Milky Way Door

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Milky Way Door

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I took this photo at the dawn of the moon, the light source that starts from the left is just the light of the moon that began to peek out of the mountains. I made this frame by two shots, I moved to photograph the rock first at the top to take all the milky way and then gradually down to include more foreground

Initially I did some tests shooting here with a subject in the picture and then other tests with a light source inside that little door that is in the ruins, I discarded all these shots because the image as a whole with all these elements was not look good, especially even if the light coming from the door would have made the most striking photo at the same time made it so much artifacts, so I avoided

 

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I followed the same editing line of the previous picture, I started opening the images on camera raw to make the first edits and save the images before apply the Photoshop photomerge in one, once obtained one single frame by this two exposures I applied the free trasform tool to adjust the empty areas and adapt to the frame

So I started edit the image by using camera raw to raise up the milky way than back in photoshop I applied the result only to the sky. Using TTS PRO  I made the main adjustments regarding, color, lights and contrast. I applied the luminosity mask contrast to better control the contrast over the point of lights darks and midtones of the picture

I increased the lights of the foreground applying a curves tool to the darks luminosity masks and I launched dodge and burn with I adjusted with a brush the colors over the milky way and the lights over the darkest areas of the foreground

I also made some adjustment to the colors, I don’t like so much the coolest tone of the night sky coming from this picture, in particular the sky was too much blue saturated, so in this case I stepped up the yellow tones of the light pollution and I decreased the saturation of the blue colors

In TTS PRO in the third page of finishing there are many functions to save and finishing your work, here I applied a small vignette reducing the opacity to 30% and I saved the images by height to simply create a web format image without loosing quality

I hope you will find this usefull. I’m happy to hear that from you!

 

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

Lens: Nikon 14-24mm f/2,8 (Shot at 14mm)

Two Exposures

ISO: 3200 at f/2,8

Software: Photoshop CC2018

Plugin: TTS Pro

 

The Wanderluster

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I absolutely love to photograph the night sky and every summer I try to find the right time to dedicate to the milky way and night shots. What you see is a shot taken in Abruzzo, an Italian region where nature is the main element and for me it is one of the main spots for landscapes and the night shots

This area is located in an ancient, uninhabited medieval village, very suggestive but above all ideal for taking shots and the milky way. At regard if you have not yet read it I recommend this article where I wrote how to plan and shot the milky way where you can find usefull information about the dark skies and how to take this kind of shots

This image is the result of a photomerge. I took a series of shots where I went to compose the frame by taking the whole milky way moving to the shots gradually down to including more foreground, I inserted the subject later with a mask from one shot taken separately to avoid the light disturb the visibility of the milky way

 

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

Before open the images in Photoshop I make some edits on camera raw, especially for the colors and the lights, I saved the results and I opened the images as photomerge that composed my based frame, I adjusted the frame using the free transform tool, than I started using camera raw again with TTS PRO where I made the major adjustments for the contrast, highlighs, white and black points for the milky way

Using curves I increased the lights on the foreground helping myself with a brush. With dodge and burn I fixed the lights over the underexposed areas and I added more colors in the sky and on the ruins. Always using my panel I applied the warm highlights fiter that increased the yellow part of the highlights, than I decreased the opacity to 10% to softener the effect

Also made some adjustments at the colors where I fixed the main chromatic tone of the sky. With the clone stamp tool I removed some unwanted spots and some light pollution coming from the nearest city. As last touch I added a soft orton effect to make all more dreamy

You can find all the effects mentioned above in my custom panel TTS PRO, a very useful tool for any type of editing that I recommend to download to speed up and improve your workflow. I also want to recommend to subscribe to my newsletter to have news and updates from me and to receive a welcome gift as well as monthly tutorials about travel and landscape photography

I hope you will find this informations usefull. I Love to ear this from you!

