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Colorado Adventure and Editorial Photographer

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Speedlights and Topaz Adjust 5

June 12, 2014 • Blog, Tech Tips

standstonesss

I have found a combination of techniques that really makes a stunning shot when put together.  First, wait for a moody sky with good detail and contrast with some stormy clouds.  Then find a subject to work with this moody concept.  Add some of your own light to punch up the contrast on your subject….shoot picture….then really bring it to life using Topaz Adjust 5.  One day in Scotland we visited some standing stones, ancient ceremonial artifacts from times long ago.  The scene looked pretty flat when we arrived, and there was a slow drizzle falling from the sky.  But the sky had moody clouds, and the standing stones just begged to be lit with a speed light to make them pop out of the scene.  We used three speed lights at different angles, all triggered using a SU800 transmitter.  I set my ambient background exposure to -1.5 to darken the scene and add mood.  It only took a couple shots to get a good one.  In the computer, I used the ‘spicify’ action.  I added this to a separate layer in photoshop, and reduced the opacity to to add just the right amount of the effect without overwhelming the shot.  Try Topaz out, it adds some amazing effects to images.

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