1 + 1 = Great Photo

I have always said that I wouldn't use Photoshop to manipulate my photos, because I prefer them to actually depict what I am seeing through the viewfinder.   Since then I have started using Photoshop to correct colour inconsistencies and 'fix' areas in my photos that the camera doesn't correctly capture.  These inconsistencies are usually due to limitations of the digital camera (and yes they do exist).  Ultimately I am trying to create an image that captures exactly what the eye sees.

So today I finally proceeded past page 20 of the Photoshop guide I brought at Christmas, and found a really handy tool that I knew existed, but I had deliberately ignored until now, masking layers.  Today I broke my own rule and 'created' an image from two photos I had taken.

The first photo is from Cape Schanck.  The photo was taken at sunrise, and I really like the landscape and the theme of the photo, but the colours aren't great, and in particular the sky is overexposed (meaning there is so much light that you can no longer see the details of the clouds). By converting the photo to black and white the landscape is much more dramatic.

The second photo was taken two months later, in a completely different location. I took this photo across a field, with the road running into the horizon, because of the brilliant blue sky dotted with bright white clouds.  I converted this photo to black and white in Photoshop. Oh, and I did remove those powerlines too, they weren't going to be suitable in the landscape of the final photo.

 

Lastly, with a little time and a fair amount of frustration, I combined the two photos into one image.  The result.....

I think the merged photo looks much better than the original photo of the boardwalk at Cape Schanck. I have managed to justify my use of Photoshop to 'create' an image for two reasons: One - I took both photos myself, and neither photo has altered the landscape of the location, Two - The 2 hour drive to Cape Schanck and an overcast sunrise meant that the perfect image was beyond any digital photography techniques, so rather than a third drive to the Cape, I created what the eye can see, but the camera cannot. Tell me what you think....