It was the first day of our first vacation after Covid. We had done a trip last summer, but it was local and we took the usual 2020-level precautions. This was different.
We flew into Seattle and drove down to Tacoma for the night. After a fabulous sushi dinner, Dorinna and Nate were ready to relax and go to bed. I wasn’t quite ready, and the light of the upcoming sunset looked interesting out of the hotel window. I grabbed my camera and set out for a walk around the Tacoma waterfront. What I found exceeded my expectations. Scattered around the Tacoma art museum were a series of glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly. There is a more famous museum of his work in Seattle (which we would see later in the trip), but he was originally from Tacoma. The night was magical all around, but this sculpture stand apart and became my favorite image of the week.
Chihuly Sculpture, Tacoma Waterfront
Fujifilm X-T2, Fujinon XF 18-55 f/2.8-4 R LM OIS at 55mm, f/7.1 at 1/160, ISO 200
Digital Darkroom. My goal when processing this image was to make it sparkle, bringing out the blues of the glass while also not neglecting the sunset-tinged sky. I started with the Fujifilm Velvia emulation to bring out extra saturation. I increased exposures (over a stop), contrast (+16), highlights (+5, didn’t want to blow them out). I raised shadows (+46), whites (+30), texture (+30), and clarity (+17). I made the white balance cooler and desaturated the colors of the tree behind the glass sculpture. I created a mask over the sky and lowered the exposure (almost a stop), and increased the warmth. Finally, I used to repair tool to remove some dust sensor marks.
Apologies for the long delay between WIRR posts. I had a large backlog of images from our trip to Washington state to sort and edit, and a busy period of work. Now through that logjam, expect 1-2 posts/week for at least a few months as I try to catch up.
WIRR stands for Weekly Image Rich Ruh. This regular feature on Das Has von Ruh will show and describe my favorite photo created during this weekly period. My weeks start on Mondays, as does the WIRR. I’m hoping to include commentary on the story, the setting, the specs, or the sentiments, depending on the circumstances.
Das Haus von Ruh 