Sunset Glow and Into the Urban Woods by Ric Rosow

Submitted by Ric Rosow

Thank you to Ric Rosow for these images and detailed descriptions.

Sunset Glow

I call this image Sunset Glow. It is the result of blending 4 to 5 images together, each with a different exposure setting. In my first attempt at editing I used five images, starting with a bright exposure and stopping down to a darker exposure. The blending process lightens dark areas and darkens light areas, thereby evening out the overall exposure. After that I can use masks to further refine the exposure on an area by area basis. However, in this instance that process did not work out. The lightest exposure when blended with the others produced a dark halo effect over the top of Capella Tower. It looks like a stain. The halo came from the light emitted by the structure on top of the tower. No matter what I tried the halo remained visible. So I eliminated the lightest image and did the blend again, this time with four images. It worked. The dark halo, a distraction to be sure, is gone.

Into the Urban Woods 

This photograph is based on one image, unlike Sunset Glow which was based a blend of on four images. I took the photograph the same evening as Sunset Glow but with a different composition. I orientated my camera toward where the sun had set, in the space between the Guthrie and the RBC Gateway Tower. In order to preserve detail in the sky I needed to stop down the exposure to a fairly dark setting. My challenge here was to preserve the beautiful tones in the sky while still bringing out some detail in the buildings. Since the Guthrie is already a deep blue color, using a darker exposure pushed the color of the building to black. I like that in this case as it fits the theme of the photograph - into the woods.  

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See more of my work at www.ricrosowphotography.com. To see my work in person, visit Tres Leches Art Gallery, Studio 173, in the Northrup King Building, 1500 Jackson Street NE. The studio is open Fridays from noon to 4 p.m., Saturdays from noon to 5 p.m., and the First Thursday of each month from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.