# Sunspot



## abraxas (Jul 21, 2008)




----------



## Josh66 (Jul 21, 2008)

That's awesome, I love it!


----------



## MissMia (Jul 21, 2008)

O|||||||O said:


> That's awesome, I love it!



Totally agree! :heart:


----------



## rjackjames (Jul 21, 2008)

amazing shot.....I love it.


----------



## Blackbelt94 (Jul 21, 2008)

one of the best i've seen yet! great job


----------



## Jaymz77 (Jul 21, 2008)

Outstanding!!! I love it!


----------



## Dmitri (Jul 21, 2008)

One day I will discover your secrets, my friend


----------



## lockwood81 (Jul 21, 2008)

Your captures are always amazing.  Thanks for sharing.


----------



## WarpFactorVIII (Jul 21, 2008)

Beautiful Picture


----------



## mmcduffie1 (Jul 21, 2008)

beautiful!


----------



## Easy_Target (Jul 21, 2008)

That's just amazing, I love the color saturation and the tonal range. :heart:


----------



## wlsmoku (Jul 21, 2008)

WOW!!!!!! I even said that outloud


----------



## ernie (Jul 22, 2008)

very nice man. did you post-process it so that the upper part of the image has far less color than the bottom part? or was it like that? either way it's a nice contrast.


----------



## abraxas (Jul 22, 2008)

Wow, thank you everyone!  

This series of shots, the tidepools, has really kind of befuddled me.  I've been trying different things.  I'm getting closer to something I like then I'm going to match the series.  There's so much to mess with- the colors and the richness in the environment is incredible.  It's a lot of fun doing the edits.


----------



## desjacobs (Jul 25, 2008)

Brilliant. Amazing colours and good composition.


----------



## Lyncca (Jul 25, 2008)

Absolutely amazing.


----------



## invisible (Jul 25, 2008)

*Wow.*


----------



## Lyncca (Jul 26, 2008)

Seriously, will you tell how you did this? I don't have any great landscapes around here in the city/suburbia hell, but I don't know how the heck you got those skies and those great foreground colors. Are you mixing pics, exposures, filters, flash, or what?


----------



## abraxas (Jul 27, 2008)

desjacobs said:


> Brilliant. Amazing colours and good composition.



Thank you.



invisible said:


> *Wow.*



Thanks.  There's very little I enjoy more than shooting.



Lyncca said:


> Absolutely amazing.



Thanks, & see below...



Lyncca said:


> Seriously, will you tell how you did this? I don't have any great landscapes around here in the city/suburbia hell, but I don't know how the heck you got those skies and those great foreground colors. Are you mixing pics, exposures, filters, flash, or what?



My little area is turning into suburbia hell also.  I had to drive about 135 miles to catch this  .

Anyway, this is a three-shot HDR from .jpg's. Two of the shots I did with the waves back and one with the water rushing forward.  The trick was to take advantage of the tide receeding and to stay calm until the last shot was over.  It was such a nearly gray day. The sun would barely punch through the clouds and in the distance patches of silver light would streak across the water as the clouds would move along their way.  Strangely enough the air was only in a slight breeze at sea level.  

What really made the shot IMO is during the last two exposures, the sun barely broke through lighting the rocks up a bit as you see in the result.  In post processing I took advantage of this and tried to bring that out.

Long exposures with a tiny aperture will bring out deep, rich colors in lighting like this.  This is my favorite type of conditions.  I'd rather be out in less than ideal weather instead of perfect sunny days.  Nature plays games then. It's fun to try and catch her in them.

In my old copy of Photomatix I boosted the black level and decreased the white.  

When I pulled it into cs2 I divided it into several adjustment layers after cloning out the stupid tripod leg I had caught (lower left corner).  

The layers were basically sky, foreground left and foreground right. and the waves upper-image.  

I tried to tone down the hot spots on the right, merged it with the left side and did some curve and saturation adjustments on the foreground layers.  

I dodged the waves some to make the crests come out a little whiter.

