Motukiekie – The Other Side

Back Shooting

It feels wonderful to be out shooting regularly, especially in a country so immensely beautiful as New Zealand. After an intense period of recording YouTube tutorials, developing Raya Pro and publishing the Mastering Raya Pro course, I was itching to go out and shoot. I’m sure you know the feeling.

When you’re in the field, staring at nature’s wonders, or surrounded by the buzz of man’s concrete playgrounds on some rooftop, you’re completely disconnected. In a semi-Zen-like way, you’re focused on one task while letting everything else around unfold as it will. Few distractions – just pushing the boundaries of your current photographic and creative limits.

The whole photographic process is like one large dance with the elements. We’re constantly cycling through possible challenges and outcomes as we shoot a scene. How long will the light stay this way? When will the tide come in? What moving elements do I want in the image? Will a long exposure produce a better effect than a short exposure? How can this scene be realized in post-processing? Will those clouds be in the frame soon?

The number of questions and ideas cycling through our minds as we compose and capture a scene can be formidable, depending on the scene. Sometimes it can be very simple. But to capture and create an image that we enjoy at the end of it all is such a thrilling experience. Sometimes I sit back and really appreciate that photography exists, that we get to enjoy it and use it to touch a creative part of ourselves that we may never have experienced otherwise.

As you can see, being surrounded by so much natural beauty has made me somewhat philosophical today…

I’m staying near Motukiekie beach in the south island for around 9 days. There is one particular shot I’ve been wanting to add to my portfolio for years. The location isn’t fully accessible until Saturday, when the tide is right. Then I should have 5 days, 5 sunsets, to get it right. If things don’t work, I will have to come back next month and try again.

Meanwhile, the tide is ideal for shooting the other end of the beach, where I captured the above image. I’ve been to this location twice now, and will visit again tonight. Hopefully the weather gods will be generous.

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How I Created The Image – Before/After Post-Processing

 

Workflow Explanation – Motukiekie, the other side

This image was created using Raya Pro – The Photoshop Plugin.

Using Apply Image in Raya Pro, I quickly blended the two exposures that went into this image. I refined the mask created by Apply Image by dodging directly onto it (if you followed my Mastering Raya Pro course, this is the same process I used in the Advanced Secrets videos).

While I took the whole sky from the darker exposure, I mixed some of the foreground water from the darker exposure and some from the brighter exposure. This gave me more texture to work with.

Compositionally, I loved the idea of having the two large rocks either side of the frame, and a rushing tide splitting through the middle. Anyone who has shot during a rough inward tide will know that finding and sticking with a composition can be tricky.

The incoming tide hides more and more elements with every passing minute. And rough tides, like the one here, can catch you unawares and leave you submerged. One such occasion my D800 was 1/3 submerged in water by the time I pulled it out. It still survived though.

So for this image, I had three different compositions planned, in slightly different areas. As the tide shifted, and golden hour changed, I was forced to dance from one to another, just hoping to capture the moving water just right.

In the end, after getting soaked a few more times, and re-cleaning my lens, I managed to snap a scene that is close to what I initially envisioned. I’m happy with the final outcome.

If you’re new to seascape photography, I wrote an article with 10 Tips For Effective Seascape Photography that you might enjoy.

For the rest of the processing, I kept the midtones nice and dark, while using a Darks 4 luminosity mask in Raya Pro to to soften the shadows.

I dodged along the water to brighten it up somewhat. I added a little bit Clarity from the Adobe Camera RAW filter, just to add some local contrast.

To soften the overall image I used the Orton Effect Bright function in Raya Pro. To add a glow to the sunset, I introduced some light bleeding. You can see the technique here: Quick Photoshop Secrets 14: Light Bleeding For Warmer Images. However, rather than painting loosely on the image, I first made a Brights 3 luminosity mask selection of the sunset and painted in that. That brightened up the sunset area. Then, to create bleed effect, I selected the light bleeding layer and add some Gaussian blur to it.

To finish, I added a crafted vignette to push the viewer’s eye towards the sunset and the water. You can see how to do that here: Quick Photoshop Secrets 9: Awesome Vignette For a Moodier Scene

As always, I hope you’ve found this useful!

Jimmy