{"id":1170,"date":"2013-08-07T06:37:08","date_gmt":"2013-08-07T11:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/warrenharris.net\/blog2\/?p=1170"},"modified":"2013-08-07T06:37:08","modified_gmt":"2013-08-07T11:37:08","slug":"before-and-after-example-point-bolivar-lighthouse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/warrenharris.net\/blog2\/before-and-after-example-point-bolivar-lighthouse\/","title":{"rendered":"Before and After Example: Point Bolivar Lighthouse"},"content":{"rendered":"

As anyone familiar with my work has observed, all of my images are enhanced – sometimes to the extreme – to achieve the effect I envisioned when I took the original photo. \u00a0Many factors influence my decisions. \u00a0Sometimes I want to “push” a certain element in the composition, other times I prefer to downplay a certain element or eliminate it \/ them entirely. \u00a0The majority of my work is cropped to focus on certain components and add drama to the final image. \u00a0As a result, my work tends to be very wide or tall compared to the alternate dimension.<\/p>\n

Today’s example is the Point Bolivar Lighthouse, an historic site on the Bolivar peninsula across from Galveston Island.<\/p>\n

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\"Point<\/a>

Point Bolivar Lighthouse Original<\/p><\/div>\n

The original image was taken on a blustery day with dramatic storm clouds. \u00a0I wanted the “atmosphere” to be prominent, so I processed the image accordingly, making it darker and more ominous than the original.<\/p>\n

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\"Point<\/a>

Point Bolivar Lighthouse Enhanced<\/p><\/div>\n

After processing to produce a more intense and ominous effect.<\/p>\n

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\"Point<\/a>

Point Bolivar Lighthouse Final<\/p><\/div>\n

Due to the (frequently annoying) nature of wide-angle lenses, vertical elements undergo some lens distortion, making them tilt toward the center of the image. This can be corrected with certain architectural lenses, which I did not have with me on this trip. As a result, some manual straightening was required.<\/p>\n

I meticulously masked out the original lighthouse, pasted it onto a new layer and then rotated it into position. When that looked right, I erased the portions of the tilted lighthouse by hand and then replaced the sky around the straightened element.<\/p>\n

Next, the reflection of the lighthouse needed similar straightening, so I carefully selected only the reflection, copied it and pasted it onto a new layer, then rotated it into position.<\/p>\n

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