Cold Slap in the Face

Cold Slap in the Face, originally uploaded by Tony DeSantis Photography.

2nd in the serious of shots taken on Memorial Day morning at the Huntington beach pier.

This one intrigues me because:
1. You can't see the surfers face so this could be anyone
2. I like the way the water is just smacking him upside the mug and he is trying to deflect it with his hand. Which it just goes to show that no-one can control that much fury and motion except God.
3. We just need to ride and go with the flow.

The Shot:

>Single Exposure- F/5.6, ISO 500, 1/2000 sec, +.05EV, 70-200L with 2X Extender @400mm.

Post Processing CS-5:

>Raw Increase Black, Exposure, Adjusted WB

>Topaz Adjust 4.0 for Color and Detail

>Adjustment Layer-Levels-For White and Black points

>Adjustment Layer-Hue/Sat-reduce red in face and hands

>Noise Ninja for overall noise reduction

>High Pass Sharpening

>Sized and Framed for Posting

I pretty much copied and pasted the same post processing from the previous photo because it was pretty much processed the same exact way except the shot itself was just a little different.

Appearance

Appearance, originally uploaded by Tony DeSantis Photography.

There's no need to fear...

What a great morning, I had a friend who asked me to go down to the beach and shoot some photo's of him surfing, well needless to say this is not him. When I got there I couldn't find him so I decided to shoot others. This is just one of a set I got.

Weather was awesome, waves were great. This is the 2nd day this week I got up early in the morning to get some shots. Sunsets late so I am trying to get up in the morning instead to do some shooting. The surfers were pretty far away from the shore so I shot from the Huntington Beach Pier to get closer to the surfers and ended up with some pretty nice shots. At least that is what i think, I guess I will rely on your opinions to see if there is agreement?

The Shot:
>Single Exposure- F/6.7, ISO 500, 1/1500 sec, +1EV, 70-200L with 2X Extender @400mm.

Post Processing CS-5:
>Raw Increase Black, Exposure, Adjusted WB
>Topaz Adjust 4.0 for Color and Detail
>Adjustment Layer-Levels-For White and Black points
>Adjustment Layer-Hue/Sat-reduce red in face and hands
>Noise Ninja for overall noise reduction
>High Pass Sharpening
>Sized and Framed for Posting

*Side Note, I realized that if you expose for the scene with a 0EV the surfer will come out dark or very red.  So I used a +1EV.  I finally settled on a +.66EV pushing the histogram to the right and adjusting in post processing.  It gives you a better and easier comp in post processing.

Donut Shop Chevy

Donut Shop Chevy, originally uploaded by Tony DeSantis Photography.

There is a place in Huntington Beach, CA. on Saturday mornings that have a bunch of great old cars. You need to get there by 6:30am because by 7:30am they are gone. I will put on my map the exact location so you can check that out if you live in the area.
After my basic HDR post processing (Which you can see on my blog) I did many little tweaks, to many to list, to get a good feel for the car and photo. I really wanted more of a mono with a touch of color. This seems to be final image but then again you never know.

The Shot:
Standard 3 Shot HDR-F/7.1, ISO 800, 1/160 Sec, 24-105L @ 28mm, Hand Held

Post Processing:
>Camara Raw-Remove Black, Remove Sharpening, Added Noise Reduction, Saved as 3 Tiffs
>Photomatix-Detail Enhancer

CS-5:
>Topaz Adjust-For Color, Contrast and Detail
>Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0
>Pro Contrast
>Tonal Contrast
>Bleach Bypass (Opacity 15%)
>Duplex
>Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.0 (Opacity 45%)
>Adjustment Layer-Curves for contrast
>Adjustment Layer-Hue/Sat slight enhance of blue in car
>Adjustment Layer-Hue/Sat very slight enhance of green in car
>Adjustment Layer-Hue/Sat removal of Yellows in headlight, rims
>Vignette applied
>Sized and framed for posting

Fence

Fence, originally uploaded by Tony DeSantis Photography.

The Shot:
5 shot brought into photomatix (detail enhanced) look at more properties to see setting used.

Post Processing:

ACR small adjustments made and the brought into CS3

1 Layer of curves for contrast
1 Layer of saturation for Oranges in sky
1 Layer of Saturation for blues in sky. Masked to replace some oranges with blues
1 Layer of levels for sand and fence
Sharpened (Other, High pass 5.1, topaz adjust photo pop, soft light)
Added steps:

Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0:
>Tonal Contrast
>Pro Contrast
>Brilliance/Warmth

View From Behind The Glass

View From Behind The Glass, originally uploaded by Tony DeSantis Photography.

haven't had many opportunities to go out and shoot lately. (My goal is once a week minimum) well not even that has happened lately.
I have lunch with my older son on Thursday's and I decided to bring the camera along to catch something to work on. As we were walking to CPK I really liked how the reflection of the fountain looked against the mannequins in the window. Instantly I thought HDR and snapped off a few and moved onto lunch.
This is the outcome of that short burst.

The Shot:
Standard 3 shot HDR (+2,0,-2), ISO 200, F/8, 1/15-1/60-1/250 of a second, Hand Held

Post Processing:
>Camera Raw-Black 0, Sharpening 0, Noise Reduction Luminance 40/Luminance Detail 20, Saved all as Tiffs
>Photomatix-Detail Enhancer, Saved as Tiff

CS-5:
>Nik Color Efex Pro-Pro Contrast
>Nik Color Efex Pro-Tonal Contrast
>Nik Color Efex Pro-Glamor Glow (Outside Window Frame Only)
>Adjustment Layer-Hue/Sat-Reduce Oranges from interior light on selective items (Mannequins)
>Adjustment Layer-Hue/Sat-Increase Greens in palm trees
>Adjustment Layer-Hue/Sat-Increase Blues in cloths, Lighting and fountain water
>Adjustment Layer-Vibrance-Global Adjustment
>Topaz Adjust Denoise-Global Adjustment
>High Pass Sharpening
>Framed and Sized for posting