Independence - Rhode Island Style by kannafoot

Independence - Rhode Island Style

On this date, May 4th, 1776, Rhode Island became the first of the American Colonies to declare independence from England. While the 2nd Continental Congress dithered, dallied, and delayed in Philadelphia, the General Assembly of Rhode Island published its very own Declaration of Independence with this act:

"Be it therefore enacted by this General Assembly, and by the authority thereof it is enacted, that an Act intituled, 'An Act for the more effectual securing to his majesty the allegiance of his subjects in this his Colony and Dominion of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations,' be, and the same is hereby, repealed."

The building shown in today's photo is The Old State House, built in 1762, and it was in this building that the General Assembly voted to sever ties and allegiance with England. It would take another two months for the other 12 colonies to follow suit. So, Happy Independence Day, Rhode Island!

Trying to describe today's post-processing should get interesting. There were a bunch of cars parked in front of this building, and I simply didn't want any 21st century anachronisms to intrude on the photo. I didn't want to just crop them out, either. Instead, I used a cookie cutter tool to create a jagged edge crop that eliminated most of the cars but left the entire building and the outlying trees intact. I then added a grey layer below that to eliminate the white space caused by the cookie cutter. From there I used the healing brush tool at an extremely wide angle with "context aware" checked to remove what remained of the cars. That tool does a great job of replicating what should be behind the item you're removing. I then added a texture layer with a grungy scratched and torn look to it. I selected the "multiply" blend mode. Now it was a matter of tweaking the image for the look I wanted. I replicated the primary image and used a screen blend mode to really lighten the subject and then tweaked the contrast a bit with a levels adjustment. I added a sepia filter to soften the harsh contrast caused by the texture layer. I used a second levels adjustment tied to the texture layer to adjust the lighting and contrast just of the texture overlay. The saturation of the entire image was lowered just a bit. To add the frame, I simply added a blank layer at the top and painted in the border.
A fav - totally love this shot and the history behind it
May 4th, 2012  
So pretty! Love the effect!
May 4th, 2012  
Def a fav! This is a great photo, Ron and the post processing is perfect! Where is this building located? You always find great subjects to photograph! I really need to get to know RI more! Hehe!
May 5th, 2012  
@ladycee Thanks, Connie! This is on South Main Street just before St. John's Episcopal Cathedral. It's set WAY back off the road. In fact, the back of this building is on Benefit Street.

@megsy Thanks, Meg! It's not a b&w this time, but...

@marzenka Thanks, Marzenka! I did have a bit of fun with this one.
May 5th, 2012  
Wonderful shot, Ron. Love how you've processed it.
May 5th, 2012  
Great building and nice history lesson
May 5th, 2012  
Wonderful shot - I like the texture, it suits it well. Your processing sounds incredibly long and complicated. Does it take you a long time to edit like this?
May 5th, 2012  
Very cool processing!
May 6th, 2012  
amazing shot and history.. love the antique look of this photo
May 10th, 2012  
Leave a Comment
Sign up for a free account or Sign in to post a comment.