Top 10 of 2016 (#10)
I've been doing a version of this for the last couple of years, so wanted to continue the tradition. This year, I'm doing it a little differently in that there will be a countdown, starting at number 10 and going down to number 1, and my very favorite image for the year. There will be one photo each day from now until December 31.
These photos are not only what I consider some of my best, but also some of my favorites for this year. It was very difficult narrowing it down to 10. My initial list had close to 75, which was reduced to 25. From there, it wasn't easy to get rid of 15 of my favorites to get it down to the final 10. After much deliberation, this is what I've come up with. Hope you like them as much as I do.
Each image has a story. From that story and the process that goes into to making the image, an emotional connection is made. I will share a little about each image for each day, including the process that went into making the capture. Of course, the click of the shutter button is only the beginning of the creative process, so the post-production of the images will also be explored.
Without further ado, here is image #10 for 2016:
Late Summer Sunset
It's kind of ironic that a sunset image starts off my list for 2016. If you have followed me for a while, you might remember that last year was filled with sunset images. It wasn't a daily thing, but there were a lot of sunset images captured for 2015. This year, the sunset image wasn't quite as ubiquitous, but there were still a few scattered about. There's just something about that late evening golden light and the way it can make the landscape seem to glow.
This image was taken at 7:08 PM on August 14. The sun was right on the horizon, which gave me a great opportunity to practice one of my favorite techniques. Stopping down the aperture (i.e. making the opening smaller) on the lens when the sun is just on the edge of something allows you to create this starburst effect. You will notice that I do this quite a bit in my images. Maybe too much, but hey, I like it.
For those who like the technical details and camera settings, here they are:
Focal length: 10 mm
Shutter speed: 1/20 of a second
Aperture: f/22
ISO: 200
Photographers would look at this image and note that many "rules" have been broken. The horizon line is pretty much right in the middle. The sun is dead center in the image. But so be it. Rules are made to be broken, especially photography rules, and I'll do so when it works for an image. I think it works here. There happened to be some great clouds in the sky, so that would normally mean accentuate the sky. However, I also liked the warm glow on the grasses in the foreground. So I showed them both off as much as possible.
In post-processing the image, I accentuated the great light as much as possible, and especially the glow of the seed heads on the grass. The shadows were brought up and the highlights were dropped slightly to deal with the high dynamic range of the scene. The colorful sky was accentuated with a boost to the vibrance and saturation. Finally, a trip through Topaz Color Efex Pro gave the image the contrast and glow that I was looking for. Hope you like it!