First Fleet Monument, Botany Bay, Sydney

Posted by Andrew Gould (Sydney, Australia) on 7 August 2007 in Lifestyle & Culture and Portfolio.

This has a list of the names of all those who were on these ships that arrived at Botany Bay on the 18th of January 1788 under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip.

This is a blended image, taken from two versions of the same RAW file: one for the highlights and the other for the shadows.

The best article I've found on how to do this is here:
luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/digital-blending.shtmlMy Link Text

I've used the layer mask method a number of times with good results, although in this case, I used the more time consuming painted mask method. This required me to uncover the highlight layer from the edge of the sand upwards.

I actually try to avoid using the blended exposure technique as much as possible. I find it much simpler to habitually underexpose by 2/3 of a stop in contrasty situation (i.e., almost all the time), to not burn out the highlights. I then bring out the shadow detail in postprocessing.

Thanks for visiting my pages. I welcome all comments and any constructive criticism.

Thursday 24th of June:
Just returned last night from the trip to Northern Australia, during which I was hardly able to get online at all. Thanks for all the comments lately. It will take me a few days, but I'll catch up with return visits to your pages.

VFXY Photos | Cool Photoblogs | Listed on Photoblogs.org