This banner was an interesting one to create. The original picture was taken by me back in November 2007. While visiting relatives in Phoenix suburb they decided that it would a good thing for us to have a look at the Grand Canyon. So, we spend a couple of hours travelling north and eventually made it to the South Rim. I don’t recall why I didn’t have a camera on me at the time, so I ended up shooting some pictures with my cell phone. Here’s the picture:
So, first of all you’ll notice how the colours are quite different. The original looks kind of washed out, no? Well, the colours in the canyon were amazing, but not quite vivid–at least, not like what I saw in Sedona. For the banner, I cropped the image, then changed the white balance to tend toward cooler hues. I then cranked the saturation way up, making the colours more vivid. I then made the red hues a lot stronger. Lastly, I turned down the brightness a notch while raising the contrast level. The banner above is the end result. Big difference, no?
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2 comments
wegrit says:
Mon. October 5, 2009 at 8:31 am (UTC -5 )
I had the same problem with my pictures of the Grand Canyon and I was using a really nice Nikon F3 at the time…I think it’s just the atmosphere. I like the new banner! It looks good.
Jay says:
Mon. October 5, 2009 at 11:51 pm (UTC -5 )
Absolutely, you just can’t pick up the sheer enormity of it all in such a small frame. It’s overwhelming and awe-inspiring. I guess that somehow made everything seem more vivid in my mind.
I guess the act of enhancing the colours in the banner to something rather unreal helps to replace some of that impact.