Light Displays on the Ground and in the Sky - Pittsburgh 12.11.14

With the holiday season upon us, evergreens with strings of lights on them are probably the easiest thing to find. One of the best displays in Pittsburgh exists at Market Square among the jutting towers of glass and steel that are PPG Place and the surrounding skyscrapers of the square. The ice rink at PPG Place wraps around a massive tree across from a row of lit up trees leading to a village with more displays. Lights move up and down along the triangular rooftops of PPG Place and the vast amount of lit up branches allows for numerous bokeh rich photographs. Metallic orbs mimic a modern version of a tree in the center of Market Square, a stark contrast to the classical style of the Macy's window displays and Allegheny County Courthouse lights.

While the holidays provide vivid and plentiful displays of light, nothing matches the colors of the sky during the cold seasons sunsets. The time around sunset is always the best for photography and I always find myself looking outside trying to predict that evenings possibilities. Unfortunately, living along the downward part of a large hill disrupts the view. I often find that as soon as I make my way over the hill, the sky looks completely different but many times the colors of the sunset hover over an area without much to use for a foreground. This time as I left the Waterfront rich shades of orange, pink, and pale blue and green sat right above the expanse of the Hi-Level Bridge. Luckily, one of Pittsburgh's best kept secret views at the end of Forrester St. in Greenfield was right in the range of the display. The view stretches from Hazelwood to the South Side, Mt. Washington, Downtown and Oakland. With a bit of adjustment of temperature and tint, saturation and hue of the sunset colors, and use of a graduated filter I was able to create the unique edits of the original shot shown at the end of this entry.

Sunset 12.11.14

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