Photo Story: Old Orchard Beach Pier, Maine
Old Orchard Beach is a bustling place in the middle of the summer tourist season. However, when we visited Old Orchard Beach in the middle of September much of the crowds were gone. It was just perfect for an afternoon walk on the beach.
Old Orchard Beach Pier
Old Orchard Beach has a long beach, shops, amusement park, and a long pier that juts out into the ocean. The pier has shops, restaurants, and pubs, many of which were already closed in mid September.
The pier did make a terrific photo opportunity with the low tide and wet sand reflecting the clouds and pier. I didn’t make it to Old Orchard Beach until mid afternoon, so I used a circular polarizer to bring out the reflection and darken the blue skies.
Old Orchard Beach Pier Photo Details
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M1
Lens: Olympus 12-40mm f2.8 Pro Lens
Focal Length: 21mm
ISO: 200
Aperture: f/10
Shutter Speed: 1/200 of a second
Exposure Compensation: +0
Lighting: Bright, Partly Cloudy Afternoon
Pier Photo Processing
- Cropped the photo in Lightroom 5.
- Used the Color and Contrast Boost I filter in Topaz Clarity to bring out the colors in the photo and increase contrast.
- Selectively lightened and darkened the image using Viveza 2 from Google.
- In Color Efex Pro 4, I Used the Detail Extractor filter to bring out the details of the pier. I used the + control point so the filter was only applied to the pier.
- Selectively removed noise from the photo using Topaz DeNoise and a layer mask in Photoshop.
- Selectively sharpened the photo using the Unsharp Mask Filter and a layer mask in Photoshop CC 2014. I copied the layer mask from the prior step and inverted it.
- Added a vignette to the image using the Vignette Lens filter in Color Efex Pro 4.
Written by Martin Belan
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