Escapism

Beachcombing Butane

23 Feb, 2010

Whilst walking along the beach today, I came across this can on the beach. As it was a very windy day, I was concerned about getting sand and salt water blasted at my lens. So I put a graduated filter on the lens for protection. However whilst I was composing this shot the lens/filter quickly developed a very visible film of sand and salt water and I did not have the right cleaning products with me so I persevered with taking the shot with a dirty lens. The result was unsurprisingly bad, and you can see the original here. The dirt had diffused the light and given the image an unusual soft focus.

As I had taken 7 bracketed exposures of the can, I decided to create an HDR of the shot to try and recover the detail and so processed the exposures in Photomatix Pro. I then processed the image in Photoshop and used the Topaz Adjust filter to add contrast and sharpness and then made some small curves adjustments. This got me most of the way but the can was still not right. So I used Aperture 3's new brushes to paint the contrast and definition back onto the can. I am actually pleased with the end result and I now think the layer of dirt on the lens actually adds a whole new dimension and glow to the final image...

I would be delighted to hear your thoughts on this one...

(EXIF: Nikon D300 • 24-70mm f/2.8 • 70mm • f/3.2 • HDR • AP • ISO 200)