Fort Ward Sunset 09.10.11

Today was filled with car shopping, which I did not like, and fair going, which I did. I came home to edit a photo to post and I realized that my trial for Lightroom expired. I ordered it but because I am a teacher and using the educational store I have to wait for approval. I am amazed by how much I miss it! I suppose something you use every day with wonderful results you will be bound to miss. In order to edit today I decided to download the free trial of Adobe Photoshop. I have been wanting to play around with it for a while as I used to have Photoshop a long time ago. My how it has changed! I really had no idea what I was doing, but after looking around on the web for help I was able to produce a pretty good edit. 

This picture was taken on Bainbridge Island at Fort Ward Park last weekend. The sunset had just ended and we were walking back to the car when through the trees this appeared begging to be captured. I love sunset photography, which I am sure you can tell if you look back through my posts :o). Since delving into manual and editing, I love it even more. The SOOC shot is beautiful, but I wanted to remove some spots, punch up the colors and do something with the sky. I used Adobe Camera Raw to adjust the basic settings and then began to find my way around Photoshop. I started by removing the lighter spots on the right by following this tutorial. I then added more color to the upper sky by following this tutorial. Finally I ran Pioneer Woman's Fresh and Colorful Action (my first PS Action after hearing about them everywhere). While it is certainly a creative edit and not a clean one, I like it!

Thank you for visiting. Thoughts and suggestions are always welcome! Don't forget to come back on Tuesday for the Tones on Tuesday first ever link up!

SOOC

Settings: ISO 100, 33mm, ss1/50, f/13

Edited with Adobe Photoshop

Basic Settings, Spot Removal, Gradient

Pioneer Woman Fresh and Colorful Action

"Of course I realize that photography is not the technical facility as much as it is the eye, and this decision that one makes for the moment at which you are going to snap, you know." - Ben Shahn

Linking up with SOOC Saturday. Check out the other photos!

I Learned: Sunbursts at Fort Ward 09.10.11

Another photography first for me this weekend was capturing sunbursts. During an exploration of Fort Ward Park on Baingbridge Island, I saw the sunburst through the trees and I attempted to capture it. It did not work out and I was discouraged. Before giving up completely though, I decided to do a quick search on my phone and found a blog, that I can't remember the name of, where the suggestion was a high aperture and patience. With these both in place I was able to transfer the beauty of the sunburst from in person to my memory card :o). I went a little crazy taking them after that, but I was very excited that I had added a new skill to my photography arsenal.

My goal was to capture the sunburst and the sun on the water. In post processing, I adjusted most of the basic settings and used a graduated filter on the sky. This was only my third or fourth time with the graduated filter and I am not sure how it worked out. I would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions. Thank you for stopping by!

Settings: ISO 100, 41mm, ss1/100, f/22 (full manual)

"The earth has received the embrace of the sun and we shall see the results of that love." - Sitting Bull

Linking up with I Learned at Click it Up a Notch. Be sure to see what everyone else has learned this week!