The Wanderluster

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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

 

Dreaming Riomaggiore

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Second post in the beautiful village of Riomaggiore, the view of the small port is a view that strikes and captures. I dedicated an entire shooting session at sunset in this location and did not betray my expectations

Those days were very hot days with a clear sky but during the evening  luckily  🙂 it often happened that the sky was covered always leaving clouds interesting in the sky

Also here I captured a long exposure,  like so much the movement of the boats on the flat sea, I captured several shots to have different exposures to stack images into layers and be able to do a controlled blending on the frame

 

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I take two exposures of the port of Riomaggiore, I made a blend using luminosity masks only in some part of the image, after this the first thing I do is to clone stamp some spot and a half boat that was on the bottom. The first thing done was to increase the yellow lights using a warm filter and dodge and burning the light over the leafs and main building

Using my panel I increased details and I applied contrast using curves adjustment layers applied to luminosity masks, always using curves I fixed lights in the sky and I recovered some shadows too darks.

I applied light bleeding to the left part of the sky and over the building reducing the effect decreasing the opacity. As final step I fixed colors using hue/saturation over the sea and I added a soft glow effect using color efex pro filters

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

 

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

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

Long Exposure for 91′

ISO: 100 at f/13

Software: Photoshop CC2018

Plugin: TTS Fast Panel – Colo Efex Pro

 

Coast to Coast

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With this post I connect last week image, Nightlight to show you another picture from the beautiful Amalfi coast, in particular this was taken the following day on the road that leads  Amalfi to Atrani town. The colors and the landscape that you can admire in this spot is very interesting and I never lose the opportunity to take this picture every time I’m here, the most attentive of you will in fact know that I took the same picture in the past 🙂

Even here the road certainly does not give easy moments to take pictures, being a very tight road you must always pay attention to cars moving on the road (especially buses).  Is a very nice place but not really quiet to stand in the middle of the road with the tripod. Fortunately, the road is always very busy and cars are often in traffic, this not allows to the cars to go faster

In this Amalfi spot I captured several long exposures, I wanted to have the effect of movement of the sky and the sea, I did some test shots before without filter to set the values and to save the leaves in the lower left corner, the strong wind of this spot moved them all the time and I wanted to make sure I could intervene later

 

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I blended the long exposure with the normal exposure to save the leafs on the left. The wind moved the leaves and in the long exposure them results blurry, with this method I have limited the damages, not easy to edit because on the back there was the smooth sea but I managed something. Anyway I used luminosity masks to fix the lights and darks, I reduce the strong highlights on the back of the mountain and I pushed up the darkness of the foreground rocks

I incrased contrasts and I used dodge and burn to darken the middle rock and to lighten the sea breaking on the coast. With TTS Fast Panel I launched high details and orton effect to smooth the effect and to create a soft dreamy look. To begin edit the colors I started fixing color cast reducing the opacity on the result, than I increased the yellow colors using this techniques, reducing again the highlights in the sky. Latest passages was to darken a bit the whole frame and add a small purple look using camera raw

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 24mm)

Long Exposure for 30′

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 Eternal Sunset

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For my opinion this is one of the most representative and fascinating sights of Rome, it captures all the essence of its daytime activity in the middle between everyday life and the timeless charm of the eternal city. This is perhaps my favorite spot in Rome, it is very representative of the city, beautiful and colorful at sunset. From this spot it’s possible to capture many elements including the dome of San Pietro and the river Tevere flowing down

I’m talking about the location of Sant’Angelo bridge, a photographic spot that contains at least other  3 spots inside, from here it is possible to shoot towards the dome of St. Peter as you see in this picture, go down on the banks of the Tevere to take the castle from below or with a little patience and many tourists in less do the front view of the castle 🙂

This photo dates back to last week where I decided to go here to do some test shots with some equipment I recently received, to test the products. The fact is that probably that was the windiest and coldest day of the year and on that bridge to photograph I literally froze 🙂

But finally we come to talk about the photo, for the first time I shot this part of Rome with a medium-distance lens my sigma 24-70 for the occasion mounted on my camera between the bars at the bottom of the bridge. Usually I took this picture with a wide angle, this is the first time that the first time I take a closer shot and I must say that I prefer to a wider view. The first floor on this part of the city is very fascinating for me

 

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I start as usually blendind the images using luminosity masks, obtained the base shot I used clon stamp tool to remove some dust spot and some other little unwanted element in the picture. Using TTS Fast Panel  I launched high details effect to increase all the details in the picture, removing the effect on the water flow in the foreground.

Always using my panel and with the use of luminosity masks I applied contrast to the curves on midtones and darks to create a specific contrast per area. With orton effect I created a soft look of glow in the frame. Using a cold filter I increased the blue hour colors in the sky applying at the same time a warm filter to mediate the effect, I also used dodge and burn effect around the Tevere bridges and the lightings of the city, to decrease/increase luminosity selectively, in particular some points like the tree and other dark parts were very difficult to lighten even using darks luminosity masks

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

 

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

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

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

ISO: 100 at f/8

Software: Photoshop CC2018

 

Tuscany Dream

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Hello everyone, waiting for the next trip at the end of this month I propose for my week photo another of  my past photos, in this case one of my favorite destinations. In particular we are talking about the Val d’Orcia, a splendid place, a UNESCO world heritage that I always visit with great pleasure

Every time I go to Tuscany and Val d’Orcia a passage in the notorious chapel of Vitaleta is a must. Among the times that I went, this take was surely the one with the better conditions and colorfull sky . I remember that I had gone for a walk around the neighborhood of San Quirico d’Orcia looking for the Vitaleta chapel until I could see with the corner of my eye this little church in the middle of the valley. I found it I told to myself!

