Niagara Falls Sunrise Explosion (Canada)

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The Niagara Falls can be extremely crowded in the summertime. Sometimes it is difficult to find the spot to take a picture without strangers walking into the frame. It is especially bad around sunset hours.

The only time when you absolutely can have a place for yourself with the total freedom to set up a tripod anywhere you want is when all tourists are sleeping; the sunrise hours.

I took the featured photo at 5 am and at that time I had only 2 other photographers around taking pictures and enjoying the freedom.

Canada. Ontario. Niagara Falls.
Loc: 43.09094, -79.06899

Shooting & Processing

I took 3 bracketed shots on a tripod (-1, 0, +1). Even though I was shooting directly into the sun, the light was not too extreme because the sun was partly shielded by the clouds and the water dust.

I used the combination of Lightroom Preset Based editing and Luminosity Blending techniques.

First I applied Lightroom preset Warm Day from my new collection called Cross Processed to all 3 bracketed photos and later used luminosity masks blending in Photoshop (for more details check my Review: “The Art of Digital Blending”).

Deconstructing Featured Photo

Processing:

Lightroom: import, tagging, preset based processing (Warm Day preset from Cross Processed Collection)
Photoshop: I opened 3 bracketed photos directly in Photoshop and placed each image on a separate layer. Then, I used luminosity masking techniques to blend everything together.

Photoshop Plugins: 

  • Topaz DeNoise was used to reduce digital noise (sky, water).
  • Topaz Clarity was used to enhance details and boost colors (bridge).
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