It all starts with a lighthouse photo that is likely done thousands of times a year.
(This image is not for sale.)
Start with a photograph from an angle, or view, that most tourists see and likely photograph thousands of times a year. Make sure the scene is brightly lit and has a clear sky with no haze. This late afternoon photo, captured near the beginning of the “Golden Hour,” came close to meeting those specifications.
The problem with photographs of the the Fenwick Island Lighthouse captured today are the myriad distractions around the buildings and the Light, itself. The main “eyesores” are the dozens of overhead wires and an unsightly telephone pole right in front of the tower. There are usually cars and/or people in the scene but for this example I was lucky enough to catch a day with no cars parked in front of the Light and only had to wait for a few people to wander on by. Note also how the buildings “lean” in toward the center of the picture.
Post processing of the image was done in Photoshop Elements where the wires and the telephone pole were carefully removed. The buildings and Lighthouse were also “straightened” to remove the keystone effect of shooting upward to capture the height of the buildings. Once that was done the next step was cropping to include the important parts of the scene and to make the format a “standard” one so that finished prints can be easily framed. In this case a standard 3:2 ratio was used for printing in normal 18×12, 36×24 or similar sizes. The last step in making a clean, normal print was to adjust the brightness and contrast.
Of course, normal is fine, but creative editing can produce some fascinating effects – much as a traditional artist might “interpret a scene” for whatever vision he or she has in mind. One fun part was then to replace a “boring” sky with something more interesting but not overpowering. I used a sky photograph that I shot near sunset from our own West Fenwick back yard – with my drone at 150 feet of altitude. I chose this particular sky because the lighting pretty well matched the scene and there was some clear sky in the upper left leading to some more dramatic cloud formations to help frame the buildings and the Fenwick Light without distracting from the main subject.
Then I used an additional software application, Topaz Studio 2, to remove any camera/exposure induced “noise” from the image and then to create the various “presentations” for this scene. Note in the simulated charcoal sketch that the street has been replaced with a section of beach.
Several different presentations of this Fenwick Island Lighthouse landscape scene are available to browse and purchase at www.OceanCityGallery.com and also at Bill’s Fine Art America Gallery.
Click the links below to see each of the presentations as described/titled…
…links coming soon…
Link to: Fenwick Island Lighthouse before Sunset in Black and White
Link to: Fenwick Island Lighthouse before Sunset Abstraction
Link to: Fenwick Island Island Lighthouse before Sunset Sky
Link to: Fenwick Island Lighthouse w Beach in Simulated Charcoal
Link to: Fenwick Island Lighthouse in a Faded Canvas Presentation
Link to: Fenwick Island Lighthouse as an Old Time Photo
Link to: Fenwick Island Lighthouse before Sunset on the Beach
Link to: Fenwick Island Lighthouse with Beach in Black and White
Link to: Fenwick Island Lighthouse on a Clear Day (w/ no filters)
I definitely like the one with the removal of wires! Makes such an improvement. However, I personally think your new sky doesn’t match the scene and something a lot less dramatic would be better. The sun is somewhere over to the left and still well above the horizon with the shadows we see, but the sunset would require very different conditions. Just my view of course!
Steve, thank you for commenting and sharing your perceptive view. I do agree – and am building a small portfolio of sky scenes to implement in composites such as this.
This morning I did manage to score the domain name http://www.FenwickIslandLighthouse.com and will do more with the variations “over there” moving forward. There is a huge tourist draw with this Light because it is the oldest lighthouse in Delaware and is located right in the heart of the resort area. It is also the oldest structure in the town of Fenwick Island, DE. The property on which it stands actually abuts the Delaware/Maryland state line.
Great idea! I think you might be on to a winner there! I’ve often wondered how much the URL plays into getting visitors so it will be interesting to see how many visits you get to this new site.
I did play with your image a little to see how far you could go with the sky. A basic blue sky with wispy clouds actually looks pretty impressive but this later afternoon sky works I think:
https://www.backyardimage.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Screenshot-2022-09-04-174535-2.jpg
And this is what the charcoal filter in Jixipix does out of the box with no real adjustments. I’m pretty partial to this App!
https://www.backyardimage.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Screenshot-2022-09-04-174535-3.jpg
Please delete my comments if you don’t want “real visitors” to see them – they were more aimed at you.
Thanks, Steve, I appreciate the input. All art photography is a learning process and I do like your version with the blue sky and clouds. On the other hand, the charcoal is OK – but I will be checking out the Jixipix site. They appear to have some interesting stuff.
I do have an affiliate link if you don’t mind using that: https://jixipix.evyy.net/nVnMM
I’ve written a few times about using their packages. Here: https://backyardsilver.com/?s=Jixipix
Steve
Lovely work. Variety is the spice of life. 😉
That it is, Bob, that it is. Thank you – and thank you for commenting.