Hallway in State Capitol Building

Columbia, South Carolina

State Capitol (hallway)

Columbia, South Carolina

The South Carolina State Capitol provides beautiful architecture and history within. For this shot, I found the first hallway to be completely vacant and took this photo looking straight forward. I wanted to show the parallel vantage point that made this hallway look far longer than it actually was. I did not use any major Photoshop techniques other than crop and sharpen. I felt the natural beauty captivated the look I was trying to go for. Camera settings – f/5, Exposure 1/10 sec., ISO-250.

Middle Saluda RiverJones Gap State Park, South Carolina

During a very beautiful hike right after a storm, I came across this little waterfall along the Middle Saluda River inside Jones Gap State Park. Instead of taking a direct shot, I tried to change the vantage point and zoom to capture the dreary landscape around the waterfall. This area is surrounded by rivers and swampy areas which provides some of the most beautiful green landscape year-round. This is a slow running river and waterfall, so the exposure was open just long enough to capture a little motion while still providing detail to the water. Camera settings – f/22, Exposure 1/3 sec, ISO 100.

Middle Saluda River

Jones Gap State Park, South Carolina

Fountain at Greer City Hall

Greer, South Carolina

Fountain at Greer City Hall

Greer, South Carolina

Although there is a beautiful fountain attached to this section of water, I found this area to be the most captivating and less distracting. The lighting provided the ability to focus on the bricks, with the open shutter taking in the motion of the water falling. I sharpened the photo and used the crop feature in Photoshop to balance the photo further. I kept the exposure open longer, due to less light, to capture the impact of the water below. Camera settings – f/5, Exposure 4 sec, ISO 100.

Liberty Bridge at Falls Park

Greenville, South Carolina

Liberty Bridge at Falls Park

Greenville, South Carolina

The Liberty Bridge is one of the most photographed bridges in all of upstate South Carolina. It’s tree lined landscape along with heavy foot traffic make this a difficult bridge to shoot on it’s own. I decided to take a different vantage point and photograph from the base, while standing on a railing for the trail below, to capture the curve of the bridge. The Reedy River passes below and provides great detail with the rocky landscape. In Photoshop, I adjusted the sharpness and cropped the picture for a closer look. During this shot, I did not zoom in so I had room to adjust the focal point while editing. Camera settings – f/5, Exposure 1/640 sec., ISO 250.

Mushroom on High Falls Trail

Dupont State Forest,North Carolina

Mushroom on High Falls Trail

Dupont State Forest, North Carolina

During a day hike to High Falls in the Dupont State Forest I ran across this beauty. After some searching, I still have no idea what kind of mushroom this is. This was my first attempt, in a long time, to capture an image in Macro setting without my macro lens. I contemplated cleaning off the dirt on the top, however I am glad I didn’t since it provides more detail to the mushroom itself. This particular mushroom stood out due to the colors against the earthy bland colors of the trail. For this photo, I had to bend down as far as I could, with my settings on Macro and Auto-focus and continue to press the shutter button until the camera automatically focused on the object itself. No major photo editing was involved. Camera settings – f/5.6, Exposure 1/100, ISO 1250.

Hartwell Dam – Louis Morris Memorial Bridge

Hartwell, Georgia

Hartwell Dam – Louis Morris Memorial Bridge

Hartwell, Georgia

I was happy to rediscover this bridge, as this was the very first place I had ventured to (accidently) just after moving to South Carolina 4 years ago. Inspired by photographer Galen Rowell and his beautiful nature photographs, I tried to capture the still beauty of this bridge while keeping the reflection crystal clear in this shot. A large storm has just passed, which provided a hue of fog just over the Savannah River. I used no major Photoshop editing and cropped very little out of the picture – as I feel the surrounding landscape provides an idea of the size of the bridge and dam in the background. Camera settings – f/11, Exposure 1/160 sec., ISO 100.

Dairy Farm

South Carolina/Georgia State Line

Dairy Farm

South Carolina/Georgia State Line

I stumbled upon a dairy farm on my way to Hartwell Bridge. I first noticed a beautiful rainbow casting across the dairy farm, but chose to photograph more of the dairy cows grazing in the field. This was my first attempt at focusing on the rule-of-thirds and I felt these dairy cows made a great representation of balance and depth to this photo. I hoped to get more photos, possibly all three cows facing the same direction, but the cow in the front was NOT happy I was photographing her so I made a quick exit. I would have liked to be closer, using less zoom, but I don’t believe she would have let me. Camera settings – f/5.6, Exposure 1/320 sec., ISO 100.

Lake Hartwell – Elrod Ferry Recreation Area

near Hartwell, Georgia

Lake Hartwell – Elrod Ferry Recreation Area

near Hartwell, Georgia

Lake Hartwell is one of the largest lakes in the region, covering parts of both South Carolina and Georgia. This lake is one of the most visited with many recreational activities, including access to Clemson University – which towers over the lake and provides boaters access to walk up the hill to watch the football game. I chose this lake for these reasons, given the statistics of the popularity and beauty of this area, I knew it had many options to explore. After photographing the dam, I found Elrod Ferry Recreation Area and walked along it’s quicksand like beach. I found this angle to be captivating and seemingly look like the end of a peninsula. The sun setting behind me provided shade towards the bottom of the picture with the bright blue sky straight ahead. For editing, I adjusted contrast and sharpness. Camera settings – f/8, Exposure 1/60, ISO 100.

Liberty BridgeGreenville, South Carolina

Liberty Bridge

Greenville, South Carolina

As the Liberty Bridge was my chosen Photo Evolution project, I found photographing different angles of the bridge shows the viewer more detail and beauty of this bridge. During the different days visited, viewing the bridge right after a storm provided a beautiful backdrop of the sky and more crisp air which brought more detail and sharpness to the bridge itself. Due to the heavy foot traffic, I attempted to remove approximately ten people from this bridge in Photoshop. I used cropping tools, as well as smudge and sponge tools to extend the backgrounds taken out by removing all other subjects from the photo. Camera settings – f/8, Exposure 1/200 sec., ISO 100.

Hunting Island – Still Life

Hunting Island – Still Life

This still life assignment was one of the most challenging for me. My creativity came to a stand still and I began to move things around on our dresser and try to think outside the box. My mom loves lighthouses and we have collected sand from each of our home states. I began to put things together, including drawing birds on the wall, and created this cheesy still life of a Washington State beach (which is why the characters are wearing hooded sweatshirts and are incredibly pale!) For the last year, I have misplaced my macro lens so I had to take this in Macro setting alone. Had I done things a little differently, I would have found the better lens for this subject and dimmed the lighting a little. Not much editing was done to this picture, other than the usual sharpness and contrast. Camera settings – f/18, Exposure 1/3 sec., ISO 3200.