365: Glowing…
I remember liking this shot from last winter and finally got around to processing it this winter. I love how the effect of the early morning sun on the sand and various plant life seems to give it a bit of a glow.
I actually blended 2 shots together in Elements 10 using the exposure of the sky and the lighting of the foreground to produce this image. Kind of old school HDR if you will.
It’s All in the Mood…
Weather has a great impact on the overall feel of a capture and this shot is no exception. This facility has a very cold and hard feel to it and the overcast skies certainly contribute to the overall mood of the scene. I can’t imagine shooting this place with a sunny cloudless sky, the mood would be totally ruined.
Shades Of Gray…
I love everything about this shot except one thing….. IMHO there’s no main subject.
My focus this day was to work on slow shutter speed photography. I wanted to turn the Atlantic Ocean water into something silky smooth. And with a 20 second exposure at f11 I was able to do that, nice …. I take that back, as I look at this shot further, I wish the water had a more dominant presence in the shot. So there are a few things I would like to change but not bad for the theme.
Happiness Is…
The obvious…. I don’t know, this made me laugh. It’s kind of like those warnings on certain products that state the obvious detrimental results of one’s doltish actions. I guess some people just don’t get it!
Again I processed this in Photomatix initially but then added that second step of applying the Color Pop preset in Topaz Adjust. It did just that and I like the result.
Looking Up… From Under…
The Belmar Fishing Club’s Pier extends a bit into the Atlantic so I thought I would get a few shots and share with you.
When processing the bracketed shots I was interested to see how Photomatix would bring out the grains of the wood and the details within the sand. Not bad!!
But after seeing how Topaz transformed the last image I decided to give it a go and the result is just okay for me……. what do you think? The Topaz result is below….
BTW, you know that you can use Topaz as a plug-in for Lightroom right? I access my Topaz plug-ins through Fusion Express mostly but in this case maybe I should have accessed Topaz by exporting to Elements and then been able to play with the opacity slider to further refine the shot.
Old…
I finally got out to take a few shots this morning but let me tell you it was freezing. I was only one of a few idiots outside at 7am with the temperature at 28 and the wind howling at 20-30 mph. But, with that said, I’m fairly happy with what I came away with and would like to show you what I did. This is obviously the Belmar Fishing Club’s Clubhouse and having been established in 1909, it fits the theme splendidly.
I haven’t processed too many over-the-top HDR shots recently and went out purposely to get a few. I’m happy with this (above) 3 shot HDR processed in Photomatix but I wanted to take it a step further and see what Topaz Adjust could do. It’s posted just below:
I utilized the Dramatic preset in Topaz Adjust and this produced just what it said it would…..in fact the results were too dramatic and I subsequently had to tone down the saturation and details adjustments and then used the embedded Topaz DeNoise reduction sliders to finish it off and WOW did it do the trick! (So, what do you think Ron?) Anyway, if you do not utilize any of the Topaz products I suggest that you download a trial and check it out for yourself.
I have to tell you it feels pretty good to produce a decent HDR image! I feel like it’s been quite a while….I feel quite a bit of motivation after my outing this morning! I even have a few more from the Belmar Fishing Club to post over the next few days. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I!
Ominous…
With Hurricane Tomas lurking in the Atlantic I decided to and see what the effects would be at the beach. The waves were a good 8-12 feet, some of the largest I’ve seen here. Another photographer/surfer told me that the waves were even better on Friday, maybe even some 15 footers, which is certainly not common here. Anyway, I know this doesn’t necessarily show these waves but it does give a pretty good view of the effects of mighty Tomas.
A better look can be seen here.
On a processing note, I have to say that the latest version of Photomatix does an outstanding job of handling ghosting, evidence by the incoming wave on the left of the picture. You can get a trial of it here.
3 shot HDR at -2, 0, +2 with the Sigma 10-20 at 20mm
Cold
Cold, originally uploaded by boomer3297.
My 20 minute drive to the beach saw the outdoor temperature go from 26(at my house), to 36(in the parking lot) at the beach. I figuring this can’t be too bad right? I get out of the car, it’s not too bad, very little wind. By the time I get to this spot at the shoreline the wind picks up and it feels like 10 degrees. I managed to hang around for about 40 minutes and take 100 or so shots before retreating to the car.
This is a single shot HDR with the following settings:
iso 100, f19 and 1/4 shutter.
Cold 2
Cold 2, originally uploaded by boomer3297.
I haven’t been able to get out and shoot at all over the last week or so, so I decided to post another from Sandy Hook. This one is not quite as good as the last but like I said it’s close to my house so I can go back.
Cold
Cold, originally uploaded by boomer3297.
Recently I got up early to get to one of my favorite beaches here in NJ. The shot is from one of the many beaches at Sandy Hook. During the summer months this place is almost impossible to get in and out of. It’s a beautiful spot but I prefer to go in the late fall or winter months. This particular morning it was plenty cold but not so bad to keep me away.
This is a 3 shot HDR shot at f14 and a focal length of 25mm.
I’m looking forward to the next weekend morning with bearable temperatures to take more shots.
