Path to the Clouds | New Bern, NC
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Happy first day of Spring everyone! With the way the weather has been in the Eastern US lately, it’s easy to forget that it was still technically Winter. I thought this shot of a beautiful pastel sunset behind the NC History Center would be a great way to ring in one of my favorite seasons.
The History Center, part of Tryon Palace, is one of my favorite places to shoot the sunset in New Bern. There are so many great foreground elements there, especially these boardwalks and railings. The plant life is also starting to bloom in the gardens there and I’m really looking forward to working that life into these shots!
The shot: Nikon D90, Rokinon 8mm f/3.5 lens. f/22, 1”, ISO-100. 3 exposures, tonemapped with Photomatix. All three exposures and the tonemapped file were manually masked together in Photoshop. Finished with Nik Color Efex ‘Glamour Glow’ filter and ‘Pro Contrast’ filter.
Sunset on the Trent | New Bern, NC
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On this calm, windless night, the water of the Trent River was at a glassy calm. I crawled down into this little pocket between a street and a boardwalk to get a different vantage point to a spot that I frequently shoot. Boy, the water and muck I was in to shoot this did not smell good at all!
Off Season in the Marina | New Bern, NC
I caught this scene at the sun set on February 13 from the Bridgepointe Hotel and Marina in New Bern. The marina is not so busy in these off-season month, but will surely start to ‘heat up’ as the weather likewise does. I liked how the yacht and sailboat to the right filled the negative space opposite of the clouds and reflections to balance this photo out. It really leads the eye across the frame, which I like.
I bracketed three exposures for this scene, but standing on a floating dock, things didn’t line up very well. I auto-aligned the frames with Nik’s HDR Efex Pro (a program I actually use very little) and then masked the reflection on the boat’s window, the water and some of the clouds back in from the original layers.
The shot: Nikon D90, 18-105mm Nikkor VR lens, tripod held (while bobbing up and down on a floating dock). Nik HDR Efex for merging of three exposures, original layers masked back in using Photoshop CS4. Nik Color Efex and Viveza for finishing.
Carolina Sunset | New Bern, NC
With some high wispy clouds in the sky and unseasonably warm weather, tonight seemed to be the perfect evening to head out for a sunset shoot. One of the best parts about this time of year is that I can shoot the sunset and be home in time for dinner! The location I shot this from, the boardwalk behind the North Carolina History Center, is one of my most frequently visited sunset spots. However, with the changing seasons, the sun continues to inch closer and closer to the land to the right of this frame. I fear that I may need to find a new spot to shoot the sun setting over the water this winter!
The Shot: Nikon D90, tripod mounted, remote triggered (first time out with my snazzy new wireless remote). 3 bracketed exposures. Tonemapped in Photomatix and then masked together with the original three exposures in Photoshop with the help of my Wacom tablet. Pro Contrast filter from Nik Color Efex added before completion.
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