The Old Girl Still Has What It Takes

[Grady Weed]

Canon EOS 5D, Shooting Date/Time 7/2/2008 05:22:37, Shutter Speed 1/8Sec. Av(Aperture Value) F22, Evaluative metering, Exposure Compensation +1 1/3, ISO 100, Lens EF28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM, Focal Length 28.0 mm. On Gitzo Tripod with Wimberley head, w2, and cable release.

It was a spectacular sunrise as usual from the Portland Headlight. I found a new spot, to the far right against the fence dividing the park from a private home. The sun rose just to the right of Ram Island Lighthouse in the deep channel. Lots of seagulls to clone out. Cropped here for a 9x12 with 98% of frame left here.

I adjusted blacks, levels and curves slightly, some color balance adjustments, minor saturation and contrast, signed it then posted it. I just love this place. Let me know what you think please.

[Bruce Murden]

A beautiful spot to photograph, and I'm glad you found a new spot for a grand wide view of the lighthouse area. Great time of day and a good comp. Lots of feelings of openness in the broad sky.

For potential improvements, I get the feeling that either the horizon is a little off level, or that the lighthouse is tilting in toward the center of the picture. I know some distortion is likely at 28mm -- it may help to undo some of this distortion for the lighthouse to appear upright, or rotate slightly CCW if the horizon really is a tad off level. I also think some more detail in the rocks will make the image really pop.

Last, you may consider a pano crop of the image, something like attached. I had a tough time deciding how much rocks to include, likin gthem all the way to the LR corner, and ended up with the horizon dead center. Maybe even less height (it's 800x300 here). I can't change the angle or distortion on the computer I'm on right now, but here's a crop with a slight sat & contrast shift... just gives a little warmer feel, with some more color in the rocks and in the lighthouse tower.

[Gerald Kelberg]

If Constable had done lighthouses...

Personally I like the full frame way above the suggested pano - the expanse of the sky is really breath-taking!

Seems to be a little lens distortion - I am no expert, but a colleague use DxO Optic which seems easy to use and very effective.

Grady, I have enjoyed all your series of lighthouse images - a masterwork! Thanks and keep it up!

Gerald

[Robert Amoruso]

Come on Grady, this lighthouse is a favorite of yours? ;)

But seriously, I have greatly enjoyed your theme with this lighthouse and especially like this new location. I does appear to need a rotation. As mentioned, opening the shadows and bringing down the sky will help to strengthen the image. I downloaded the image first thing this morning and worked on it but did not have time to get back to it until now.

The repost had the following done.

1) Curves adjustment on the FG rocks. I placed an anchor point at the mid-point of the curve. I then placed a point at the 1/4 curve location (shadows) and pull the curve up and left to lighten the rocks. I then applied a gradient mask to limit the correction to the rocks and blend it into the sky. This is CURVES 2 layer in the following post of the layers created.

2) Curves adjustment on the sky. I placed an anchor point at the mid-point of the curve. I then placed a point at the 3/4 curve location (highlights) and pull the curve down and right to darked the sky. I then applied a gradient mask to limit the correction to the rocks and blend it into the sky. This is CURVES 1 layer in the following post of the layers created.

3) The curves adjustment on the sky made the red to saturated so I did a Hue/Saturation Adjustment and then masked out everything except the area around the sun and its reflection int he water. See the H/S layer for mask. Correction was -10 on the red channel only.

The next post is the PS layer stack. In the TIFF you will be able to do a much better job then I did on the JPG.

[Robert Amoruso]

PS Layer Stack for the repost above.

[carole wiley]

I like Roberts repost with more detail in the rocks, I like the water pools in the rocks so I wouldn't crop those but I do think maybe about one inch off of the top would help. I hope to get this lighthouse when I go to Artie's seminar in October.

[Grady Weed]

I think both my wife and I will be at Art's seminar in October as well, just have not paid yet Art. For any who want to go shoot the lighthouses or loons then, let me know. And Robert, huge thanks for your dedicated responses here to me. I owe you.

[Robert Amoruso]

Thanks Grady. I fixed a few typos in the original post. If anything was unclear let me know.

[Grady Weed]

I re-posted this one with some changes. I re-did the color balance and lightened up the hues and shades in the rocks some. I tend to favor darker shades for some reason. Not that I do not appreciate Roberts version. He is a very good PS man. Obviously I need a PS course from him.

How do you like this re-post compared to my original and Roberts version? As Art would say, "Don't be shy"!

[Roman Kurywczak]

[How do you like this re-post compared to my original and Roberts version? As Art would say, "Don't be shy"![/quote]
Hey Grady,
I figured....what the heck! Join the party. I too tend to favor darker shades.........so when I saw your repost and the comment.........the sky looked a bit bright as did the rocks now. I liked the way Robert tweaked the rocks............but going by your comment.........I kept them Darker in mine than i would normally. Sometimes it's nice to be last to the party!
I can't take credit for the techniques I used on your photo. Debbie Grossman from PopPhoto had it in the April??? issue.
Here goes..........sky...........duplicate BG........lasso the sky........don't have to be neat......get it all (or in my case I selected also with the magic wand to be a bit more precise)......selcect>color range.........set to matte black..........Holding down the shift key select all of the sky.........except sun........moving the slider up will speed up the process.......hit OK.......create layer mask.........select pull down menu (where it says normal)> Multiply........now you can use the Opacity slider to adjust effect...........(yours was around 80)......now it looks like there is a dark band ........immediately go to filtur>blur>gaussian.........and adjust the slider until it disappears!..........This gets pretty close to a 2 stop grad in PS.
If you want to lighten something.....whick I did your FG...........you can use the same technique.........but choose Screen instead of multiply and proceed with the rest.
I think this version brought out more detail in the sky..........but somewhere in the middle is something you will proably settle on.
Oh..........did I forget to mention I love the new angle! Thanks.........I'll be there in a week or so! I've got to join you in Robert's class too......but it certainly helps to pay attention here!

[Robert Amoruso]

Yup,

Saw that technique in PopPhoto too. As they say, get ten different photographers together and you will get ten different ways to do it in PS. Roman's demo works good too and I like it.

[Gayle Clement]

A really fun thread to follow! Grady, I love this view of the lighthouse. Robert and Roman both offered great suggestions. Roman, I had to play with that technique right away. Thanks for the explanation.