Sunlight and Clouds on Beach 4, originally uploaded by briburt.

Now that I’m out here in New England, I thought it might be time to revisit some shots I took when we were out on the Pacific Coast last fall.

Going through my Lightroom library revealed a number of shots with potential, and this was one I decided to go ahead and process and see what came out of it.

Overall, I like how it turned out, though the blown out areas behind the trees are less than optimal in my opinion. I tried to use Lightroom to recover some of these areas, but they are still overexposed. What saves the picture in my view are the sun rays streaming through the trees and hitting the beach, contrasted with the blue sky and dramatic clouds.

Not bad, I guess, but there are others from the same shoot that I prefer over this one.

3 Fishing Trawlers, originally uploaded by briburt.

Fisherman’s Terminal, Seattle

And, yes, that gray sky is probably here to stay, more or less permanently, until next July. The splashes of color from these fishing boats, though, can help make up for all of the gray and rain of the coming months.

East Waterway, Port of Seattle

Originally uploaded by briburt

A wider, panoramic shot of the East Waterway of the Port of Seattle. You can see a tugboat and two big container ships. The interesting about the container ships is that you can’t say whether or not they are loading or unloading because they load and unload simultaneously — a fact that I just learned last Spring when my son’s 1st-grade class did a boat tour of the Port.

Sunrise and Fog at the Space Needle, Seattle

Originally uploaded by briburt

More from my little morning jaunt out to Kerry Park a couple of weeks ago. The light coming through the fog was just amazing.

Almost looks like I was on another planet, but the light really did look like this.

Foggy Sunrise, Seattle Skyline & Mt. Rainier

Originally uploaded by briburt

Got out of bed early a couple of weeks ago and went the few blocks from my house over to Kerry Park in Seattle to shoot the sunrise, and I almost missed this shot, as the fog was really moving in fast and soon obscured the mountain within about 5 minutes of me setting up my tripod and getting this shot.

Kerry Park is a favorite place for photographers that want to get a sunrise or sunset or night shot of Seattle, and there were 3 or 4 other folks there at the same time as I, but they were all complaining that it was too foggy and the light wasn’t any good. I thought otherwise, and shot a whole bunch of photos.

This one was made from 3 exposures in Photomatix Pro, and then tonemapped and further processed in Photoshop and Lightroom — all of these are truly awesome tools that make images like this possible.

Dreamscape, Ruby Beach

Originally uploaded by briburt

Well, this one now seems to be gaining some popularity out on Flickr. When I took it, I didn’t think the light was right, but thanks to some (subtle) HDR processing, I managed to bring the light out of the foreground and get the clouds and mist just right.

I hope I can keep using HDR to get the colors just right in my eyes.

West Seattle Fishing Pier at Dusk

Originally uploaded by briburt

OK. I had to post this one to my blog as well. It’s the result of some serious digging into Photomatix Pro for the HDR creation and tonemapping and then Lightroom for final processing.

I am simply amazed at what these software tools can do to make images like this much easier to achieve. In the film developing days, I’m not even sure if an image like this would have been possible, but if it was, it probably would’ve taken considerably more time and effort than I spent on this.

Fishermen at the Water Taxi Pier, West Seattle

Originally uploaded by briburt

Well. I had quite a time a week ago Friday hanging out on the fishing pier where the West Seattle water taxi comes in from downtown. I had intended on getting only some twilight skyline shots, but the fishermen and the water taxi were there and so I turned the tripod and got a few shots there as well. I think they were fishing for salmon, but no one seemed to be catching anything. Still, they all seemed to be relaxed and familiar with each other.

Processed this as HDR in Photomatix Pro initiially from 3 exposures, and then edited in Photoshop and Lightroom. This one took more work than others, but I like how it turned out.

I’m really having a blast these days making these photos, and have found Flickr to be more and more inspiring. I feel like I’m finally hitting my stride and taking this stuff seriously, even though every time I feel happy with a shot, I just start looking around Flickr, and it ain’t long before I feel utterly humbled.

Sunset Walk on Kalaloch Beach

Originally uploaded by briburt

Had a lot of good light out at Kalaloch on the Olympic Peninsula. It’s quite a dramatic place no matter what the weather, and I tried to capture this feeling in all of the photos I took on Kalaloch Beach, Beach 4, and Ruby Beach.

This photo is of my wife and son walking up the beach at sunset. Hope you all enjoy it.

Click here to see more of my photos from the coast.

Seastacks on Ruby Beach in Olympic National Park on the Pacific Coast in Washington.