Pembrokeshire Landscapes by ‘gashwen‘

This is a nice example of a long-exposure seascape. In our tutorial Ocean Blur: take long exposure pictures of the sea you can be proud of we detail just what you need to do to take fantastic seascapes.

You might also like:

Common mistakes at every shutter speed (and the best settings you should use)
10 tips for better coastal landscapes
The 10 Commandments of Landscape Photography (and how to break them)

Coastal Landscape, by Yuri Prokopenko

Seascape XIV, by Peter Henry

Night Seascape, by Yuri Prokopenko

Seascape Long Exposure, by Darren Shilson

White Park Calm, by Gary McParland

Seascape, by Gary McParland

Multicolour Seascape, by George Margelis

Morning, East Malaysia, by Lee Seesy

Bloody Mary, by Steve Clasper

Green Tree, by Ram Rugas

Kelanang. Selangor, Malaysia, by Lee Seesy

Iceland Coast, Paul Souders

Sunset at Dunstanburgh, by ‘BHOGA’

Storm at Sea, by Igor Goncharenko

Marshall Beach and Golden Gate Bridge, by Shaun Ramsey

Sandbanks Groyne, by Scott Mabey

Golden Door, Big Sur Coast, by Stuart Gordon

Beachy Head, by Peter_T

Waiting, by Mark Dunham

Double Vision, by Christian Lim

Seaweed, by Igor Goncharenko

Rocky Coast, by Darren Harmon

Sky on Fire, by Igor Goncharenko

Seascape, by Tommy Eliassen

Beautiful seascape, by Ignor Goncharenko
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Sunsets are always a popular subject for many photographers, but sometimes the image you end up capturing isn’t as vibrant or amazing as the scene in front of you. Many problems can occur when you point your camera towards the sun – extreme over – and under – exposure and severe lens flare can ruin your shots. The best time to capture a sunset is when the sun is just disappearing over the horizon. With Photoshop’s powerful tools it’s easy to bring colours to life in sunset scenes. Here we’ll use advanced toning techniques in Elements to enhance the existing colours. By creating a customised gradient overlay and pinpointing 3 areas of colour, you can boost the vibrancy of the sky and foreground to create a scene with much greater depth. Watch the video to find out how it’s done.

It’s easy enough to convert a colour photo to black and white, but much trickier to get a monochrome image with a healthy sweep of tones from black shadows through to grey midtones and white highlights.

1. Colour and contrast

Our colour shot (ConvertToMono_2.CR2) will look better as a mono shot. To create a black and white image with a strong range of tones you need to tweak colour and contrast to give the Convert to Black and White command more information to work with.

2. White balance

An incorrect white balance setting can cause white areas to look orange or blue. These tinted areas can end up looking grey when the shot’s converted to mono. Click the White Balance Eyedropper Tool on an area that should look white. It will render the highlights true white.

3. Exposure, Recovery and Fill Light

Press [O] to activate the highlight clipping warning – red indicates that pixels are clipped. Drag the Recovery slider to a value of 40 to increase cloud detail. To claw back more highlights drag the Exposure slider left to -0.25. Push the Fill Light slider to 35 to brighten midtones.

4. Better blacks

The Black slider enhances the strength of the shadows. Hold [Alt] while dragging to see which shadow pixels will clip. A value of 20 gives a stronger tonal range, which will give more information to work with, enabling you to create a more dramatic mono print.

Mono images can be given extra warmth by converting them to sepia. To create the classy, antique look you can always use Photoshop to alter the hue and saturation of your raw format image, but Adobe Camera Raw’s Split Toning feature can be used to create more depth. You’ll also learn how to use the Balance tool to accentuate the tint in shadows and highlights.

1. Set preferences

Our source file is a JPEG, but we can still edit it using the tools in the CS3 Raw 4. plug-in. Go to Edit > Preferences > File Handling. In the File Compatibility section tick the Prefer Adobe Camera Raw for JPEG Files box. The Sepia_toning_before.jpg source file will now open in the Raw interface.

2. Go grey

For an image with more ‘punch’, click on the Basic tab. Drag the Exposure slider to +0.35 to brighten the whites. Drag blacks to 5 for stronger shadows. Click on the HSL/ Grayscale tab. Click on the Convert to Grayscale box. This creates a monochrome version of your image.

3. Tint the highlights

Click on the Split Toning tab. Drag the Highlight’s Hue slider to 42. The Saturation slider’s preview bar will show you a wide range of reddish brown colours. By setting the Highlights slider’s Saturation value to 36, the highlights and brighter midtones will be tinted a warm, sepia colour.

4. Tint the shadows

Go to the Shadows slider and drag Hue to 42. A range of sepia tones will appear in the Shadow slider’s Saturation preview bar. Set Saturation to 32 for a more gentle shadow tint. You can use this slider to tint the shadows any colour you like for striking duotone images.

5. Get the balance right

You can accentuate the tint in either the shadows or highlights by using the Balance slider. As this shot consists mostly of midtones and highlights the shadow values are less tinted. Drag Balance to -56 to increase the strength of the sepia tint throughout the image’s darker tones.

The greatest skill in blurring moving water is picking the right seen and composing the shot. It’s a tricky process, and ou’ll need somewhere with good light and stability, as the best blurring effects are gained by using slow shutter speeds. Above all else, don’t be afraid to move around the scene and experiment with different angles and methods.

Creating a sense of motion in your images can be a tricky technique to master, and blurring moving water is no exception.

But it‘s not the process of blurring water in a photograph that‘s the difficult part, rather it‘s choosing the ideal scene and being able to compose it well.

Ask yourself, are you trying to capture an image that‘s dominated by a mass of water sweeping across the scene, or going for a more subtle suggestion of flow?

