Winter Island Light

[SquarePeg]

Watching the sun come up by the shore, is like a big bowl of ice cream. Getting a good set of shots with color, is like adding the sprinkles on top. For me I tend to lean toward the 3rd, a flare done well, is hard to beat. The only niggle I might have is in the darker color ones, as NTZ mentioned there is a noticeable area where possibly your selections were a tad off.

Living only a few miles from the Atlantic definitely spoils me. I had wanted to do a 30 days of sunrises challenge before the clock change made it more of a chore but the weather here just did not cooperate. It was teens and twenties or rain for most of Feb and March so I only got 3 days in. I may pick it up again as a 1 sunrise per week for the rest of the year effort instead. I never regret getting out there for a sunrise even when 9 out of 10 are not great for color. As long as I have a good foreground I can usually make something work.

As for the halo, as suspected by you and ntz, that is from my brush strokes in LRC. Today I learned about the Auto Mask button on the brush so it will not happen again! Thanks for the input.

 

[smoke665]

As for the halo, as suspected by you and ntz, that is from my brush strokes in LRC. Today I learned about the Auto Mask button on the brush so it will not happen again! Thanks for the input.

That can make a difference as can having your feather not set wide enough. Something else you might consider on large areas to adjust is using the Radial or the Graduated Filter. Where the Brush is a precise narrow tool the Graduated and Radial are like large brushes that cover a lot of ground, but yet offer the same editing adjustments as Brushes. Plus unlike Brushes, they don't tend to slow down everything as you add more of them to an image

For Skies I like the Graduated Filter. Here's an example of a sky before and after adjustment with a Graduated Filter.

The really neat feature of these is the ability to mask based on Color, Luminance or Depth. In the example above I used Luminance, then used the eye dropper (top left) to select the bright sky, adjusted the Range slider and Smoothness slider to get a clean mask around the trees, no brushing required, and it was completed in seconds. FYI checking the box Show Luminance mask will show you exactly the area being affected by the filter.

If you find that you want something included that isn't, then click on the brush tool at the top of the filter panel.

The default is + meaning the brush will add to the mask. Hold down the Command on Mac/Alt on a PC and the brush changes to - meaning the brush will delete from the mask.

I sometimes use multiple graduated filters pulled from top, bottom and sides, as well as Radials to adjust sections of an image. A google search of Graduated Filters will give you a ton of videos.

Your concept of natures color and ability to see the light has improved by leaps and bounds, it really is quite impressive.

 

[weepete]

wow, that first one is a real belter!

 

[SquarePeg]

wow, that first one is a real belter!

Thanks - you see the other photographer on the ledge? It’s a popular spot.

 

[weepete]

wow, that first one is a real belter!

Thanks - you see the other photographer on the ledge? It’s a popular spot.

I did! though I didn't see it at first look and only by chamce came accross them while looking at the detail. I thought about suggesting cloning them out, but it's subtle enough it really works, and the more I thought about it the more I liked it.

I really like the composition in that one (hard to do on a rocky shoreline), combined with the colour, the little highlight on the rocks it's a shot that pops and is stand out good.

(PS. for getting rid of the halo in LR try using a radial filter with the luminance range masking turned on)

 

[SquarePeg]

I added a bit of flare to that first one.

a flare for drama by SharonCat..., on Flickr

 

[Original katomi]

More votes for 1&4