Elena Klonsky

My first subject was an arch way near the Portlandia Statue in downtown Portland. 

I chose this photo because I really liked the angle and the way the sky looked at the time. I especially liked the way the light and flower embellishments led to a singular location. To edit it, I used lightroom's selective to lower the contrast of the building and tint it red to add a unique aged effect. I used the same tool on the sky and lowered the saturation in order to create a gray moody sky.

I chose another upwards photo, but this one was a little higher up on the building. I took this with a a higher ISO then I should of and it ended up with a blown out look in the sky, which highlights the symmetry below on the roof of the building. To edit it, I used lightroom and added cooler tones to the building which is why it has a purplish hue. I straightened it and cropped it to make it as symmetrical as possible.

The final photo of the arch I took was a simple image directly facing the door. While the composition isn't particularly unique, I really like the biker in this image. To give it a sad city look, I added a black and white preset and lowered the brightness. 

My second subject was my dog Nigel. He is a black lab, and it took me a while to get the hang of editing and photographing his face so he looked like more than a black shadow. I took some of these on a rainy day with my friend Conner, who held up a treat where I told him to so that Nigel would stay still and give an intense facial expression. The other photos were taken on an overcast day, and I kept calling his name which is why some of the photos showcase more of an irritated facial expression.

This is the rainy day photo. I chose this simple angle because I liked the rain droplets on his face. I added a vignette to showcase his face and used the paintbrush tool in light room to brighten his face and eyes while leaving the background saturated but dark.

I chose this photo because I love his facial expression. This particular photo was more backlight then the others so I had to brighten him a lot which created the bluish coloring in his black fur. I ended up really liking the color so I did nothing to change that to a more natural color. I added a VSCO keys preset to this which faded the background a lot. The hardest thing for me to do was edit out some eye boogers of his face, which stood out really strangely.

I chose this photo because I think it is really expressive and a sad photo. I took it with a wide aperture to make it a shallow depth of field and shot this particular photo RAW so that it would pick up the details of his fur. He was sad in this photo because I tricked him into thinking I had a treat minutes before and he still hadn't gotten his snack. His ears are pulled back, which I have decided is his way of displaying irritation. I brightened his right eye and his fur. I also used a Lightroom red filter b&w preset and darkened the background using the brush selection tool. I added a dark vignette to this to really highlight his face and expression, which added to the sad feeling of this photo.

The final photo I chose was this close up photo. Once again I shot with a wide aperture to make the depth of field as shallow as I could with my tiny lens and shot RAW. The effect of the huge file made it so you could see a faint reflection in the eyes. Using lightroom I chose a black and white preset and brightened his eyes excessively to clear the darkness and create a mirror like effect. If you zoom in, you'll be able to clearly see me taking the photo on the steps, which is what swayed me to choose this fourth photo.

We started on a Gondola and made our way up to a normal chairlift, to the first peak. This is a photo right as we went over a crevasse which in the fog looked like a white abyss. I am scared of heights but luckily my prolonged exposure to chairlifts left me immune to the fright my friends were feeling. They screamed at me for taking out my phone. This was right as we got on before we entered the cloud.

Once we got to the top it was ten degrees cooler and we couldn't see the views everyone talks about. However, I thought the true beauty was the tundra and personally have always been a fan of overcast lighting and cloudy skies (not to be grim).

We then went on the hike and saw several marmots and pikas. The skies eventually cleared up and towards the end, at Singing Ridge, we ended up seeing a rainbow as the clouds followed us around the peak. Here are some more pictures from the hike: