch these guys. They have huge display cases out front, and when someone orders something, the manager out front calls it out, and the guys behind the counter chant it back in unison. "Ten pounds of clams!" ... "Tens pounds of clams!"

I tried to figure out the best way to capture the action, because it was very crowded at Pike Place and I knew I was going to have to hold my EOS over my head to have a chance at a decent shot. I watched the guys in action for about 10 minutes, and then maneuvered to where the guy was catching the fish. Knowing that the auto focus could muff the shot, I focused on him while he was standing there, and then turned off the auto focus. The next time a fish was launched, I raised my camera overhead and fired off a few.

Canon EOS 5D, Canon 24-70 f2.8L, ISO 1000, f7.1, 1/400 sec.

This image is my favorite shot from our whole trip. I think this image really shows off what the EOS 5D can do - the colors are brilliant, and in this particular shot, the colors remind me of some excellent Fuji film I used to use.

The scene is a roof-top restaurant on top of a building across from the main market building. I just looked up and held my breath - it really was a beautiful view. This shot also demonstrated to me how effective a polarizing filter can be at making a blue sky deeper in color (when I have it turned just right, which I'm still getting the hang of).

I stood on the back bumper of a delivery van, zoomed back to 24mm, and fired away.

Canon EOS 5D, Canon 24-70 f2.8L, ISO 100, f7.1, 1/200 sec.

Seattle has pigs everywhere, of all colors and motifs. It's some sort of fundraising thing, but I forget the details. I wasn't nearly as interested in the reasons behind having the pigs on display as I was in capturing some of the neater ones. This gold-plated pig, worthy of Liberace's home, was in the lobby of a bank, so I ran in and took it. The picture doesn't do it justice, though - this pig sparkles. If I ever win the lottery, I'd love to have this one hung from the ceiling in a big dance room, where spotlights could make it function as a disco light pig. Hey, right people can afford to be eccentric like that.

Canon EOS 5D, Canon 24-70 f2.8L, ISO 1000, f4.5, 1/80 sec.

This pig is inside the public market. At the risk of sounding like I'm bragging (I'm not), I'm amazed that this one turned out as good as it did - at 1/40 sec., hand holding a shot usually becomes problematic, and I don't have the steadiest of hands under the best of circumstances. Tripods and image-stabilized lenses were made for someone like me. I don't even remember what position I was in when I took it, but I was crouching down - I must have steadied my rig on my knee or something.

Incidentally, the only, and I do mean the only wish I have about my Canon 24-70 "L" lens is I wish it was image stabilized; it's the only thing missing. Then again, that would have added significantly to the cost, too. But, since it's a f2.8 lens, I've had pretty good luck in low light.

Canon EOS 5D, Canon 24-70 f2.8L, ISO 1600, f2.8, 1/40 sec.

Seattle shots

Our trip to Washington was a learning experience for me in photography. I took pictures virtually every day, and it was great. This was really the first vacation I've had in a very long time (over a decade, once I thought about it) where I had virtually unlimited time to take pictures, and my first-ever extended vacation with a DSLR. (I was supposed to have a DSLR along on our honeymoon last year, but some @#$%!&%$@ at the Sheraton in Cabo where we got married saw to it that the camera didn't make the trip with us to Puerto Vallarta. Sigh. But, that's another story.

Anyway, I learned a few very important digital lessons on this trip, and even had a few lessons I already did know reinforced.

Probably the biggest, painful lesson I learned is that the digital screen on the back of my EOS 5D is quite unreliable in letting me know how an image is exposed. I'll explain. I have the brightness on the screen jacked up so I can see it better. It seemed like a reasonable thing to do, until I got home and looked at the images on our large LCD screen. Oops. Many (but not all) of my images were underexposed. Not a big deal - in most cases I could correct the problem in Photoshop and still get a decent image. I started leaning on my screen more and forgetting a basic rule of photography - trust your meter (in most cases, anyway). Bottom line - the meter is much more reliable than the screen on the back of your DSLR. The screen has its place (composition, are anyone's eyes closed?, etc.), but determining if you have the correct exposure (unless its WAY off) is not one of them, especially if you have the screen's brightness jacked all the way up.

It's now officially time for me to begin using the screen shade I bought a dog's year ago but I'm yet to use.

Anyway, enough talk - on to some images.

I'll never forget my first trip into Seattle - a mostly clear, crisp, perfect summer day. We rode the car ferry right into downtown Seattle - we docked near the stadiums where the Mariners and Seahawks play. The ferry ride was a quick one, and I didn't have a whole lot of time to take a bunch of different pictures. I only had about 15-20 minutes of time on the upper deck to take pictures. I literally was snapping pictures, hustling around the boat to get all angles.

The above pic is less than stellar. (Insert sarcasm here) I later found out from a tour guide at the Space Needle that Mt. Rainier (know locally simply as "the mountain") is only visible from the Needle about 1/3 of the year; it's often obscured by clouds and fog.

Obviously, on this day, the mountain was visible, but a haze enveloped it. I'm thinking that a ND filter might have done the trick, but I don't have one for either one of my lenses. I don't currently have many filters for my lenses, since I recently changed my line-up to Canon L lenses, I couldn't keep my old filters because of filter size differences. Oh well, I'll get around to that eventually.

Anyway, this pic was a challenge to color-correct in Photoshop, too. I'm still not thrilled with the pic, but as our tour guide said, the mountain can be a challenge to photograph under what passes for the best of conditions. I'll take another run at this mountain next year when we go back.

Canon EOS 5D, Canon 24-70 2.8L lens, ISO 100, circular polarizing filter, exposure unrecorded.

A closer shot of the Space Needle as we approached on the ferry - much better than the one above. In beginning to wonder if I didn't have the polarizing filter rotated right with the picture above, because this picture is 100 percent better in terms of color balance and white balance, everything. But, I might also beating myself up for nothing - it really was a hazy day, and the shot immediately above was taken when we were much closer to the city.

Anyway, I do like this shot - the sky is near perfect in the image on a cloud-free day.

Canon EOS 5D, Canon 70-200 IS 2.8L lens, ISO 100, exposure unrecorded, circular polarizing filter.

As we were walking in to get in line for the Space Needle, I got down flat on my back and looked up for this shot, taken at 24mm. The polarizing filter really deepened the sky, which I think makes the picture.

Canon EOS 5D, Canon 24-70 2.8L lens, ISO 100, circular polarizing filter, exposure unrecorded.

This is one of my favorite shots from our Seattle trip - a city scape from the Space Needle looking out toward Mt. Rainier. To the right, you can see the stadiums the Seahawks and Mariners play in. I didn't have my polarizing filter on for this shot, and I wish I would have.

Canon EOS 5D, Canon 70-200 IS 2.8L lens, ISO 100, exposure unrecorded

This is another favorite from Seattle - a building with a huge mural of Seattle Mariners center fielder Ichiro Suzuki. The polarizing filter did the trick for this one, taken at 24mm.

I'm very impressed by the lack of vignetting by Canon's 24-70 f2.8L lens, especially at the minimum focal length. It's the workhorse in my bag that I used for probably 75 percent of my shots, since I take a great deal of landscapes and architecture.

Canon EOS 5D, Canon 24-70 2.8L lens, ISO 100, circular polarizing filter, exposure unrecorded.

Stay tuned - many more photos coming later today / this evening.