 

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

Lens: Nikon 14-24mm f/2,8 (Shot at 14mm)

Three Exposures

ISO: 3200 at f/2,8

Software: Photoshop CC2018

Plugin: TTS Pro

 

Vernazza Sunset

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One of the most significant sunsets of the Cinque Terre is located in Vernazza, from this incredible spot you can portray the town of Vernazza with all its characteristic elements … the vegetation, the sea, the sun and the coast as well as the town that extends towards the sea

When I decided to travel the Cinque Terre I had this shot among my main objectives and that day I fortunately found a great light with a beautiful colored sky

I go to this spot several minutes before sunset armed with beer and chips to deceive the time once the tripod was placed 🙂

I did all long exposures in bracketing mode since I was shooting directly into the sun direction if I had not had many shots to blend would have been difficult have a non burned sky

Even the long exposure is a requirement that I love in the maritime locations like Vernazza where the water that breaks on the rocks always creates that typical silk effect that I really like. I shot 7 exposure brackets shot with longest on 48 seconds with ND64 filter

 

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I blended the exposure taken starting from the darkest images, where I gradually move frame to the brightest. With my brand new panel TTS PRO I used luminosity mask contrast function to fix the contrast on the various areas of the picture having great control of them

I make a light bleeding over the sun and on the plants in the foreground and after I removed all the lens flares in the image using eyedropper tool with paint brush in a brand new layer with soft light fusion mode.

With dodge and burn tool I fixed the remaining spot of strong light caused of lens flare, after this always using my panel I launched warm highlights funcion to give a touch of more yellow on the frame reducing the opacity to decrease the effect. After giving to the image a stronger look with more details, I increased a bit the vibrance and I give more light to the shadows for not having them too dark

I always hope you will find this usefull. Love to ear this from you!

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

Lens: Nikon 14-24mm f/2,8 (Shot at 20mm)

Seven Exposure ( -3; -2; -1; 0; +1; +2; +3)

ISO: 100 at f/11

Software: Photoshop CC2018

Plugin: TTS Pro

 

 

Dreaming Riomaggiore 2

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Here’s again another shot  from Riomaggiore that goes to close this mini series shot in this beautiful italian town. Together with the previous ones are all photos are taken in the same location, the small and pretty harbour of Riomaggiore, in this spot I moved a few meters to change the angle between the 3 photos that composed this series

Unlike the other images where I captured only sunlight in favor of greater framing of the town, this time I shot directly into the sun, I captured a series of exposures including some very long ones the idea was to have as many shots possibles to blend togheder

 

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I started from two exposures and I start blending the images using luminosity masks. The blend was between a long exposure and a normal exposure this creates a soft effect that I like for this picture. I increased yellows using a warm brush and giving the main color in the direction of the sun. With TTS Fast Panel  I increased details and contrast using luminosity masks applied to curves layer

After recovering som shadows and fixed the highlights I increased the luminosity over the buildings using luminosity masks. Increased vibrance with hue/saturation, same like the latest picture I added a soft glow effect with color efex pro. Last touch was to decrease luminosity just a bit 🙂

I  hope you will find this usefull. I love to ear that from you!

 

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

Lens: Nikon 14-24mm f/2,8 (Shot at 17mm)

Two Exposure ( Regular shot + 61′ Long)

ISO: 100 at f/11

Software: Photoshop CC2018

Plugin: TTS Fast Panel – Colo Efex Pro

 

The Fisherman’s View

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From many years I wanted to visit these places and this year finally I managed to find a few days to photograph the Cinque Terre. This one is the beautiful port of Riomaggiore, one of the most photographed spots in Cinque Terre. The area around the port has a unique charm, the colors of the houses are very bright surrounded by rocks overlooking the sea

It is one of the most famous and beautiful places in the area, although the town is very small hundreds of tourists every day roam the small streets of this village. I decided to make a long exposure and take advantage of the boats that were near the rocks to counter the movement of boats and of the clouds. I made several photos in this spot and in fact this will be just the first of a series of photos taken in Riomaggiore that I will present in the coming weeks. Stay tuned…

 

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

For this image I used a single long exposure shot. I edited the image using luminosity masks fixing the lights and darks. I removed some ghost people moving on the harbour than I increased contrast applying curves to midtones

With TTS Fast Panel I increased details, launched orton effect and dodge and burn with I darkened some part of the sky and lightened some other dark spots. Using a warm filter I increased the yellows in the sky using this technique I fixed color cast than I darkened a little bit the image increasing the colors on the buildings

As always I hope you will find this post usefull. I always love to ear this from you!

