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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: Hanging Out

And we're back. It's been a while since we here at BKP have tackled a MidWeek Edit. Life and photography have kept us busy. So, in honor of being back and with Spring nearly here, here's a MidWeek Edit of one of my all time favorite zoo pictures:

Orangutan - SOOC - Canon 40D with 70-200mm at 165mm, f/5.0, 1/400sec, and ISO 100 
This orangutan was just out for an afternoon swing when I was able to turn the camera on him. Check out the expression on that face. In the original, I wanted to give him a feel of the ageless bearing in those eyes, so I went with a desaturated, near-sepia tone with little emphasis on the contrast and detail. This gives it feel that draws on the zoos of the 1920's.

Orangutan - Original Edit

I love the edit, but miss the vibrance of those colors. So I went back to original and added in vibrance on the sliders in Adobe Lightroom. Dial down the brightness for sky, increase contrast, and add +0.40 exposure. The detail still wasn't quite right, so I flattened the light in his hair by using a dodging brush on the dark areas. That brought the image into the dynamic range I wanted, but the colors were still off. A quick flick of the white balance to the daylight preset. And, Voila! there is was. A touch of vignette, dropping the luminance on the blues, a slide up on the Lights, a touch of Highlights and Shadows:

Orangutan - Re-Imagined 1
But, it felt like there was something more in this image. Something to bring out the supplication in those eyes. I wanted to focus more on them. So, I hit a B&W preset in my list called B&W: J&T. And pop! The adjustments were exactly what I was looking for. I love having those presets ready to go. I thought I was done and pushed back to Library mode. Then, just messing around the rotate button. Bam: there it was. An unexpected, yet sublime result. It was hidden in that image the whole time! The soul of the image, caught in those eyes:

Orangutan - Re-Imagined 2
What do you think? How would you edit it? Put it in the comments below.

Brad Kehr specializes in weddings, portraits, and events. 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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