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Must See: Montana Fall Road Trip - 2022

Wild Goose Overlook - St. Mary's Lake - East Side Going to the Sun Road - Glacier National Park Fall is like the blissful sunset of a beautiful day. The colors of the year blazing into brilliant reds and oranges. The weather holding out the last vestiges of warmth. And all the world seems to be curling up over a cozy mug of hot chocolate in the waning light. Just before the cold night of winter settles in. I love fall. And everything that it brings with it. Especially, I love the mountains in fall. How they can go from striking to moody in a matter of moments. And, (even) most especially, I love Glacier National Park in the fall. It is spectacle for the senses. Bright colors. Cool breezes. Altitudes and reflections. Hiking. Grazing moose. Scampering bears.  Head out highway 2 toward West Glacier and you are astounded by the sheer mountainous walls marking the entrance to the park. But, before you do that, my wife reminds me in one of those step on the brakes sort of ways, you absol...
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MidWeek Edit: Dusk Over the Capitol

Here in Midweek Edits, I take a look back at a random BKP favorite and re-imagine it. This week's shot is the United States' Capitol at dusk. I love this shot because it captures the essence of the building during the magic hour. This is a hard one to get because the location is often crowded with tourists. Fortunately, on this night, they kept out of the are, probably due to the threat of rain from those heavy clouds that give this image its presence. As always, You can get a print of any of the MidWeek Edits found here.

The magic hour - the United States Capitol at Dusk.
Capitol at Dusk - SOOC

This SOOC could stand on its own without any editing. But I wanted to even some of the tones and smooth the image to compensate for a shallow depth of field. I shot the image on a Canon 5D MkIII with a EF f/2.8 24-70mm at 34mm, f/3.5, 1/60sec, and ISO 1600 without a tripod. So I dropped a burn gradient across the sky, added a touch of exposure, fill light, and vibrance in Adobe Lightroom. In addition, I added some saturation in the blues and greens and dropped out some of the reds, yellows, and oranges and added a slight vignette. This original edit was the result.

The magic hour - the United States Capitol at Dusk.
Capitol at Dusk - Original Edit

On this re-imagine, I want to go and add back in the drama that was pulled out of the original. This required a tighter crop, a second burn gradient on the sky, and major bump in contrast. To reign in the clouds a bit, I added some significant recovery, cranked the blacks up to +10, and reduced the brightness. To keep from losing the details in the dome, I adjusted the tone curve to pull out the highlights and lights, and dodged the dome itself. Finally, I shifter the white balance form As Shot to 7500K and a tint of +3 and added a more significant vignette. Here's the result.

The magic hour - the United States Capitol at Dusk.
Capitol at Dusk - re-imagined
And a gratuitous Black and White edit.

The magic hour - the United States Capitol at Dusk.
Capitol at Dusk - Black and White
Thoughts? Questions? Leave them in the comments below.

Brad Kehr is a photographer specializing in weddings, events, portraits, and landscapes. He enjoys exploring DC and sharing what he finds through the lens. You can catch his website at www.bradkehrphotography.com, follow him on Twitter (@bradkehrphoto), or find him on Facebook.
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