The First Sight

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The First Sight

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When I am on places like mountains I always dedicate a portion of time to shooting details while I wait for the best moment to shoot my landscape, this is how I manage to capture pictures like this

After the climb way uphill to the tre cime I arrived in front of the place of the shot, after mounting the tripod I usually take this opportunity to look the surrounding with a tele zoom lens and try to capure something interesting with th changing lights of the dusk

It is in that stretch that I saw a glimmer of sunset light filtering into the sky and illuminate the mountain with beautiful colors with 3 different tones clouds and different lights on the same mountain For this reason I always consider very important to not fossilize using the same lenses but vary them when possible to make the most of the potential that the location has to offer. Even if now is summer you can read more about this topic in my post how to photograph the beauty of autumn colours 🙂

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

This is a handheld shot, I didn’t take this using bracketing mode but a single shot, for this reason this time I don’t used any digital blending but just luminosity masks to lighten and darken the main areas of the image

I increased details using TTS Pro filters, with the same panel I made all the workflow adding warm colours to the shot, increasing contrast and adjust dark and white points. I fixed colour cast and I increased colour vibrance

I sharpened the final result adding a soft vigneting to give more prominence to the mountain

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D850

Nikon 70-200 f/2,8 (used @200mm)

Single Shot

ISO: 100 f/13

Software: Photoshop CC2021

Plugin: TTS Pro 2.0

Outlines

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Orvieto is a very pretty town in central Italy, with an excellent historical and artistic heritage. Its splendid cathedral is the most visited spot in the city very similar to the most famous cathedral of Siena

This wonderful cathedral is not the only spot you can visit here, you will find also the the St. Patrick water well, another great spot in Orvieto. i visited both during my day here so i don’t rule out future photos at the water well too 🙂

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

To make this shot I used the vertorama technique using a series of horizontal shots. Usually I don’t apply this technique so much and I prefer direcly shooting vertically but on this occasion it was necessary to include the whole cathedral in the scene.

I selected all the images an created the output images, I managed lights and shadows using luminosity masks than I added contrast and details using TTS Pro. I removed all the ghost in the frame and I clean the scene from unwanted elements

I decreased the luminosity of the scene using color lookup filters applied selectively on the shadows and highlights, than I also launched a soft orton effect to create this glimpse glow effect

Using dodge and burn I lightened some part of the scene including cathedral, as final step I created a soft vignette to darken the foreground area

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D850

Nikon 14-24 f/2,8 (used @14mm)

Single Shots

ISO: 100 

Software: Photoshop CC2021

Plugin: TTS Pro

The Hills of Val d’Orcia Pt.2

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This week I continue with a collection of images captured in the suggestive Val d’Orcia in Tuscany. Side the images published last week are added these, some taken in very famous locations in the area and also many of these captured with a telephoto that in this area helps a lot to exalt the beauty of the place and his landscapes

This second collection it is entirely captured from the top of some hills, details of some very suggestive farms at various times of the day, I love the alternation of light and the contrasts that are created by playing among the details of the hills and trees

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

This series is composed by single shots so no digital blendings was done for this images. As the previous post I applied the same “treatment” for these shots: increase details, applied a warm filter and decreased some highlights in the sky

For some shots I also applied a soft orton effect, I increased a little bit contrast and fixed colours using my panel TTS Pro. As final step I applied a soft vignette to all the images to give more prominence to the main subject

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D850

Nikon 70-200 f/2,8 

Single Shots

ISO: 100 

Software: Photoshop CC2021

Plugin: TTS Pro

The Hills of Val d’Orcia

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After a winter without travel, I finally had the opportunity to leave for this magnificent location in Tuscany. Very famous but also very photographed is the third time I come here in few years. Tuscany offers fantastic photography spots in every angle and with the help of google earth before travel it is the perfect place to photograph

Here it comes handy necessary the use of a telephoto lens, not that with other types of lenses you do not take as many beautiful photos but at my view the telephoto lens here leave space to focus more on details and gives you the chance to take home a few more shot

This small collection is an example of some shots taken from the top of some hills, details of some very suggestive farms at various times of the day, I love the alternation of light and the contrasts that are created by playing among the details of the hills

