76 & LA — Chavez Ravine Sun Haze - How I Shot This Minimal, Backlit Dodgers Icon

The Idea: A Modern, Minimal Love Letter to LA Baseball

I didn’t want another stadium snapshot. I wanted a clean, gallery-ready symbol—the LA mark and the orange 76 ball floating in that soft California glare, with palms as a whisper in the corners. Backlight let me reduce the scene to three shapes and two colors: Dodger blue, 76 orange, and a wash of sun. That’s LA.

Why I Shot Into the Sun

Shooting backlit turns clutter into shape and tone. The sun becomes a giant diffuser, lifting the background and creating a high-key glow that feels like a July afternoon at Chavez Ravine. It also gives the edges of the sign a halo—subtle, cinematic, and timeless on a wall.

Location, Angle, and Timing

• Vantage: Just outside the stadium parking lot, positioned so the 76 ball stacks above the LA shield with palm fronds balancing the frame left/right.

• Height/Angle: Slightly elevated so the blue LA sits cleanly on a pale background (no dark tree trunks cutting through).

• Timing: Late afternoon as the sun rides high but soft—marine-layer haze does half the aesthetic work. A light breeze kept the palms feathered, not smeared.

Gear & Settings (from this shot)

• Camera/Lens: Full-frame + 70–200mm (shot around 200 mm)

• Mode: Manual

• Aperture: f/4 (crisp logo, gentle falloff on palms)

• Shutter: 1/1000s (freezes heat shimmer & leaf tips)

• ISO: 100

• Exposure Bias: +0.7 EV (ETTR for bright, clean whites)

• Focus: Single-point on the “LA” edge, then recompose

• White Balance: Daylight (tuned warm later)

Lightroom: Building the High-Key, California Glow

Base profile: Adobe Color → fine-tuned.
Global Tone

• Exposure +0.25 | Contrast –10 (let it feel airy)

• Highlights –55 (recover rim detail)

• Shadows +20 (lift palm fronds)

• Whites +25 (clean, luminous whites)

• Blacks +15 (raised blacks = modern, high-key look)

• Texture +10 | Clarity –5 (smooth transitions)

• Dehaze –2 (keeps the haze dreamy)

HSL (brand colors without oversaturating):

• Blue: Hue –4, Sat +10, Luma –2 (richer LA mark)

• Orange: Hue –2, Sat +12, Luma +6 (true 76 ball pop)

• Green: Sat –8, Luma –6 (push palms into the background)

Local Masks:

• Radial over 76 ball & LA: Whites +12, Clarity +6, Dehaze +4 (micro-contrast only where it matters).

• Large gradient from edges inward: Exposure –0.10 to keep corners contained and eyes on the center.

• Brush on hot sky edge: Highlights –20 to protect speculars.

Export 16-bit TIFF to Photoshop.

Photoshop: Clean, Shape, and Print Polish

1. Cleanup (Heal/Clone on empty layer): Remove tiny dust, glare rings, stray sensor spots.

2. Geometry: Subtle vertical correction so the poles stay true; warp 1–2% to keep the shield edges perfectly planar.

3. Color Harmony:

   • Selective Color

     • Blues: Cyan +6, Black +4 (Dodgers blue, not neon).

     • Neutrals: Black –3 (keeps whites creamy).

     • Reds (for orange): Yellow +6, Black –2.

4. Soft Glow (controlled Orton):

   • Duplicate → Gaussian Blur 16–18 px → Soft Light @ 12–15%, masked off the “LA” letterforms so they stay crisp.

5. Micro-Contrast on Edges:

   • High Pass 1.0 px → Overlay, masked to the sign edges and 76 ring only (avoid the sky).

6. White Vignette (gallery look):

   • Large feathered selection → Curve up a touch to create a mat-like white falloff inside the frame.

7. Final Output Sharpening (at print size):

   • Paper/Baryta: Smart Sharpen 55 / 0.6 / 10

   • Metal/Acrylic: 90 / 0.5 / 10 (they hold more bite)

Why This Works as Fine Art

• Icon reduced to essentials: three shapes (ball, shield, palms) and two brand colors.

• Backlight = modern minimalism: lifted blacks and controlled highlights read “gallery” instead of “snapshot.”

• Material-ready: Looks incredible on acrylic or ChromaLuxe metal (clean whites, saturated accents), and elegant on baryta fiber if you prefer a museum feel.

Print & Listing Notes (for my collectors)

• Editioning: Limited /50 with signed COA.

• Popular sizes: 16×20, 20×24, 24×30, 24×36 (also square crops available).

• File handling: 16-bit TIFF master (ProPhoto), delivery as Adobe RGB or lab ICC

Closing

This photograph is Los Angeles distilled—sun, palms, and the symbols every Dodgers fan knows by heart. Shooting into the light let me celebrate glow over detail and design over clutter, turning a familiar sign into a piece of modern sports art.

If you’d like a signed print of “76 & LA — Chavez Ravine Sun Haze,” you can order it here:

https://chrisfabregasfineartprints.com/products/76-la-chavez-ravine-sun-haze-los-angeles-baseball-fine-art-prin?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard&utm_medium=product-links&utm_content=web.

 I’m happy to personalize sizes or framing to fit your space.