It’s been 5 years since I visited West Point last time and I was excited while driving from the North Cape anticipating relaxing afternoon. You can imagine my surprise when I reached the destination and found a quite different place. The lighthouse was converted into a motel, and a beautiful beach was covered with debris and trash with absolutely no people around. The place was completely run down.

I spend less than 20 min there talking only a few shots. I composed this shot to omit the motel and beach, reviling only top of the lighthouse and the dunes.

Shooting & Processing

I took 3 bracketed shots on a tripod (-1, 0, +1) as I usually do. I could see that the light was not too dynamic because the setting sun was covered with the clouds, but I took 3 brackets anyway, just in case.

I used single RAW image editing in Lightroom. I described the process in Lightroom Rapid Editing System for Landscapes.

First I applied Lightroom preset Natural from my Landscape Collection and later I used ToolKit to boost colors and contrast.

The Lightroom Preset Editing Formula: Natural (8, 18, 22, 30 )

Deconstructing Featured Photo

• Camera: Sony a6000
• Lens: Sony 16-70mm
• Focal Length: 39mm
• ISO: 100
• Aperture: F4
• Shutter: 1/500
• Bracketing: 3 shots (-1, 0, +1 )
• Tripod: FEISOL Tournament CT-3442
• Ballhead: FEISOL CB-40D

Processing:

Lightroom: import, tagging, preset based processing (Natural preset from Landscape Collection)
Photoshop: color correction, contrast, cleaning.

Photoshop Plugins: 

• Topaz DeNoise was used to reduce digital noise (sky, water).
• Topaz Clarity was used to enhance details and boost colors (land, falls).

That year I visited the Sequoia National Park in the Western Sierra first. I was overwhelmed with the size of the giant sequoias, the largest trees in the world. I thought I knew what to expect because I read a lot about giant trees since I was in school. But, in reality, the enormity of the sequoias was remarkable.

The next stop of my southwest trip was Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, the habitat of the oldest trees in the world. I expected to get overwhelmed again, now by the oldest trees anticipating to see a new type of giants.

But I was wrong. The oldest trees in the world did not look imposing or mighty. They looked like dead dwarfs without any bark around their trunks.

And yet, that was the forest full of trees ages between 3000 and 5000 years old.

The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest is located at 11,000 feet(3,400m) above sea level, on the north side of the mountains where it is always cold. And the area receives almost zero precipitation around the year. Because of that, the Bristlecone Pine trees developed such a body density that bacteria can not penetrate it. It is tough for any tree to survive in such a hostile environment, but at the same time, it extends their lifespan by a few thousand years. Incredible.

I am not sure about the age of the trees I captured in the featured photo, but they are old and still alive.

Shooting

The challenge with the shooting was cold weather, and at the end of May, you usually do not carry with your winter clothes.

I also struggled with the particulate shot because it was pretty steep around the trees, and I had a problem leveling the tripod. In the end, I did not manage to level it correctly, and I had to do perspective correction in Lightroom.

• Camera: Sony a6000
• Lens: Sony 16-70mm f/4
• Focal Length: 20mm (30mm full-frame equivalent)
• Shooting Mode: Aperture Priority (A)
• ISO: 100
• Aperture: F9
• Shutter Speed: 1/60s
• Tripod: FEISOL Tournament CT-3442

Editing & Processing

It was a single RAW processing workflow.

Lightroom (80%)

I started processing by adjusting perspective using the Transform tools in the Develop Module of Lightroom.

Next, I use the Crop Overlay tool to маке composition a bit tighter..

To complete the Lightroom editing, I used the Napa preset from my Travel Pro Kit Collection as the base for Lightroom Rapid Editing. Then I used TOOLKIT to balance exposure and boost Contrast.

The Lightroom Preset Editing Formula: Napa (2, 9, 13, 20, 32)

Photoshop (20%)

In Photoshop, I used the Spot Removal tool to clean up the image.

And finally, I used the Topz DeNoise plugin to reduce digital noise. That was the first time I used the latest version of DeNoise AI after upgrading from DeNoise 6. The newest version works differently compared to the old version. It does not only reduce the noise but sharpens the image as well.

After I am comfortable with the new version, I will update my review of Topaz plugins.

Before & After Transformation

This was taken the third time I drove by Little Sur River Beach in the last two years, and finally, on this day luck was on my side with the regard to weather. The third time’s a charm, I guess. It was an unusually warm January evening – windy but warm with thick, white clouds covering the horizon but leaving the rest of the sky exposed and illuminated by the sun.

It took a lot of willpower to give up this view and pack my tripod so I could drive into the fog and clouds to another spot along the California coast.

Deconstructing Featured Photo

• Camera: Canon 60D
• Lens: Sigma 10-20mm
• Focal Length: 10mm
• Shooting Mode: Aperture Priority (A)
• ISO: 100
• Aperture: F9
• Magic Lantern: free firmware addon to extend camera functionality
• Bracketing: 5 shots (-2, -1, 0, +1, +2)
• Tripod: FEISOL Tournament CT-3442
• Ballhead: FEISOL CB-40D

Processing

Lightroom: import, tagging, export to Photomatix
Photomatix: 4 exposures (-2, -1, 0, +1) used to tone map image, 16-bit tiff image was exported to Lightroom
Photoshop: straightening, color correction, export as PSD image
Photoshop: cleaning, color correction, sharpening
Photoshop Plugins:
– Topaz Detail was used to enhance details in foreground elements (grass, fence)
– Topaz DeNoise helped to eliminate noise in the sky.

