I found this amazing rock formation in the Montana De Oro State Park. The park is very big and, due to the time constraints of my trip, I only had the chance to explore its coastal section. While hiking along Dune Trail, where I spent the late morning photographing desert-like landscapes with the mountains in the background, I was not expecting to stumble upon such a distinctive seascape. It was a perfect time of the day with the low tide revealing most of the rock formation.
The first time that I looked at this seascape I knew that it would be perfect to photograph for HDR. I knew that both the textures and colors of the foreground elements (vegetation and rocks) would look awesome when processed in Photomatix.
California. Montana De Oro State Park
Loc: 35.277217, -120.889098
Deconstructing Featured Photo
Camera: Canon 60D
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm
Focal Length: 10mm
ISO: 100
Aperture: F11
Bracketing: 5 shots (-2, -1, 0, +1, +2 )
Tripod: FEISOL Tournament CT-3442 – Check my FEISOL Tournament CT-3442 Review.
Ballhead: FEISOL CB-40D
Processing: HDR Processed in Photomatix
Lightroom: import, tagging, export to Photomatix
Photomatix: I only used 4 bracketed images, out of 5 I originally took, to tone map image (-2, -1, 0, +1 ), 16-bit tiff image was exported to Lightroom. (check my tutorial Before & After – HDR With Photomatix)
Lightroom: straightening, cropping, export as PSD image
Photoshop: cleaning, contrast
Photoshop Plugins:
- Topaz DeNoise was used to reduce digital noise (sky, water)
- Topaz Detail was used to enhance details in foreground elements ( rocks, grass )
