Already for several days it's freezing pretty hard in Belgium. Last Friday all the trees and plants were covered with a small layer of snow and/or ice. I decided to take my camera during my ride to work. It was still foggy but I was too excited to shoot some images early in the morning. Above you see one of the more hidden places of Zeebrugge. Of course I shot many more images which I post the next coming days.
TECH-INFO: I shot one RAW file, hand held, sitting on my knees, with my ultra wide angle. Because of the low light and an aperture of f/7.1 I focused a bit before the middle of the bridge. This turned out to be a very good compromise to have most important parts in focus. The white balance was set to cloudy but it was still a bit too blue which I corrected while converting to a TIFF file. The color temperature became around 8500K. In Photoshop I first cloned away a few little disturbing branches. With the color selection tool I added more black to the blacks (this may sound silly until you actually open this tool). To add some kind of sepia feeling, I used the color balance tool. I increased the red and yellow of the shadows only, so the fog and snow stay unaltered. The blue label on the pole in the middle is also enhanced a bit. I found a neat way to boost the contrast: add a (curves) adjustment layer but change the normal mode to overlay. Then lower the opacity to make it less strong. Finally I added a small rectangular vignette to create a more intimate mood.
Closed Bridge in Winter
Already for several days it's freezing pretty hard in Belgium. Last Friday all the trees and plants were covered with a small layer of snow and/or ice. I decided to take my camera during my ride to work. It was still foggy but I was too excited to shoot some images early in the morning. Above you see one of the more hidden places of Zeebrugge. Of course I shot many more images which I post the next coming days.
TECH-INFO: I shot one RAW file, hand held, sitting on my knees, with my ultra wide angle. Because of the low light and an aperture of f/7.1 I focused a bit before the middle of the bridge. This turned out to be a very good compromise to have most important parts in focus. The white balance was set to cloudy but it was still a bit too blue which I corrected while converting to a TIFF file. The color temperature became around 8500K. In Photoshop I first cloned away a few little disturbing branches. With the color selection tool I added more black to the blacks (this may sound silly until you actually open this tool). To add some kind of sepia feeling, I used the color balance tool. I increased the red and yellow of the shadows only, so the fog and snow stay unaltered. The blue label on the pole in the middle is also enhanced a bit. I found a neat way to boost the contrast: add a (curves) adjustment layer but change the normal mode to overlay. Then lower the opacity to make it less strong. Finally I added a small rectangular vignette to create a more intimate mood.
LightningPaul: I'm sorry, my English is not so good. I meant driving instead of riding. I didn't realize that the latter implied a bike.
Thanks for your comment.
Really nice photo! It would seem that things are as frosty by you as they are by me. Thanks for the contrast tip in the tech info. I will have to give that a spin.
LightningPaul: You're welcome. Thanks for visiting!
You did an excellent job with the post-processing. It sounds like you knew what you wanted and you went right after it.
The image is great. It looks DAMN cold. Harsh looking environment.
LightningPaul: When post processing I have mostly a few own ideas. Though I try to experiment a bit from time to time, just to discover new stuff. When I know the methods to achieve something, I tend to forget to try new things.
Thanks for saying it looks cold & harsh, I fully agree but I couldn't say it.
Reminds me many northern myth and stories. Maybe even some from "His Dark Materials" series. Magical setting, I love it.
LightningPaul: Thanks for your comment, I'm very happy with it. It makes me thinking about the image even more. Personally I like the dark side in this very bright image.
Nice shot. I like the way you worked with the color of this one.
LightningPaul: Many thanks for your comment. I recently started experimenting with the selective color tool and the color balance tool. It's pretty cool you can alter only certain colors or group of colors in certain ranges like shadows or mid tones.
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