I would think that if ever there was a time when doing a more artistic interpretation of a photograph made sense, thiswould be it. When better to convert to a painting, then when shooting a painter in his environment? Yet, I've never come to terms in my own mind with something like this. Is it appropriate to go over the top like this? What do you think? It would really help me out if you could comment (either on the site or on Twitter.)
Used Topaz Simplify, then Topaz Adjust.
I planned to go to the gym at lunch but when I went out to the car saw the most amazing sky. Strong dramatic sky with crisp side lighting. I had to go take some photos, so I went to Poway Park.
I recently lost my point & shoot. It was a nice little Nikon Coolpix. Not what I'd pick today but it was OK. I looked back at a Pano I took with it (yes a P&S Pano) in January. And thought I should publish it in memory of my little camera.
I worked this shot for hours in the computer. Started out doing an HDR. I wasn't quite happy with the results. Seemed to introduce too much noise in the photo. I tried using Dfine and DxO to remove the noise and it was still there. I thought that if a sharpened everything but the noise it would make it less visible. Finally gave up and just took the dark & light raw files into Photoshop as layers. Added a mask & used the gradient tool to show some of each layer. Oh, I did use Viveza 2 to brighten the tower.
Another shot taken at Wind and Sea Beach. It is possible to take multi shot HDR's with people in them. You can either layer a single file to the HDR and mask in the person without movement. Or you can yell "hold still for a minute." That's what I did this time.
I know I've done a lot of beach photos recently, but there is something magical about the weather this time of year. I love dramatic clouds, sea foam doesn't hurt either.
After Bird Rock on Saturday, we went to Ocean Bean on Sunday. Have to get out while those amazing clouds are still here. (I Love dramatic clouds & we don't get enough of them in San Diego. I liked this skateboarder shot.