And blurred the sky with the blurring tool (to make it slightly uneven). I was hoping that would give the shot appearance of depth.

I was definately going for something far more radical than I'm used to doing.  Overall, across the comments I've recieved, it's mostly been on the positive side. There's some issues I have with the lower right, but for what it is, it's a great shot that will help me to remember the time that me and my grandson went to the tidepools. 

-


----------



## jaharris1001 (Jul 27, 2008)

an excellent capture for sure !! Love the coloring in the rocks, the large rock leads the eye into the sea, great sky,, love the pp too


----------



## Lyncca (Jul 28, 2008)

Thanks for the PP information!  It was certainly worth all the work you put into it


----------



## Dmitri (Jul 28, 2008)

abraxas said:


> Anyway, this is a three-shot HDR from .jpg's. Two of the shots I did with...
> 
> ...
> 
> with the lower right, but for what it is, it's a great shot that will help me to remember the time that me and my grandson went to the tidepools.




:stun: -- :study::study:


----------



## abraxas (Aug 1, 2008)

jaharris1001 said:


> an excellent capture for sure !! Love the coloring in the rocks, the large rock leads the eye into the sea, great sky,, love the pp too



Thank you.



Lyncca said:


> Thanks for the PP information!  It was certainly worth all the work you put into it



You're welcome, and thanks again.



Dmitri said:


> :stun: -- :study::study:



Yep- I'm old & since the grandkids get enough mug shots by other grandparents, parents, schools and whatnot, I take them with me on photoshoots to wierd locations.  I've woke them up before dawn and kept them out until way after sunset.  Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Yosemite, mountains, meadows, remote desert wilderness, lakes, rivers, marshes, waterfalls, ghost towns and anywhere else I think will warp them.  Many Indian sites.  Lots of hiking, 4x4, boats and camping. They seem to like it.  That's the way I want them to remember me- That's the way I want to remember them.


----------



## JYoung (Aug 3, 2008)

Your shots are always amazing!!:hail:


----------



## abraxas (Aug 5, 2008)

JYoung said:


> Your shots are always amazing!!:hail:



Hi Joan!

Thanks.  How you been?


----------



## Alex_B (Aug 5, 2008)

very neat. love the colours.

I first thought you used a gradient filter to get the upper half darker


----------



## realitycheck3907 (Aug 5, 2008)

Thats amazing.


----------



## manaheim (Aug 5, 2008)

Oh yeah, very pretty.  God I feel like such a lemming when I do that, but credit where credit is due.  Very nice.  Great colors and texture.


----------



## Lyncca (Aug 5, 2008)

abraxas said:


> Thank you.
> 
> Yep- I'm old & since the grandkids get enough mug shots by other grandparents, parents, schools and whatnot, I take them with me on photoshoots to wierd locations. I've woke them up before dawn and kept them out until way after sunset. Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Yosemite, mountains, meadows, remote desert wilderness, lakes, rivers, marshes, waterfalls, ghost towns and anywhere else I think will warp them. Many Indian sites. Lots of hiking, 4x4, boats and camping. They seem to like it. That's the way I want them to remember me- That's the way I want to remember them.


 
What a great experience for them!  I only wish I had a mentor, much less a family member to do this for me!


----------



## abraxas (Aug 7, 2008)

Thanks again everyone.  Maybe I'll visit the ocean more often.

Lyncca,

Way down deep inside of my tarry black little shriveled heart, the part that I let the grandkids see, I really wish I could do more for more people.  I try to express that through my photography.  Best to you.


----------



## pongerts (Aug 7, 2008)

that was a wonderful shot!!!

i'm a complete noob here...

i'd like to know your camera settings on how you took that wonderful landscape shot of yours!!!

:hail:


----------



## abraxas (Aug 7, 2008)

pongerts said:


> that was a wonderful shot!!!
> 
> i'm a complete noob here...
> 
> ...



All my landscapes are pretty standard- Lowest iso, smallest aperture and adjust for multiple exposures with shutter speed.


----------

