Coral Cove Sunrise

[Don Lacy]

Hi guys, So this image has been sitting on my computer for at least two weeks there was a lot that I liked about it but it had one flaw that was ruining the image for me. The image I used for the foreground exposure had patches of blown out areas on the water which I could not blend in from another exposure since the difference in shutter speed lost the smooth effect the rest of the water had. I came across a technique for repairing blown out suns that I modified for the water and with a little cloning to ad texture I was happy with the result. Anyway here it is let me know what you think.

Canon 6D (soon to be a 5DMKIV), 16-35mm f/4 at 16mm(still an awesome lens after two years), two images hand blended, ISO 100, tripod, and my usual workflow of luminosity mask, dodging and burning, and a little Nik thrown in( going to miss those plugins stupid google)
Post edited to correct issues Dan pointed out

[Arthur Morris]

I think that it is great. Love the image design and the degree of blurring. I would love to hear the basics of the new technique that you learned and used.

with love, artie

[Don Lacy]

I think that it is great. Love the image design and the degree of blurring. I would love to hear the basics of the new technique that you learned and used.

with love, artie

Thanks Artie, What I did was color clone the blown highlights on the ocean using a luminosity mask to apply the color only to the blown areas. I used the color by the sun for the clone and I then set the blend mode to soft light to give it a nice soft feel to it. The clone looked good and matched the tonal values and color in the image but I now had patches of nice color without detail so I used the clone tool to add detail from the surrounding areas. I could have left it alone as it is not uncommon for image like this to have blown areas in them but I hate the look.So i have and been sitting on the image that was 90% processed for weeks. Then I saw a tutorial on color cloning which I know about but hardly use in which they used it to correct a blown out sun which got me to thinking on how I could use it on blown highlights.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Don. My problem is that I do not know anything about Luminosity Masks :(

with love, artie

[Andrew McLachlan]

Beautiful image Don...love how you corrected the blown out sun on the water as it is very natural looking...I hate that look too. I have on occasion been able to make it look more appealing by using quick masks and adjusting the opacity of the quick mask layer, but I will have to try out your technique too.

[Don Railton]

Very nice Don, but the worlds on a tilt again:e3... I would put a pretend cloud in front of that sun tho as it's still a bit too hot for me. Love the FG, would make the sky a little deeper and remove the dust bunnies above and to the right of the sun...

Don

[Don Lacy]

Very nice Don, but the worlds on a tilt again:e3... I would put a pretend cloud in front of that sun tho as it's still a bit too hot for me. Love the FG, would make the sky a little deeper and remove the dust bunnies above and to the right of the sun...

Don you caught me again and now i also have bunnies :e3