Ray of Light

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Ray of Light

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We are in the beautiful island of Capri in the Gulf of Naples. It is considered one of the most beautiful Italian islands and is also the most famous italian island for its beauty

Particularly famous are its faraglioni and the blue grotto for which it is famous all over the world, the island is made up of continuous caves and steep cliffs that make it a very interesting spot for taking great seasapes

What personally I love of Capri is to look the sea from the cliffs and benefit from the beautiful colors and the silence of the sea, from here you can see the merging of the sky to the sea

I took this photo in one of the numerous panoramic points of the island, I love the way in which on the island of Capri sun and clouds often alternate and the continuous creation of different illuminations in the sky


WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I edited this shot using luminosity masks and my panel TTS Pro with whom I increased details and contrast in the image

With the help of color efex pro I launched skylight filter to create a soft warming effect into the sky. I added a orton effectto increase the softness of the horizon and the mountains from the viewer’s eye

I decreased the highlights and I created a vignette to emphatize the light coming through the clouds

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)

Single Shot

ISO: 100 at f/9

Software: Photoshop CC2019

Plugin: TTS Pro, Color Efex Pro

A Evening by the Sea

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Also this year I decided to take a tour of the Amalfi coast, it is one of my favorite places to spend a few days capturing great landscapes, visiting important UNESCO sites and eating very very well 🙂

This photo represents a spot that I really like and that every time I come to these places I take it Every time I find something different and it’s never the same, from the sky to the vegetation, to the colors of the sea… I love it!

This time I took the shot with a long exposure, since the area is always very windy I took a few minutes before the precaution of saving the leaves from the wind

The moment of the shot is the one that anticipates the nautical twilight so the moment immediately before when the sky begins to pull out the blue


WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

This time no digital blending was necessary, so I used the exposure I captured for the leaf to manually mask them with the main shot

I fixed lights, contrasts and details using TTS Pro effects, than I fixed color cast and created a soft warm atmosphere using a warming filter

I increased the vibrance to have more vibrant colours and with dodge and burn I fixed some darker areas inside the caves of the coast. As usual I also used a soft orton effect orton effect to create a more soft and dreamy effect

I reduced the highlights and I created a strong vignette to increase the dark mood of the scene and give more prominence to the central scene

Last step was to increase the sharpness on the edges and in particular on the mountain to increase the viewer sense of detail

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)

Long Exposure

ISO: 100 at f/9

Software: Photoshop CC2019

Plugin: TTS Pro

Vessels

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Always from the same location of Belluno Alps National Park I took this photo of the waterfall that feeds the “pools” of my previous post. They are charaterized by a small stream, but with a strong flow that is powerful enough to feed the whole system of which the valley is characterized

The turquoise color of which the water of the pools below is made up can already be seen in the part below the waterfall where it already begins to take on a very bright color

For this shot I used a Nd3 filter stops with a series of 3-shot bracketing to have the chance to perform digital blending


WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I started using a digital blending using my panel with the 3 shots bracketing taken

I regulated brights and contrasts using luminosity masks,than I used dodge and burn to adjust the lights around the rocks near the waterfall. Since the image was very flat I wanted to create a darker and at the same time soft effect with an orton effect filter and in particular the orton effect dark that you can find inside TTS Pro I used a 30% opacity to have a strong effect

I used curves to adjus the luminosity of the whole frame and after generating a strong vignette I fixed the final contrast and color correction to the final image you see

As final step I decreased the luminosity to create a dark mood in the whole picture

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


TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

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

Three Exposures (-1; 0; +1)

ISO: 100 at f/11

Software: Photoshop CC2019

Plugin: TTS Pro

Pool With a View

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This magical place is near the regional park of Alps in Belluno, skirting the lake of Mis you arrive in this series of natural pools feed by a waterfall with the alps in the background

The crystalline water and the white rock at certain times of the day it reaches its most complete amazing yellow colours when sun goes behind the mountains and all take a great looking yellow like golden hour

To take this photo I decided to create a vertical photomerge of two shots so as to include as much as possible of the scenery

The waterfall that feeds the pools is on the back, so I could not include it in the same shot but I promise you that it will be the subject of my next posts 😀


WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I captured two series of shots to photomerge, for each series I take 3 bracketed shots that I blended using auto blend darks function of TTS PRO 

