Post Processing Challenge June 6, 2020

There are no rules as to how you apply your post processing to this image; but, please let us know what you have done so we can all learn.

If you would like to post a candidate image next week, please ensure it is of sufficiently high resolution for manipulation by the participants (3000px on the long side, 300dpi for example).

 

Most of all, let's have fun while we are learning or demonstrating how we use our post-processing software, imaginations and interpretations.

 

Nice image, Punta. Adjusted shadows / highlights in LR. Then used Silhouette filter in Silver Efex Pro 2.

Couldn't resist an 'artists impression' of the lighthouse at work. Broadly followed the tutorials at:

- Phlearn (adding sunrays)

-

(adding Sun)

 

Like Mike, I wanted the lighthouse to be operating, plus I added a few pelicans.

Edited June 6, 2020 by Glenn McCreery

 

It looked to me like the lighthouse was in search of some adventure, so I introduced it to a Pacific Ocean wave.

 

In Photoshop:

1. I duplicated and layer-masked my wave image three times: one for the wave, one for a foreground rock that would become the headland, and one for the sky.
   
2. I arranged the headland by enlarging and shifting the rock, then masking it in.
   
3. I’d photographed the wave from a bluff, so the horizon cut across behind the top part, and that wasn’t going to work with the lighthouse’s perspective—I needed to replace the ocean with sky. I moved one of the copies down so the sky was behind the wave, then masked it in (selecting the edge of a breaking wave turns out to be just as problematic as selecting hair…)
   
4. I added the lighthouse image, selected the lighthouse, resized it, and arranged it on the new headland.
   
5. I added brightness and color balance adjustments to the lighthouse layer, and modified both to try to make it look like the same lighting as the wave.
   
6. The lighthouse needed grain, so I added a neutral gray layer in overlay blend mode and added noise with the add-noise filter, masking it in over the lighthouse.
   
7. The lighthouse perspective still didn’t quite work, so I modified it a bit with Liquify.
   

Back in Lightroom, I used an adjustment brush to give some shading to the lighthouse and the new headland, added some clarity, and reduced the overall noise level.

Thank you for uploading your nice photo, Punta!

This started out as a very colorful watercolor version. It's fun to experiment with these things.

 

Selected the lighthouse from the original image

Darkened and adjusted color of the selection

Adjusted size to fit lighthouse image on to new background

Pasted it on to an image of a sunset.

My second and last attempt. This time just basic corrections, sharpening, etc.

This stone lighthouse is located in Rose Blanche, Newfoundland.

I wanted to put a white vignette around the lighthouse; but, there was a problem. I didn't leave enough real estate on the left side of the image to do that without covering the structure with the vignette.

In PS, I expanded the canvas. Then I took a section of the right part of the photo, flipped it horizontally and moved it to the left partially covering what was available to the left of the building. I used a curves adjustment layer to change the moved section to better match the left side of the photo. Then I used a low-flow brush on a mask to try to remove any vertical border line and to try to make the horizon more realistic. Then I went to On1 to add the vignette and border.

These are the layers for the PS part.

Curves/channels adjustments.