Room with a View

November 19, 2020  •  1 Comment

In March 2020, just before the Covid pandemic struck I was in Bluff, Utah on a hiking trip.  One day toward the end of the trip, we drove up Comb Wash to see if we could see some old spots such as this Cowboy Shack, about 6 or 7 miles up the wash.

Cowboy Shack, Comb Wash March, 2020 It was still there after a number of years and all the worse for the wear.  I took time to shoot it inside and out and settled on a bracketed set of three images from the inside looking out as ones I wanted to work with.  I bracketed the shots 1.7 stops up, 1.7 stops down, and one that was properly exposed. The three shots looked like this:

I used Lightroom’s HDR merge mode to combine the three images and then cropped the combined image to look like this:

I liked the warm tones and the dirt and grit on the window as well as the stretch of desert outside.  I have looked at the image for about 7 or 8 months now and decided the view was not dramatic enough and searched through about 7 years of photo files and settled on one I had shot a couple years ago on a short hike just outside of Bluff.

I had to select out the scenery in the original and wipe it out with the clear brush at 100% opacity.  I then had to wipe the broken glass with the same brush at 50% opacity so that the grit would remain and the original image would go away.  I then combined the two images using layers in Photoshop. This was the final photo.

In the end, it was just a nice photo I liked.  It was better than the original, but it worked for me because of the nice desert view and the weathered state of the window.  Sometimes you just have to make a photo for yourself, even if it doesn't get a lot of love. 

 


Comments

Berl Thomas(non-registered)
Great art and skill
No comments posted.
Loading...

Archive
January February March April May June July August (1) September October November December
January (1) February March April May June (2) July August (1) September October November December
January February (1) March April May June July August September October (1) November December
January February March April May June July August September October November (1) December
January (1) February March April May (1) June July August September October November December
January February March April May June July August September October November December
January February March April May June July August September October November December
January February March (1) April May June July August September (1) October November December
January February (1) March April May June July August September October November (1) December
January February March April May June July (1) August September October November December
January February March April May June July August September October November December
January February March April May June July August September October November December