I noticed this appropriately painted fire hydrant on State Street in Warren a couple of weeks ago. Today, as I was cruising through looking for a good photo opp, I spotted a parking spot right across the street from it. Parking in Warren during the day is absolutely brutal, so I seized the opportunity and took the shot. I went with an f2.8 aperture to produce a nice background blur, and even then I had to deepen the blur in the post processing. It's a nice, colorful hydrant, though!
Post processing started with a dramatic I HDR filter in Topaz Adjust. That filter provided a nice color enhancement without any of the dramatic light effects typical of an HDR filter. In Photoshop, I isolated the background and applied a gradient to a layer mask. Using that gradient, I then applied a Gaussian blur to the background at a 20 pixel radius to deepen the depth of field effect. A slight levels adjustment and a slight saturation adjustment completed the image.
@cromwell I think it's supposed to be a fireman. They have several painted in a similar fashion around town. @miley89 Thanks, Miley! @sabanford Thanks, Shirley. Was lucky to find a parking spot! @melissapike Thanks, Melissa. I'll have to check out your fire hydrant collection! @morrisroos Thanks, Don @jsw0109 Thanks, Jeff. I haven't been to South Bend since the Ara era!
When i was a kid I remember there being a number fire hydrant design/painting contests for the bicentennial. I wonder if this great shot has one done from that time period.
@allisonrap Thanks, Allison! Yes, it's almost as bad as Bristol. :)
@karens68 I can see why, Karen! Looks like a real interesting shot.
@miley89 Thanks, Miley!
@sabanford Thanks, Shirley. Was lucky to find a parking spot!
@melissapike Thanks, Melissa. I'll have to check out your fire hydrant collection!
@morrisroos Thanks, Don
@jsw0109 Thanks, Jeff. I haven't been to South Bend since the Ara era!
Thanks for the follow!
@eryck Thanks, Eryck. Glad the post-processing comments help.
@wordpixman Thanks, Arthur.