June 9, 2009

4

beauty, color, f164, Fine Art, Nature, technique

Midnight Seattle: Seattle WA

Midnight Seattle. Seattle WA. Jan 2009, Gavin Seim. 2010 PPA Loan Collection. 2011 PPA Magazine.

Updates

  • The limited edition has been released as a 40×24 classical canvas, edition of 100. $495.00. Contact Gavin for availability.
  • Midnight Seattle is also now available as a special open edition 24 inch print for $129.00
  • This image was admitted into the 2010 PPA International Loan collection. Details here.
  • It was published in the June 2011 issue of Professional Photographer Magazine.

When the sunlight fades, the light does not. Seattle is a spectacle to be seen, even at the strike of midnight. It’s festive colors crowned with the centerpiece that is the Space Needle. At 605 feet tall, it still stands proud and modern, though nearly fifty years old. When the view is just right and the traffic dies down, the bustling metropolis becomes a tranquil wonderland of light and color. Well, from a distance at least.

This was made at about 1AM from Kerry Park. The result is just what I hoped for from this mild winter evening. I enjoy the bold definition and tonal range, but also that the Space Needle is the primary object in the scene, complemented by the city. A gently applied dynamic range process allowed me to keep the lights and shadows in control and pull the tones of the city into a cohesive story.

Release details: Prints Available.. Order Open Edition originals above.. Signature Limited Editions are listed below and can be ordered by contacting gallery.

Released prints….

 

For Photographers. How it was made…

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May 10, 2009

1

f164, Fine Art, Nature

Imperfection. Yellow Flowers:

Photography is about light and how we see that light. I took these last weekend using a Lensbaby which is a selective focus manual lens (a tilt shift look, for those who know what that means). The result is a little imperfect and not as clear as the expensive lenses I often use. It’s not for everything, but used at the right time it can be effective. This flower was not at it’s prime, but because of that it stood apart from it’s nearly perfect brothers and sisters. It took  my attention and in the end was my favorite of the group. Imperfect, but not unseen.

These flowers (Arrow-leaved Balsamroot I believe) are everywhere this time of year. Bringing focus on just one, instead of the many, keeps the eye on the beauty and not on the crowd, while still knowing the crowd exists. This starts in camera, but does not end there. Even in the film days photographers worked with their images to put the attention where they wanted it.

Just to illustrate the power of the edit, I’m posting one of the plain uncorrected images next to the final version below. In this case basic correction, then one of my effects and plenty of burning and dodging (lightening and darkening certain areas on the image) brought of the depth and made the flowers stand out the way I intended. For you photography lover I’ll post a before and after to show the processing… Gav

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April 21, 2009

0

f164, Fine Art, Nature

The Overlooked Flower

I think Dandelions are actually very stunning. We tend to overlook them because their abundant and can be annoying. If they were rare we would probably covet them.

There’s an amazing amount of God’s handiwork in this little weed. I was thinking. If instead of being scattered around the yard I put all the dandelion into a flowerbed they would look pretty cool.

I shot this with Radio Poppers on my 580 flashed to get the Strobist side lighting effect. Then I felt it looked too normal in color so I applied an infrared preset from my PW2 collection. This tiny under appreciated weed is so intricate and detailed in it’s beauty.

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March 31, 2009

2

f164, Fine Art, Nature

Bridge Of Memories, 1st Place Icicle Prize 2009:

This is a shot I took last fall of the old bridge spanning the Wenatchee river near Leavenworth WA. On Saturday it won the Icicle Prize 1st place color and peoples choice award. It took home $2000 in prize money.

I’d like to give a big thanks to a great local photographer, Julie Waites, who told me about this contest. I’m told the judges were unanimous and I’m excited and humbled that is did do well.

This is an HDR image taken with my Canon 30D. Such a cool old bridge. Here’s some history about it. Prints can be found in my canvas store.

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March 27, 2009

3

Nature

Opo Terser's Entomology Macrophotography

Over the past couple months, I have been keeping an eye on the photostream of Opo Terser.  Armed with a Pentax K200D, Opo’s various photos show a fine mastery of macrophotography [which is fairly tricky when working with insects].   Coming from a fellow entomology enthusiast, it is really stunning to see the amount of insect ‘head shots’ in his photos.

Getting fully focused, color rich photos of insects takes several attempts, considering how fast most insects move in comparison to a camera shutter.  Opo is also an avid astrophotrographer. What is most interesting about both his astro and macro photos would be that they are both taken with the same Pentax K200D camera.

A good majority of astrophotographers I know or have studied use an entirely seperate camera to capture images.  Furthermore, it is pretty rare to find someone willing to photograph far off galaxies as well as rare insects.  Enjoy and be inspired!

Flickr Photostream: Link

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