I got home late tonight and the moon was high and bright above the house. Abbey was whining for me to tuck her in and Katie was running around like a naked maniac while her shower warmed up. Curtis would have appreciated my help, but the moon, and more importantly the moonlight, beckoned me to shoot. I swooped in grabbing the camera and the tripod before any one knew I was home.
The weather and air were perfect...spring is so close I can feel it. My spirits lifted. After a few shots I ditched the tripod - the wind was making the shot too unstable. Instead I laid the 7D on the side walk, pointing up to the sky. (BTW - Nick doesn't need to know that I put the camera on the ground- our secret.) I shot from the hip. The focus was on infinity. The ISO 400. The aperture f3.5. The shutter 30 secs...as long as I could go without the cable release. It was after 9 pm.
When I pulled the images up on the laptop I was disappointed. The colors weren't right. I started playing in RAW. Awe... there it is! Yes editing is allowed. I thought the before and after might be helpful.
So, one question... If I win blog wars, do I get to keep my own prize?
Tried using Nik's Color Efex Pro on these two images with some real success. On both, I used "Brilliance and Warmth" to warm, and "Tonal Contrast" to make this lovely couch pop from the background and sing once again. Shot both handheld with an image stabilizing lens. The first image was taken at f22 to get the starburst effect and is surprisingly sharp. The second one is sharp because I didn't shoot at f22. Had to add the starburst from a second image I took at f22, but which was too blurry to use otherwise.
