Lighthouse Question (Page 3): You could possibly get in rhythm (sync) with the light and burst shoot. (On thousand one, one thousand two,...) Coming pretty close after a try or two.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

cdayton wrote:

On the moving (and bouncing) boat, continuous shooting would have produced a lot of images of sky and water. The lighthouse flashes at 4 second intervals and I shot at 1/2000 to stop motion.

You could possibly get in rhythm (sync) with the light and burst shoot.
(On thousand one, one thousand two,...) Coming pretty close after a try or two.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

Logan1949 wrote:

....I would have to change my vote. It needs to be tipped to the right slightly....

Unless the lighthouse was built with a lean, the original isn't vertical. The trouble is it was shot from below looking up, and the buildings to the right of the lighthouse aren't square on to the camera. If the shot is corrected using the lighthouse, those buildings look tilted.
-

Original.

Corrected.
Corrected....

traderjohn Loc: New York City

Mac wrote:

If you Photoshop something in, is it still a photograph?

Some people think it's Art.

excaliburgc Loc: Daytona Beach Florida

Nice shot!

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

cdayton wrote:

This is a “postcard” picture of the Portland Head lighthouse from over 10 years ago (D50) taken from a whale watch boat. I shot and shot from a moving platform until I nailed the light in the tower. My question, would you have done that or simply Photoshopped it in?

Why bother with a light bulb in Daylight. I'd have photoshopped it out. Night-time lighthouses are the thing!

ToBoldlyGo Loc: London U.K.

cdayton wrote:

This is a “postcard” picture of the Portland Head lighthouse from over 10 years ago (D50) taken from a whale watch boat. I shot and shot from a moving platform until I nailed the light in the tower. My question, would you have done that or simply Photoshopped it in?

Like someone else said, I didn't notice the light until after I'd read your question. I'm not keen on it. For me, it would look less staged if the light wasn't pointing at the camera. Excluding that niggle, it's a lovely photo.

courtland43 Loc: Central Florida

cdayton wrote:

....My question, would you have done that or simply Photoshopped it in?

In my opinion you did it right. Photoshopping it in is OK too, IF I can't tell. Even though its a small detail the photo would be less interesting to me if I can tell it was altered in PP. The more I can see post processing (e.g. purple sky?) the less interesting it would be (no matter how 'dramatic' the sky looked). Nice pic by the way.

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

I try to capture the light in a lighthouse by watching and counting the seconds between flash to help me push the trigger to get the light

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I prefer to photograph what is there. In this case, a lot of photos to get the one I wanted. I don't put things in photos unless that was the intent from the start. I've done quite a few of those. Otherwise, I think it is disingenuous. I prefer to present what was there. If one wants to start putting stuff in a photo that wasn't there, take up painting. If someone wants to be another Arthur Rothstein, fine. That's not for me. I'm of the thought that just because one can do something doesn't mean they should.
--Bob

cdayton wrote:

This is a “postcard” picture of the Portland Head lighthouse from over 10 years ago (D50) taken from a whale watch boat. I shot and shot from a moving platform until I nailed the light in the tower. My question, would you have done that or simply Photoshopped it in?

ICN3S Loc: Cave Junction, OR

👍👍👍

rmalarz wrote:

I prefer to photograph what is there. In this case... (show quote)

leftj Loc: Texas

cdayton wrote:

This is a “postcard” picture of the Portland Head lighthouse from over 10 years ago (D50) taken from a whale watch boat. I shot and shot from a moving platform until I nailed the light in the tower. My question, would you have done that or simply Photoshopped it in?

Photoshopped what in?

the chuckster Loc: Ironton, Ohio

I'm like that about photos, I bang away until I get what I want. My problem is that I don't have a good eye for composition and have to weed out the bad stuff. that shot is awesome!

Meganephron Loc: Fort Worth, TX

cdayton wrote:

This is a “postcard” picture of the Portland Head lighthouse from over 10 years ago (D50) taken from a whale watch boat. I shot and shot from a moving platform until I nailed the light in the tower. My question, would you have done that or simply Photoshopped it in?

I actually didn’t notice the light until you mentioned it. Very nice picture. I don’t think the lightnadds much. In daylight I would probably prefer no light. I shoot a lot from moving small boats, so I’m very sensitive to straightening lines. The shoreline leans a little left. Easy fix with PS ruler and Arbitrary Angle tools. This would correct the lighthouse lean also. I would not crop out the shore line as one poster did. It adds to the story that you were on the water when you took the picture. I have found that I have to make the correction often, boats do bounce up and down side to side. However, very minor issue. Great picture.

billnourse Loc: Bloomfield, NM

I took this and added the beam in PS. I personally think in this case the beam adds to the image. The use of PS to enhance a photographic image does not preclude it from still being a photograph in my opinion.

(Download)

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

John N wrote:

...straighten the shoreline.

Leave it alone. The shoreline itself isn't straight. If the shoreline were straightened in the image, then the verticals in the image would be out of plumb (i.e., the walls of the buildings).

Light... no light.... personally I don't think it matters. I prefer to see the light in shots taken at dusk or in weather. In broad daylight, IMO it doesn't have the same effect.

Pigeon Point

Pigeon Point

Point Pinos

Point Loma

Hecata Head

The first five above are pretty "straight" shots. The last image of Hecata Head LH was "Photoshopped".... although not to add the light. It was shot on a very low contrast, foggy and drizzly day. The shot was pretty bland. In addition to tweaking contrast, I played around with various things in Photoshop and finally settled on a Nik EFEX HDR filter that I felt enhanced the image and made it more interesting... possibly even more the way I remember the day.