Hanalei Fire

To date, this is one of my favorite photos. This Hanalei sunset just didn't want to end! As I said in my last post from the same location, I travel with more than one camera for this exact reason. I would have lost my mind standing around for the 405 second exposure to end knowing I wanted to grab shots like these, too. ***No.....I can't afford a bunch of camera bodies and tripods!! I use BorrowLenses.com to rent cameras and lenses and happen to have access to loaner RRS tripods.***

 

I'm a firm believer in understanding concepts such as the rule of thirds, never having your horizon line in the center of your frame, etc., etc. BUT sometime you have to break the rules. The horizon isn't directly in the middle of the frame here, but it's awfully close. What are you going to do? There was so much happening in the sky and the low angle I got for the foreground helped add elements I wanted to keep in tact.

 

No matter what your eye was going to the heart of the sunset glow, but the foreground tide streaks coming out of both corners, the pink cloud streak coming out of the top right corner, the dark thunder head over the mountains and the wide angle distortion of the pier all MADE SURE your eye got to that glow.

 

I set up a little more than knee deep in the tide (man, it's nice shooting in WARM water for a change!) and kept waiting for the perfect time to fire 1.6 second exposures to get the pullback. Here the composition I was after allowed me to show the horizon line under the pier. Any higher up that gap would have been too small and just plain awkward.

 

-Nikon D800

-Nikkor 16-35mm/f4

-Really Right Stuff TVC-33 Tripod and BH-55 LR Ballhead

-LEE 0.75 Soft Grad ND

-Singh-Ray 0.9 Soft Reverse Grad ND (Some of you will remember me showing off this filter. For you seascape enthusiasts it's incredible--the center of the filter is the darkest, which is perfect for those sunsets where the sun peeks below the clouds just over the horizon line) Here's a link to it and it will work on those LEE holders: www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/615228-REG/Singh_Ray_R_63_...

-16mm

-ISO 64

-f16

1.6 Seconds

 

Again, a smaller aperture here to get as much foreground and background detail as possible. A focus stack at f8 would have been ideal, BUT with the tide shifting the tripod base in between exposures this can be difficult. ISO down to 64 to assist in keeping that exposure at 1.6 Seconds (a perfect time for achieving this pullback effect).

 

So as to avoid any vignetting I handheld the filters in front of my lens and avoided the LEE holder.

 

My editing was like a mad man for this one, so I'll be as brief as I can, and yes, I'll post the original, out-of-camera version shortly.

 

1.) LR5 for lens correction and chromatic abberation removal. I've not really gone over chromatic abberations. I'm sure most of you know what I'm referring to but just in case: often times you can get a colored line around contrasty edges. Often times these color lines are green or magenta. They do NOT look good, but they're simple to remove, especially within LR5, where you can just check a box, and then adjust sliders if need be. I tend to start really seeing them with smaller apertures, f16-f22.

2.) I cleaned my sensor right before the trip but still spent a good 30+ minutes just getting rid of dustspots on this one--they're so pesky when they are in the tide streaks!!

3.) LR5 to bump up shadows and bring down highlights.

4.) Now to Nik Color Efex Pro.

a.)I started in Color Efex Pro for Pro Contrast (this is the only one of the filters I'll use globally, as opposed to control points). I did color correction to the max. I added a few control points to the sky for dynamic contrast.

b.) Polarization in the sky

5.) LR5 to check on aberations.

6.) Now to Nik's Viveza

a.) Viveza is an excellent plug-in and this is a fun one for color play and "structure," which is similar to clarity in LR5 or Camera Raw but a heck of a lot less destructive, and minimal use, even globally, avoids getting "halos" around your edges. Halos are up there with biggest pet peeves in a photo and they can be avoided by easing off the clarity slider. So in Viveza I added some red tone and warmth through the center third of the photo. I used several control points around the foreground and sky to add structure, making both the clouds and the definition of the streaks pop.

7.) LR5 to check on aberations

8.) Back to Color Efex Pro

a.) Glamour Glow for heart of the sunset and tide streaks--minimal glow, but a lot of pushing on the warmth slider within this filter.

b.) VERY MINIMAL Detail Extractor for the top right of the sky. This is another filter than can add halos, noise and make a photo look more like a cartoon. Because the left side of the sky was a massive, dark thunderhead there wasn't a whole lot of detail to pull out, but top right was the very opposite.

c.) Sunlight as a control point in the sunset's reflection only

d.) Darken/Lighten Center for my vignetting

9.) Back to LR5 to check aberations, a small shadow boost brush for the mountains on the far left and a couple small brushes to remove some of the aqua color in the waves in the center of the frame.

 

I hope you're finding these helpful!! If you have any follow up questions please direct them to markg@silentgphotography.com for fastest response times.

 

Hey, are you on Facebook or instagram? I primarily post on both those social media platforms, and please feel free to connect!

 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/mark.gvazdinskas

instagram: instagram.com/silentgphoto (I post lots of behind the scenes shots on instagram)

 

Thank you all again and have a great day!

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