Split Point Lighthouse Photo

Photographer’s Note

The Split Point Lighthouse, affectionately known as the “White Queen” for obvious reasons, was built in 1891. It provides a beacon overlooking Eagle Rock not only for seafarers but also to travelers on the Great Ocean Road. We were driving down Ocean Road, (from the east several miles away), when we saw this. Not being familiar with the area, it was one of those cases where I saw and took the picture(s), before driving another few miles to find out what it was I shot.

Much of this from: http://www.greatoceanroad.org/surfcoast/town.asp?townid=34

Workflow was as follow:
Shot in Raw - NEF files adjusted for highlights and shadow
Rotated to level and cropped
Adjusted levels
Adjusted curves
Added +10 Saturation
Dodged and burned with overlay layer (5% opacity brush) – lightened rock and darkened sky (slight)
Added a layer for sharpening and “over-sharpened” with Smart Sharpen
Modified sharpening with a layer mask (10% opacity black brush)
Saved as a tiff
For this post, further cropped, reduced image size, framed, and saved as a jpeg

MLINES, Matthew-Watt, pablominto, asajernigan, pierrefonds, jusninasirun has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Dpbours (220) 2007-05-21 22:30

Hi John,

It is a wonderful composition, but you were a bit unfortunate with the haze in the sky I guess. It makes the entire picture very soft. I have the same gear you have and I also noticed that with a slight haze in the sky, the picture becomes soft very quickly with the 18-200 VR. What helps then is shooting with a Neutral Density filter or ND Gradual filter. Sometimes even combined with the polarizer to make the picture a bit harder. That makes it quite dark, but shooting raw exposure can be adjusted in Photoshop. I rather shoot too dark with lots of details than too light - the last is more difficult to adjust.
Thanks for sharing this one! It is a good composition!

Greetings, Dennis

trinko (2940) 2007-05-21 22:54

great colors but it needs sharpening. nice composition.

MLINES (10884) 2007-05-22 0:17

Hi John. Well cropped and presented seascape in Victoria. I haven't been here for years but you have provided a great reminder of this area's beauty. I like the layering throughout. TFS. Murray.

Matthew-Watt (4463) 2007-05-22 5:24

Hello John,
Beautiful seascape. Lighthouses always seem to have a haunting, ominous feel about them, gazing out to sea. I think that your image, like many of mine, has some sharpness issues, more likely a combined result of haze and compression. As you would probably guess, I am a big fan of bold frames and borders, and I am pleased to say that I am impressed with your effort here. It helps to accentuate height and panoramic width. A great success also with your use of layering; the dense cloud bank seems it could be distant hills. Sky and sea form almost equal 50% portions of your image; some may say that this is too formal but I am a fan of this formality, it certainly works well in this instance. The earthy textures of the cliff faces, lit up perfectly are a good contrast with the moody ocean. A great image, a great success. Well done.
Matt

pablominto (40712) 2007-05-22 5:31

Hello John,
This is an attractive composition, where all elements work nicely together!
The point of view works well, so does the division of the frame...
Attractive colours, good feeling of depth!
Greetings,
Pablo -

gunbud (27879) 2007-05-22 22:53

Hi John,
Wonderful capture of this pleasing seascape with the beacon standing tall and seen in exacting detail. Very strong clear colors.
Regards, Tom

jmcl (13809) 2007-05-24 17:56

Hi John,

I love the color and tone .. especially on the rock and the lighthouse. I love the layers in the sky .. wish it was sharper. Wonderful vast scene.

take care,

John

asajernigan (14132) 2007-06-08 7:56

John,
Your composition here is very good. Thanks for including the sea and the expanse in front of the lighthouse this gives the photo nice direction. The lighting and colors are great with nice sharpness and DOF.
TFS,
Asa

kupelihafiz (158) 2007-06-09 7:53

Hi John,
Great composition and blue tones..Overall very pleasing colors.You made a great deal of effort for it.Very nice editing.
I read some of the comments that say sharpness is not enough.I don't agree with sharpness issue though.One needs to see the original capture first at 100% pixel level and decide..otherwise there is no way to know from a downsized version if it is sharp ..While resizing,it's possible to sharpen or soften.But lens and motion softness or focusing errors are more of a problem than resizing issues.

Regards
Kupeli

Zepter (2) 2007-07-10 10:22

Hi John!

Nice picture!
Good colors and nice contrast...
very good depth and nice pov...
tfs
zepter

jmdias (19267) 2007-08-03 18:09

john

very nice landscape. Your photo got a nice light, colors and POV. Sharpness isn´t so nice but I think landscape was very far

jorge

pierrefonds (26289) 2007-08-25 4:59

Hi John,

A nice image of the sea, of the cliffs and of the Split Point Lighthouse, the photo has a good composition, DOF and nice colors. Thanks for sharing.

Pierre

jusninasirun (10203) 2008-05-13 6:55

Hello John. Lighthouses always interesting to look at and to be photographed. I don't have many opportunities to do that here. I like the way you have included much of the saturated sea with small ripples in the foreground giving the perspective with pleasant lighting some depth against the mountains in the background. Superb framing and very well done. Thanks for sharing and best regards. Jusni