Porthcawl Lighthouse Sunrise

vtrjames

vtrjames

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James
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Today, I dragged myself out of bed at 0445 to get myself to Porthcawl for sunrise; I wanted a shot of the lighthouse with the sunrise in the background. I was quite pleased with the result (for a first time!) but at the same time I think the lighthouse is a little under exposed, though I feel given the sky if it were any lighter it would begin to look artificial.


Porthcawl Lighthouse Daybreak by James, on Flickr

Any thoughts?

James :)
 
vtrjames said:
Today, I dragged myself out of bed at 0445 to get myself to Porthcawl for sunrise; I wanted a shot of the lighthouse with the sunrise in the background. I was quite pleased with the result (for a first time!) but at the same time I think the lighthouse is a little under exposed, though I feel given the sky if it were any lighter it would begin to look artificial.


Porthcawl Lighthouse Daybreak by James, on Flickr

Any thoughts?

James :)
Click to expand...

I think your right there James, the lighthouse needs to stand out more whilst not spoiling the sky, had a play will delete if required. Does this improve the shot ornot ?

 
Yep, I think it does. Perhaps I should have gone down the bracketed exposure route to begin with.

I was in a bit of a rush when I took the shot, the first place I went was a none starter as there was a lorry parked over the castle (Ogmore) so then I rushed to Porthcawl with a few minutes to go before sunrise.

Did you pull the detail out using the HDR application in Photoshop? I should really get to grips with it.

James
 
Have to say the edit by Steve does trap my attention more as the Lighthouse isolates it self from the sky, halo needs work on of course
 

xx by mrcrow_uk, on Flickr

a hurried pp using dodge mid tones..

14899029259_99e74ab12a_b.jpg
 
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vtrjames said:
Cheers, Mr Toad. Will have a play myself tonight!

James
Click to expand...

i must admit if i could do HD properly i might have tried that...but i feel a lot of this is done incorrectly giving a 'GOTHIC' effect??
what do you think
cheers
geof
 
mrtoad said:
i must admit if i could do HD properly i might have tried that...but i feel a lot of this is done incorrectly giving a 'GOTHIC' effect??
what do you think
cheers
geof
Click to expand...

Personally, I'm not a fan of over HDR'd images especially when they become to look unnatural. Like yourself, it's something I need to learn to do properly to get the most out of it. I have a friend who uses HDR in his photography for nearly everything he does and to be fair to him, it really does look good but it's going to be a whole new learning curve for me!

James
 
For me I think I prefer the original as it's most natural looking, but maybe you could just make the whole image slightly brighter as it would probably bring out some more detail. I don't think you would end up blowing any highlights if you don't push it to much so may be worth a try. A nice shot none the less!
 
tomh1982 said:
For me I think I prefer the original as it's most natural looking, but maybe you could just make the whole image slightly brighter as it would probably bring out some more detail. I don't think you would end up blowing any highlights if you don't push it to much so may be worth a try. A nice shot none the less!
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Thanks, Tom. I think it's worth a revisit over the next few weeks. I think I'll try the exposure blending technique in Photoshop next time so that the lighthouse is given more impact.

James
 
vtrjames said:
Thanks, Tom. I think it's worth a revisit over the next few weeks. I think I'll try the exposure blending technique in Photoshop next time so that the lighthouse is given more impact.

James
Click to expand...

Another really good tool for bring up shadows & reducing highlights in Photoshop is the shadow/highlight tool. I use it quite often!
 
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