A Post-Processed Picture from the Oregon Coast

Original Photograph

As I continue to read and watch video webinars, I find that my post-processing is continuing to improve. Today I'm going to show a series of post-processing work performed on a single image, photographed on the Oregon coast on a cloudy day,utilizing various methodologies, which evokes a different feeling in each of the photographs.

Processed in Lightroom basic panel only

Adjusted in Lightroom, utilizing adjustment brushes and gradient tool along with the basic panel

Original photograph adjusted with NIK HDR Pro 2

Opened in Photoshop, adjusted utilizing NIK's Vivaza and Color Pro Efex 2

Opened in Photoshop, adjusted utilizing Topaz Define 3

Open in Photoshop, adjusted utilizing NIK Silver EFEX 2

Surrealistic Snowy Owl

I went back to Duxbury Beach yesterday and met my friend Chris to take him down to see if we could find the snowy owl.  It was an interesting morning, we were out to the end of the road just before Gurnet and we observed a red fox running through the marsh.  The light was very dim and therefore no picture was obtained.  We search with our binoculars.  The usual locations where a snowy owl has been found in the past, but no owl was present.  We traveled back down the road slowly, stopping, observing and even moving over to the beach to see if the snowy owl was anywhere in sight.  We finally located at the end of the marsh and did get some photographs of it.  It then flew carrying what appeared to be a duck out to a distant spit of land.  We traveled back up to the top of the road and slowly made our way back down.  The tide was coming in and when we got down to where the snowy owl was the part of of the marsh where it was sitting was almost on the water and the owl flew onto the land closer to us.  It was hidden partially in the marsh grasses.  After a while it started eating and then hopped way slightly clearer area of the marsh.  The photograph that I took of it hunched over its prey, I decided to make sure listed and here is the result. 
The image was post processed utilizing NIK software (Color EFEX 4, VIVEZA) and Topaz software (LENS EFFECT)

St. George's School Tower

I had promised in my blog on Sachuest to describe what we saw across Sachuest Bay on the opposite shore. The most notable site is the tower at St. George's School in Newport Rhode Island. The morning that we were there, a fog bank developed and surrounded the tower.. I took a number of pictures utilizing my long lens.




After I downloaded the pictures into Lightroom, I felt that some manipulation of the picture needed to be done. So utilizing what I have been learning on on webinars from NAPP, NIK software and Topaz software I manipulated the pictures in Lightroom and in Photoshop to give different impressions on how I viewed the scene.

                                                              #1 Original

                                                                         #2 HDR

                                                             
                                                                    #3 Overlay

                                                            #4 Black & White

                                                               #5 Night Filter



Please let me know which one of the pictures you like best and why, thank you