Entrance – Seattle Japanese Garden
The soft early morning light highlighted this scene. The maple tree, grasses, and pine shrub appear very soft. I enhanced the softness in post processing. The image was exposed to highlight the soft leaves of the Japanese maple. The background was in shade which created a nice dark contrast to the light maple. The image warms me all over.
Tea House Roof – Seattle Japanese Garden
Continuing with Dave duChemin’s course, I found this raking light on a gazebo roof in the Seattle Japanese Garden. The sun had just broken over the ridge of the adjacent Washington Arboretum. The soft light raking across the roof lasted for just a few moments before the direct sunlight engulfed the roof. I just happened to be in the right spot at the right time.
Red Maple/Yellow Ginko – Washington Japanese Garden
This is what fall color is all about. I was able to photograph in the Washington Japanese Garden almost at its prime this fall. Colors were gorgeous everywhere. This particular scene caught my eye contrasting the brilliant reds and yellows,
I am taking an on-line course, “The Compelling Frame” by Dave duChemin. My focus for this excursion was to explore how different types of light created different effects. Here, the soft mid-morning light set the colors of these trees on fire. I am always searching and exploring ways to help me progress through my never-ending journey in photography. I strongly recommend Dave duChemin’s course.
Fuji X-T1, XF 18-135mm @ 18mm, f/8.0, 1/550 sec, ISO 800
My photography has not been very creative lately. When I get this way, I like to walk around and just practice. I do not have high expectations and just stop to photograph what catches my eye. I usually do not carry a tripod with me during these practice shoots. I use them as a scouting inspiration/exploration endeavor to come back and shoot at a better time. This image was taken in mid-day light at the Washington Arboretum Japanese Garden in Seattle. I spent 2 to 3 hours just walking around and enjoying the beautiful garden. I shot for less than an hour.
Once home, I just started playing around with different processing techniques on a few images. Again, more practice. This was one of the images that caught my eye. The original image was full of bright yellows, greens, and some oranges. I almost did not even try black and white processing. I wasn’t happy with the standard B&W images either, so I decided to experiment (play) some more. This sepia with a reverse vignette was the result.