1/100sec 85mm f/8 ISO 200

I took a walk around the neighborhood today to see if I could get a change of scenery from all of the city/street shots I have been using as of late. I knew there was a playground here, but I wasn’t sure what type of play area it was. I was kind of hoping for one of those rocking animals, but swings would do. I cropped this photo quite a bit because I am still trying to learn about the power of the crop. Originally, this photo had a condo in the back, which was fine, but it had a DISH on it; that had to go. There was an older kid swing to the right of these, but it felt out of place, and lastly there was a great bit of empty space to the left. The only thing that feels awkward in this shot (at least for me, so feel free to respond) is the bar in the middle. I can’t really do anything with that unless I wanted to go crazy with Photoshop.

The one challenging thing about capturing this shot, was I wanted to shoot HDR. If you know anything about physics and things suspended in the air by chains, then you know they are very light and the slightest breeze can move them. Now, if you know anything about HDR, the best possible scenario is to NOT have your objects moving in the frame. I compensated with this a little bit by just delaying my shots and waiting for the swing on the right to get to the same possible (or at least as close as possible). I think I did a pretty good job with that.

The last thing I wanted to do for this image was bring in the black and white setting. However, I really like using split toning when I do black and white. I know it’s not technically B&W if there is color, but you can all deal with it, I’m sure. I normally go with blue and yellow (because of the white balance), but I tried using blue and brown this time. I think it gave it a closer to B&W feel that I could get.

Until tomorrow.