 

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

Lens: Nikon 14-24mm f/2,8 (Shot at 20mm)

Long Exposure for 80′

ISO: 100 at f/13

Software: Photoshop CC2018

Plugin: TTS Fast Panel

 

Nightlight

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I founded an exciting twilight light that day in Amalfi, together with a very strong wind on the cliff where I was to photograph the city. Amalfi coast view is one of the most beautiful in Italy and the city is located in the heart of this location, although it is not easy to move and walk along a very narrow road crammed with vehicles of all kinds (it is the only way to get there) with patience and paying max attention you can walk some paths in the rocks or on the coast that allow you to find beautiful views to admire

The whole area of ​​the Amalfi coast is subject to many sudden changes of the weather, probably due to the fact that the mountains above the coast are very close to the sea, the currents are often strong and sun and clouds and rains are very easily alternated, but it is easy to find very interesting skies like this

About this picture I take some long exposure shots, to try to have the sea softer but at the same time I did not want to lose the sky of that color so dark and mysterious. I shot several long exposures with various time from shorter to longer exposures, although I had taken all kinds of precautions I could not avoid that some photos being moved… anyway I stayed a while and in the end I managed to capture several shots that I could use for what I had in mind

 

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

Since I use the digital blending on my photos I have combined the exposures of the sky with those of the sea, in order to obtain from that images what I needed. I applied contrast to luminosity masks to control midtones, darks and light contrast individually. All my use of luminosity masks here was applied to curves to fix lights and darks around the sky and sea

I applied details using TTS Fast Panel and with the same plugin I launched  dodge and burn to increase luminosity on the darker parts of the rocks. I launched  a slightly orton effect with a low percentile opacity is an effect that I always like to put in my images when I can. I also use sharpening tool in my panel this time because I wanted to notice the edges on the mountain and best details on the houses. As final passages I darkened the image a bit on the sea adding a small vignette to the frame.

I always hope you will find this usefull. I love to ear this from you!

 

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

Lens: Nikon 14-24mm f/2,8 (Shot at 16mm)

2 Long exposure shots

ISO: 100 at f/8

Software: Photoshop CC2018

Plugin: TTS Fast Panel

 

Little Amalfi

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Also this year I decided to return to this beautiful Italian town and admire the beauties of the Amalfi coast. In this area I love the magnificent view of the cliff, the scent of lemons, the sea and the good cuisine of the area. This is absolutely one of my favourite places ever visited among beautiful panoramas, place to visit, architecture, culture and food i never get bored here

Amalfi and the Amalfi Coast offer numerous photographic spots and also the conditions for shooting are often optimal thanks to the alternation between rain and sun that often insists in the area

Coming to the photo I moved away from the center of Amalfi to take a postcard of the city, that day it was raining but I managed to find a way to protect the camera, what I have done is a long exposure using a ND64 and a ND8 filters both mounted, where I included the mobility of boats, sky and sea with the staticity of the coast

 

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I edited this long exposure as a single shot, but as usual I used luminosity masks to edit lights, darks and midtones. I fixed the color cast in the image giving a more blue look, using a cold filter applied to the highlights and to the shadows. With dodge and burn I fixed some part of the frame hard to edit even with luminosity masks

With TTS Fast Panel  I launched details and orton effect , than I fixed contrast using midtones applied to darks masks. With lights masks I increased the highlights in the sky and lightened the houses, I also increased the colors of the houses using LAB Color and hue/saturation tool. The final steps was fixing the perspective of the frame and cutting the image that included an additional piece of foreground

I hope you will find this usefull. I’m always happy to ear it from you!