After a lights fix using curves applied to luminosity masks, I increased details and controlled contrast. With a warm filter, I generate more yellows tones and I decreased the luminosity of the mountain with dodge and burn

I applied a soft orton effect details using my panel, a orton effect that create the typical effect but avoiding to loose sharpness. I create a light painting in the picture using the brush on the main viewer’s eye points

I decrease the luminosity a bit and I generate a soft vignette as final steps

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


TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

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

Three Exposures (-1; 0; +1)

ISO: 100 at f/7,1

Software: Photoshop CC2019

Plugin: TTS Pro

Romantic Rome

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I love photographing Rome from the bridges of the river. This is a shot that I cyclically go to take because it’s a beautiful spot and every time it changes in something

No doubt, this spot is one of the most classic in Rome and if you have seen my recent instagram / facebook stories you realized how many people had crowded it in a street corner just to take this picture

Unfortunately some locations in Rome are recently becoming impractical for the crowds around these photo spots and this is becoming one of them

However the view from here is magnificent, Castel Sant’Angelo on the right (remains covered by the trees but it is still visible between), at the bottom the San Pietro basilica and all the beauty reflections and water games that this postcard offers

The only disturbing element is unfortunately that horrendous billboard that has been there for a long time now, besides being huge it is also illuminated and impacts a lot in the picture. I could not remove it in post because I would have compromised the photo, but I had a strong temptation to do it

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I wait until the complete dusk to make this shot, this is from the late blue hour. I captured 5 bracketed shots and I blended all the exposures using TTS PRO 

With the blended image I fixed the light and darkness using curves tool and luminosity masks, than I straightened the horizon using ruler tool on the bridge and I launched high details filters of my panel

I applied a cold filter to the image, first applying it on the highlights and then on the shadows, to give a greater nocturnal and a “elegance” touch to the frame

I fixed some colors that appears too bright, for this I used hue / saturation filter applied selectively thank I increased the vividness of the sky

In closing I applied a slight orton effect and increased the sharpen reducing the opacity to 20%

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

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

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

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

ISO: 100 at f/16

Software: Photoshop CC2019

Plugin: TTS Pro

The Underbelly

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One of the most significative spot of Rome is the view of Castel Sant’Angelo with his bridge, this is one of my favourite spots in my city

The beauty of the castle and the reflections on the river during dusk are make this place one of the most famous locations in Rome

I usually take my shots the other side of the bridge but this time cause to a dry river this time I preferred the view from the west side

That day I stayed in the place from the sunset to the end of the blue hour, just before dark the sky take a tone of a beautiful purple

Although I was satisfied with my previous shots taken, the latest photos with this shade of purple became my main choices 🙂

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I take 5 exposure brackets for this frame, I blended the shots using
TTS PRO with the function auto blend darks, I started from the darker shots to the brighter

With the use of luminosity masks I ligthened some parts under the bridge, to decrease the darks than with dodge and burn I pushed up the lights in the areas of main view of the frame

I increased details and contrast, with a curve tool I also increased the luminosity of the sky and applied a soft warm filter to the higlights to mitigate the blue/purple effect and better mix it with golden hour colours

I added a vignette to increase the sense of darkness of this image and with the glow tool I increased the luminosity of reflections and water

Last passage is to use color efex pro filter to use “glamour glow” filter to add a smooth look to the image, I love the glow generated by this filter

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

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

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

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

ISO: 100 at f/13

Software: Photoshop CC2019

Plugin: TTS Pro, Color Efex Pro

Waiting for the Night

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Here is a new autumnal image from my series of photos taken in Friuli. During my tour I also included a series of local lakes that had caught my attention over my research of some spot to photograph

It often happened that I had to deal with the rain during those days but the autumn atmosphere and the mist that rose on the horizon made special any corner of nature that caught my attention

I’ts for the same reason that towards evening, I stopped on the banks of a lake to take this picture where I tried to portray the dark but at the same time colorful armosphere that could be admired in those places

At that moment there was a pretty strong rain, luckily I always carry an umbrella with me that allowed me to cover the camera and to take the shots without wetting the lens, the image is realized with a 3 shots brackets

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I combined the shots using digital blending between the darkest photo and the central shot, I used the most exposed shot to lighten some areas of the photo (such as puddles) using a brush applied to luminosity masks

Using TTS PRO, I launched autumn colours to increase the red look of the autumn foliage, than I increased the blue colours applying a cold filters to the shadows.

