jondblake
Tutorial Tuesday
Tutorial Tuesday……Making a composite shot using pieces and parts.
One of the great benefits of night shooting stars in Rocky Mountain National Park is the ability to catch a sunrise amongst some of nature’s most beautiful backdrops. There is just no shortage of foregrounds no matter where you are once you’re there. In this case (as usual) we chose the wrong spot for a colorful sky as the clouds were not cooperating, but that didn’t stop this scene from unfolding. Thanks to Brad for pointing out these wildflowers which made a more interesting foreground than the reflection I was originally going for.
This scene was shot in Moraine Park along the Big Thompson River very close to the rental cabins and last oxbow before leaving this part of the park. Stones Peak is the tall mountain basking in the rising sun. The shot is a blend of three images, two hand held shots taken moments apart capturing the terrain and another for the sky. I knew that there was too little light and too much wind to capture the flowers properly in one shot with acceptable noise, so I chose the easier route of breaking it up into two shots which allowed me to use a lower ISO and while keeping a fast (enough) shutter and aperture for the scene. The first ground shot was focused about 1/3 into the flowers and the other about 1/3 into the brush behind the river.
Blending of the foreground shots was performed in Photoshop using selection/color range from the menus to add a selection set and I carefully zoomed around and added the foreground grass while deselecting the background water and far grass. Once selected I manually brushed in the layer mask. The flat cloudless sky was replaced with another shot I took a few weeks ago near the same time of morning and direction so that it fit the scene. This was masked in by using another selection of the blue sky and refining the mask edge to ensure that the seam between the two shots transitioned correctly. Once combined, I kicked up the saturation on all but green and added a little contrast.
If you're new to photography or Photoshop I realize I glanced over that last section pretty fast. I'll get into more depth in a future post or perhaps kick the dust off my blog and provide a thorough description. Also, it should be noted that I did all this to illustrate the point that often times it's advantageous to create the whole from the sum of the parts, though there are purists out there who the mere mention of Photoshopping something into a scene is a cardinal sin punishable by death. I personally feel that as an art form I'm entitled to modify any photograph as I see fit. It's only an issue when I do so and lie about it or try to hide the fact.
As always I encourage your feedback on my photography whether favorable or constructive and if you have any questions or feedback about my processing techniques I'd like to hear them too.
Tutorial Tuesday
Tutorial Tuesday……Making a composite shot using pieces and parts.
One of the great benefits of night shooting stars in Rocky Mountain National Park is the ability to catch a sunrise amongst some of nature’s most beautiful backdrops. There is just no shortage of foregrounds no matter where you are once you’re there. In this case (as usual) we chose the wrong spot for a colorful sky as the clouds were not cooperating, but that didn’t stop this scene from unfolding. Thanks to Brad for pointing out these wildflowers which made a more interesting foreground than the reflection I was originally going for.
This scene was shot in Moraine Park along the Big Thompson River very close to the rental cabins and last oxbow before leaving this part of the park. Stones Peak is the tall mountain basking in the rising sun. The shot is a blend of three images, two hand held shots taken moments apart capturing the terrain and another for the sky. I knew that there was too little light and too much wind to capture the flowers properly in one shot with acceptable noise, so I chose the easier route of breaking it up into two shots which allowed me to use a lower ISO and while keeping a fast (enough) shutter and aperture for the scene. The first ground shot was focused about 1/3 into the flowers and the other about 1/3 into the brush behind the river.
Blending of the foreground shots was performed in Photoshop using selection/color range from the menus to add a selection set and I carefully zoomed around and added the foreground grass while deselecting the background water and far grass. Once selected I manually brushed in the layer mask. The flat cloudless sky was replaced with another shot I took a few weeks ago near the same time of morning and direction so that it fit the scene. This was masked in by using another selection of the blue sky and refining the mask edge to ensure that the seam between the two shots transitioned correctly. Once combined, I kicked up the saturation on all but green and added a little contrast.
If you're new to photography or Photoshop I realize I glanced over that last section pretty fast. I'll get into more depth in a future post or perhaps kick the dust off my blog and provide a thorough description. Also, it should be noted that I did all this to illustrate the point that often times it's advantageous to create the whole from the sum of the parts, though there are purists out there who the mere mention of Photoshopping something into a scene is a cardinal sin punishable by death. I personally feel that as an art form I'm entitled to modify any photograph as I see fit. It's only an issue when I do so and lie about it or try to hide the fact.
As always I encourage your feedback on my photography whether favorable or constructive and if you have any questions or feedback about my processing techniques I'd like to hear them too.