One Lucky Shot

We were out for a walk Thursday afternoon. While waiting to cross the street I decided to take a shot of the Don't Walk sign against the backdrop of the tree. (There's a Complementary Colors themed competition at the Online Professional Visual Artists forum and I thought the red and green might work.)

As I pressed the shutter release I could see the "Don't Walk" part of the sign lit. The mirror flipped up for the shot, blocking my view, and when it flipped back down the "Walk" part was lit.

Curious, I took a look at the recorded image. What you see here is what I saw (with a little rotation and white balance adjustment.) Both parts of the sign were lit. The exposure was just 1/125 second. That was some close timing.

Of course I had to run with this for the competition. I cropped the image down to the sign and post. Since the green part of the sign was faded with age to the point of being basically pink, I recolored that part to a nice green. Will it win, place, or show? Who knows? I have other entries in, as do many very talented artists.