Working on this fine print was a lot of fun and a good learning experience. It was interesting to be working on a photograph that I knew would be printed and hung up. I knew that I wanted to take a photo of something that I can give to my mom for Christmas and that would have meaning. So I photographed my viola. Music has always been big in my house and I have been playing the viola since 4th grade. My viola has been very special to me as I have played in many symphony orchestras including one at BYU, Provo.
For my viola photo shoot. I took my viola out to Beaver Dick Park and I hiked back in about half a mile. There are these wooden structures that I think are meant to be places for birds to build nests and I used one to set my viola on for the photos. I went at sunset so I got good lighting and the wooden structure helped me to position the viola differently.
I did four main edits on this photo to get it to really look the way I wanted:
- Smart Sharpen – I really wanted to make the bridge on my viola stand out and be clearly defined.
- Levels – I used the levels to get back the contrast and bring down the overly bright areas
- Vibrancy – I used a vibrancy layer to make the colors a little more rich
- Gradient – I put a purple/orange gradient layer on top and brought down the opacity to 6%. I didn’t want to change the colors, but I want to add more purple and bring out the orange.
The Viola
Original