Here's another favorite 2014 image. This was from a really fun evening photographing the Southern California Coast with my cousin Stephen in February. Let's be honest, anytime I'm down in Southern California in February it's fun, but thrown in family and good light??? It doesn't get much better.
I was drawn to the patterns this freshwater stream was carving into the sand and the way that the pier connected the foreground and sky. It didn't take me long to scout out the location I wanted for sunset.
Once I got the files home, I completed my RAW edits in Adobe's Lightroom 5 before doing my finishing work in onOne's Perfect Effects using both Dynamic Contrast and Fall Color Enhancing filters. Several of my clients have this image hanging on metal at 24"x36" and I love the way it looks.
Scripps Fisheye: Nikon D4, Nikon 16mm Fisheye at F4 for 1/15th sec at ISO 1600.
Doorway in time: Nikon D4, Nikon 70-200 VRII, at F6.3 for 20 seconds at ISO 100.
Before the sunset, I played with a fisheye handheld using Stacey as a model. After sunset I used the soft light with a longer lens and a neutral density filter to slow my shutter speed. It was a great night to play with surreal compositions.
-Hudson