Steve Clarke - Assignment 1: Light Up the World and Play

This photo is a meaningful one to me. A rarity in Panama, this public basketball court (with a roof) was just a couple of blocks away from my first house there. Many a morning was spent playing there before the day began.
I really wanted to make the hoop on the far end the focal point of the photo. To do this, I used a lighting filter effect to shine down on the hoop. Then, working with two different layers of the photo (one b/w, one color), I used a blending mode on the top layer to emphasize the color in the light. Finally, I touched up the image by playing a bit with the contrast, popping the colors, and using the sponge tool to touch up the lighting on the court.