Hoop Dreams
15 December 2014 -- 349/365
East Providence, Rhode Island
I've mentioned several times in the past that I stopped by Willett Pond in East Providence to photograph this basketball hoop. Each time, though, something else at that location caught my attention. The one interesting thing about each of those other visits was that it was always raining. Today was the first time I went on a sunny day, and the brilliant blue sky behind the backboard made a world of difference. I love the contrast it adds to the scene, and that was always lost under a grey sky. I decided to use my 200mm lens at f/3.2 so as to produce the background blur you see here, and to pull the hoop well into the foreground. It gives it more of a 3D effect. That lens also let me get this angle to frame it with the bare branches on either side. (I love bare branches against a uniform sky.)
Post processing started with a classic filter in Topaz B&W FX. I adjusted color sensitivity sliders, adaptive exposure, regions, contrast, boost black, boost white, and protect highlights. A levels adjustment was added in PSE.
