San Gimignano, Topaz Clarity finished with Topaz Lens Effects, Vignette
Topaz software
I captured this image of San Gimignano, Italy at sunset in late October in 2012 while teaching a workshop. The sky that evening had some clouds but not where I needed them and so we waited. The clients had taken some nice images of San Gimignano with the vineyards in the foreground and a clear blue sky. We had starting the days shooting before sunrise and everyone was getting a little antsy and were ready for dinner. A few had already pack up and were waiting by the van to head home for the night.
I knew that the best chance for everyone to get a great image we needed to wait for the light. I had been on location once when the sky was uninteresting and decided to pack up and leave only to see a spectacular sunset in my rear view mirror. There is never any guaranties on what type of light we will have when we are out shooting but I can guarantee that we will be at great locations capturing the changing light and waiting for the the magic to happen.
San Gimignano, unprocessed image
This unprocessed image was captured as the clouds rolled in after sunset with an aperture of F/11 at .5sec. After the sun set I was able to eliminate clipping in both the highlight and shadow areas.
Topaz Clarity Color and Contrast Boost II
I decided to process this image using Topazes new clarity software. Often I will stack an image in layers and this worked well for this image. The 1st layer I applied Color and Contrast Boost II and liked the effect but like Oliver Twist I always want a little more. The next layer I applied CityScape II and which I liked even more but kept looking at other affects and liked Macro II. All these effects were processed in progressive layers with Topaz’s Clarity software. But always wanting a little more I decided to vignette this image using the Lenses Effects software by Topaz and was excited with the finished image.
Topaz Clarity CityScape II
Topaz Clarity, Macro II
June 18th, 2013 at 9:46 am
Hi Paul. Your work is superb! and you have such a creative photographic eye! However, you should change your copy above to say October 2012, not 2013, since it would be impossible to have captured the image at that time, unless you are now able to transport yourself into the future. Just sayin’ …LOL…☺ warm regards, Laurie Marrocco
June 22nd, 2013 at 12:13 pm
Hello Paul. That is a great development of your San Gimignano image. I like what you are doing with the Topaz software. I believe that San Gimignano is my most favorite place in all of Italy so far, I haven’t been to all of the places you visit in your workshops yet, but found SG to be completely charming and enchanting. I think I could easily spend a week or a month there… Steve Johnson
June 24th, 2013 at 10:56 pm
Thanks Steve, glad you are enjoying the processing work with Topaz. The village of San Gimignano in the province of Siena is a great area to photograph. During this Octobers Tuscan photographic workshop we will be staying over one night at a villa just a few steps from one of the city gates. It would be great if we could spend a week in each location but there is never enough time during a workshop to see everything. Ciao Paul