This week, in her challenge, Sofia focuses on mellow images. She writes, “Show us what gives you a mellow mood of calmness and cosiness; your favourite spot to relax, a beautiful scenery, a nice cup of coffee with a delicious slice of cake… and convey that sense of relaxation, with subdued warm tones, soft shapes and focus.” You can read her entire challenge post here.
In my opening image, I found the most mellow of sunset skies on a visit to South Mountain, a park in Phoenix, Arizona. The state is known for its beautiful skies, but they aren’t always in pastel shades. The sun had already set, and blue hour was just beginning.
This photo was taken in 2011 with a Kodak Z915 Point-and-Shoot camera. I chose to reprocess the photo to tone down the colors and to replace a bland, cloudless sky that appeared to make the top third of the photo blank. I chose a more colorful, yet mellow sky, and toned down the bright foreground greenery and that red canyon wall. Finally, I slightly reduced the clarity of the purple and gray canyon walls in the background to give the image a misty feel.
In 2009, we traveled to Mexico for the destination wedding of our daughter and her husband. During our stay, we managed to tour the city and visit the beautiful beaches. This shot, taken approaching sunset, features the rugged coastal cliffs of Isla Ixtapa in silhouette. The only reprocessing I did for this photo, taken with my Z815 Kodak point-and-shoot, was to upgrade the resolution to 2K HD via Lightroom Classic.
When we wintered in Buckeye, Arizona, we always enjoyed the blooms of our Yellow Bells plant. I reprocessed this image from 2015 to a square format to isolate a single stalk of blossoms and removed clarity slightly. Finally, I added a highlight vignette. These are my mellow yellow tributes to Donovan’s song.
At Barrett-Jackson in 2014, I saw this combination lamp and horn on a beautifully appointed early 20th-century classic car, manufactured during the easygoing era preceding the Great Depression. The only reprocessing I did for this image was to use the latest version of Photoshop to remove two people in the background who were looking at the classic white truck parked beside this automobile.
On a cruise stop in Alaska, we visited a saloon where I captured the image of this performer lost in his work. When I first processed the image, converting it to black and white in 2014, I was not happy with two lights in the background that pointed directly at the camera, creating a huge distraction. For this post, I reprocessed the image using Lightroom Classic’s Denoise feature, but only lightly, leaving some noise in place for effect. Then I used Adobe Photoshop to remove the two lights pointing toward the camera. Finally, the doorway in the background led to a much brighter room. I used a brush mask to reduce the exposure in the doorway, balancing the light with the rest of the image.
I saw this damselfly at rest on a blade of tall grass in Fort Whyte Alive! Park in Winnipeg, Canada. We usually associate warm colors with mellowness, but cool colors like blue and green can also be mellow, depending on the subject. This photo and the opening photo were the only two that I did not reprocess to create a more laid-back image.
That’s all for this week for me. I’ve also shared these images in an album on my Flickr site, available here; most of them in 2K HD. Be sure and stay mellow in these tumultuous times. Last week, Ritva challenged us to explore the value of books and how they can be used as both creative and intellectual subjects.
Next week, Beth joins us for her first challenge post as a team member. Be sure to follow her blog here so you don’t miss her challenge, which will be published at noon Eastern Time on Saturday. Are you new to the challenges and unsure how to respond with your own photos? Check here for some tips on getting started.
John Steiner
Journeys with Johnbo 
The Grand Canyon photo is amazing John, such colours
Thanks, Brian.
Very mellow images John, they all seem relaxing.
Thanks, Leanne!
Beautiful images… perfect for the theme!
Thanks, Sreejith! I read your latest post this morning. A beautiful treatise on the power of community.
Thank you so much, John 🙂
Cool collection, John. I love your landscapes and I think these are possibly my all time favourites of yours, especially the first two. Wonderful mellow mood.
Thanks, Sofia! Except for the sky, that Grand Canyon photo wasn’t changed much, but I do enjoy the editing process.
Great mellows John! Your editing skills are tremendous, and you seem to enjoy the process.
Thanks, Anne! Yes, I really enjoy the process.
😎
The Grand Canyon never disappoints!
Indeed, it’s always magnificent.
This is a fun and creative collection for the mellow theme John. I love the first sunset, damselfly and horn/lamp!
Thanks, Brad!
Wow! These are all fantastic and very mellow. I love the Grand Canyon and the singer in Alaska. As always your editing is amazing.
Thanks, Beth! It’s always fun for me to see what I can do with a RAW image. 🙂
A great variety of mellow images John 🙂 The processing on that Grand Canyon shot is very effective and I love the Ixtapa sunset too!
Thanks, Sarah! I wasn’t sure how the Grand Canyon shot would be perceived, but it appears to be received well! 🙂
Nice gallery! Love the damselfly.
Thanks, Sandy!
Some excellent examples with lots of variety John. My fav is the damselfly – your clarity on that one is terrific.
Thanks, Tina!
Love the sunset views and the damsel fly is wonderful – they are so tiny and difficult to capture
They don’t hang around much, always quick to fly elsewhere.
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It would be hard to pick any mellower pictures, John. I love the fly, and the Grand Canyon sunset. The yellow bells might be my favorite, though. I’d love to have them in m backyard. 🙂
I loved the beauty of our yellow bells and orange jubilees in our Buckeye back yard.
What a beautiful collection you have here, John! Between the landscapes and other nature shots, I cannot honestly say I have a favorite. They are all gorgeous.
Thanks, Egidio! I was not sure how I would choose my selections.
A wonderful mellow gallery John, the Grand Canyon at sunset is especially beautiful 😊
Thanks, Xenia. It’s fun to rework photos that I thought were “done” to give them a different look. We have so many fabulous processing tools these days.
Gorgeous variety, John, and Grand Canyon is spectacular! I must say I enjoyed the car too…
Thanks, Ann-Christine!
Very mellow indeed. Love the photos, especially the sunset.
Thanks, Diana!