The Sun Sets and Rises (Final Project)

Growing up as a kid I always appreciated sunsets. I think it's because if I watch the sun set, it's usually after a day of doing eventful things so I'm usually with people and it creates memories with those people. I thought I would share each sunset I've captured in the past year as well as memorable sunrises.

This was captured when I was driving across the US from VT to Los Angeles, CA. This was taken in Colorado after a big lightening storm. I went to my car and saw the mountains being light up by the sun. It was one of the most beautiful sights I've seen to this day.

 Added contrast and subtracted brightness.

 This sunset was captured after a storm over the summer of 2013. I remember a lightening bolt striking about 200 yards in front of me in the lake and it was the loudest thing I've ever heard.

 Increased shadows and decreased brightness.

This was captured towards the beginning of the 2014 semester. I captured this while leaving class. This happened to be the same day I gave my 2 month notice to my boss that I was leaving my job. A memorable sunset indeed.

 I lowered brightness and added contrast. 

This is one of my all time favorite sunsets. It was right after a rain storm in Castleton, VT. It was one of the last nights I was in VT with my friends before driving solo across the country not to see them again until mid-August.

 l added more magenta, blue and purple. I didn't want to edit this photograph for I was afraid I would ruin it.

This is a picture of the same sunset but take 6 minutes before the one above. Time is all that made these two pictures so different looking. This picture was captured in my head with the quotation "Forward Unto Dawn".

 Adjusted the curve and used the dodge and burn tool to darken and brighten certain areas.

Another great memory is showing a hike to my new friends I made at UCLA over this summer. We hiked griffith park to see the sun set over the city of Los Angeles. This was captured as we walked past a tree with an interesting hole in it. 

 Added contrast and subtracted brightness a little.  I adjusted the color balance. More red, magenta, and yellow. Less Cyan, Green, and Blue.

This was a sun rise in Isle La Motte, VT back from July 2013. I remember staying up all night waiting for someone who never came. This was a special moment for me realizing that I needed to move on with some things.

I increased brightness and contrast and added red, magenta, and yellow.

 On my way back home from Los Angeles back in 2012 I took a red eye. I was so happy I did when I was able to take this picture. It was a big life change for me to go back home and I'll always remember this as the highest sunrise I'll ever seen.

 Adjusted the curve and brightness to make it darker.

This sunset was captured August 2nd 2014. This was my last night in LA this summer. It was also the night before starting my solo drive back across the country.

I increased contrast +50 and brightness -50 and adjusted the color to add red.

I saved the best for last. This was captured in Santa Monica in July 2014 with a few people that will always be special to me. This sunset will remind me of the best summer of my life thus far with some genuine souls I was fortunate enough to meet on my journey. It will remind me of all the good times I had in LA this summer and all the fun I had.

I adjusted the color balance. More red, magenta, and yellow. Less Cyan, Green, and Blue.

Dodge & Burn (week 9)

This week I wanted to take a picture that was taken with some of my friends on the top of a hike we did in Hollywood and you can see the Hollywood sign on the left side of the picture. The original came out great, but I wanted to make this look kind of like a postcard or something. 

week 8 (color adjustment)

For the first color adjusted photo I used a picture taken from my front deck when the sun was rising one day in the winter. I started by adjusting the red color and added some contrast as well as darkening the picture. I didn't like how the trees were so visible on the bottom. It looked too grey so I kind of made the trees blend in with the mountains.

For the second one, I'll admit I went too overboard on the saturation. The reason I did this is to emphasize the color of the rock structure, but I guess I should have just used the lasso tool and did it that way because I don't love how the mountain in the background came out too orange. I do like the greenery being saturated though.

Week 7

I decided to use one of my macro shots that I took of a honey bee. I used the lasso tool to put the bee and dandelion from the top picture on the bottom picture. I used the blur tool to make it look a little more natural, but it still looks like it is kind of floating. I actually had a lot of fun doing this even though it took a while to select the border and make it look natural.

Landscape (week 6)

Photo #1: This was taken on my trip across the US. I climbed a mountain in Boulder, CO and saw this amazing view at the top. 

Photo #2: This was also taken in Boulder, CO towards the base of the mountain I climbed if you looked north from the base.

 Photo #3: My jaw was wide open driving through a lot of Colorado, Utah, and Arizona with all the rock formations. I grew up loving geology and I love the layers of different colored rocks. This picture was taken in the Utah desert.

 Photo #4: I pulled over to the side of the road for this one. I was driving by and had to take this photo. All of the colors compliment each other and it came our exactly how I wanted it to :)

Framing (week 5)

Photo #1 I tried to frame the white house in the center through my dorm window. It didn't come out as I thought it would, but I still think it worked a little bit.

Photo #2 I tried to frame the cars, but I think my camera focussed on the splashing water from the fountain so i decided to upload it anyways because I thought it looked interesting.

Photo #3 third times a charm right? I think this came out the best of all the other ones I took. I framed the red and white sign in between the trees and I think it came out well and i may have walked on that grass ;)

Rules of thirds

I am on a cross country road trip to Los Angeles and this was taken in the town I am staying in tonight Grand Junction, CO.