Last night was the Illuminate Workshops Meetup group. This month we headed to Washington Park. I made sure that I arrived well before sunset so that I could make images in daylight. Just as the sun was setting, I some images of trees reflecting in the Washington Park lake. When I looked at the image in Lightroom, I noticed that the foreground shadows were lit with blue from the sky. In this image, I increased the saturation of the blues and oranges to create some more color contrast.
Sunset Reflections In Washington Park Lake
As the sun sank lower in the sky, the orange skies from the setting sky were reflected in the lake. The park (and lake) has scores of Canada geese at this time of the year. I waited for the nearest goose to enter the frame before making this image.
Geese Silhouette, Washington Park
I headed around to the other side of the lake, to be closer to the meetup location. Here I made some image blurs. Horizontal blurs were not working at this location — too many long dark streaks — so I tried some vertical blurs. I made several vertical blurs that included the top of the trees and the bottom of the trees (reflected in the water). In Lightroom, I applied some negative clarity. This increased the “blurriness” of the trees in this image.
Island Blur In Washington Park Lake
After meeting the group of photogs, we made our way to the northern side of the lake. I made the following image that includes the reflections of the streetlights in the water.
Streetlights, Washington Park
The main attraction that was planned for the meetup was to create sparks and firewheels. In this image, Efrain was spinning the firewheel to create an orb of light. As the sparks fly, they leave trails in the night sky.
Orb And Sparks, Washington Park
The firewheel is created by putting steel wool inside a whisk. The whisk is attached to a chain or rope and lit before spinning the whisk. Be sure to have fire extinguishers available before attempting this. Also, stay away from trees and dry grass!