Washington is a state located in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is known for its diverse landscapes, ranging from the rugged coastline of the Olympic Peninsula to the towering peaks of the Cascade Mountains. The state is also home to several iconic landmarks, such as the Space Needle in Seattle and Mount Rainier National Park. For photography enthusiasts, Washington offers a plethora of stunning locations to capture breathtaking images. From the vibrant urban scenes of Seattle to the tranquil beauty of the San Juan Islands, there is no shortage of picturesque spots to explore and capture through the lens.
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Another shot from the spectacular sunset we experienced at the second beach in the Olympic Peninsula. The main challenge of taking shots here is the incredible change in lighting that happens in a very short while during sunset.
This shot was taken just before sunset when the sun was creating an extremely high dynamic range scene. About 5 minutes after I took this shot, the sun went down and we had beautiful pastel low dynamic range scene that I posted before. This one required about two graduated filters to balance out the high tones with the low tones. I also tried to get a Sunstar through the natural arch in the rock but got a sun portal instead. Hope you all like this image.
Mount Rainier National Park
I finally manged to process another photo from the olympic national park. While visiting Sol Duc falls some beautiful light was filtering through the trees and it blended in nicely with the falls.
Hope you like it!
Mount Rainier
Picturesque Falls with Rainier backdrop.
Past week I was able to travel a little bit and revisit the DC on that trip. this time I actually took some time to explore the city. I did a bit of planing prior to the trip and even it was getting pretty cold I went for it. The trip was a great success! I might say. And I came back home with a ton of architectural, landmark and urban photos. This particular shot is from the inside of the Library of Congress. Really great photographer friendly place. What do you think?
The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall. Though not in the geographic center of the District of Columbia, the Capitol is the origin by which the quadrants of the District are divided. Officially, both the east and west sides of the Capitol are referred to as "fronts." Historically, however, only the east front of the building was intended for the arrival of visitors and dignitaries.
美国国会的办公大楼,建在一处海拔为83英尺的高地上,故名国会山。
美国人把国会大厦看做是民有、民治、民享政权的最高象征。美国参、众两院构成的国会就在这里举行会议,通常被视为华盛顿的象征。1793年华盛顿亲自为大厦奠基,南北战争爆发后,有人提议停建该大厦,林肯总统却坚持要将高280英尺的大圆顶造好。
整幢国会大厦是一座三层的平顶建筑,其中央是一座高高耸立的圆顶,也分三层。圆顶上还有一个小圆塔,塔顶直立着自由女神铜像。她头顶羽冠,右手持剑,左手扶盾,永远眺望东方太阳升起的地方。
Seen from Tolmie Peak in Mount Rainier National Park. It is 6 miles 1010 feet round trip hike.
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One of the biggest attractions to us during our visit to Mt Rainier National Park was to see the Nisqually Glacier. Its one of the larger glaciers on the southwestern side of Mt Rainier. The glacier has had periods of advance and retreat since 1850 when it was much more extensive. It is currently retreating. Measurements made at 9,200 feet (2,800 m) altitude show that glacier got 56 ft (17 m) thicker between 1994 and 1997, suggesting that it will probably begin advancing in the first decade of the 21st century. Nisqually Glacier is the source of the Nisqually River.
Unfortunately, our visit coincided with a passing storm that covered the peaks of the mountain almost for the entire time we were there. I had scouted this point which is from a bridge over the Nisqually River while scouting the park using google earth. The view didn’t disappoint but we couldn’t see the Glacier at all, instead the storm clouds covered the massive mountain completely and painted a brooding scene.
For this particular shot, I thought a square crop worked really well, dividing the scene between the massive strom clouds and the debris field created by the commanding Nisqually glacier. Hope I succeded in bringing out the enormity of this vista. Settingswise, I basically metered this scene for the highlights in the storm clouds hoping that my D850 will bring in the details in the dark tones. This was my first trip with Nikon’s new flagship and I was a bit on edge after this trip but the camera is just stunning in the amount of dynami range it captures, it impresses me every time I post process an image even after using the D800 for five plus years.
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I ook this shot on our way to the majestic Rainier National Park near the Rimrock lake. The rock formation across the coast is the Kloochman Rock, a steep and dark rock that soars above the surrounding timber east of Rimrock Lake. It’s a popular rock-climbing destination but a bit scary due to the crumbling nature of the rock.
We tried a couple of viewpoints but the best view is the one that from US-12 that follows the lakeshore on your way to Mt Rainier. Also the lighting was perfect when we drove by for the first time so we stopped on the way and I set up by the roadside before the rain clouds opened up.
Shot from Dr. Jose Rizal Bridge, a very popular vantage point.
