Click to embiggen
It has to be confessed that I am NOT a morning person. AT ALL!!
So that is my excuse for the fact there are only two sunrise shoots in my collection. However both were excellent mornings and I don’t want to spoil my luck 🙂
This is an image taken at Taylors Mistake from 2012 when I did a Sunrise Workshop with Rob Dickinson (who I met in person for the first time).
Today was a bit cold and unpleasant so I spent some time reacquainting myself with images in my archives, and realising how most of them have never been processed. Now I have more skills and better software some time should be spent on revealing some of the undiscovered gems that have not yet seen the light of day. Like this image!
Post Processing steps:
1. Tweaked exposure, highlights, shadows etc globally
2. Added a Grad ND over the sky and bought up more sky detail
3. Added some presets to improve colour and contrast
4. Added a radial filter to slightly brighten the foreground area.
Because I can, here is a Topaz Impression oilpaint version too 🙂 Click to see the big version
Love the more intense colour and how you can almost reach out and feel the oilpaint brushstrokes!
I like the original image but I really like how Impression adds a new dimension to this image – do you agree? Is it something you like too?
Or do you prefer your images unadulterated 🙂
All comments and feedback encouraged!
Learning to See Light 
I’m not a morning person either but that’s a beautiful dream to wake up to 🙂
Yes it was a pretty impressive sunrise, this is after all the major colour and I was mucking around with longer exposures of the surf as it was pretty rough
I love the movement in the surf! That’s the benefit to early morning or evening photography, getting those great long exposures 🙂
I liked the bubbles that are left on the sand that you can just see under the white streaks – now I have the Lee Filters I can get the same effect in daylight, but it then lacks the pretty colour in the sky too 🙂
I thought they were stones! It’s a great abstract touch 🙂 I really want to get the Lee Big Stopper for daytime long exposures.
Its great to play with, I have really enjoyed it 🙂
I look forward to doing the same 😀
I opted to save up for the Lee filters, by the time you buy Cokin or Hitech you have spent 1/2 to 2/3 of the price of the Lee already – so I held off til I could afford everything I wanted in one go and do it once and properly.
I have also heard good things about the Formatt-Hitechs new Firecrest filters which they do a 16 stop version apparently too which is pretty dark and it doesnt look horrendously expensive
I will have to look at the firecrests! There are some things that I know I can never wait long enough to save for but the Lee filters are just better all round. I do have a few cokin filters and other random ones that I’ve purchased second hand. Some of them are great fun 🙂
Yes I have some round ones including a variable ND that I use for waterfalls and found it useful on my recent trip to Te Anau where hanging your whole camera over the edge of a bridge a bit of a scary concept for a Lee Filter so the screw on version was much safer and still did a good job 🙂
Make sure you look at something like the Mindshift Filter Hive for storing your filters when you get them, it was the recommended holder and Im quite pleased with mine
The round ones are great for hand held work and awkward angles! Will certainly look at the holder as all my filters are kept in different places at the moment. I also need some wet weather protection for the lenses!!
Thank you for putting in the Topaz Impressions version, I love it. Loved the original until I saw the depth of colour and the movement in the second, looks like I’m up for Impressions soon 🙂 I’m definitely a morning person and organise my trips around sunrise and preferably at a beach.
Well beaches are all over the place in NZ, in fact its hard to get away from them LOL I am enjoying Impressions too, trying to apply some restraint but this image just DEMANDED it 🙂
Nice work. I am actually using a paintbrush and have started painting my photos. I am really enjoying that. I find that I have a connection with my photos which comes through in my painting.
Though I still love editing photos too.
I have no ability with a paintbrush at all so something like Impression is a revelation to me. There are some photographers down here who are printing on canvas and then dabbing oil paint on that for a more realistic painted effect and it looks quite cool. Have to post pix of your work when its finished so we can all asee 🙂
Just go back some of my posts as I have been posting them. It is a lot of fun for me
Thanks for getting up early on these occasions! Beautiful shots – I’ve been thinking about getting a Grad ND filter for a while….heard that the 10-stop one might be a good choice. Would appreciate any insights you have….cheers – Deb
Hey Deb – fortunately in the middle of winter the sun rises at a reasonable hour so its less of a hardship.
Re the Lee Filters I have a few posts specifically about them, do a search for “lee” in the search box and that will find them. I got a kit from Amazon that gave me the holder, the adaptor ring and the hard and soft grads and got the Big Stopper separately.
Personally I love the Big Stopper and have really enjoyed using it, I find the grads a bit more challenging to use well and need to spend more time practising – I also got a lot of inspiration from the Lightweight Photographer, who uses filters with his landscape work (link in my Blog roll)
Also there are heaps of You tube vids on the subject too – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYxc_G12ogM