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Just going through some older images of the US Capitol building, I ran across this one. Most of the time when I look at these images, I remember EXACTLY when I captured them, what I was feeling, etc. But for some reason, I don’t remember with this one. Did I even capture this images? LOL of course but I’m not sure what happened. Maybe I was just busy that day or something and didn’t have time to go through them all and eventually I just forgot about them? OR maybe I’ve just been to the US Capitol so much that all my memories are starting to mush together into one? I know it had to have been a sunrise. Either way, I’m glad found this image.

This is actually the original.

Dome, US Capitol Building, washington dc, tour, capitol building, interior, architecture, sunrise, capitol hill, NE DC, SE DC, pink

I really like the way that it came out but as I was waiting for my computer to save the image, I thought about what it would look like with a vertical crop. I tested it out. Which do you like better?

Either way, I love the two bright colors right next to each other. It’s so unexpected but very interesting to me. And the most unexpected part about the image is being able to see the inside of the dome! Look in the windows. You can see a little bit of the interior. So COOL!

PS. I’m still trying to get a tour of the interior of the US Capitol dome. Those shots would be AH-Mazing. I think I’ve written to my representative at least 3 times and still no answer. If anyone knows how I can get in, let me know the time and place and I’ll be there.

My camera settings for this image is F4 at 1/50 sec and ISO 500 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens.

All photos available for print and licensing >

If you’re in the DC area, its definietly worth checking out Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens in the summer time. It’s absolutely beautiful. There has to be hundreds of these pink lotus flowers in the ponds and the whole area is just filled with them. A photographer and nature lover’s dream. Although, I think the flowers may be all done for this year’s season. There’s always next year!

But the gardens are only open during certain hours and those hours are not at sunrise or sunset (the ideal time to shoot). It’s in the middle of the day, which is usually difficult to shoot. Most of the time, I’d try to find flowers that were blooming under some tree shade or something like that. This one was not. So I had to use my photoshop skills to really emphasize the mood I was feeling. I wanted all the concentration to be on the flower, to be in the spotlight. So I purposely made the surrounding areas darker than they are straight out of the camera. I also used luminosity masks to brighten the flower up a little more. Just doing those two alone really made the image pop a lot more and created some great contrast.

If you’re interested in learning more about my photoshop techniques, check out these video tutorials I created. This one is about luminosity masks. This one is about my complete photoshop workflow. Even if I’m not editing this particular image in the video tutorials, the same rules and principles apply. I will have to say that these videos are for those who are already comfortable with photoshop. You already have some basic skills and you just wanted to up your skill set a little more or just watch someone else’s workflow. If you had any questions or video suggestions, don’t be afraid to let me know!

tomb of christ, angela b. pan, abpan, hdr, interior, architecture, franciscan monastery, travel, washington dc, ne dc,

While I was at the Franciscan Monastery last week (seen here), I was really excited to photograph this particular area. That was even before I found out that this is a replica of the Tomb of Christ from the Holy Land. I really liked how the candles were lined up, how it was framing the image of Jesus so perfectly, and how it just made you look at the ceiling. When I came home this was the first image that I tried to process.

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Hi Everyone!! Hope you’re having a great weekend so far.
This past week has been really exciting for me, discovering new places in DC and revisiting some places I’ve been before. Here are the images:

I went to the Udvar-Hazy Center Air and Space Museum and saw helicopters and the back of space shuttle Enterprise. So cool!

Then I went to the Air Force Memorial and took this image a little after sunset. It’s probably one of my favorites to date.

I had never knew about this place, but there is a Franciscan Monastery in NE DC. It is GORGEOUS! Definitely worth a visit if you’re ever in the area.

Then I showed you a different point of view of Great Falls National Park at sunrise. Let me know what you think!

Hope you all have a great rest of the weekend and blog with you on Monday 🙂