ss 1/100  f 25   ISO 400  300mm

This image was taken from atop the Astoria Column in Astoria, Oregon in August, 2013.  I loved the direct, hard light and how it defined this couple, in this moment…so carefree with their point and shoot camera and iPhone.  Yet, you can tell by the woman’s stance that she was trying to place her subject(s) within a certain point of the frame.  I intentionally cropped out the subject(s) being photographed by the couple as I thought it made for a more interesting composition.  I chose black and white for this image because I thought it enhanced the definition of the shadows and because I didn’t like the color of the man’s sweat shirt.  😉

ss 1/160   f 20   ISO 400   48mm

The sky was bright blue, the light was direct and hard, and I chose a high key black and white conversion in Topaz.  Why?  Because I didn’t like the tones of the sky in a more traditional black and white conversion.  Had I shot the image differently, I could of blown out the sky and shot the image as high key but I didn’t want to lose any of the detail in the column, which tells a story.

So here you have an image with low contrast, of where I shot the image above of the couple photographing unknown subjects.  Yes, I climbed the tower and was high in the sky on a windy day, and yes, the column was moving in the wind – or at least it felt as though it was. 😉

The view of the Columbia River Gorge was marvelous!

Have a fabulous weekend!