Entrance to the Tower of Americas

I took this shot not too long before sunset of the Tower of Americas, HemisFair Park, located in San Antonio, Texas. The vantage point is just outside one of the walkways leading to the tower. I like the way this photo came out because even if you do not know what the subject of the photo is, right there in front of you is a sign telling you what it is. It also helps that instead of a metal facade or some other object, the bridge going over the walk way, flanked by trees, makes the overall picture look more natural, with a 750 foot tower rising from the background.

I took the lettering and the two lights on either side from the original photo and made them lighter so the whiteness was more pronounced, then blended them with the final photo to make the white a little bit more natural looking. With HDR processing, a lot of times the whites come out looking dirty, so one (of the many) parts of the post processing is going back to clean up the whites. Like all of the clean up, it is best to make it look as subtle and blended as possible so instead of detracting from the overall picture, the minor fixes add to the overall quality of the shot.

Entrance to the Tower of Americas