A few weeks ago I was standing at the end of Deal Pier as the sun was thinking about setting.
ISO 100 50mm f/5.6 1/1000
It was a beautiful moment of contrasts. The shadows were already leaving parts of the scene dark while the sun was intensely lighting other parts. I knew that this was not going to turn out very well straight out of the camera so I shot a bracketed image that I could use later create an HDR image in Photoshop. The link that I have included I picked because it has some good tips, but also because it contains my least favorite thing, and that is a bit telling you when you should or shouldn’t use HDR. I understand that sometimes when learning a new technique it is best to narrow your focus and give it a try in situations where you are likely to get a good result. However, I really think when it comes to editing, you should broaden your horizons and experiment. The beautiful thing about digital editing is that you can always throw away versions you don’t like, so why be bound by traditional rules?
Here is the version of the image above with the highest exposure:
ISO 100 50mm f/5.6 1/1000
You can see why some editing was going to be required. In addition to creating an HDR image, which was the first step, I then cropped the image. Next I used the curves feature to bring some more detail into the darker parts of the images. I then increased the vibrance and saturation a bit. Sharpening the image was the last step. It may sound like quite a bit of editing, but I wanted to recreate the feel of that moment on the pier.
What do you think of the final version? Do you find yourself sometimes hemmed in by the rules of photography only to then realize that they are guidelines and not actually set in stone? Feel free to comment below.
Cheers!
Photography Journal Blog 
The first shot is my fav… I like the contrast which add a + to the mystery of the setting sun. Sunset has always fascinating me, it’s fabulous to think that when it disappear someone else takes the relay… in fact, the sun is never lost for the world…
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It is fun to think about things like that, what is going on on the other side of the world…
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Love what you have done for it. The original shot looks washed out, as if the sun and the edge of the water was garish to the eyes. It looks so much warmer in the final edit and it looked like such a great sunset.
Before I learnt about post-processing and photo editing, I thought a bad photo taken on my camera was a bad photo. These days, I don’t delete photos but realise that with a bit of experimenting and playing around, you can make any image a different image altogether.
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It really is amazing what you can do these days, and honestly you can make it as simple or as complicated as you like 🙂
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Nice editing.
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Thank you.
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Love how you’ve cropped the first one – the ‘v’ of the sun echoing the crossed legs of the pier.
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Thank you, I agree, that crop made the for a much more interesting composition.
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Very good result.
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Thanks!
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Love how you edited this photo. It’s a beautiful sunset at dusk! 🙂
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It was a very nice moment.
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I do like what you have done to it. It has been my experience that photos often turn out not as one remembers the scene. There is a real art in being able to use software in order to make the result truer to what memory tells one – or, of course, to create an entirely new mood. It is an art I only have a smattering of.
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It’s an interesting idea, that editing can make it more like reality.
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Easily tested – look at some of your photos at the scene, and compare. It is often surprising how lighting or other influences can distort them.
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Thanks for sharing your editing thoughts. As I continue to shoot, and edit I am extending my creative box.
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It’s a process isn’t it? the more you work with it, the more you expand your horizons.
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Love the image PJB and definitely prefer your edited version.
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Thank you Tina!
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Enjoyed your discussion of editing. Since abandoning the dark room (I know, I know…feels like a gazillion years ago now!) I haven’t been able to muster up much interest in photo editing. But seeing your original and edited versions together makes me think, hm…maybe it’s time I started working out how to do this!
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There really are just so many possibilities, which is great but at the same time can be a bit frustrating. What appeals to me about digital editing is being able to make something that is just horrible and then be like “huh, that’s horrible” and then hit delete. Somehow, that is really liberating to me.
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