Low Tide

[Layton E Parham]

Here is Roman's Lighthouse at Low tide. Am I showing to many rocks? I also need Robert Amoruso's fix tutorial for the sky. Picture taken July 23,2008
Canon Eos 1D Mark III, F500L4, @ F7.1, 1/2500 sec, Iso 400, Manual Mode

[Robert Amoruso]

Hi Layton,

I think the rocks are fine and I like how you included the strip of ocean at the bottom. Would be a cool thing to try in HDR. BTW, when doing this type of image make one image at the preferred exposure and then one +1 stop and one -1 stop for future HDR work.

I did the gradient mask fix on a curves adjustment that darkens the sky. Also did a shadow/highlight on a BG copy to open up the shadows - I was pretty aggressive and then added +15 midtone contrast. You could also process the RAW in ACR and use fill light there to open up shades during conversion.

I am working on the tutorial and plan to get it finished up this weekend. Repost here. Even with the fix on the sky, it is not terribly interesting - suggest you crop some of it off at the top. Nice placement of the seagulls as they balance the right side of the frame.

[Robert Amoruso]

Tried a little experiment. Used the repost I did and did levels adjustment with the midtone slider set to 1.8 to brighten the shadows. Saved it. Opened up both images in Photomatix Pro and used the COMBINE feature and in turn tried each option in that menu. I liked the Highlights7Shadows-Adjust result and post it here.

To do this right. process two versions of the RAW, one like you did and one with the exposure adjusted for +1 stop to open up shadows. Then use this two image feature of Photomatix Pro to combine them. I then lighten the image a bit using a levels adjustment. Quick and dirty and still needs work but look at the shadows.

[Douglas Bolt]

Another beautiful image. Thanks Layton.

Here's PP tracks: Selected the highlights with Select Colors and make a layer (Ctrl-J), inverted mask and painted white over the house and lighthouse and then selected a screen blend at 60% Opacity. Toned down the water in the foreground with levels and mask. Selected the sky and used Selective Colors to remove some black from both the whites and reds. Also boosted the Saturation of the reds and reduced the S of the magentas in the sky. Finally, reduced the noise in the sky.

[Gerald_Gilligan]

Gents,
I like the different approaches to bring out the range and contrast of this image. Each has a different impact on the house , lighthouse, clouds and trees.
Well done...
I'm sensing a HDR Forum in the near future...

Jerry

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Layton,
Glad to see you found this one. I like the PP efforts shown and Douglas's final one brings out the sky even more. You composed this well with the light and house off to the left and shoreline with the water makes a nice base. Here is the link where Robert gives one of his techniques and i give one of mine.......you have to scroll down through the replies.........
http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=14994
I would also add that Robert's second post brings out the shadow detail quite well...........all just a few minor PP tricks to help strenghten a nice composition.