Fort Collins is known for its holiday lights and decorations. All the trees along the downtown streets are covered with beautiful white lights. This year we attended the ceremony to turn them on. I had no idea this was such a big deal- the main street through town was closed off and crowds thronged the whole area. The countdown was less than perfect- one set of lights was on a manual switch, while the rest were apparently on a timer set to go off at 6:00pm. The politicians took their time talking, so by the time the countdown started most of the lights down the street were already turned on. Failed theatrics aside, the lights themselves were of course beautiful and it was fun to be with the big crowd of people. This became my favorite image of the week.
Holiday Lights
Fujifilm X-T2, Fujinon XF 18-55 f/2.8-4 R LM OIS at 18mm, f/3.2 at 1/45, ISO 6400.
Digital Darkroom. The lights were turned on at 6:00pm (the Friday before the time change), so the skies were not completely dark. One of the things that struck me when I took the picture was the deep rich blue of the sky, which is something I tried to emphasize in the photo. I adjusted saturation and luminance of the blues, and boosted up Blacks to help bring this color out. A little clarity and dehaze, and the image was complete.
WIRR stands for Weekly Image Rich Ruh. This regular feature on Das Has von Ruh will show and describe my favorite photo created during this weekly period. My weeks start on Mondays, as does the WIRR. I’m hoping to include commentary on the story, the setting, the specs, or the sentiments, depending on the circumstances.
Das Haus von Ruh 