Standing at the Edge of the World | Emerald Isle, NC
Here’s a shot of my friend and fellow photog Brad Styron taking in an awesome sunset on the coast. I thought I would use this shot to take a moment and explain some of my post-processing a little more in-depth than usual. My methods have changed recently and this adaptation in processing has helped to strengthen my images. Where I used to tonemap and create HDR images, I now manually blend exposures. Hopefully the workflow breakdown below can explain it better:
Gear: Nikon D90, 18-105mm VR Nikkor lens, tripod
EXIF: Three bracketed exposures @ f/22, ISO-200. (1/6 sec., 1/2 sec., 2.5 sec.) Manual white balance.
Step 1: I opened all 3 files in Photoshop. Adjusted the levels slightly in the lowest and middle exposures to bring out a little more brightness.
Step 2: Masking. How you do this is based on your preference. I like to layer my darkest exposure on top of the middle, work on it & flatten it, then layer that on top of my brightest exposure. I just like to work on a darker image and lighten it as I go.
There was only minor blending on the first two exposures, but on the final mask I brought in the water at 100% opacity. Using a brush of around 15%, I slowly lightened some of the highlights in the sky. That’s it. I then flattened the image.
Step 3: Using Nik Color Efex, I fixed the blue color cast in the image and added just a touch of contrast using the Pro Contrast Filter.
Step 4: With Nik Viveza, I selectively adjusted the structure in the foreground to add some extra sharpness. On a separate layer of Viveza, I dropped the saturation in the foreground sand (again, using the selective area feature). After applying the layer, I then masked a bit of it away in Photoshop to get rid of some of the over spill of the adjustment.
Step 5: I duplicated that layer and used the Dodge Tool to lighten the foam of the surf and the highlights in the clouds. Mind you, the tool was set very low (5-10%) and set to dodge the midtones. This was just a minor tweak to bring the scene back to more of my taste.
Step 6: After this was all done, I flattened the image and added on final filter. Using Nik Color Efex, I added a Glamour Glow (set very low, at 8%) with a very low touch of warmth to bring a calm, minimal glow to the scene. I flattened again and saved.
If there was one theme that you noticed, it was the use of ‘just a touch,’ ‘a little bit,’ ‘very low,’ and ‘light.’ The key to what I’ve been doing lately is to use every effect in moderation. Just because a slider or setting goes up to 100 doesn’t mean it should.
Most of what I do pretty much follows that workflow. Maybe a few less or few more uses of Viveza and Color Efex or a little more dodging and burning, but that’s the gist of it. Also, many times I end up simply blending two exposures rather than all three. It’s usually the darkest exposure that gets discarded in that case.
Hope that helps to explain what I do and can help you make a better image!
As always, you can comment or pick my brain at any of these sites: Facebook | Twitter | Flickr | 500px | Google+
©2012 Zach Frailey
Wet Feet | Emerald Isle, NC
This one is appropriately named ‘Wet Feet,’ because that’s exactly what I got while shooting it. I am also pretty sure this is the same wave that filled the moving parts of my tripod with saltwater and sand. It was all totally worth it though.
This was part of this evening that provided probably the best light that I’ve shot in. The late afternoon sky was deep blue with wispy clouds, the sunset too on the hues above and after the sun went down, the sky turned deep pink and red!
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The Shot: Nikon D90, 8mm Rokinon lens, tripod held. f/22, 1/8 sec., ISO 200.
Cliffs of Emerald Isle | Emerald Isle, North Carolina
These ‘cliffs’ actually stand five or six feet high in parts and are a product of beach erosion on Emerald Isle. I have seen a few other local photographers sharing images of the beach’s condition in the past few weeks and thought I should head out and see it for myself. It’s certainly a different look for the beaches of this area!
I headed down the beach for a sunset photo excursion with Brad Styron and spent the better part of an hour canvassing these sand formations with my camera. (This is a the same shoot that my ‘Behind the Scenes’ photo came from.)
The shot: Nikon D90, 8mm Rokinon lens. 1/80 sec., ISO 200, f22. 3 bracketed exposure. With my three exposures, I made a tonemapped file to use for the portion of the sky with the sun. I then masked in the ‘cliffs’ and blue sky of the middle exposure and the foreground sand and water of the lowest exposure. The brightest exposure was discarded.
©2011 Zach Frailey, do not use without permission
1/19 Sunset (Behind The Scenes) | Emerald Isle, North Carolina
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On Thursday (1/19) I headed over to Emerald Isle to visit with my friend and fellow photographer Brad Styron. We had some business to discuss, but more importantly, there were photos to take! We left his studio and hopped in his FJ and a minute or two later were driving down the beach. I’ve never driven over-sand, although I’ve always wanted to get the permits for my Jeep, and it was way cool! A little ways down the beach, we came to a spot where the beach erosion created ‘cliffs’ that were close to six feet high in places. This is where we set up to shoot.
In this image you can see the set up. Brad’s FJ is parked above the surf on the sand. You can see his second camera body set up in the foreground. He filmed video the entire time and came away with an amazing time-lapse video of the sunset! You can see Brad himself is shooting up against the cliff beyond the camera.
You will no doubt be seeing several more images from this sunset (one of THE BEST sunsets I’ve ever shot) in the coming days and weeks!
The Shot: Nikon D90, Rokinon 8mm fisheye lens. 2 exposures, manually blended in Photoshop.
©2012 Zach Frailey, please do not use without permission
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The Old Burying Ground | Beaufort, North Carolina
In preparation for Halloween, a friend and I visited the Old Burying Ground in Beaufort, NC last week. The oldest cemetery, in North Carolina’s third oldest town, was established in the early 1700’s with the oldest legible grave stone dating to 1756. The oldest part of the cemetery was also, to me, the most interesting and best to photograph. It was not only very crowded, but overgrown and spooky looking. Peeking into the brush that had grown up around the trees, you could see more grave markers, long forgotten. A little known fact that I learned was that most of the grave sites face east, as the families of those buried there in the early years wanted their loved ones to face the rising sun on the morning of judgement day.
Some notable, and creepy, grave sites:
- Vienna Dill (1863-1865): Died of yellow fever and was buried in a glass topped casket. The child would later be exhumed by vandals and reburied after her body ‘disintegrated’ upon opening of the casket.
- An officer in the British Navy who died in port at Beaufort. He was buried standing up, facing England and saluting the King.
- A mass grave in which the sailors of the ‘Cassie Wright’ are buried. They froze to death in January 1886 when their ship ran aground.
- A little girl who died at sea during a voyage from England with her father. He had promised her mother that he’d return her home safely, however she died at sea. Rather than being buried at sea, she was preserved in a barrel of rum so that she could be returned home, as promised. Her grave site is distinguishable because of the pile of toys and gifts that visitors leave there.
- Captain Otway Burns, great privateer during the War of 1812. He sailed from Nova Scotia to South America, plundering British ships all the way. His tomb is marked by a canon from his ship, The Snapdragon.
There are many others buried here including soldiers of the American Revolution, War of 1812 and Civil War, as well as a grave marked “Here lies the remains of the settlers killed in the Tuscarora Indian War; September 1711.”
On my visit, the sun was bright and the sky was cloudless. I can imagine that as conditions change, the Old Burying Ground changes as well. I’m looking forward to visiting again with some more dramatic light to shoot!
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