Boise, Idaho: Christmas lights around the capital

As you can see from the previous blog entries, I spent part of last week in Boise to shoot some videos for Lexar / Micron. I posted some images showing some creative ways to use your camera to make Christmas lights more interesting. The following image is a combination of two shots (taken while on a tripod). I decided that I liked the unfocused lights on the Christmas tree, but wanted everything else in focus. So...I combined the out of focus photo and the in focus photo to make this image.

And, as the year winds down and we get ready to take down all of our lights and decorations, I thought I would post a couple of my favorite images of the capitol, which I took over two evenings.

The first evening, I went around and took numerous images of the capitol building. It was after 10pm and the night was very dark (not to mention the cold - brrrrrrr).
 

I love the way that the purple lights from the tree light the sidewalk below. This photographed beautifully in contrast to the white lights of the building.

And then, the following evening, I went back to the Capital building and tried some more images. I timed it earlier so that I could capture the deep blue sky just after sunset. Since I had already photographed in this area the night before, I had some ideas of where I wanted to shoot in this better light. (Photographer's note: It is always advantageous to scout out an area, if at all possible, so that you know the best vantage points, when you have a short amount time with "perfect light" to work with.)

I shot this image from the edge of the street to not only capture the building, but to get the street sign peeking in the frame.

And then, to add something different to the image, I went behind a barren tree and shot this image, using the branches of the tree as a foreground element.

This last shot has a funny story. I was shooting images from many different vantage points, and was looking for another foreground subject, but could not find anything else that interested me. I thought to myself "I wish I had someone sitting on that park bench." Then I thought, "Hey - I could sit there, if only I had brought a flash with me." It didn't take long for me to realize that I had my iPhone 4s which has a flashlight app, and that I could leave the shutter open for 30 seconds and insert myself into the photo. So that is exactly what I did. I set up the camera on the tripod, set the exposure for 30 seconds, hit the shutter and then hurried over to the spot and sat there with the iPhone light shining up towards my face. Goofy but fun to try. :)