When I left my house for today's photo, a light rain fell and there was very little visibility. In other words, it was a perfect day to photograph a lighthouse. The Lords of Cosmic Jest, on the other hand, saw fit to end the rain and begin clearing the skies just as I crossed the IWay Bridge that separates Providence from East Providence. By the time I parked at the Riverside Station section of the East Bay Bike Path, there was no rain to be had, and the sun was starting to peek out from behind the clouds. I still walked the 1/2-mile down the bike path to this vantage point, but clearly the scenery isn't what I envisioned when I left my house. To salvage the situation, I stepped back to the other side of the path and set the lighthouse well into the background. The color forming in the foreground leaves and the wet wooden fence set the tone, framing the lighthouse that was now all too clearly visible under brightening skies. It works, but it's not what I'd planned!
Post processing started with a brilliant warm filter in Topaz Adjust. I adjusted adaptive exposure, regions, contrast, and protect highlights. Back in PSE I duplicated the background layer and took that into Topaz B&W FX. There I applied a classic filter, and adjusted color sensitivity sliders, adaptive exposure, regions, contrast, boost black, boost white, and protect highlights. In PSE I placed the b&w layer on top of the color layer using a high pass filter in soft light blend mode. I then applied a levels adjustment and a deep blue photo filter.