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Palouse Spring
The west front of the United States Capitol.
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One of the most magical places in the USA from all our travels so far is the emperate rain forests of the Olympic Peninula. And I believe one of the vest ties to visit is early summer or late spring when the water is abundant in the rivers and streams and the forest canopy wears the most verdant of greens. The best part about the forest was the mahical light rays the sun creates in the forest when it briefly escapes the cloud cover.
We encountered this beautiful little stream while on our way back from the stunning Sol Duc Falls. As we passed it I noticed the wonderful light that was falling to the right of the falls and the amazing lush greenery of the scene and decided to set up and take a shot of the whole scene. It was a challenging scene to frame as there just too many interesting elemts to distract in the frame. I had to wait for 15 minutes to get the light again on the moss to the top right of the frame but I think the wait was well worth it.
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One of our absolute favorite places from the Washington trip is the Hoh rainforest. It was a pain to reach as the entry point to the forest is located all the way on the other side of the peninsula from Port Angeles. This made the drive to the forest brutal and so we had to limit our hikes to the small trails. But once we started the hike, we realized how amazing this enchanted forest can be. We were in love with the greenery around us and rejuvenated just wandering around.
This panorama shot was one of my favorite shots from our short incursion into the forest.
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Another shot of the beautiful Sol Duc Falls in the Olympic rainforest. This was one of my favorite shots at this location because the view from this nook included the falls and the bridge across the Sol Duc River.
A long time ago while I was a budding landscape photographer one of the senior photogs I met at a location advised me to not take out the camera immediately when you reach a new location. He suggested that you walk around the locations and try to get as much understanding regarding the place and how light is affecting the view you have. Check to see how the shadows are and projection of regarding the path of the given light source. Following that advise netted me this little spot and this viewpoint.
I had to drop down to the edge of the falls and affix the tripod at a very odd angle to stabilize it and then wait for the clouds to diffuse the light all while crouching inside the roots of a giant tree by the edge of the river. Let's just say I am very thankful that both my Nikon's now have tilted screens on their backs.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a national memorial in Washington, D.C. It honors U.S. service members of the U.S. armed forces who fought in the Vietnam War, service members who died in service in Vietnam/South East Asia, and those service members who were unaccounted for (Missing In Action) during the War.
The Memorial Wall, designed by Maya Lin, is made up of two gabbro walls 246 feet 9 inches (75 m) long. The walls are sunk into the ground, with the earth behind them.
越战纪念碑邻近华盛顿纪念碑和林肯纪念堂。该纪念碑由用黑色花岗岩砌成的长500英尺的V字型碑体构成,用于纪念越战时期服役于越南期间战死的美国士兵和将官,闪闪生辉的黑色大理石墙上依每个人战死的日期为序,刻划着美军57000多名1959年至1975年间在越南战争中阵亡者的名字。
该纪念碑通过设计竞赛的方式征集方案,最后采用的是当时耶鲁大学建筑专业21岁华裔女学生林璎的方案,1982年建成,曾获美国建筑师协会“美国20世纪最受欢迎的十大建筑”第7名,美国建筑师学会2007年度“25年奖”等。
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Another shot from the beautiful Hoh Rainforest and the hall of mosses trail. The trail starts innocently enough until you come across the old big leaf maple trees that’s covered in moss and provide the visitor with some otherworldly visuals. The mosses on the trees do not damage the trees. However, the trees can fall by the winds in storms because of their shorter roots due to the abundance of nutrients and water in the forest. Many trees and mosses grow from and over the fallen tree trunks.
Along the trail there is a side path of 200 feet that leads to a grove of maple trees covered with epiphytic spikemoss (Source: Wikipedia). While planningvise this location was hard to reach I think my wife and I agree that we would need to come here again and allocate more time to this stunning rainforest to do it more justice.
Beautiful barn built hundred years ago. Mornings are good time to shoot the barn right from the road.
Used a really wide angle lens to capture this.
Fall colors were beautiful at Paradise in Mt. Rainier NP
When I visited Zion National Park in 2011 one of the hikes that I absolutely loved was The Subway. In fact, I went so far as to call it my most...
The Lincoln Memorial is an American memorial built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The architect was Henry Bacon, the sculptor of the main statue (Abraham Lincoln, 1920) was Daniel Chester French, and the painter of the interior murals was Jules Guerin. It is one of several monuments built to honor an American president.
It was taken in early morning(5:30am) and there is no any visitor.
