Nubble Light

[Nick Palmieri]

Nubble light must be one of the most photographed lighthouses in the country! It's easy to see why. I shot this place three separate time including a rainy sunrise, mid-day with nice fluffy clouds, and sunset when this one was done. This is a three image HDR, all three images shot with a Vari-Neutral Density Polarizing filter. 24-105mm at 32mm, the original image at ISO 100, f/16, SS 30s, then bracketed +11/3.and -1 1/3. I used Photomatix and started with the "blue skies" preset and made some adjustments from that.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Nick,
It is one of my favorites! OK....you have a boatload of issues with this one......even put my reading glasses on for the sharpness on Nubble and buildings.....doesn't appear tack sharp....which at f16 it should be! I do realize the light was a bit flat......but that mass of FG rock takes away from the lighthouse.....crop 1/2 way up the RH side....cover the shadow of the large boulder.....makes a stronger comp. Hope it was something you did in Photomatix or PP'ing.....because you will have a very nice shot with some contrast tweaks on the rocks.....if Nubble comes in sharp. Go back and check......otherwise it is the 30 sec. exposure and tripod movement......now you know why I carry around that monster head!

[Kaushik Balakumar]

Liked the composition - simple & effective. Might increase the contrast and sharpness.

[Nick Palmieri]

Don't want to change the crop but I am sure Romans suggestion would look very nice. Thanks to a phone call from Roman I believe I screwed something up in preparing this image for BPN because it looks a lot better in my portfolio than it does in this post. So I re-sized it, saved it for the web just under 200kbs, and re-sharpened it. Now I am questioning the sharpness of the lighthouse...

[Dick Glover]

Pepost a big improvement, but I think Roman hs a point about the crop -- that is quite a pile of rather bland rocks, expecially with a cool lighthouse. I do like the water, and the light house light looks great.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Nick, I think the repost is an improvement. I had to put the image in PS to see if the lighthouse is a bit soft and I think it is. I took the original post and gave it a few tweaks to bring up the lighting and some contrast. I took Roman's suggestion and cropped some from the bottom and a small bit from the top. I lightened the water a bit also.. Another view...

[Roman Kurywczak]

......I'm still betting sharpness is off......and still partial to crop....as it flows up to the LH. Check the focus point on the others.....do be aware if it was windy....camera shake during the 30 second exposure is definitelya possibility!

[Kaushik Balakumar]

Nick your repost is much better than ur original post - the FG rocks look contrasty and sharp. But as Roman pointed out, there might have been some camera shake etc.
Re-work by Dave looks bit oversharpened to me (the FG rocks I mean) but am not sure.
Personally (for my taste buds), I liked the original composition.

[allanrube]

Nick, you were up in my neck of the country. ;)

I think this shot calls for a pano. You have the rocks leading to the lh. I would like to see more of the sea

[David Thomasson]

......and still partial to crop....as it flows up to the LH.

I agree. These two lines work in the cropped version but they get lost when all the foreground rocks are included. (There's even a short line angling in from the lower left that I didn't mark.)

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey David.....I've meant a little lower with the crop.....but you have shown the lines I was talking about!

[Arthur Morris]

Both of Nick's version look too flat for me. Same thing that happens when I try HDR.... Dave's repost is better if possibly over done. I look forward to seeing Roman's suggested crop.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Both of Nick's version look too flat for me. Same thing that happens when I try HDR.... Dave's repost is better if possibly over done. I look forward to seeing Roman's suggested crop.

Dave shows my crop....perhaps a few pixels higher....but close enough.

[Arthur Morris]

Dave or David? Pane 6 or Pane 10?

[Roman Kurywczak]

six.....forgot there were 2!
PS Just looked again ....like pane 10 too....if you want a really tight pano.....works for me also....might just clean/blend up a few things on bottom edge.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks R. I like both of them too.