SoBe Lifeguard Station IV

[Harold Davis]

the last one from the series, i promise!! i worked on this one for a while. there was a ton of distortion in it from using a wide angle lens. the structure was warped and did not look natural. there was a thread, that i started last december, where i ran into these same problems and david thomason so graciously helped me out with. you can find his tutorial here: http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...ad.php?t=26734 i used his methods in this one, but there was a huge twist!! there was a well defined horizon line in this. so instead of selecting the entire structure, i had to work on it in sections below and above the waterline as to keep the waterline in tact. learned a ton while doing it and i hope you do too. to top it all off, this is also a 5 frame HDR shot at -2, -1, 0, +1 and +2EV tonemapped in Photomatix.

i will post the "before" down below.

D300, 18-200VR at 18mm, f/18, ISO 400, 1/250s, 1/1000s, 1/500s, 1/125s and 1/60s.

thanks for looking. comments and critiques much appreciated.

[Harold Davis]

here's the before.

[Alfred Forns]

Sweet PS work Harold !!! Very natural looking HDR Normally they jump out at you but this is nice !!!!

The strong mid tones seem to do it for me !!! Need to take note of this one, sure gives me ideas !!! Big Congrats !!!

[Nick Palmieri]

Like it a lot. Nice work PP. Like the natural looking HDR.

[carole wiley]

This is really beautiful. I do prefer the look of the sunpatch on the water in the before pic, not quite so blown, though you probably can't do anything about that and still get the punchy color you have here. It looks totaly natural.

[Gus Cobos]

I like it as presented Doctor...sweet image...:cool:

[Dave Mills]

Harold, Very well presented and good PP. Image is totally worth the time spent! Would love to shoot those subjects also. Nice series!

[denise ippolito]

Harold, I agree this is a nice series. I like that you often do that with images, it's a great way to get several views across in a cohesive way. I also remember David's tutorial and have referenced it often. Nice work.

[Bob Miller]

harold...This is my favorite of your series. Nice work! I like the balance and the tiretracks

[Ron Boisvert]

Hi Harold, this is my favorite image of your series. It sure sounds like you put a lot of work into it. Your tech info raises a lot of questions for me, but a few really have me curious.

1. Can you tell me what caused the banding in the sky in your final image?
2. If you took 5 images for the HDR, which exposure is the before image, or is it all 5 already merged?
3. It seems odd to me that the sand behind the structure is lighter than the sand to the left. Did you do something in PP to darken the left side of the image relative to the right?

Thanks,

[Lance Peters]

Sweet Mr H - love those golden tones.

[Harold Davis]

thanks for the comments everyone. much appreciated!!

ron 1. i think the banding was caused by the HDR. the second image posted is the final HDR image. the bands are there, they were just not as noticeable without the PP. i think the tonal contrast enhanced them.

2. that image is what photomatix resulted in, so yes, that is the five image HDR.

3. if i had to guess, Photomatix probably chose that exposure because that's the same exposure that the sun came out of. if i recall correctly, i even lightened it a little to get it to blend better with the right side of the frame. OR maybe it's just dirtier sand!!!!? lol

thanks again for the comments!!

[Ron Boisvert]

Harold, Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. I appreciate it!!

[Kerry Perkins]

Love this one Harold! It really pops off the screen. Love the sharpness and the pool of light behind the shack. Super job!!

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Harold,
Haven't lurked in here for a while.......but I did notice this one.Like the balance between the sun and the LG station...but figured I could tweak it. First thing I did to your original HDR merge was try to even out the sand with a levels layer adustment on the lighter area and then a bit of H/S on the left side. Next..... I made sure to select the lifeguard station entirely(magic wand blown up to 300%). Lightened with levels layers and a bit of contrast. Yes the flares do show up......but you can clean them up. Selected inverse and a combination of H/S, levels, color adjust blue,...to that area. and selective color black to etire image and neutrals there...adding black also. Here is the final result. I did also start to get the banding so I Gausian blurred the sky a bit B4 applying H/S. Let me know what you think.

[Harold Davis]

thanks, roman! what's funny is, you took the sand back to exactly where i had it when i was working on it. i wasnt sure how everyone would react to the sand being so warm. i guess i took a lot of that summertime feel out of it. thanks for the help!!! will go back a revisit it.

[Ron Boisvert]

Harold, for my tastes, I think Roman's repost takes your image in the right direction. It looks more natural to me. If you do revisit the PP, I'd love to see it reposted. It's a cool shot.

[Harold Davis]

here's a repost. it's as close as i can get right now. i think i need a break!!!!

thanks for all the help and encouragement.

let me know what you think.