Virginia Beach - Sunrise

[dennylee60]

Hello all,
I just returned from Virginia Beach for business and had lots of opportunities to take pictures. I am going to post a series of them. Any suggestion/comments on these sunrise shots?

[Chrislowshow]

yea, #2 is great, though i say lighten the first a little bit, especially the left side

[dennylee60]

Good point. I will try that.

[GB1]

Denny - They both have good potential. I like how the sun is a little muted and how the waves display so much energy.

The first thing I noticed immediately is that the horizon isn't straight. This can be a little trickier than it seems to get perfect, esp when you're dealing with a perfectly straight line. Plus is was early and dark. Since I knew you wouldnt mind I straightened them up and sharpened them a bit, plus did a few color adjustments... Let me know what you think.
GB

[dennylee60]

Thanks Greg. I did not noticed the horizon wasn't stright. And I do like the color for the second picture.

[Chrislowshow]

yea, the best way i describe the color is.......heavenly?

[Greg McCary]

What's the best way to straigten a horizon in PS, without cropping and losing part of the picture?

[GB1]

What's the best way to straigten a horizon in PS, without cropping and losing part of the picture?

Greg - I used Corel PhotoPaint, but basically, I just rotated the entire scene a little till it looked right. But here's the catch: you have to enable anti-aliasing. If you dont you'll see a staircasing effect. Oh and you will lose some of the sides, dont see any way to get out of that.

GB

[readingr]

Wonderfull colours, I prefer the beach scene to the pampas grass or whatever they are:

As to getting the horizon level, I use the crop tool:
1. Draw a very thin box across the horizon
2. Rotate so that the horizon is level
3. expand the box to the edges of the photo
4. Click OK

Easy to use and guaranteed results

Roger

[LeeIs]

What's the best way to straigten a horizon in PS, without cropping and losing part of the picture?

Roger just showed you a good way to straighten the horizon. But not losing part of the shot is impossible. You can't go around that. The amount you lose is proportional to how tilted your shot was.

I also like the second shot better. GB's edit removed the grey cast and popped up the colours a bit more, which it needed but a nice shot nevertheless.