Tag Archives: contrast

Evening Cloudscapes

As the sun starts to set, the clouds that are a regular feature of the Pacific Northwest start to have a benefit.  They can be lit in all sorts of interesting ways and it is slightly lazy but still worthwhile to get shots of them.  The levels of contrast in the shot are fine with the naked eye but a bit of a stretch for a camera sensor.  It can do a decent enough job but it is the sort of thing where bracketing for HDR might give you more to work with so I did give that a go.

AirEuropa to the Sun

This example is not going to get me to the sun from Seattle.  It will head to Europe before it starts transporting passengers.  I saw it during test flying activities as it flew approaches to Paine Field.  The sun was out but the skies were stormy so it made quite a dramatic sight as it bashed the pattern at Everett.

They even were kind enough to fly a missed approach the first time to get a different view of the jet.  Then it was around the pattern and back in for a second approach, this time landing.  The dark sky background was only in the direction of the approach so the roll out shots were far less dramatic.

 

Boeing 787-10 on Test

I wrapped up some work in Seattle and was about to head back home when a quick check on FlightRadar24 showed me that the Boeing 787-10 test aircraft was en route back to Boeing Field.  It would be rude to ignore that.  The weather had been pretty crummy and there was plenty of heavy cloud in the area but it looked like it might brighten up a bit and, as the sun went down, there was a chance of it lighting up beneath the clouds.  I sat in the car dealing with some emails and waiting for the arrival.

Sure enough, as the time approached, the sun did start to peep out from beneath the clouds.  It was intermittent at first but it became more consistent as Boeing 01 Heavy called up on approach.  Meanwhile, a nice black cloud was still lurking in the background.  What a great combination that type of light makes.  The plane glided down the approach, its trailing static cone hanging from the top of the fin and then it was down.  A nice result.

Mean and Moody Sky

AU0E6095-HDR.jpgIt’s always a nice combination when you can get some light on the foreground subject of the photo and have a really dark and menacing cloud structure in the background.  The brightness of the foreground exposure is much higher than the background so it makes the clouds look even more dramatic when exposing for the subject.  Having a play with post processing will also help to make things look more dramatic.  This Wildcat was parked on the flightline at Chino for Planes of Fame just as the lighting worked to my advantage.  I may not have been happy about the weather conditions but this was one of the upsides to a cloudy sky.