Just a few hours earlier, I was in Eastern Canada where the late January morning temperature was below -30° C, which is extreme even by Montreal standards. On my way to the airport, I looked and felt very uncomfortable and odd wearing light clothes, ready for my West Coast adventure.

Then I found myself at the ocean wearing a t-shirt and enjoying warm rain. It felt like California.

Deconstructing Featured Photo

• Camera: Canon 60D
• Lens: Sigma 17-70mm
• Focal Length: 17mm
• Shooting Mode: Aperture Priority (A)
• ISO: 100
• Aperture: F9
• Shutter Speed: 1/250
• Bracketing: 3 shots ( -1, 0, +1)
• Tripod: hand-held

Processing: HDR Processed

Lightroom: import, tagging, export to Photoshop HDR Pro
Photoshop: 3 exposures ( -1, 0, +1) used to tone map image, 32-bit tiff image was saved to Lightroom 
Lightroom: straightening, cropping, split toning, export as PSD image
Photoshop: cleaning, sharpening
Photoshop Plugins:

• Topaz Detail was used to enhance details in foreground elements (grass, fence)
• Topaz DeNoise helped to eliminate noise in the sky.

But the day I arrived in Cayo Coco on my last trip to Cuba, I realized that I would have no luck with my original intention of capturing beautiful sunsets; I could see that the sunsets would be dull and unappealing. So I had to regroup and find another solution. The only thing I could think of was very uncomfortable and painful: I would have to wake up early to photograph sunrises.

This is when willpower is forged. By the end of the trip, I managed to set an all-time personal record by waking up to photograph sunrises seven days in a row.

Not surprisingly, I was rewarded for my persistence with some amazing scenes like this one.

Deconstructing Featured Photo

• Camera: Canon 60D
• Lens: Sigma 10-20mm
• Focal Length: 14mm
• Shooting Mode: Aperture Priority (A)
• ISO: 100
• Aperture: F16
• Bracketing: 3 shots (-1, 0, +1)
• Tripod: FEISOL Tournament CT-3442 
• Ballhead: FEISOL CB-40D

Processing

Lightroom: import, tagging, export to Photoshop HDR Pro
Photoshop: 3 exposures ( -1, 0, +1) used to tone map image, 32-bit tiff image was saved to Lightroom
Lightroom: straightening, cropping, color correction, exported as PSD image
Photoshop: cleaning, sharpening

Photoshop Plugins:
– Topaz Detail was used to enhance details in the middle of the frame
– Topaz DeNoise helped to eliminate noise in the sky and water

Before going to our friend’s place, I decided to give my wife and daughter a tour of the National Gallery of Canada, a place I like mostly because of its architecture. After the short tour, we walked out of the gallery and turned around the corner to visit Nepean Point. This is the scene we saw. It lasted only a few minutes, but it was enough for me to take a few interesting shots.

The moral here is to be ready for unexpected. In my case, I was not ready but I got lucky anyway :-).

Deconstructing Featured Photo

• Camera: Canon 60D
• Lens: Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4
• Focal Length: 17mm
• Shooting Mode: Aperture Priority (A)
• ISO: 400
• Aperture: F2.8
• Shutter Speed: 1/100
• Bracketing: 3 shots (-1; 0; +1)
• Tripod: hand-held

Processing

Lightroom: import, tagging, export to Photoshop HDR Pro
Photoshop: 3 exposures ( -1, 0, +1) used to tone map image, 32-bit tiff image was saved to Lightroom
Lightroom: straightening, cropping, color correction, export as PSD image
Photoshop: cleaning, sharpening
Photoshop Plugins:

• Topaz DeNoise was used to enhance details in the middle of the frame (buildings, trees)
• Topaz Detail helped to eliminate noise in the sky and water

This year the North Cape landscapes looked different again because of newly erected 80 meters (260 ft.) giants. They are noisy like hell but at the same time, make photographs distinctive and unique.

Shooting & Processing

The only challenge with the shooting was rain which started at least 10-12 times the morning I visited North Cape. I took 3 bracketed shots on a tripod (-1, 0, +1) as I usually do.

First I applied Lightroom preset Natural from my Landscape Collection and later I used ToolKit to boost contrast and saturation.

The Lightroom Preset Editing Formula: Natural (17, 22, 30, 40)

Deconstructing Featured Photo

• Camera: Sony a6000
• Lens: Sony 16-70mm
• Focal Length: 39mm
• ISO: 100
• Aperture: F4
• Shutter: 1/500
• Bracketing: 3 shots (-1, 0, +1 )
• Tripod: FEISOL Tournament CT-3442
• Ballhead: FEISOL CB-40D

Processing:

Lightroom: import, tagging, cropping, preset based processing (Natural preset from Landscape Collection)
Photoshop: color correction, contrast, cleaning, masking.

Photoshop Plugins: 

• Topaz DeNoise was used to reduce digital noise (sky, water).
• Topaz Clarity was used to enhance details and boost colors (shore).