Sentries of Madre Vooh*

This image illustrates the creative possibilities of an image even though it has some severe technical flaws. The original image was washed out due to shooting almost directly at the sun. This resulted in blown out highlights and poor contrast. Yet there was something compelling in a sort of mystical way about the subject and this setting. Using layers in Photoshop CS5 I copied the image on a separate layer, flipped it horizontally, then aligned it using the move tool. The tones were then intentionally adjusted in a manner that maintained the mysterious mood of this image. Normally, I would have tried to reveal much more detail in the shadows and highlight areas, but after much experimentation I decided that this interpretation worked so much better. It creates a sense of wonder in the viewer.

* Read the title backwards to reveal the location of this subject ;-)

Here is another image from The Four Guys Photo Club recent sunrise seacoast excursion. I chose to do this as a faux panorama* rather than a true panorama composed of multiple images stitched together. The lighting conditions at sunrise change so rapidly that it would have been difficult to capture this moment without being set up and ready to go. Someone, who shall remain nameless, overslept by fifteen minutes which created a very rushed situation at our arrival. (Nameless is off the hook because we all still managed to get some great shots and he was actually early for the next excursion.)
The lesson is: allow enough travel time to arrive about 1/2 hour or more before the actual sunrise.
* See my previous post for details of faux panorama.

This image was captured on a recent excursion of The Four Guys Photo Club in Wolfeboro NH. Our excursions are starting earlier and earlier in the morning after having some very successful sunrise sessions. The early bird catches the glorious morning light. If you haven't learned that by now, good! That means less competition for me ;-) Just kidding.
This faux panorama was created using a simple crop in Lightroom 4.  Normally I would have done a full blown panorama if I were going to print this at a much larger size. This will print just fine on a sheet of 13"x19" paper which is a standard size. This will also display just fine on the web. However, for those of you interested in creating a full blown panorama that can be printed to a massive size with incredible detail, stay tuned. I will give a detailed description of my procedure.