Yesterdays post wasn’t a very good representation of the beauty that the Manasquan Inlet has to offer. Those man-made pilings, coupled with the “artistry”, definitely takes away from the beautiful views that one will encounter here from sunrise to sunset. And as I look back at my shots from yesterday it seems as though these pilings are present in most of my shots. Granted I thought they would be great for some HDR but not as the main subject. So, for today’s shot, I thought I would incorporate ( I had no other choice) them into the scene but minimize their presence.
My main processing thought to this scene was to minimize the presence of the pilings (if that’s possible) and draw attention to the sunrise. I did this by using the adjustment brush to clone out some of the “artistry” on the pilings and then adjusted the dark and shadow tones just enough to leave a slight amount of detail in those pilings. That seemed to take care of the foreground. I then focused on the sun by adding a graduated filter to the sky to add contrast and saturation and finished with a slight vignette. I hope this shows a little more of the beauty of the Manasquan Inlet.
Shot at f11, 1/180 sec, 200 iso and 17mm
Blogging by Attanasio Imagery 
Now that IS beautiful! Wonderful improvement.
A beautiful result. Did you notice that the lines of the sun’s rays are sort of repeated in some of the haphazard lines formed by the silhouetted pilings?
Is this part of a breakwater?
Julie, I can see some of the lines your talking about now that I look. Yes, it’s a breakwater for the Point Pleasant marina where all the “Party” fishing boats emanate from.
Now that’s an awesome visual and can set a tone for the evening or morning!
Thanks Matt!
Just a few changes turned this into a totally different scene…BREATHTAKING!
At the risk of loosing a friend, I know this is a different shot, but assuming they were taken close together, could you incorporate the splash of Golden sunlight evident in the first take, as it is the stunning feature of THAT image for me?
Magnificent! I’m so glad that you showed us these two photos back to back.
Sweet! I like how the pilings frame the sunrise.