The stairs inside the Old Point Loma lighthouse, at the Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego.
Cabrillo National Monument is a historic site which commemorates Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo's "discovery" of the West coast of the US in 1542. He was looking for Asia, but found San Diego instead. The old Point Loma lighthouse was built on the site in 1855, and was used for 36 years, until a new lighthouse was built in a location that isn't perpetually fogged in. Now, the lighthouse is part of the national monument, and visitors can see how the lighthouse keeper and his family lived (hint: their living space is *tiny*). The shot was taken from the landing where the lighthouse keeper's quarters are.
I had the dual problem of it being quite dark inside the lighthouse, and the sun shining in the doorway, creating a lot of contrast. It was barely bright enough handhold at ISO 800, even using the 12-24 at 12mm, and there isn't really enough room for a tripod, so the shot was quite noisy.
Post processing:
* crop to 4x5
* clone out spots here, there, and everywhere
* NeatImage
* select the cheap indoor-outdoor carpet at the bottom of the stairs, and use lens blur on it
* contrast mask to improve detail in the highlights
* contrast mask to lighten the dark areas
* select and desaturate the yellow wall on the left, and the yellow reflection on the stairs
* increase the saturation on everything
* resize
* sharpen
* save for web
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Since all my photo equipment was stolen and I am camera-less, I will spend time now voting...
Interest - 2
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Technical Merit - 3
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TOTAL - 10
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