Theme: Red Sunset

[Moe Ali]

This photo was taken during a weekend of local fires. The smoke around town caused a spectacular red sunset, and so editing this image for colour was pretty easy. I was happy to get the birds in the shot, that was an added bonus for me. That's why it's good to fire off rapid shots when birds are crossing the scene. Sometimes it works out.

Thanks for looking.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Was this pretty much straight out of the camera Moe, or did you boost the reds. In any event a pretty spectacular scene. The birds are a terrific touch.

[Moe Ali]

Thanks Jackie. Sorry I should have included more detail regarding my image processing techniques. After all that's what this forum is all about. I applied a +15 on the red colour balance, but the image was pretty red from the start. I also applied an aggressive noise reduction considering there was not much detail, and so it helped give the image a nice soft look. Final image was cropped slightly to remove some darkness from the right and bottom. Otherwise much of it is pretty much the same.

Oh, and I did apply some slight curve adjustments to blacken the blacks and lighten the lights.

Thanks for looking and commenting.

[Kerry Perkins]

Very nice Moe, I love how the birds pull the eye into that part of the frame. The sun looks like a giant egg yolk in the sky.

[Moe Ali]

Thanks for the feedback Kerry. I too like how the birds control this image, even though they are so small in comparison.

[Anita Bower]

Dramatic. I like the dark tones and the bright colors. Nicely composed. I also like the dimple on the lower edge of the sun. Welcome to this forum.

[Anita Bower]

Congratulations on winning second place in our bi-weekly contest!

[Diane Miller]

Very nice! We live in an area prone to forest fires, and I'm always very conflicted on the rare occasions when the smoke is so thick you can photograph the sun, but I always grab my camera. Don't think I've ever seen it happen with clouds in the bargain, though. Well done, and what a bonus the birds are!