I had a dream of visiting Alaska for years. This was all because one of my friends send me brochures about whale watching photography. I was excited to see excursion brochures that guarantee we will all see whales in actions! They don’t lie. But the reality situation was not as beautiful as it advertised . I stood on the deck of the excursion boat holding my 150-600 Sigma lens. In a cold and windy. Especially, for a tropical senior man like me. Unfortunately, all I got were the scene as in Original 1 and Original 2.
I challenged myself to compose them into an altered reality project for our DDG 34 - July 2025. My first challenge was to change the harsh back light image (Original 1) to something soft, smooth and dreamy. I apply Nik 6 Silver Efex filter then fine tune it with a number of local adjustments. Prepare all whale actions by applying luminosity mask to get smooth and realistic edges. Position them to create the nature beauty. But I realize. There are many imperfections and definite room for improvements. Therefore, your comments and suggestions would be much appreciated.
10 comments posted
Patrick O’Brien
Very good and believable, but I would get rid of the tail at far right, or darken it overall. Also, consider repositioning and sizing the orca fins / tails to visualize more depth. Posted: 07/11/2025 06:48:28
Frans Gunterus
Patrick. Thanks for your comments and suggestions. Posted: 07/11/2025 21:24:22
Frans Gunterus
Please review my response below. Posted: 07/25/2025 01:36:42
Jan Handman
I like the edits you made to the background Frans. You accomplished smooth and dreamy. I agree with Patrick that it would create more depth if the fins closer to the viewer were much larger, and then make the ones in the distance smaller as they get farther away. The bright white tail could then be placed closer to one of the boats and much smaller. How exciting to be able to see these wonderful creatures in the wild; your composite captures that sense of wonder. Well done. Posted: 07/14/2025 21:09:30
Frans Gunterus
Please review my response below. Posted: 07/25/2025 01:36:23
Peter Katz
Frans, I agree with Patrick and Jan. I think that re-working the whale tales and fins could add a lot to your image. I like how you turned what might have been a disappointing... well certainly a physically uncomfortable whale watch... to an image composition challenge. Your technique summary spurred my interest in Nik 6 Silver Efex and luminosity masks. I have relied on using the curves adjustment in PS to accent various parts of an image - I can see how luminosity accomplishes this in a more controlled and better way. Posted: 07/16/2025 22:09:19
Frans Gunterus
Please review my response below. Posted: 07/25/2025 01:36:31
Frans Gunterus
Thanks to Patrick, Jan and Peter. Your suggestions are really valuable for me. Posted: 07/25/2025 01:35:53
Jan Handman
Well done Frans. I like it! Posted: 07/27/2025 21:03:41
Steve Wessing
I like the way you balanced the contrasts to create leading lines through the image. I'm not bothered by the size of the whales. The perspective looks natural enough. Posted: 07/28/2025 05:13:51
