{"id":7557,"date":"2014-09-27T18:00:13","date_gmt":"2014-09-27T08:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alexwisephotography.net\/blog\/?p=7557"},"modified":"2015-02-14T10:08:09","modified_gmt":"2015-02-13T23:08:09","slug":"before-and-after-mansfield-tree-on-sunset","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alexwisephotography.net\/blog\/2014\/09\/27\/before-and-after-mansfield-tree-on-sunset\/","title":{"rendered":"Before and After – Mansfield Tree on Sunset"},"content":{"rendered":"

[twentytwenty]\"IMG_4223\"<\/a> \"Tree<\/a>[\/twentytwenty]<\/p>\n

Recently I posted this image on [ilink url=”http:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/EarthPorn\/comments\/2epv5r\/lone_tree_on_sunset_in_mansfield_victoria_by_alex\/”]Reddit[\/ilink] and received some great exposure. Amidst\u00a0the exposure, some people were calling that the sub-reddit had degenerated into nothing more than heavily Photoshopped images that didn’t depict how the scene accurately looked. As part of my\u00a0[ilink url=”https:\/\/www.alexwisephotography.net\/blog\/category\/technique\/before-and-after-technique\/”]Before and After Series[\/ilink] I’d like to look at how this image from [ilink url=”https:\/\/www.alexwisephotography.net\/blog\/2014\/06\/24\/exploring-country-victoria-mansfield-and-abroad\/”]Mansfield, Victoria[\/ilink] was captured and processed.<\/p>\n

The Evolution of the Dark Room<\/h2>\n

When reading comments comments about photographs that don’t resemble a scene whether it’s directed at me or others, I question whether there is a level of ignorance surrounding post processing. Let’s not forget that Ansel Adams was a pioneer in the use of dodge and burning and other darkroom techniques as discussed in interesting detail with comparative pictures by\u00a0[ilink url=”http:\/\/whitherthebook.wordpress.com\/2013\/02\/27\/ansel-adams-and-photography-before-photoshop\/”]Jack Dziamba[\/ilink]. I would argue that if Ansel Adams was alive today, he would be using Photoshop as his digital dark room and pushing the envelope by using its features to process his images.\u00a0Not only was Adams a pioneer in developing darkroom techniques but his involvement in the now famous, f\/64 group, were also pioneers in exploring darkroom techniques which are now imitated in the digital equivalent – \u00a0Photoshop. Regardless of time, photographers will always be looking to explore and push the envelope with photography and to me, that is the joy in Photography. We’re always constantly learning and developing. It’s definitely what keeps me hooked.<\/p>\n

My Shooting Process<\/h2>\n

Before I even press the trigger on a my camera shutter, I am not only correcting the camera as much as I can (i.e. setting it to the settings that I desire, straightening the horizon, etc) but also considering how I will process the image whether this be adding a duo tone or using the dodge\/burn tool to highlight particular parts of the image.\u00a0I don’t simply take a photo, look at my LCD and think “ah well, I’ll fix it up in Photoshop”. Instead I capture an image on the camera that forms part of ‘my vision’ for the whole photograph. For this reason, you may find notice\u00a0my before photographs in this\u00a0[ilink url=”https:\/\/www.alexwisephotography.net\/blog\/category\/technique\/before-and-after-technique\/”]Before and After Series[\/ilink] are often captured quite flat. Shooting in RAW mode, your images will appear somewhat flat regardless however often I will aim to shoot my image without any harsh highlights which often means shooting slightly under exposed. Modern digital camera’s have come a long way however pulling detail from highlights is a lot more difficult than pulling detail from blown highlights. For this reason, I will often expose just before I start to lose my highlights. For example, if the highlights are starting to blow at 5″ seconds, I will reduce to a shorter exposure of 2.5″ seconds. But enough ramble… Let’s look at how this photo from Mansfield was captured and post processed.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Capturing the Photo<\/h2>\n
\"Images<\/a>
Images captured at varying exposure times for the final image<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This photograph was taken while staying on a remote rural property in June 2014. We stayed in a farm house on an actual farm filled with livestock. It was an amazing experience and something I’ll never forget. Upon arriving home from photographing the\u00a0[ilink url=”https:\/\/www.alexwisephotography.net\/blog\/2014\/06\/24\/exploring-country-victoria-mansfield-and-abroad\/”]Howqua Valley[\/ilink] the sun was just starting to set and without much time to drive far, I decided to take a walk around the farm in the hope of finding a composition to capture the sunset. Luckily I came across this tree and decided to setup my tripod and camera gear while having a walk around to try find a good angle. As I was setting up cows were walking across the crest of the hill, I worried for a second that they may take a seat and call it home for the night but fortunately they kept moving. On this evening, there was quite a bit of breeze about which in turn was bringing through clouds at a rapid pace which I wanted to capture through a long exposure. The clouds weren’t moving as quite as much as I would have liked so I captured multiple long exposures with the intention of layer blending them in Photoshop. However through taking a long exposure, this ran the risk of also blurring the grass and puddle reflections. For this reason I also took some shorter length exposures in case the long exposures left the scene unsharp.<\/p>\n

Processing the Images<\/h2>\n

The location was lacking for stand out compositions so I decided to take a chance and just take this one composition of the sunset of the tree reflecting in the background. Once I setup my camera, I took a few photos over the sunset which included:<\/p>\n