Mer Bleu Conservation Area

[Sailorstu]

A nice fall retreat very close to downtown Ottawa where we are catching some Fall colours. A really neat area with lots of walking trails, over 1 km of boardwalk, and a 7,700 year old peat moss bog covering 3,500 hectares. Unfortunately just as I arrived about 90 minutes prior to sunset, we had a lot of cloud roll in and the sun became obscured, reducing the brilliance of the leaves. I'm not happy with the Bog shot below as the sky is blown out and I'm just not able, at least at this point, to improve it in PP. Any tricks on this front would be well appreciated (I'm using PhotoPlus 7 which is similar to PS). I have tried dropping the exposure, darkening etc - to no avail. C and C welcome.

#1 - Boardwalk



#2 - Path to Colour



#3 - Colours Reflected



#4 - The Bog

[Geoff F]

Clearly a tricky light there, Stu, but they have worked reasonably well.

Part of the problem with the bog sky is that you have a bit of colour on the sides but nothing is showing in the central area. Probably an all dull sky would have worked better.

What I usually do in those circumstances is to make two conversions from the original Raw file (one for the foreground and one for the sky) then combine them as layers with a mask. But sometimes the sky is too bland for even that to work well.

You say Photo Plus 7. Do you mean the newer X7 and not the very old, and somewhat limited, 7. How good is the Raw conversion software now? I moved away from Photo Plus at X4 where I did my conversions with the more effective Raw Therapee then moved the images over to PP for the final editing.

[Shadowman]

Nice lines and exposures.

[JohnRostron]

Despite the light, I find that #3 shows great reflections.

John

[NorthernFocus]

I like nos. 2 and 3. Have you thought about cropping no.3 into a pano(2x1) format?

[Manfred M]

Stu - this is a part of Ottawa that I've always enjoyed visiting, but because I live in the west, I usually only get out to Mer Bleue a couple of times a year. You've pulled off some nice shots, in spite of the lighting conditions.

I see that you are getting those lovely contrails from the airplanes that are flying over Ottawa in the first image. I've gotten some interesting shots of the beaver lodge when visiting there in the morning.

[IzzieK]

#1's clouds need some special effect...for emphasis. I like #2 and #3 too...beautiful colours in all of them...love autumn.

[bnnrcn]

I like #3 best, beautiful colors and reflections I would try a pano format as Dan suggested already and I would bring out some details in the clouds.

[Sailorstu]

Clearly a tricky light there, Stu, but they have worked reasonably well.

Part of the problem with the bog sky is that you have a bit of colour on the sides but nothing is showing in the central area. Probably an all dull sky would have worked better.

What I usually do in those circumstances is to make two conversions from the original Raw file (one for the foreground and one for the sky) then combine them as layers with a mask. But sometimes the sky is too bland for even that to work well.

You say Photo Plus 7. Do you mean the newer X7 and not the very old, and somewhat limited, 7. How good is the Raw conversion software now? I moved away from Photo Plus at X4 where I did my conversions with the more effective Raw Therapee then moved the images over to PP for the final editing.

Thanks Geoff - I'll give the two conversions a trye. Yes, it is X7 I am using. The Raw conversion software is quite good I find, but I'm a real rookie at this so I will eventually need to compare with other software. Thanks again for the helpful advice/feedback.

[Sailorstu]

I like nos. 2 and 3. Have you thought about cropping no.3 into a pano(2x1) format?

Dan - is this sort of the crop you are suggesting? I looked at both including the sky and reducing the boardwalk and this way - cutting out the sky and increasing the boardwalk. I like this one.

[Sailorstu]

I like #3 best, beautiful colors and reflections I would try a pano format as Dan suggested already and I would bring out some details in the clouds.

Thanks Binnur. Still working on my clouds!

[Sailorstu]

Stu - this is a part of Ottawa that I've always enjoyed visiting, but because I live in the west, I usually only get out to Mer Bleue a couple of times a year. You've pulled off some nice shots, in spite of the lighting conditions.

I see that you are getting those lovely contrails from the airplanes that are flying over Ottawa in the first image. I've gotten some interesting shots of the beaver lodge when visiting there in the morning.

Thanks Manfred. I'm relatively new to Mer Bleu but thoroughly enjoy it there. Unfortunately with family at Thanksgiving hard to find the time to get out enough. Happily I'm in the East of Ottawa so it is a relatively short hop. Contrails everywhere! They are actually driving me crazy as it often seems tough to get a sky without them. I'll have to see if I can't get some shots of that beaver lodge eventually.

[Sailorstu]

Despite the light, I find that #3 shows great reflections.

John

Cheers John. I snapped #3 as soon as I arrived when the sun was yet to be fully obscured so it worked out a little better.

[Sailorstu]

Nice lines and exposures.

Cheers John.

[bnnrcn]

Hi Stu Dan suggested that you should crop #3 , so did I.

Dan - is this sort of the crop you are suggesting? I looked at both including the sky and reducing the boardwalk and this way - cutting out the sky and increasing the boardwalk. I like this one.

[Sailorstu]

Hi Stu Dan suggested that you should crop #3 , so did I.

Thanks Binnur! I'm all messed up . I'll try cropping #3 now!

[vaez]

my fav is 2 nice line and color

[GBO25]

Stu I would pick #2 as my favourite because of the vanishing point, the different textures and the colours. I'd leave the sky in although I might edit it a little to get more detail in the clouds.

Re the first shot I hope you don't mind but I had a play with it in Macphun's Intensify app and came up with this...



I reduced the highlights and added some highlight structure to just the sky area of the shot. I also fiddled just a little with highlight contrast. Then I took it into PS Elements 13 and lightly (7% opacity) cloned some of the darker cloud over that bright spot to try to tone it down a little. What do you think?

By the way Intensify is a Mac only app. for Mac owners, for Windows.

[Sailorstu]

Stu I would pick #2 as my favourite because of the vanishing point, the different textures and the colours. I'd leave the sky in although I might edit it a little to get more detail in the clouds.

Re the first shot I hope you don't mind but I had a play with it in Macphun's Intensify app and came up with this...



I reduced the highlights and added some highlight structure to just the sky area of the shot. I also fiddled just a little with highlight contrast. Then I took it into PS Elements 13 and lightly (7% opacity) cloned some of the darker cloud over that bright spot to try to tone it down a little. What do you think?

By the way Intensify is a Mac only app. for Mac owners, for Windows.

Graham: Thanks. Your work on the first shot is excellent. Really punched up the sky without going overboard. I need more PP learning to do what you have done. Really nice. Cheers.

[GBO25]

It was a pleasure Stu