Last May I went to Aireys Inlet for a field trip.  The weather wasn’t great, but I did get some very moody, early winter shots.  I processed many of them as HDR images back then, and today when I was looking though old posts, I cringed when I looked at some of them.  Today I decided to redo one of those shots.

I do quite like this image, but now when I look at it, all I can see is the over saturated colours in the cliffs.  I like the composition and the clouds in this, so I decided to redo the HDR processing to see if it would look better if I did no saturation.

The HDR was done with Photomatix Pro, which was also used for the first one.  The colours are far more muted, and I did some work on the cliffs to bring out the rocks more, they were quite dark before that.  I have also softened it quite a bit.  I like the way it has created more mist in the ocean and, I hope, more drama to the image.

Just because I can, well while I have the trial version of Silver Efex Pro 2, I decided I would do the image in black and white as well.  Not that it is uncommon for me to do the images in black and white as well.  I don’t know if this one has worked as well.  Though one of the things that I do like about this, and the previous one is how the lighthouse does stand out a little more.  Well I think it does.

I do like the underexposed setting in Silver Efex, though I am still finding my way around it.  There is a lot in it.  Quite surprising really.

I suppose the next step is going to be to do an image with the Silver Efex and then see if I can do the same thing with Photoshop.

So while I was looking for images there was another image that I did that I wanted to see if I could do again, however I couldn’t work out which images made up the HDR, so I picked some others. I have started naming my HDR images in a different way so I can always work out what the images were that made it up originally.

I picked the images and then processed them with Photomatix Pro.  I also unchecked the ghosting box, I wanted the water to have more a swirling effect and not have Photomatix decide what swirls to show.  It can be good that it does that, but sometimes it is also good to override it.

I have completely changed the mood of this.  The light is much darker than it actually was, but seems very appropriate for what is here today.

Again, I have used Silver Efex to produce a black and white image.  I might have gone too far with this one, or maybe it is just another bland image and nothing I do can help it, which I suspect is more the problem.  I do want to do beautiful images of the sea, mine always seem different to those that I have seen others do.  Practice, practice, practice.

One Year of a Post A Day

I forgot that yesterday was an anniversary of sorts.  Last year on the first of November I started Photo-Vember, with the idea that I would post a photo a day for a month.  I hadn’t intended to make it last longer than that, but after I achieved the challenge at the end of November, I found I couldn’t stop.  I have now done one post a day, occasionally, very occasionally, I’ve done two.

Doing a post a day, I have found, to be a great thing.  It keeps me motivated, and I look forward to doing it each day.  I hope you enjoy it every day, though I understand that it can be hard to look at it everyday.  It has been a lot of fun and I hope I can continue doing it.

Please accept my thanks, it has been wonderful to know you are there to read and comment on what I do.  Thank you.