I adjusted the contrast and brightness then started using dodge and burn over the puddles, around the tree and on the mist to stand them more to the viewer’s eye

After this I created a strong orton effect to increase the dark mood and to give a more dreamy look to the frame

I gave to the highlights a greater warmth filter in order to create a warm tone that highlights the colors of autumn, at the same time I launched color lookup filter using “Midnight” (opacity 10) to restore the same level of brightness and leave the colors of the sky unaltered

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)

Single Shot

ISO: 100 at f/9

Software: Photoshop CC2019

Plugin: TTS Pro

The Autumn Path

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This is a photo taken last autumn during my tour along the Friuli Venezia Giulia, were days of heavy rain and very adverse weather but during those days I could admire beautiful autumn landscapes

It often happened that I stopped with the car along the routes to get off to take pictures. Among these landscapes that have impressed me there is certainly this view of the valley of Raccolana wrapped in the fog and the colors of autumn, down the walking path through the woods

What struck me was the mix of colors not only present in the valley between the green and the red that blend the leaves and the trees but also the perfect meeting between the warm and the cold light at the end of the day

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I take this as single shot, so I edited the image by using luminosity masks applied to curves adjustment layer, without any blend

Using my panel TTS PRO, I launched autumn colours to increase the red look of the autumn foliage, with the same tool I launched high details to increase the details over the frame

My next step was to give more warm look to the photo so I applied a warm filter to the highlights, after this I launched orton effect  to give a more soft look to the landscape

Using dodge and burn applied to luminosity masks I give more lights over the fog, after this I fixed contrast between highlighs and darks

Latest steps was to decrease the general lights and to add a soft sharpen to the final frame

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

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

Sigma 24-70 f/2,8 (used at 31mm)

Single Shot

ISO: 100 at f/6,3

Software: Photoshop CC2019

Plugin: TTS Pro

Iced Bulwark

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I always liked to photograph the frozen lakes and when I find one I never stop circling around looking for some rift or some interesting spot to shot 🙂

This is exactly what happened in this lake, where in my previous post, I talked about this represents one of my favorite photography locations

The surface of the lake was covered with transparent ice and below it you could see the vegetation, in some parts it emerged from the ice

I made this photo lying on the ice with the technique of focus stacking with bracketing to capture the two different points of focus, in this way I got 5 shots of different exposure per point

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I selected 2 shos to focus stack than with luminosity masks : I launched curves tool to fix lights around foreground and sky

I launched luminosity mask contrast using TTS PRO, after a color fix I pushed up the blues and yellow colors increasing in this way the violet tones

The next step was to increase detais, especially over the mountain, than with dodge and burn I give more prominence to the cracks on the ice

I reduced the exposure of the image and as final step I increased the highlights to give more enery to the sky

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

Three Exposures Focus Stacked (–1; 0; +1)

ISO: 100 at f/10

Software: Photoshop CC2019

Plugin: TTS PRO

Mirror Hole

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During my visit to Lake Braies, I took a short ride along the lakeside looking for some interesting spots until I found this hole in the ice on the left side of the path

What struck me most about this spot was not so much finding an interesting composition, but to see how the trees and the mountain reflected in the hole in front of me. On the right side, the mountain reflects itself on the thin layer of existing ice

I took a series of 7 exposures brackting since the area where I was shooting was quite dark I wanted to have the full dynamic range available to intervene later with the digital blending

I take my shots a distance using my 14-24 lens set to 20 to not get too close to the hole where all around the ice was very thin, it was a little risky 🙂

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I opened all my shots inside Photoshop and I blended the exposures using TTS PRO with the use of luminosity masks I set the highlights and shadows to fix the sky and lighten the trees that was too dark

I increased details in the whole frame mitigating the effect by inserting a slight orton effect, which as you know I love to insert in almost all my images at low opacity

With dodge and burn I increased the lights over the ice and the reflections around the hole, giving more energy to the reflections and to that glow of light that is near the ice

I increased the purple colors a bit using camera raw filters and I put less blues using hue/saturation hand tool

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

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

Lens: Nikon 14-24mm f/2,8

Three Exposures Focus Stacked (-3 ; -2; –1; 0; +1; +2; +3)

ISO: 50 at f/9

Software: Photoshop CC2019

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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