jacobsurland
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Awards
Contest Finalist in The Golden Moment Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Image Of The Month Photo Contest Vol 11
Contest Finalist in The Ocean And The Clouds Photo Contest
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markphoto4u
March 13, 2016
Beautiful exposure. Love the reflections and color. It's cool the way the colors seem limited to blue, yellow, and grey/white. Very nice.
stevehighlander
July 14, 2016
Join the conversation. Add a comment or even better, a critique. Let's get better together!
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
I shot this photo in my hometown Roskilde, in Denmark. It was on the very first day I got up early, with that specific purpose to shoot photos. I picked this location because our Wedding photos were shot in the area just behind me. This scene was a plan B scene for this morning, but as it turned out. Plan B was a lot better than Plan A.Time
This is shot at 4.30 AM in the morning. I was ready 45 minutes before sunrise, and have photos that show how the light changes.Lighting
What I like in particular about this photo, and what makes it very special, is that sunlight licks the jetty. Notice how the weather has bent the wood, and because of the height of the Sun, there's a little shadow cast.Equipment
Quite obviously this is an HDR, but I also combined it with more traditional landscape photography skills. There's a 2-stop ND filter and a 3 stop soft gradient filter attached. I rarely make this combination of HDR and traditional landscapes shooting, but the few times I have done it, I have created something magical. The camera was on a tripod, the longest exposure was a about second, too long to hand held.Inspiration
When I shot this photo, I had just learned how to process HDR photos. I had shot a few, knowing basically what it was. I hadn't been practicing on post-processing them, and I needed something spectacular to work on. Something of my own. At the same time, I was deeply inspired by the traditional Landscape photography, using filters, instead of using HDR. When I shot the photo, I had the HDR processing in mind, as well as classic landscape photography. I wanted it all in one shot. And I got it.Editing
This photo is post-processed in what has become my more or less standard HDR-processing workflow. I knew what I was doing, when I post-processed it, but it was just the first high-quality HDR I had achieved by myself. My standard HDR-workflow includes an HDR file merged in Photomatix Pro. I know that this tool has a lot of bad reputation, but it is unfair if you just know what you are doing. The Photomatix output, I load onto Photoshop as layers along with the the original 5 shots. I then blend the images to the final image. I put a mask on each layer, except for the HDR photo. The HDR photo might have some problems. In this case, it was very stormy and dramatic clouds. I turned that down, by blending one of the original exposures with the HDR image. I work this way, in general. Spot a problem, and fix it.In my camera bag
I always as in ALWAYS carry a camera. On a daily basis it's a Sony A7R or a Sony A6000, because they are light. When going on a photoshoot I include my Nikon D800. I use the Sony 24-70 f/4, Sony 10-18mm f/4 and the Nikkor 14-24mm as my primary lenses. I usually have some filters, but I rarely use them, and I have a remote control. Recently I included a TriggerTrap remote control device, which makes it possible to shoot more advanced HDR photos. This photo, however, is shot using a Canon 5D Mark III and the 17-40mm lens. I sold that equipment to get a Nikon D800 and the Nikkor 14-24mm.Feedback
To shoot something like this, search the location, and use a Sundial app to make sure, that you have the Sun in the right location when you go there. The second step is to keep a look out on the weather forecast. I studied the weather forecast, and it had a few clouds. That was just perfect. Too many clouds is not good just as well as to few clouds is not good either. You want some clouds. This scene is a classic high dynamic range scene. The Sun is directly into the lens, and you can't really cover the light, without using either filters or HDR. I used both, and I think that was a clever thing this particular morning.