Photos

This is the final posting I have for my travelogue. It’s one of the few pics I took on my last day in USA as we made our way across the Mojave Desert from Barstow, where we’d stayed the previous night, to Los Angeles for my flight home that afternoon. To the casual observer, it’s just an open piece of desert with no distinguishing features but, in a way, it’s kind of symbolic to me. It was also the last of the wide open spaces I saw on the trip. The initially apparent emptiness summed up the way I was feeling at the time, knowing that it was going to be a long time before I saw scenery such as this again and also because I knew I was going to miss the company of a very good friend. However, looking at the scene in more detail reveals so much abundance, even in this relatively inhospitable place, which parallels the overwhelmingly enlightening and fulfilling experience that this entire trip was for me. One day I will return to bask in this land’s beauty and to share the experience with another friend who has come to mean a lot to me.

The original photo wasn’t that good. It lacked definition, clarity and the lightness, which looked to be the same as on a cloudy day even though there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and contrast hadn’t come out right either. Although much of it is attributable to my lack of ability with the camera at the time, I’m also aware that some of the initial image processing and printing wasn’t of a very high standard.
Alterations to the pic include the following: -
-Cropping to remove the road from the foreground and a large portion of the sky.
-Increasing both light and contrast, treating different parts of the image with varying amounts of adjustment.
-Blurring the sky to mask some very visible image noise before reapplying it with the gradient tool (at 50% opacity) using lightened versions of the original colours.
-Selectively sharpening parts of the image while leaving others alone.
I’ve done the best I can however my knowledge of Photoshop still has plenty of room for improvement. I hope the finished image looks satisfactory to you.

Thanks to all those who have followed this travelogue. I know the image quality hasn’t always been the greatest but I was (and still am) on a learning curve when it comes to correcting problems with images and preparing them for posting on this excellent website.
It was an experience that changed my perspective on life and I publicly acknowledge that I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my good friend and travelling companion, Mr Van Milton. If it wasn’t for him, this entire trip would never have happened. His local knowledge, patience, kindness, and understanding helped make the journey that much more special and his love and care for the environment influenced me to the core of my being forever.

Kind regards,
Tony