Your choice of lens is also important – for shots with impact and drama a wide-angle lens is a must.

Essential equipment

To blur the water in a scene you‘ll need to shoot using slow shutter speeds, so use a sturdy tripod to keep the camera steady. By selecting a small aperture (such as f/16), you‘ll get the slow shutter speed you need, but if lighting conditions are too bright fit a neutral density filter on the lens. This will reduce the amount of light entering the lens, leading to longer exposure times.

Changing shutter speeds

The slower the shutter speed you use, the greater the movement effect in the water.

Adding an NDx8 neutral density filter to the lens will cut down the amount of light getting through to the camera‘s sensor by 3 stops, which enables you to soften the movement of the water.

Move around the scene

When you‘ve arrived at your perfect scene, you really need to take a step back and examine everything around you. Sometimes, just focusing on something as simple as a few leaves on a rock with water swirling around it can produce an amazing abstract image. But while the motion of the water mixed with the stillness of the rock makes for a great combination, there‘s a whole spectrum of water scenes to capture.

For example, a beautiful woodland scene that has a suggestion of water can have just as much impact. Try different viewpoints of the same scene, shooting low to include more foreground or shooting from a high vantage point to reveal more water in the distance and a wider view of the landscape.

Don‘t be afraid to experiment, especially if you‘ve trekked miles to find your scene!

After capturing the scene, above, simply swinging the tripod-mounted camera around and zooming in on an area of rocks gave a more creative abstract shot, above. A simple move, but the outcome is a totally different shot.

Using a polariser

A polarising filter can give sensational results, especially when the sun is positioned at a 45 degree angle to you.

Using a circular polariser for this shot has almost removed the reflection of the sun and created deep colours. It‘s also given the floating leaves punch. A polariser also reduces up to 2 stops of light entering the lens, so can be used to achieve slow shutter speeds.

Architecture lends itself perfectly to abstract shots, with shape and form taking centre stage for artistic photography. Towns and cities boast a wide variety of buildings, old and new, that lend themselves perfectly to stunning abstracts. The trick to finding the most interesting spots is by training your eye to see them in the first place.

Towns and cities boast countless buildings, both old and new, ripe for some stunning abstract shots.

With shape and form taking centre stage in abstract shots, architecture lends itself perfectly. Even the ugliest of buildings (sometimes especially the ugly ones) can be transformed into striking abstracts with a little imagination and careful composition. The trick is teaching yourself to stop yourself looking at the big picture and go close instead.

Pattern & form

The key to great architectural abstracts is training your eye to see them. At first it can be difficult to stop seeing buildings as whole structures and start isolating pattern, form and shape.

Look up and you‘ll be rewarded with views free from cars, people and rubbish. Your compositions will improve dramatically when they‘re free from such distracting elements. A telephoto zoom lens is a good choice for close, clean-looking shots, but it‘s worth packing a wide-angle or fisheye lens, too.

Remember to move around, just a few steps can make all the difference - for example, shifting so you can‘t see a building‘s windows, just the ledges.

Finally, don‘t forget the importance of the quality of light and weather. Golden light will enhance your images, but blue skies add freshness and threatening cloud build drama. Now there‘s no excuse to stay indoors…

Making the most of colour

Most old buildings are made from a single material and are therefore a single colour. In contrast, lots of new builds have multicoloured facades or splashes of colour.

Make the most of this colour – it‘s great for adding oomph and giving your abstracts a contemporary feel. Keep your eye open for brand-new developments…

Explore every location

There’s more than one shot to be had at every location you find, so make it a priority to really work your scene and you‘ll go home with more keepers. Once you‘ve got the shot you initially spotted, try as many different angles and compositions as possible.

Be sure to walk around the building - you might have been missing the light hitting it on the other side.

More often than not, a simple scene will provide a better picture than a busy one, and by positioning large subjects in the background you can draw the viewer’s eye into your shot. Our short guide to spotting the perfect scene for a black and white shot will have you looking at things you may not have normally considered.

How to spot your scene…

Create depth

By positioning the building in the far distance, the image’s main point of interest is in the background. The eye is drawn through the image to the building, the derelict wall in the foreground giving the shot a sense of depth.

Look for balance

In this image, there are three main points of interest: the derelict cottage in the background that provides shape and form on the horizon; the glimmers of white shining through from the hill; and the lone sheep. Three is the magic number!

Keep it simple

Sometimes it can be too easy to miss the perfect shot because of a scene‘s simplicity. But keeping it simple is often the best policy. Here, the building dominates the frame but there‘s plenty of foreground and background interest.

Use natural props

Finding rustic objects can really boost the impact of a mono image. They may not look that interesting when you come across them, but try to imagine how they‘ll appear in black and white. Tones and textures can really make a shot.

Creating black and white photo art isn’t simply a matter of shooting in a different mode, or converting a colour image. If you want to produce pictures that really stand out then you’ll need to master the essential skills of Dodging and Burning to bring life and depth to your final pieces.

1. Brush and burn

Select the Burn Tool from the palette. Choose Shadows from the Range menu and choose an exposure around 7%. Make sure the brush is large and feathery then begin to burn the sky on the right-hand side.

2. Deepen the shadows

To deepen the shadows in the water in the foreground, increase the brush diameter size to around 1,000. Make a few, short, swift strokes over the water to increase contrast.

3. Dodge the mid-tones

To pull back and even the heavy tone around the bushes in the centre of the frame, dodge the mid-tones. Select the Dodge Tool by clicking and holding the Burn Tool in the palette.

4. Dodge the highlights

Finally, dodge a few highlights to increase overall contrast. Select Highlights from the drop-down in the Range and keep Exposure at 7%. Reduce brush size to 250 pixels and stroke the naturally bright areas.