As I started doing more of my composite images, one thing that was lacking from me was something in the foreground. My originals had been done from the porch of my apartment, with Longs Peak and the Indian Range off in the distance. It made for a nice break, and after I move to south Denver, I lost the distinctiveness in the mountains as well. I got some good sunsets and skies, but with a wide angle, the mountains seemed uninteresting, and while I could usually see downtown Denver, it was too far off to be noticeable enough to make an imact.
So I started thinking about landmarks around Denver and the Front Range that I could use in the foreground. After some attempts at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and a few at Red Rocks Amphitheater, I tried just driving around downtown. I found a decent view of the Cash Register building, and of the State Capitol building, so one night I just drove around looking to see what I could see.
The best shots of sunset are looking west, which makes lighting in the foreground difficult, but with a new (to me) Canon 5D mark II, I could get a better exposure range. As I drove, I passed by the Clock Tower in the middle of downtown. It’s a well known landmark in Denver, and often lit colorfully for various celebrations. I started out at sidewalk level, facing nearly perfectly west, but it didn’t quite catch what I wanted. I wanted to be higher. Denver has a series of catwalks and upper-level sidewalks that are little known, and often free from prying eyes. Also, being above regular foot traffic means I don’t need to edit people out of individual photos, which helps a lot. I found one, two buildings to the north of the Tower, connected by a raised sidewalk/patio system. Coming around to the south, I was able to setup a great shot of the Tower, and was granted a gorgeous sunset.
The LED billboard across the street offered some interesting logos and shapes, and ultimately what jumped out was a giant heart on a bright red field. I selected on photo that caught the billboard perfectly, and using Photoshop for one of the usually three times I use it in a year, layered in the heart. My algorithm had made a mishmash of the billboard, so the heart was a very satisfying compromise.