Fort Point in HDR - Revisited

This past week I was able to return to Fort Point in San Francisco. Unfortunately, due to traffic I only had a 45 minute window in which to shoot before it closed. Here are a couple of images from that visit. It was a great place to photograph the first time and was again the second. If you can go there, I highly recommend it. It is the lighting that excites me when I am there; very dramatic with wonderful arches, lines and shadows everywhere. As before, I shot HDR sets to deal with the extreme light range.

One thing I decided after my first visit was that this place begs for people in the images. I made use of my camera’s timer to take some images where I ran out into the frame. In the image above, that is me in the window. I shot one medium exposure frame in addition to the HDR set where I stood on the steps by the window. I then blended myself into the HDR image using Photoshop layers and a mask. It looks like I am outside the window, but I am not.

All HDR images processed with HDR Efx Pro from Niksoftware. Additional processing was done in PS5 with other Nik Filters.

Texture Overlay

When I am out in the field shooting, I try to remember to capture close ups as well as the big picture; get that nitty gritty detail. These close-ups can come in handy later for creating what are known as texture overlays. The image here is a blend of two images taken on my recent outing in Colorado and Utah. The rock structure shown below was taken at Arches National Park at sunset.

The close-up texture was taken in the Colorado National Monument. It is shown below.

As I was reviewing the images I noticed the similarity in the contours. One thing I should mention about shooting the texture image: I try to be conscience of the composition formed by the lines or key elements in the texture (often using the rule of thirds). I try to apply the same vision to the composition as I would for any other image.  I find that my texture images often work well with my other images as a result (common eye).

The final image is created by blending the two originals together in Photoshop using a mask layer shaded to taste by using a pen tablet. See the screen capture below. As shown, a curve adjustment was used as well to get the desired contrast in the final image.

More of Nature’s Spotlights

I thought I would share more images where nature created natural spotlights that highlighted key elements in the image. In creating strong images second only to composition is the quality of light. Again most of these are from my recent trip to Colorado and Utah. The image above is one of my favorites.

The image above would not be that strong without the natural spotlight on the side of the hill. It is that light that caught my attention. While the rock peaks of Rocky Mountain National Park were around me, it was this special light on the hill behind me that made it stand out. This is an example of why it is always good to be looking all around you when you are shooting; especially if the lighting is fairly dynamic.

The last rays of a sunset highlighted the tops of the rock structures captured above making them standout against the background.

As in the previous image, the last sun rays before sunset touched the top of this structure and highlighted the grass along the foreground.