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

This series is composed by single shots so no digital blendings was done for this images. I applied the same “treatment” for these shots: increase details, sharpness, applied a warm filter

For some shots I also applied a soft orton effect, I increased a little bit contrast and fixed highlights and shadows using luminosity masks. I made all those steps using TTS Pro and as final step I applied a soft vignette to all the images to give more prominence to the main subject

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D850

Nikon 70-200 f/2,8

Single Shots

ISO: 100

Software: Photoshop CC2021

Plugin: TTS Pro

From this Day on

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From the same location in Rome as Castel Sant’angelo, I propose a shot that I took many years ago and that I have never reproposed afterwards.

In this spot you can capture the whole location including with the help of a good wide angle, the entire location of the castle and the energy of the sun setting on the sides of it

A few days ago I was here waiting for the blue hour to photograph the view of San Pietro in the evening, I had arrived a little earlier and I took the opportunity to photograph the splendid effect of the sun disappearing behind the buildings, all with branches of the trees along the river that complete the frame of the image

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I captured 3 bracketed shots for this image that I merged with the help of TTS Pro, using the same panel I correct the sky and make it more pop selectively. With the clone stamp and lazo tool I removed some unwanted spot and ghosts from the image

By using another picture with the finger on the sunlight, I replace some part of the image to totally remove any lens flare from the frame. I added orton effect, increased the yellow tone of highlights, decreased the shadows and increased details. All the passages above using luminosity masks applied selectively

I also applied the glow tool on some areas of the image in order to create more atmosphere, as last step I added a dark vignette to increase the sense of darkness of the image

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D850

Sigma 24-70 f/2,8 (used at 29mm)

Focus Stacking

ISO: 100 at f/20

Software: Photoshop CC2021

Plugin: TTS Pro

Last Autumn Flashes

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A image series of autumn colors captured in the countryside of northern Italy in Friuli some time ago. As I wrote in my guide how to photograph the beauty of autumn colours in the search for the right autumnal atmosphere it is important to take advantage by fog and clouds

Luckily I came across scenarios characterized by important fogs and low clouds that helped me to increase the autumn atmosphere of my shots. this series of images comes from all different places but obviously all within the same geographical region

The common line of these shots is that all these images are not the result of a planning or scouting for a location; they are all captured while I was driving my car and along the way I found these view, I pulled up the car on the side of the road and started shooting

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

These images are the result of all single shots, therefore no digital blending has been done here, however I have always used luminosity masks to correct exposure, contrast, shadows, highlights, etc…

In all my images I applied a strong orton effect to increase the autumn mood of the shots and I also increased this using the glow tool along the most darker areas

I increased details selectively, I increased colours and fixed the color cast in all the images using TTS Pro. I made some crops to make some images more interesting to the viewer and increased the vignetting on all the images

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

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

Nikon 14-24 f/2,8 (different angles)

N/A

ISO: 100 at various f/values

Software: Photoshop CC2020

Plugin: TTS Pro

The Path of Defense

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I have been to this location several times in the past, there is a post from 2017 that you can find at this link

The suggestive truglia tower is a bastion of roman origin used mostly used for military sightings. Destroyed several times over the years it has been rebuilt and today it is a pleasant panoramic point of the city of Sperlonga

Before being able to take this photo I waited a few days for an interesting sky and passed in search of a different composition from the ones I had already done in the past

I decided to compose the photo in this way in order to have in the same composition a good foreground element but at the same time of the leading lines that lead towards the main subject of the tower

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I captured 3 bracketed shot for this image that I digital blended using TTS Pro using the auto blend function. I increased details and the warm tones of the sun applying a warm filter to luminosity masks

I used the glow tool to lighten some part of the image and to create a glow effect, after increasing a bit the contrast I increased the color vibrance of the entire image decreasing the effect on the cactus

Lastly I applied the skylight filter of color efex pro limitedly to the sky to incrase the sunset color and as final step a soft vignette to better expose the central tower

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

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

Nikon 14-24 f/2,8 (used at 19mm)

Three Shots (-1; 0; +1)

ISO: 100 at f/11

Software: Photoshop CC2020

Plugin: TTS Pro, Color Efex Pro

A Night at the Castle

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A night shot taken in one of my favourite places for night shots, I’ve captured several milky way shots here and you can more informations about this place in this post and here.

