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Battle Creek Cypress Swamp Sanctuary - Northern most stand of naturally occurring Bald Cypress in the US. #viewbugfeature...
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Battle Creek Cypress Swamp Sanctuary - Northern most stand of naturally occurring Bald Cypress in the US. #viewbugfeature
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Dec, 2015Views
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Awards
Action Award
Chatter Award
Creative Winter Award
Curator's Selection
Legendary Award
Staff Winter Selection 2015
Top Choice
Outstanding Creativity
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Peer Award
Superior Skill
Magnificent Capture
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Behind The Lens
Location
This image was taken at the Battle Creek Cypress Swamp Sanctuary - Northern most stand of naturally occurring Bald Cypress in the US, Calvert County, Maryland, USA.Time
It was taken at about 11:30 AM on a dreary, damp Maryland March morning.Lighting
The original image was very flat due to the cold, white late winter sky. No amount of Photoshop adjustments revealed sky detail. As a pure black and white image, it looked like any other winter canopy view.Equipment
Hand-held, Nikon D300s, AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 12-24mm f/4G IF-ED, Adobe Photoshop CC, PC Windows 10 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 200 at 18mmInspiration
I was impressed by the grandeur and textures of these tall giants and also by the tenacity of a species at the bitter extent of it's range but still thriving.Editing
In Photoshop CC, I rendered my original image as a black and white and increased the contrast and shadows to saturate the blacks. I combined an original texture from Clifton Lee Baker (used with permission); played with the color saturation and composited it with my image. Again, I played with saturation and contrast until I achieved some depth in the image. This was one of my first textured works that I posted publicly. I am thankful to Clifton Lee Baker for permission to use his fantastic texture and to Denise Silva of Road Runner Photography Tours, who spoke before the Digital Photography Club of Annapolis, MD on using textures with photographs in Photoshop. Denise was most generous with assistance on the techniques that I later applied in creating this image.In my camera bag
Nikon D300s and D500 cameras and an assortment of Nikkor lenses that cover 12 through 400 mm. I also have 1.4 and 1.7 teleconverters. My latest purchase and project is the FX Nikkor, f/2.8, 105mm macro.Feedback
Don't let weather or cluttered backgrounds stop you. On the grayest days or with the most distracting backgrounds using textures in post can help make your subjects pop! There are endless possibilities. Even if you don't think creative editing of nature images is for you, you should give it a try. You'll be surprised at the interest it brings to otherwise dull captures.
