The Story Behind the Photo: Valentine’s Day Sunrise on the Beach
Valentine’s Day Beach Sunrise Photo Story
On our last day at Punta Cana, I was walking the beach on Valentine’s Day just before sunrise. As I rounded a bend on the beach I saw this couple taking in the sunrise from a point on the beach.
As I approached the couple and said good morning, I noticed that she was drawing a heart on the beach with their names inside the heart. What a great way to start Valentine’s Day.
The photo was taken handheld, stooping down in order to get a low angle of the beach and tide. The 5-axis image stabilization built in the Olympus OM-D E-M1 helped to get a sharp photo in the low light just before sunrise.
Valentine’s Day Beach Sunrise Photo Details
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M1
Lens: Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 lens
Focal Length: 21mm
ISO: 500
Aperture: f/8.0
Shutter Speed: 1/125 second
Exposure Compensation: -.3
Lighting: Partly cloudy morning just at sunrise
Beach Sunrise Post Processing
- Cropped the photo and straightened the horizon in Lightroom 5
- Used Google Viveza 2 to slightly increase the saturation in some areas and selectively brighten the clouds
- Cleaned up the beach and sky using the Healing Brush Tool in Photoshop CC
- Used Topaz DeNoise and a Layer Mask in Photoshop CC to selectively remove the noise from the sky
- Selectively sharpened the image using the Unsharp Filter and a layer mask in Photoshop CC
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