This photo is the result of that night at the castle where before making this startrail I was intent on taking the milky way in the surrounding area. That night was not a “new moon night”, so I had time to shoot only before the moon rising before ending this night session. So after capturing the milky way in the spots that I had set for myself in the remaining time I made this startrail

The lights you see on some parts of the location where I was is the moon starting to rise illuminating the rocks that were in front of me, luckily creating a beautiful lighting and atmosphere to the surroundings in some of my shots that I used for blending

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I captured the startrail from several expoures that I blended using Starstax Software, than I opened the image into Photoshop and I started editing lights and shadows using  luminosity masks, with the help of  TTS Pro I reduced noise in the sky and in some other darker parts of the image

I increased the glow effect adding orton effect and I lightened some darker parts of the rocks using dodge and burn with a white brus. I fixed some colors in the sky giving more blue to it and increasing some purple/yellow tones near the horizon

I inceased the color vibrances to give a more pop look to the picture and as final step I softly increased the whole illumination to give more results to the foreground

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

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

Nikon 14-24 f/2,8 (used at 14mm)

Startrail

ISO: 3200 at f/2,8

Software: Photoshop CC2020

Plugin: TTS Pro

The Path of Angels

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It’s not the first time that I photograph Castel Sant’Angelo from his bridge. Over the years I have proposed this shot at least 3 times always with a different light and at different time of the day… today is a new version related to the other shots I took in Rome in this after quarantine days

This is the version where for the first time in all my attempts to photograph Castel Sant’Angelo I did not have to use lens-filters or other photoshop tools to cancel people and tourists on the bridge. This is in fact another spot in Rome that is really very crowded during all the year and only now that the city has not yet opened its doors to tourists is it possible to do, here also in the early morning here are always someone taking photos

Regarding the shot this time I positioned my tripod at eye level since I wanted to avoid the falling lines of the castle and the angels on the bridge, with all this leading lines is very easy to have wide angle lens distortions here… I made it all through a series of bracketing of 5 shots

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I made a digital blend using my panel TTS Pro, I removed some ghosts bird in the sky using clone stamp tool than I started editing lights and shadows using luminosity masks

After correcting color cast, I increased color vibrance and details. I create a small orton effect to give a more dreamy feel to the shot, with dodge and burn I lightened some darker parts of the castle and around the bridges

I increased contrast and highlights and I corrected shadows, after a soft decrease of general luminosity I pushed up some sunrise colours using a cold filter

As final step I added a very soft vignette to put the viewer’s eye on the leading lines

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

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

Nikon 14-24 f/2,8 (used at 14mm)

Five Expoures (-2; -1; 0 +1; +2)

ISO: 100 at f/22

Software: Photoshop CC2020

Plugin: TTS Pro

Chasing Sunlight

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Hi guys, also this week here you are another sunrise shot from Rome for this photo I chose another spot where you can admire the roman sunrise in all its beauty

The view of the roman forum is truly spectacular, I went here just before the sun started to glimpse the horizon composing the shot in a way that so that I could have a general overview of the roman forum with the Coliseum on the right

I captured some series of bracketing shots, also including some shots holding my finger in front of the sunlight, in order to have some shots without the lens flare for the blend with other photos, in this way I removed all the lens flare from the final image

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I blended all the exposures using TTS Pro, I decreased the shadows and increased the highlights to push up the sunrise lights than, with the use of luminosity masks, I give more contast to the image.

After adding a warm filter to give a more yellow tone to the image, I added a orton effect to increase the dreamy look feel of the sunlight. With the use of dodge and burn I fixed some light and shadows spot around the picture and for the last I used a dark vignette around the picture

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

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

Nikon 14-24 f/2,8 (used at 14mm)

Five Expoures (-2; -1; 0 +1; +2)

ISO: 100 at f/22

Software: Photoshop CC2020

Plugin: TTS Pro

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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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