(click on image for larger view)
I took this photo yesterday morning, on a rather “blah” day. Reworked it a little in photoshop to achive the final result.
Todays Photo Hunt theme is “hobby”. Anyone who visits here on a regular, or even semi-regular basis would know, my favorite hobby, and one of my greatest passions is photography. :]
Stumble it!
33 responses so far ↓
Claire // Apr 13, 2007 at 9:28 pm
To drunk to appreciate this at the mo! will be back when i am a alive.
Linda // Apr 13, 2007 at 9:37 pm
Wow! You do some really amazing work! And I am definitely going to hop over and vote for your blog over at the Bloggers Choice Awards!
lulu // Apr 13, 2007 at 10:05 pm
Excellent photo! Although, I must admit, it looks kind of spooky!
kathy // Apr 14, 2007 at 12:17 am
Well it may have been a blah day, but you make it look wonderful in this photo!
Great job!
Happy photo hunting
skittles // Apr 14, 2007 at 12:35 am
That is a awesome photo! I can see why your post after says you are Nominated for Best Photography Blog. You are good!
Zn // Apr 14, 2007 at 12:36 am
AWESOME PICTURE there! I’m impressed with your photography skills!
Have a enjoyable weekend!
Mine’s up too!
srp // Apr 14, 2007 at 1:09 am
This is the type of picture that will evoke ten different emotions in ten different people. It looks a bit lonely and yet that punch of red makes me smile. Great shot.
Danella // Apr 14, 2007 at 1:20 am
Thats a great photo and an awesome job on photoshopping it!
Mine is up too.
Jose // Apr 14, 2007 at 1:39 am
Gorgeous! Love the angle from where the picture was taken, the final effect you achived is pretty dramatic to say the least. Great blog too by the way.
Tami Young // Apr 14, 2007 at 1:53 am
Fabulous photo… very moody. What a good way to turn a “blah” day into something magnificent! I would love to live near such a sight. I know people think that about the Wasatch Mountains in my backyard, but I enjoy a change from time to time, ya know!
kailani // Apr 14, 2007 at 3:01 am
I’m glad that photography is your hobby since you’re so amazing at it!
amy // Apr 14, 2007 at 4:36 am
Ryan, this is fabulous..This would be a great blog header…I could see this in an istockphoto thingy
Glad you have a hobby
margaret // Apr 14, 2007 at 6:40 am
Awesome pictures. I love that lighthouse. The red just seems to stand out. Is it the same one in the crashing waves picture? I think that was the first time I visited your blog.
Dragonheart // Apr 14, 2007 at 8:22 am
Another amazing photo, Ryan.
As always, your photos and photo manipulations are just gorgeous. 
Photography is clearly more than a hobby for you! You are very talented. 
Thank you for sharing your beautiful photos with us. 
crookedeyebrow // Apr 14, 2007 at 9:21 am
I wish I would have stumbled across your page before! The photo is amazing, I loved it!
Your photographs are amazing and you did an awesome job with photoshop!
good luck in the blog awards!!
Lissa // Apr 14, 2007 at 9:52 am
Great photo!
Grandma Cathy // Apr 14, 2007 at 10:19 am
Great picture, you have an awesome hobby, keep on using the gifts God has given you. Have a great weekend!
Claire // Apr 14, 2007 at 1:18 pm
I am alive now, so yes i can take it in! Its a cool shot and i wont even try to figure out what you have done to it.
Vader's Mom // Apr 14, 2007 at 2:01 pm
BEAUTIFUL! I really enjoy your hobby. Thanks for sharing it with all of us.
incog & nito // Apr 14, 2007 at 4:23 pm
Your photography is always amazing. Now I’m off to vote. Happy weekend.
Anita // Apr 14, 2007 at 4:37 pm
Great picture! I’m currently learning all the fun features of photoshop and paint shop pro, and one thing I’ve learned is that you have to have a good picture to start with, and yours is incredible!
margaret // Apr 14, 2007 at 5:10 pm
So this morning I was reading a magizine and I swear there is that same red light
margaret // Apr 14, 2007 at 5:10 pm
So this morning I was reading a magazine and I swear there is that same red lighthouse in the background of one of the pictures. It’s not in focus, but I think it’s the same one. Just an observation!
Heather // Apr 14, 2007 at 8:15 pm
Stunning.
YTSL // Apr 15, 2007 at 6:02 am
Great photograph but hmmmm, does something you do for a living qualify as a hobby?
meeyauw // Apr 15, 2007 at 9:34 am
So beautiful, as always. Your photos never bore me but my comments on them do. I need a thesaurus. I wish you were on flickr.
Autofocused // Apr 16, 2007 at 4:31 am
That is a threatening sky…. I can feel the cold from here.
Riley Merrick // Apr 16, 2007 at 11:48 am
Wow. That’s so gorgeous it almost doesn’t look real!
Barbara H. // Apr 16, 2007 at 9:46 pm
Lovely photo! With that beam of light it could be an inspirational poster! You have a great eye for what would make good pictures.
I’m late getting around visiting photo hunt pictures, as you can tell.
Rica // Apr 16, 2007 at 10:43 pm
Is this HDR? Love the saturation - great color in what could have been a dreary shot
Ryan // Apr 16, 2007 at 11:42 pm
thank you SO MUCH to everyone for taking the time to comment. I’ll try to answer a few of the questions I received about the above photo.
It started out as just a regular, rather drab image of a lighthouse and the pier. (I may have to post the original so you can see how it started out).
Three of the seagulls in the image were taken separately while I was out on the pier with the intention of adding them to the photo, which was what I did. I digitally added them to the image.
The sky was quite plain, so I separated it from the rest of the image, and bumped up the contrast a little bit, and burned in (darkened) the edges of the clouds to give them more of a stormy feel.
The lighthouse itself in non-operational. I added the light inside it, and added the beam extending from the lighthouse as well. I also added the closest orange life ring as an additional point of interest.
The rest of the image was darkened a bit, and the contrast adjusted via levels and curves. The image was then flattened (getting rid of all the separate layers) and a very light unsharp mask was applied to sharpen it a tad, and thats it.
I was just going after that “storm approaching” look and hopefully thats what was conveyed. Sounds like a lot, but all in all about 10-15 minutes from start to finish. Nothing too labor intensive. :]
Oh, and Yes! This is the same lighthouse as a shot I posted a while back that can be seen HERE…
Claire // Apr 17, 2007 at 11:24 am
Oh a before and after shot would be cool, you should of done a ’spot the difference’ competition.
Crystal // Apr 23, 2007 at 4:34 am
Oh my gosh… it’s just absolutely stunning. I would love to sit with you and pick your brain on photography and photo editing! You truly have a gift!
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