 

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

Lens: Nikon 14-24mm f/2,8 (Shot at 18mm)

Single Shot for 91′ sec

ISO: 100 at f/9

Software: Photoshop CC2018

 

The Wall

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View of the lake of Stua inside the park of dolomites near Belluno, this artificial lake is located next to a small dam that serves the path in Val Canazoi. The view on the lake is very interesting also because it is facilitated by a terrace that overlooks this view

It would have been interesting to come down on the frozen surface and take some pictures with interesting shots from below but the ice surface did not allow it, so i decided to took the the framing close up the mountain because I love that light that touches the trees under it

 

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I take some exposure bracketing but I decided to work on a single image, I fixed lights and contrasts using luminosity masks between the trees and the sky. With TTS Fast Panel I launched details and orton effect to increase details and give after a softener effect through the forest

With the use of dodge and burn I lightened some darker areas between the trees and on the snow peaks of the mountain. After a contrast fix I put a filter mix between warm and cool fixing fixing the effect decreasing the opacity between two

To use this filter I applied the warmer filter and the cooler filter to lights luminosity masks. Last touch was to fix some contrast and fix the highlights. I hope you will find all this usefull. I love to ear this from you

 

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

Lens: Sigma 24-70mm f/2,8 (Shot at 46mm)

Single shot

ISO: 100 at f/13

Software: Photoshop CC2017

Extensions: TTS Fast Panel

 

 

 

The Balcony View

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I still do not have a drone, but at first glance it may seem like an aerial photo, but it is not 🙂  This is the view of the balcony of Italy, an amazing place between Italy and Switzerland. In particular this incredible view is on the mountain of Sighignola for the occasion often called the balcony of Italy for the view overlooking the lake of Lugano

The place is reached by a small  road that crosses the mountains, the place once reached is a large terrace overlooking this view that you see. Since I took this picture in December here at 1300 meters the wind was very cold and very strong. I did all very wide bracketing to capture the whole dynamic range between the strong light of the horizon and the shadows near the lake

 

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I stacked all the shots into layers and I blended them using luminosity masks, I started from the darker shots to end with the brightest to reach the right luminosity balance

Using my panel, I launched details and dodge and burn to increase lights around the darker parts of the mountain. After a soft orton effect  I fixed lights and darks using luminosity masks applied to curves layer to increase the luminosity of the sky and the darker parts of the image

I fixed color cast and I increase the yellows using a warming filter, with the clone stamp tool I removed some spots and some other littl unwanted element in the frame

As always I hope you will find all this usefull. I’m happy to ear this from you!

 

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

Lens: Nikon 14-24mm f/2,8 (Shot at 14mm)

Seven Exposures (-3; -2; -1; 0 +1; +2; +3)

ISO: 200 at f/10

Software: Photoshop CC2017

Extensions: TTS Fast Panel

 

 

Resia

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I always wanted to go to visit this place, so I took advantage of my last trip to Trentino to reach it. The lake Resia is one of the most fascinating places in the Alp, the bell tower is all that remains of the ancient city of Curon Venosta that was submerged by water after the construction of a dam

Although in summer it is nice to see the bell tower emerging from the water  but in winter it is nice to be able to reach this ancient bell tower on foot

 

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

For this image I used a single shot so I did not use the luminosity masks to make a digital blending but to fix the light shadows and contrasts in the image. I fixed the color cast giving a slight imprint of yellow to light

After incrased details using  TTS Fast Panel I added contrast in the fram using luminosity masks applied to midtones curves. As final step I fixed the last lights using levels adjustment layer

I hope you will find this informations usefull. I’m always happy to ear it from you!

 

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

Lens: Sigma 24-70mm f/2,8 (Shot at 38mm)

Single Shot

ISO: 125 at f/13

Software: Photoshop CC2018

Extensions: TTS Fast Panel

 

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Hi, my name is Giuseppe Sapori, a professional photographer and author of this website, created by yours truly to show my work and share with you the techniques I use. My expertise is in the field of Landscape Photography... (Read More)

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