Monumental Stroll (Washington DC)

travischance

I'd attempted to capture this image of the Washington Monument for months but I could never get the combination right: dramatic clouds, sun at the right angle & of course someone strolling through the scene. It finally happened last Friday! Enjoy...

Converted to B&W using the calculations method (Red channels | Multiply @ 32%)

Icebear

Pretty cool image Travis.

misterb

Yeah- very nice shot and good processing.

M38A1

Very nice!

bdcolen

travischance wrote: »

I'd attempted to capture this image of the Washington Monument for months but I could never get the combination right: dramatic clouds, sun at the right angle & of course someone strolling through the scene. It finally happened last Friday! Enjoy...

Converted to B&W using the calculations method (Red channels | Multiply @ 32%)

Fantastic, Travis. And what a great example of visualizing, and then successfully working to capture an image.
Could you further explain your "calculations method" of conversion?

Thanks

travischance

bdcolen wrote: »

Fantastic, Travis. And what a great example of visualizing, and then successfully working to capture an image.
Could you further explain your "calculations method" of conversion?

Thanks

Thanks for the compliment BD. I complete all my B&W conversions the same way in CS4. Once I have the color version the way I like, I then complete the following:

• Image
• Calculations
• Change both channels (Source 1 & Source 2) - I typically use Gray+Gray or Gray+Red (in this image I used Red+Red)
• Change the blending mode (I typically use Overlay) - for this image I chose Multiply as it added depth
• Change the blending opacity (for this image I chose 32%)
• Once you have the conversion the way you want, select Image/Mode/Grayscale

Then you can make any Brightness or Contrast adjustments necessary. I hope this helps!!!!

Nyarthlopic

I love the shot. There must be approximately 2,139,294 different shots of the Washington Monument, but I've never seen one like this. Kudos!!!

travischance

Thanks to all for their responses! Happy shooting...

Hinson

Great shots, Travis. I've got to get back downtown for some more shots. Do you get any flack about using a tripod? I had a capitol policeman stop me from using a tripod while taking a shot of the Capitol a few years ago.

travischance

Hinson wrote: »

Great shots, Travis. I've got to get back downtown for some more shots. Do you get any flack about using a tripod? I had a capitol policeman stop me from using a tripod while taking a shot of the Capitol a few years ago.

Thanks. I've never caught any flack about using my tripod. Note that you can't use tripods on any of the monuments though. Park Police will stop you if you try an use one on any of the marble. I'm guessing the stone was damaged due to the metal spikes. Where on the capitol were you shooting with a tripod? The National Cathedral on Wisconsin does allow the use of tripods inside.

Hinson

travischance wrote: »

Thanks. I've never caught any flack about using my tripod. Note that you can't use tripods on any of the monuments though. Park Police will stop you if you try an use one on any of the marble. I'm guessing the stone was damaged due to the metal spikes. Where on the capitol were you shooting with a tripod? The National Cathedral on Wisconsin does allow the use of tripods inside.

I recently called the park police and was told that there were no restrictions on tripods as long as they were not impeding the pedestrian traffic. Capitol police told me the same thing. Guess they need to talk to the guys and gals that area actually patrolling.

When I shot the capitol, I was on the 3rd st sidewalk, facing the capitol in front of the reflecting pool. Here's the shot.

travischance

That's what I was thinking. When shooting long exposures at the monuments, I typically shoot very late in the evening or first thing almost totally eliminating other visitors. Below are a few other shots of the US Capitol that I've shot (all with a tripod)....

http://www.travischancephotography.com/Urban/Washington-DC/7531777_SVmZ5#1003971990_htY79-XL-LB
http://www.travischancephotography.com/Urban/Washington-DC/7531777_SVmZ5#868567445_ML7rK-XL-LB
http://www.travischancephotography.com/Urban/Washington-DC/7531777_SVmZ5#1029837466_z25iX-XL-LB
http://www.travischancephotography.com/Urban/Washington-DC/7531777_SVmZ5#852084944_MRqpk-XL-LB

Hinson

Travis; I am both impressed and inspired. I've just spent the past hour or so perusing your site and the images are spectacular to say the least. Your images of DC have inspired me to get down more often at sunrise or sunset. I think my project next year (I'm a "fair-weather" kinda guy) will be to photograph every memorial in DC, spending one day per memorial. That should keep me outta the bars

rainbow

I have come back to this image many times, always enjoying it! Your persistence paid off. The shadow is perfectly placed. Anywhere else and the photo is not as powerful.

Well taken!