Photo Story: Paddle Boarding into the Sunrise

This sunrise photo was taken on Sanibel Island in southwest Florida. It might seem strange that I was taking a photo of the sunrise instead of the sunset on the gulf coast of Florida.

Sanibel Island – Paddle Boarding into the Sunrise

The southern part of Sanibel Island curves around and faces Fort Myers Beach to the east. The buildings in the photos are the high rise apartments on Fort Myers beach that overlook the Gulf of Mexico.

The beaches on Sanibel Island attract a lot of people at sunrise: photographers, shell collectors and paddle boarders. This paddle boarder was paddling right into the sunrise. I thought his silhouette added to the composition of the photo.

Paddle Boarding into the Sunrise Photo Details

Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M1
Lens: Olympus 12-40mm f2.8 Pro Lens
Focal Length: 40mm
ISO: 1600
Aperture: f/8.0
Shutter Speed: 1/60 of a second
Exposure Compensation: -3/10
Lighting: Cloudy Sunrise

Photo Processing

Cropped the photo, increased saturation and contrast, decreased the highlights and reduced noise in Lightroom 5.
Used the Photo Pop filter in Topaz Adjust to add contrast, clarity, and saturation to the photo.

Applied the Lighten/Darken Center and Brilliance/Warmth Filters in Color Efex Pro 4.
Selectively removed noise from the photo using Topaz DeNoise.

Written by Martin Belan

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