Ken Mickel Photography – Ken Mickel Photography

Sunset In Maui

February 4, 2020 by Ken Mickel, posted in Artistry, Textured Photos, Waterscapes

Enjoying a peaceful sunset in Maui while taking in all the beauty of the Hawaiian island.

Incoming Waves

February 3, 2018February 3, 2018 by Ken Mickel, posted in Landscapes, Waterscapes

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Photographing the waves crashing into the rocks of the breakwater at the harbor in Vertura, California was quite fun for this Arizona photographer. This is something that one does not experience in the beautiful state of Arizona. I really wanted to capture the power of the movement of water. I held I finger ready to fire the shutter as the waves were crashing against the rocks. To get a bit of movement, I used a shutter speed of 0.4 seconds. Later in Lightroom, I dodged (lighten) the bright spots in the water just a little bit to draw attention to the movement of water. Then I also darkened the shadow in the rock to add a bit of mystery and enhance the mood of the close of the day after the sun just dropped below the horizon. I finished off my editing by dodging the tops of the rocks so you can see the shapes of the rocks and show a little bit of the details.

Last Light

January 13, 2018January 13, 2018 by Ken Mickel, posted in Landscapes

One of my rare Arizona desert landscapes without cactus. This image was captured at the Skyline Regional Park, Buckeye, Arizona along a hiking trail. I stopped down my aperture to f14 to get the star effect as the sun was fixing to go down, behind the mountain. I also used the adjustment brush in Lightroom to brighten the rocks in the lower right to give the effect of the light striking them. Then I lightened slightly a bit of the landscape between the rocks and the sun and to the ridge of the mountain to create paths for the eyes to follow to the sun. The eyes will either go straight from the rock to the sun, or travel up to the ridge of the mountain, then down to the sun. I also used the adjustment brush to darken some of the shadows. You may see a larger version here on my Flickr or here on 500px.

Daisy on White

January 6, 2018January 6, 2018 by Ken Mickel, posted in Flowers

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For me, the purity and simplicity of a yellow daisy against a white background is a pleasure to enjoy viewing. Hope you enjoy also. The pedal sticking up is what attracted me to this particular blossom.

Floating Gazania

December 1, 2017December 1, 2017 by Ken Mickel, posted in Flowers

A Gazania flower floating in darkness. This image was created by layering the flower over a black layer in Photoshop and then masking out the background of the flower revealing the black layer underneath.