So I started to look to follow the road until I was in a barred country path where it was impossible to proceed with the car. Leaving the car there I continued on foot for about 15 minutes of walking. I always love to come here, it’s nice to admire the Tuscany hills in this place and find a place so characteristic to take pictures

 

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I blended the images using luminosity masks, I fixed color cast using auto adjust and decreasing the opacity to create a mix between the warm original color and the blue of the fix. I Increased vibrance in the sky to create more colors. I added contrast applied to luminosity masks to better use it on the foreground and the sky

With TTS Fast Panel I increased details reducing the effect on the sky. With dodge and burn I darkened the foreground and lightened the front part of the trees. I also used orton effect to create a soft look on the sky. As final touch I brighten the view of the chapel and the stones on the foreground adding a soft vignette to the frame

I hope you will find this information 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 Shots (-1; 0; +1)

ISO: 100 at f/7,1

Software: Photoshop CC2018

 

Bled

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Hi guys here we are as usual with the appointment of the weekly photo. As you could easily imagine I finished photos to edits 🙂 and thanks to the bad weather and many seasonal illness I have not succeded to shot anything new. This is why today I also propose a photo from my archive of photos taken from the past 🙂

In this case we are talking about Lake Bled, a magical and beautiful place that I recommend everyone to visit at least once. Lake Bled is located in Slovenia, not far from Lubjiana, it can be reached by car in about an hour and a half from the highway and the whole area offers many other important places to visit and for excursions. I take this photo  in 2013 with my old Camera when I went on the island of the lake by rowing boat (it is one of the attractions of the place)

I hope to find time one day to come back here in Bled again, and take pictures with my new equipment soon! In the meantime I look forward to leaving for my new trip at the end of March,  for the location at the moment I  want to keep it secret … 🙂

 

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

This is a single exposure shot, I fixed lights and darks using luminosity masks, with TTS Fast Panel I launched details and dodge and burn to increase details and brighten some part of the frame, specially around the bushes of the island

With a brush with soft light effect I incrased slighly yellows in the sky to give a soft look of drama in the sky. Always using luminosity masks, I increased contrast applying midtones excluing darks to curves layer. If you use my panel you can easily do this selecting  midtones 3 and subtracting by this, a dark layer pressing ALT keyboard and pushing on darks 2. After this if you lauch curves layer you could move only the specific selection of this and add contrast better

Last two passages was to decrease the lights in the sky and add a small vignette to create a dark mood to the image

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

 

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-90

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

Single exposure

ISO: 100 at f/13

Software: Photoshop CC2018

Extensions: TTS Fast Panel

 

 

 

Hide and Seek

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Hi everyone, this is an old find inside a folder of photos taken years ago in the Regional Park of Gran Sasso. What we see is the Corno Grande, the highest peak in the Apennine range

I love this place, it is natural wild, sometimes inhospitable and above all very quiet, at the sight of the mountain overlooking the whole valley below and is completely different from the rest of the landscape. I recommend everyone to take a trip around here if you do not know Abruzzo is a milestone for photography enthusiasts and is just over an hour’s drive from Rome

I captured this photo with my old nikon 18-105 and I got the image from 3 bracketing shots at sunset while I waited for the sun to start taking some photos to the stars

 

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

I discarted the overexposed picture and I merged the two shots using luminosity masks, I used lights applied to curves to fix lighting, always using the masks I reduced darks and adjusted contrast in the frame. With the use of TTS Fast Panel I increased details and applied a soft orton effect



I corrected colors using auto adjust, then I decreased the effect reducing the opacity. With a soft dodge and burn I recover the exposure in the darker part of the mountain and increased the colors around the Corno Grande. I reduced a bit the noise I increased the lights behind the mountain, after I decreased the light in the whole frame to make a more dark look and create more atmoshphere

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

 

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

Lens: Nikon 18-105mm f/3,5 (Shot at 34mm)

Three Exposures (-1; 0; +1)

ISO: 100 at f/11

Software: Photoshop CC2017

Extensions: TTS Fast Panel

 

Mostly White

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I took this photo during my last trip to Trentino, I returned to some of the places that I enjoyed better last time, Lake Carezza is one of these. As I headed towards the lake, I thought I would find it frozen, but not to find so much snow over the ice that I could not even recognize where the land ended where the water started 🙂

The place was surrounded by a magical atmosphere of silence, and sinking with snow up to almost the knee in the end I managed to take all the shots I need, since the moment of the shots I realized that they were photos in a natural black and white

 

WORKFLOW EXPLANATION

This is probably the fastest workflow of latest years, the picture was naturally in black and white with no colors, the only things to do was fix the white balance and the exposure. I take the better exposed shot and I used  dodge and burn under brightest areas, I decreased luminosity under the foreground snow

I added contrast in the frame and I fixed lighting using luminosity masks applied to curves tool. With TTS Fast Panel I added details, the final touch was to increase the vibrant colors that add a more blue light to the image

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

 

TECNHNICAL STUFF

Camera: Nikon D-800

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

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

ISO: 100 at f/16

Software: Photoshop CC2017

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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