I captured this basic photograph of the exterior of the Carmel Mission during my last road trip:

Mission CarmelMission San Carlos Borroméo del río Carmelo at 3080 Rio Road in Carmel-By-The-Sea, California on July 27, 2016

Although this picture appears to be a straightforward simple shot, I thought I would share what was involved in creating it.

The Carmel Mission was very crowded. The parking lot was full and people were parked up to four blocks away from the mission. Hundreds of people were wandering the grounds. To capture this image without tourists, I waited for a long time before the scene finally cleared (for the most part):

Mission San Carlos Borroméo del río CarmeloMission San Carlos Borroméo del río Carmelo at 3080 Rio Road in Carmel-By-The-Sea, California on July 27, 2016

I waited until the other section of the frame opened up and shot the next couple of images:

Mission San Carlos Borroméo del río CarmeloMission San Carlos Borroméo del río Carmelo at 3080 Rio Road in Carmel-By-The-Sea, California on July 27, 2016

Mission San Carlos Borroméo del río CarmeloMission San Carlos Borroméo del río Carmelo at 3080 Rio Road in Carmel-By-The-Sea, California on July 27, 2016 By blending the three images together and selecting just the open areas of each frame, I was able to create a picture free of people.

The next thing that bothered me was the open door of the basilica. To close the door, I used the Mirror Trick. The mirror trick is something that I use often to clean up photographs. To read more about it, click here for one of my past blog entries on the subject.

I didn't have the luxury of shooting this scene in the best light. Sometimes with travel photography, I have to take what I can get. I decided to convert the image to black & white using Nik's Silver Efex Pro software.

It's not the greatest image in the world, but I think the adjustments (removing people, closing the door and converting to B&W) helped make the photography more presentable.