House Overlooking Ocean...

[highlydope]

I snapped the original photo while driving by in my car. I stopped, rolled the window down and took a single shot on full auto. When I got home, I decided to see how much I could do with it just as a personal challenge.

A little info on the workflow, the before image is SOOC. The after image workflow was: Import to Lightroom for cropping, straightening, and lens corrections > Edit in Photoshop for further distortion correction > Nik Software ReMask to mask in new sky > Nik Software HDR Efex Pro for HDR conversion > Photoshop to tone down HDR conversion layer > Viveza to spot adjust certain elements like darken the sky, brighten the house, darken the driveway, adjust the hue of the grass, etc. > Save the image and go back to Lightroom for vignette, noise reduction and sharpening.

I'm not saying that this is the best image ever or anything, but it is an incredible improvement of the original and the HDR was done with a single image, not a bracketed set. Amazing how good tools can help...



Camera: Fujifilm FinePix X100
Focal Length: 23 mm
Shutter Speed: 1/220 sec.
Aperture: 4
ISO/Film: 800

My photoblog is at: http://500px.com/derekkelly

[samutsim]

This is stunning! Great job.

[Quo Fan]

Looks good, but I think the new sky is a little too dramatic for the shot.

[highlydope]

Originally Posted by Quo Fan

Looks good, but I think the new sky is a little too dramatic for the shot.

Feel free to edit and show me what you'd do with it.

[Gwenise]

How did you get the sky to look like that?? I like it...very Dramatic. But I do feel like its missing one thing...A thunder blot in the backround...HAHA...J/K

[3bayjunkie]

very nice! Love the clouds. one question though, why did you bother using lightroom at all if you have photoshop?

[highlydope]

Originally Posted by 3bayjunkie

very nice! Love the clouds. one question though, why did you bother using lightroom at all if you have photoshop?

Lightroom is good for pulling pics in off my camera, organizing them, version control, etc. It makes a great starting point, the changes it makes are non-destructive, and most plug-ins can be accessed from both apps. I use PS for more advanced layer based and/or destructive pixel editing.

[highlydope]

Originally Posted by divepig

That's really nice .
And I want to learn something about how to take the photos ,can you share some experience?

Happy to, but I'm not sure what you mean. Are you referring to how I took the original shot?

[highlydope]

Originally Posted by Gwenise

How did you get the sky to look like that?

I used a layer mask to cut out the original sky and pasted in part of a better sky shot that I took at a previous date.

[Bruce A]

Originally Posted by Quo Fan

Looks good, but I think the new sky is a little too dramatic for the shot.

I have to disagree, I think it helps make the image contrasty and interesting.

You did a great job Highlydope