The featured photo stars the most famous and distinctive tree in the Rene Levesque park in Montreal. Every fall it turns red. And I am not talking about fall foliage with the hint of red; I mean full blown crimson. But it does not last long.
The window of opportunity is 7-10 only, and it is easy to miss it. This time I was spot on. It was early afternoon in the middle of the week, and the park was pretty much empty. I had plenty of time to experiment and compose the right shot.
45.42919, -73.68833
Shooting
To compose this shot I had to step back and shoot from the bike path. The challenge was to spot approaching cyclists and avoid them.
Camera: Sony a6000
Lens: Sony 16-70
Focal Length: 16mm
Shooting Mode: Aperture Priority (A)
ISO: 100
Aperture: F/8
Shutter Speed: 1/60s
Tripod: FEISOL Tournament CT-3442
Ballhead: FEISOL CB-40D
Editing & Processing
It was single RAW processing workflow.
Lightroom (90%)
With the help of the Crop Overlay I changed the aspect ration from 2×3 to 3×4 and made the composition tighter.
Later, I used the Transform Tools to fix the perspective, making sure the horizon was horizontal and vertical lines (tree, church) are vertical.
Next, I used Autumn preset from my Fall Colors Collection as the base for Lightroom Rapid Editing. Then I used TOOLKIT to open up the shadows in the foreground and boost the Contrast.
The Lightroom Preset Editing Formula: Open Sky (1, 9, 13, 17, 32, 34)
Photoshop (10%)
First, I used the Spot Healing Bush to clean up the image and then I boost the details and reduced noise.
Plugins: DeNoise (noise reduction), Topaz Detail (local contrast boost).
Total Time: 12min
“Fall Colors” Lightroom Preset Collection
$29.00
$19.00
Lightroom workflow bundle includes Look Presets, Adjustment Presets, Opacity Presets, Reset Presets, Editing Formulas..
Before & After Transformation
Archiving: I save all my photos as JPEG (quality: 100%) at full resolution and with the help of the Lightroom plugin, I synchronized them with my portfolio on SmugMug for safekeeping, sharing, image hosting and online sales.
