As Summer Sets

Sunset on the Outer Banks in North Carolina is magical. You may remember a previous edit of this scene where I cast the entire fore and mid grounds into shadow, upon revisiting the photos I decided to take the day to generally correct the elements I found lacking in previous versions. This is close to what I witnessed on the scene, rather than the image I had in my mind. While sometimes you should work to realize the scene of your mind, sometimes the scene speaks volumes by itself. The magic of the moment seen through the eyes of an artist.

This re edited photo, like many that have come before it for me required more work than I like to admit. While it looks at first as though I did a lot of work to bring out all these colors, in fact it was much the opposite. This scene was done using exposure brackets for the sky, mid ground and foreground, blended together. The real challenge in this photo was in fact working the edges, removing the people on the dock.

Yes, my first version of this was a bit slap dash thrown together without much love or care, just excitement to edit. That can be a blessing and a curse, working fast just to get through all your compositions in an hour or so. I’ll give you a challenge, Take multiple frames of a composition, then spend one full day to work on it. Adjust slight things within the image. Correct your white balance, make sure you capture your highlights and shadows properly. Then once you believe the image is complete, stop, take a break, simply walk away. When you return, really look at that image again, make the adjustments, stop, take a break. Do this several times through the day, until at last, you don’t see anything else that needs to be corrected. You may yet be surprised by the end result, or perhaps not. Either Way…

Until Next Time!

Aperture: f8
ISO: 640
SS: 10secs
Focal: 15mm

Fujinon 8-16mm