Oregon Outback morning: 1-to-3 Challenge

Last Saturday, we had an Oregon Outback morning. We drove south of Silver Lake, Oregon to get a good view of the annular eclipse. Unfortunately, the clouds never cleared during the peak minutes of the eclipse. For today’s One-to-Three Photo Processing Challenge, I decided to make lemonade out of lemons.

Beautiful cloudscapes hung over the land, highlighting the Basin and Range topography. We stood in the middle of a basin surrounded by low mountains and buttes.

I used Corel PaintShopPro 2021 for different photo processing effects. In the original image I slightly increased the contrast and fill light and cropped the edges.

Oregon Outback morning photo effects

The first two show the original photograph and the same picture with a Black and White effect. For this image I went to Effects>Photo Effects>Black and White Film. I used the BW Heavy setting because it works well on clouds.

The next two show the original photograph and the same picture with a neon effect. For this image I went to Adjust>Hue & Saturation>Hue map>Neon glow. I liked how this effect enhances the mysticism associated with High Desert environments.

The next two show the original photograph and the same picture with an illumination effect. If you can’t see the real sun, you can use a photo editing program to add one. 😀

For this image, I first went to Effects>Photo Effects>Film and Filters. I used the Vibrant Foliage and Night Effect, deep blue filter. Then I added the illumination effect. I went to Effects>Photo Effects>Illumination> Sunburst>Rays Top Center. The light spot and brightness of the rays settings were slightly increased. I liked how this effect gave me the sun I was unable to see. Yes, with a little work I could have added a dark circle over the sun to imitate an eclipse, but I decided not to.

You never know what nature will do when you’re waiting for a big naturally occurring event on an Oregon Outback morning. Focus your lens on other parts of the environment and you might be surprised at what you can capture.

One-to-Three Photo Processing Challenge – October