Lost in Venice – San Marco

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Lost in Venice – San Marco

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I took this photo from Riva degli schiavoni, which is one of my favorite spots in Venice, here it is possible to benefit from a beautiful view on the island San Giorgio. Furthermore, this is an excellent photographic location to shoot away from tourists and people, just not find people staying on the dock taking selfies 🙂

I took this photo even a few years ago with a different shot, I am attaching the post here and here, I changed by going up to the quay this time and proposing a vertical shot

The best result in this spot at my advice is shooting with a long exposure, in order to make the movement of the gondolas particular in the composition and try to keep foreground interesting with the church in the background, an interesting sky will complete the composition very well 🙂

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I capture a series of bracketed shot to make a exposure blend that I merged using TTS Pro, I increased details and colors vibrance in the whole frame, also decreased highlights using  luminosity masks applied selectively to the sky

Always using  luminosity masks I fix contrast and all the shadows and highlights in the image. I correct the perspective that was extremely low, using perspective warp in Photoshop I aligned the horizon line with the poles in the background

I increased just a bit the glow of the image using orton effect, fixed the lights around the dock and added a soft vignette to the image

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

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-850

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

Three Exposures (-1; 0; +1)

ISO: 100 at f8

Software: Photoshop CC2022

Plugin: TTS Pro 2.0

The Great Henge – Molina Watefalls

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This week I propose a photo of the Molina waterfalls near Verona, a photo taken this summer as you can see from the beautiful bright colors and the intense green of the surrounding vegetation

These waterfalls are located within an area served and equipped where it is possible to go up the river and meet many and suggestive waterfalls like this one

I shot this location getting as close as possible to the water and first making a series of bracketing shots using low iso, in order to increase the shooting time and to have the desired number of shots to digital blend the exposures. After this series I also captured one more shot at 3200 iso to save all the leafs in the scene from movement

The wind and the waterfall movement here moved all the leaves a lot and it would have been impossible to take a shot with the static leafs still as I wanted. this is a little trick I talk about in my guide all you need to know to photograph waterfalls

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I digital blended my shots using TTS PRO, than I used the extra image with freezed trees and leafs to paint over the blended image the leafs without movements

I correct colour cast in the image, than with the help of luminosity masks I fixed contrast and highlights. After this I increased the warm color of the light coming between the trees than I launched a soft orton effect to create a myterious look of the wood around

With the help of the glow tool I create a light glow around the area of the waterfall and on the light coming from the leafs

I increased vibrance of the colors decreasing the green than I created a vignette to give more prominence to the waterfall

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D850

Nikon 14-24 f/2,8 (used @14mm)

Three Exposures (-1; 0; +1) +1 to freeze the leafs

ISO: 100 f/10

Software: Photoshop CC2021

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

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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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