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Revisit the Sunset
Malibu, California - October 2009
October 8, 2009 When I first was going through the post process on the image: "Photograph the Sunset" – from a few blog posts ago - the slanted horizon was troubling to me. But, since the photograph went well with the overall theme of the post, I took off the photographer’s hat and putting on the editor’s sense of continuity, I let it go. It wasn't creative license, after all, when I mentioned scrambling around in the scrub brush looking for another composition. And I can safely say that it didn't help matters when I couldn't find a subject and decided to use myself - via self timer self portrait mode.
So, now as the week is winding down, I decided to revisit the photograph. The first thing I did was open the original photograph to see if I could rotate the picture to level out the horizon. This had a dramatic and unexpected affect on the overall feeling of the picture. The angle of the model - after rotation - gave a more aggressive feeling. So going back to the raw images from the shoot I found another photograph. In this version I had changed, while on location, the model's angle to the sun to catch more of the light. I also changed the camera from landscape to portrait; moving in closer and tighter to the model to remove the sun blowing out the exposure and putting more focus on the photographer as a subject.
But probably the most notable change, which happened in the post process, is the conversion from color to black and white. For a digital photographer black and white isn't the most obvious choice when processing a colorful sunset picture. However, as I was looking at the color version, I liked the tonal quality of the gradual fading of the sky from blue to white. So, in Photoshop, I took the time to layer in another version, this time in black and white. The result of the conversion process was that the sky became a nice backdrop for the photographer (as model and main subject) instead of competing for the viewer’s attention.
The tonal qualities of the lighting at sunset are enhanced in the black and white version. Or, as I like to say, it brought out the "pop" that was hiding in the color photograph.
-Scott