Sunlit Fog at Pigeon Pt. Lighthouse

[larkvi]

This part of the board doesn't seem so lively, and I have been having trouble with this image anyways, so I thought I would toss it out for consideration.



I took this at the beginning of January at Pigeon Point, North of Santa Cruz on the California coast, near sunset, as a wall of fog suddenly blew in from the sea, so quickly that neither of the other two bracketed shots (taken perhaps a second apart) have this effect. The histogram is very close to the right edge, but nothing was blown out, so I have reduced the brightness and increased saturation to try to capture more of the color which for that moment was on the edge of the clouds, but I am having trouble balancing the lightness of the top of the image with the relative darkness of the bottom, and I am also not sure I am not oversaturating it.

I think this is a dramatic moment that has potential, but I am not making much progress, so give me your thoughts. The left image is my current working favorite, the one on the right is the RAW file with minimum processing to show what i am working with.

[jdemott]

You've captured a  dramatic moment with the light and the fog.  I think that you are on the right track with the version on the left.  The entire subject of the photo in this case is the unique lighting effect caused by the momentary conditions--the contrast between blue sky and orange backlighting and the contrast between bright light at the top and murky fog at the bottom.  In this case, I would be inclined to push the color saturation and contrast even a bit further for maximum impact.  Without the lighting, this would just be one of thousands of shots of a lighthouse, so you need to really take advantage of what makes this one special.

You might try converting to Lab color mode and then steepening the a and b curves with a Curves adjustment layer (keeping the lines passing through the center point) in order to really emphasize the colors.  You may need to do a little color correction also since the lighthouse itself seems to be picking up a bit of a color cast.  Then I would try a little local sharpening (and perhaps contrast enhancement) at the top of the lighthouse above the walkway in order to emphasize that it is standing above the fog and at the same time add a little local blurring to the rest of the lighthouse to emphasize the fog.

[dandill]

You might try converting to Lab color mode ...
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I have also had good luck accentuating fog in LAB mode by curving the L channel.

[TimothFarrar]

Here is my suggestion, develop the image two times in your RAW converter. Once for the top, as you have allready done quite nicely. Then a second time for the bottom, relative to the left image, increase the brightness and contrast to bring out the details of the building.

In Photoshop have each development in a seperate layer (the top layer developed for the top of the image, and the bottom layer developed for the bottom of the image), and then add a layer mask to the top layer. In this layer mask experiment with gradients which go between white at the top to black at the bottom. This will control your blend between the 2 developments.

- Timothy Farrar : farrarfocus.com

[larkvi]

You might try converting to Lab color mode and then steepening the a and b curves with a Curves adjustment layer (keeping the lines passing through the center point) in order to really emphasize the colors.[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=56724\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I figured I would eventually have to learn how to use Lab color for something other than luminance sharpening and strange color combos, so I suppose now is the time--can you recommend a good source for reading/tutorials relating to the use of Lab?

[bob mccarthy]

I figured I would eventually have to learn how to use Lab color for something other than luminance sharpening and strange color combos, so I suppose now is the time--can you recommend a good source for reading/tutorials relating to the use of Lab?
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"Photoshop LAB Color" by Dan Margulis is at most better book stores


Bob

[jdemott]

This thread has a mini-review I posted of the Margulis book, plus a link to a website with some more extensive information.

[larkvi]

"Photoshop LAB Color" by Dan Margulis is at most better book stores
Bob
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I will look into it.

jdermott--Now that I look at the thread, I recall having read it when it was new, but it escaped my mind until you pointed it out again. Thanks.