I took this shot in Jamestown, Rhode Island at Beavertail State Park several months ago, before COVID-19. You can check out another image I took on the same day here. High tide was on its way out and there were still puddles of water scattered on the rocks. One such puddle was close enough to the lighthouse to catch a reflection.
What I found tough about processing this photography was trying to not overwhelm the scene with rocks. If you have ever visited Beavertail, it is very rocky which makes it hard to differentiate the scene. That is why I used the reflection of the lighthouse here to break up the monotony of all rocks. The vast difference inherent with the lights and darks here made this a tough edit. Essentially, editing this photo required a lot of restraint to keep myself from enhancing the blacks and darks too much. I used to do this and it ultimately made my photos look unrealistic. Currently, I try to keep my photos as realistic as possible whilst also portraying the scene that I intended.
I took this shot with a tripod and several bracketed exposures. The sky was from a darker exposure that I brought in with luminosity masks. Recently, Photoshop has implemented a sky replacement tool which I haven’t had enough experience to talk about yet. However, I am sure I will speak about my experience with it in upcoming posts. Hope you like the results.
