Since it was dark and I was using the macro lens, I had the tripod out.  Yes, I was attempting to do things correctly.  After cranking the aperture wide open to blur the background, I thought I’d try something else and go the other direction – want to see more?  I, personally, think it is worth hitting the link.

So if the shot above was 1/2 second at ISO 200 and the aperture wide open (f/2.8), what happens when I crank the aperture down all the way to the other direction and drop the ISO to 100?  Well at f/32 and ISO 100, the shutter speed drops to 30 seconds.  That might be fine and dandy, but should give roughly the same picture, plus a little noise and blur.  What it does let you do is screw around a bit.  I happened to be holding a big flashlight I’d been using to add enough light to get the focus right before.  What happens when you spend a couple seconds in the middle of the exposure pointing it at the middle of the flower?  You get something like this:

Ooh… nice colors, right?  Draws your eye into the middle where everything is nicely illuminated.  Pretty different picture.  You could do it again – shine the light around the edges instead of the middle:

Sure, it was quick and dirty so it’s illuminating everything a bit, but it’s mostly around the petals.  Different colors pop out, but since it’s a long exposure and a flashlight bleeds light everywhere, it’s still a soft color.  I think this is my favorite of the three.  The point is, if you look at the junk laying around, especially in indoor, low-light pictures, you can do some cool stuff.  Just make sure you keep the ISO speed low and the aperture small so you have enough time to play.  On a shorter exposure, not only do you have to work faster, but the things you’re doing influence the picture more so it’s easier to “mess up”, if you can even say that about something like this.  Anyway, I’m pretty happy with the result.  You can get a lot of mileage out of some dying flowers.

Lighting Can Be Cheap is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures

At first it seemed like everything was still.  I can’t say quiet, as you might notice the blur of a freight train through the bottom of the frame.  With a wide field of view, this also happens to cross the approach path for Seatac Airport.  I love the morse-code of dots and dashes the planes make through my frame and set the exposure up to 13 seconds to record it.  The foreground sculpture is called Eagle and was created by Alexander Calder in 1971.  It is the most recognizable piece of the Olympic Sculpture Park (or “the sculpture garden”, as most people would call it) and I was really happy to capture this shot of it with the most recognizable Seattle landmark in the background.

Seattle Comes Alive At Night is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures

As far as I’m concerned, the globe is the best thing about the paper.  I’ve always loved driving by and watching “It’s In The PI ***” as it rotates past.  Unfortunately, rumors are that the PI will stop publishing soon.  The exact date is unknown (as they’d rather not have the staff pick up and leave with a few issues left to print) but all the final pictures have been taken, so I went down to Myrtle Edwards Park last night (the only spot where you can get a good shot of the globe without access to a high-rise) to take some pictures before the globe stops spinning.

I don’t know what will happen to this Seattle landmark.  The last time it was turned off for an extended amount of time (in the 50′s to save energy), it almost shook itself to pieces when they tried to start it back up.  Whatever happens to the paper, I hope the globe lives on.  It’s been a piece of Seattle far longer than I have and it would be a shame to see it go.

Before The Globe Stops Spinning is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures

• ApertureValue: f/22
• DateTimeOriginal: 2008:12:22 21:15:07
• ExposureTime: 20 sec
• Flash: No Flash
• FocalLength: 24 mm
• ISOSpeedRatings: 100
• Model: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT

Snowy Seattle Night is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures