Gilman Tunnels, NM 0
Another awesome night shoot yielded the opportunity to try out some more natural light photography. The moon was full, and it was pretty cool to watch the terrain change light the further into the evening we waited.
However, as cool as the natural light shots were, the one shot that intrigued me the most was one where I had to improvise light on the object. The simple cross, pictured above, was recessed up against a large rock wall and the terrain made it pretty hard to maneuver into position for the shot. Once there, I found it wasn’t lit at all and I did not think to bring my flash with me; it was 50 miles away, safely tucked into my closet. Lesson learned! However, I improvised and used my flashlight. It was too harsh at first, so I used my shirt to diffuse the light, and while not perfect, it turned out a little better then I think I had a right to expect.
Editing that shot turned out to be slightly frustrating. I thought it didn’t quite look right in black and white, but fully saturated it looked off as well. I took almost all of the warmer tones out of the shot, leaving just red. I left a tiny amount of blue in the shot to provide some color contrast between the ribbon and the shrub directly behind it. If I was a little better at editing photos, I may consider removing the color from the bow and just leaving the flower on the cross with red.
Gallery below. Enjoy!
