Vista Point Black and White

Copyright Nathan Montgomery, 2008

This is the first shot that I have posted from the photo workshop. I took this shot around 6:30 this evening. There's a lot going on with this shot, most notably the sheer face on the right, the Columbia River, and the ominous clouds which take your eye down the Gorge if you let them. However, it's worth also noting the Vista House, which sits atop that cliff. It was built in the 1920s to commemorate the completion of the scenic roadway winding along the Columbia River Gorge. It's the key to the shot in larger versions of this image.

The shot is in black and white to take advantage of the gray and white clouds, which would otherwise detract from the image. I metered off of the river, set the aperture setting to F11 (could've been higher, like F13 or F14 in retrospect), and and used a graduated neutral density filter.

The shot was taken as is. No cropping, no photoshopping, no adjustments whatsoever. Eventually, I need to learn to incorporate some subtle changes in photoshop (notably sharpening and darkening up those clouds), but I haven't learned that well enough at this point.

I'll post a few more shots tomorrow and Wednesday, and then, when we get back home, I'll start posting the gems of the past few days.