林肯纪念堂(Lincoln Memorial),被视为美国永恒的塑像及华盛顿市标志,为纪念美国第十六届总统亚伯拉罕·林肯而建。纪念堂位于在华盛顿的国家大草坪西端,碧波如染的波托马克河东岸上,是一座用通体洁白的花岗岩和大理石建造的古希腊神殿式纪念堂。
纪念堂于1914年破土动工,完成于1922年。纪念堂气氛庄严,鼓舞人心,每天更有不少游客和学生乘车来此参观。已故总统林肯是最受尊敬的美国总统之一,人民不会忘记他对美国作出的贡献──解放奴隶和维护美国统一。
I recently had the opportunity to travel to Seattle and to spend a few days in this nice american city. Thanks to my friend David Irons who showed me this nice place I was able to shot the Seattle skyline with this view. I hope you like this photo, it is a 196 seconds exposure shot to capture the lights of the cars in the highway. This is not an HDR, just one exposure.
If you like my photos, please like me on facebook: Juan Carlos Ruiz Photography
Quite simplified comp here. Not tide pools, no clouds ... So I put my wide angle lense aside and looked for some closer shots.
Hope you like it!
cheers
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One of the star locations of our summer road trip to Washington state was the accidental discovery of the Second Beach near La Push. Our original plan was to spend the sunset at Rialto Beach and we reached the beach parking lot with hours to spare. But the problem was the high tide that ruined any decent photo opportunities. So, on a whim, we decided to drive to the second beach which looked like only moments away from the beach. It turned out to be a pretty long drive and quite an exhilarating hike to get to the beach.
Once we were at the beach we found an amazingly scenic beach with stunning haystacks, lush green forests, and even a natural arch. I took this shot just after sunset when the color in the sky became even. This is a panorama shot made of 5 shots with a two stop ND grad filter to balance the light. The challenge was to do the panorama quickly to get a continuation in the waves. Thankfully this came out perfectly while combining in Photoshop.
5-picture panorama stitched with Hugin, Panini projection. Converted to black and white except for the flag.
Another image of the beautiful Christine falls from Mt Rainier National Park. In my earlier posts about our visit to the park, I have talked about how our trip to the park coincided with a storm. The storm pretty much covered the entire park in clouds, and the whole time we were there, we couldn’t even seethe main attraction of the park, Mt Rainier itself. We were not discouraged, though and the reason for our bright outlook was the sheer number of beautiful waterfalls around the park.
The stormy overcast conditions were perfect for waterfall photography. Christine Falls, located on the eastern side of the park, and with such a beautiful setting, we could not afford not to visit the waterfall. While the scene at Christine falls is gorgeous, it’s the only composition you can make here as I am not sure getting to the fall's base is even possible. After taking the standard composition, I tried some variations in attempting to frame the waterfall with a tree near the viewing platform. I intended to give a certain depth to the scene. The technical details are pretty straight forward. I used a polarizing filter and a three-stop ND filter to slow the shutter speed and cut down the foliage glare.
The east front of the United States Capitol.
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One of the spots I wanted to check out in Rainier National Park was the beautiful silver falls. In pictures I have seen of the falls, the water looked just so blue and I wanted to really see it in person. While we were there we had a lot of trouble finding the trailhead due to the forest growth but finally found miniscule parking area and the trailhead. The trail is about .3 miles long but steep and reached the falls after a short hike.
The lighting was challenging due to the tree cover because the rays coming through the trees were increasing the dynamic range of the scene. I had to wait for the clouds to mask out the sun, so I will get a bit of reprieve but the Nikon D850 is just so outstanding in handling these situations. Hopefully everyone likes this shot.
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As we were coming out of the parking lot for the Hoh rainforest, I noticed this little lake that looked like a flooded meadow. There were remnants of old trees that were sticking out from the incredibly still and clear water. I knew it was rare to get that level of stillness in the water at sunset, so we parked the car by the roadside and I tried my best to get a good picture of the rotting tree that fascinated me. We didn’t have much time as the sunlight was fading fast and I wanted to bring the vividness to the image.
The Columbia River Gorge is a canyon of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Up to 4,000 feet (1,200 m) deep, the canyon stretches for over eighty miles (130 km) as the river winds westward through the Cascade Range, forming the boundary between the state of Washington to the north and Oregon to the south. Extending roughly from the confluence of the Columbia with the Deschutes River (and the towns of Roosevelt, Washington, and Arlington, Oregon) in the east down to the eastern reaches of the Portland metropolitan area, the water gap furnishes the only navigable route through the Cascades and the only water connection between the Columbia Plateau and the Pacific Ocean.
Mount Rainier National Park
Thanks to all Phoide contributors to Washington!
Most notably Sandeep Thomas, MURALI NARAYANAN, Yi Jiang, Daniel Cheong, Michael, Juan Carlos Ruiz San Millán, Nenad Spasojevic and Andrey Sulitskiy.