Amazing Marina del Rey Sunset Kodachromes by Pedro Szekely

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Check out the amazing photography taken by Marina del Rey’s own, Pedro Szekely:

Nice winter morning in Marina del Rey.

It rained today and then the sky opened up for a very nice sunset. Blend of two exposures in Photoshop. One exposed for the sunset and one for the boats.

And we did not get rain, just a few drops and then it cleared out. We didn't even have enough clouds for the sunset.

Day is over. After the threat of a storm we got mostly clear skies.

This is the view from a hill a few blocks from my house. The Los Angeles International airport, LAX, is in the foreground. What you see in the background is not a cloud, it is the smoke from the fires. If you look carefuly, you can see the fire front close to the tower. The Shot: -ISO 100, 85mm, f10, 1/40sec on tripod. Processing: - Imagenomic noise reduction. - Curves for contrast. - Layer with Soft Light for contrast on the airplanes. - Nik Color Efex: Neutral Density. - Nik Color Efex: Tonal Contrast, very slight. - Nik Color Efex: Glamour Glow with very low opacity. - No color manipulation on this image, just neutral density and contrast.

Yesterday's sunset in Marina del Rey. ISO 100, 75mm, f20, 1/8sec. Closed in on the sunset to avoid the very dark clouds further out. HDR of -2, 0, +2 exposures using Photomatix Details Enhancer. Strenght set to 30%, but smoothing set to -10 and microcontrast to +10. This produced a rather flat image, but had the sunset and the boats. Nik White Neutralizer and Tonal Contrast on the boats, Coffee Graduated Filter on the sky. In PS: overlay layer for contrast plus luminosity mask Curves. Burning around the edges.

This is the time of year for nice sunsets in Los Angeles. I finally got out with my camera an HDR sequence of this sunset. I wanted the boats to be clearly visible, but still have the sunset colors. I tried using f18, but even though there was no wind, the boats do move quite a bit, and Photomatix did a poor job of blending. I discovered that if you tell Photomatix to adjust for moving objects the quality is much lower than if you just ask for adjusting for background movement. So, for this shot I used the f5.6, and didn't get the nice starburst for the lights that had come on. ISO 100, 16mm, f5.6, (1/25, 1/6, 0.6 secs) Used Photomatix details enhancer to produce an image with very few shadows (low smoothness). In Nik added Tonal Contrast on the boats, Pro Contrast, a Coffee Graduated Filter with small opacity. Used Viveza to add a bit of brightness and contrast to the reds because I remembered being struck by how bright the reds were when I was out there.

Marina del Rey sunset shot from one of tham main canals.

View of the marina from my office. ISO 200, 10mm, f11, 7 exposures spaced 1 fstop. HDR processing in Photomatix using Details Enhancer. I've tried this scene many times in Photomatix. All the previous attempts were done with 3 exposures using my camera's bracketing. I am much happier with the 7 exposures, much less noise and smoother clouds. Still did Imagenomic Noiseware. The windows in my building have a "energy efficiency" film that results in a very strong purlple cast. Did a hue shift in PS and Remove Color Cast in Nik, but could not get the colors I wanted. Added 10% Tonal Contrast, Pro Contrast and Darken Lighten Center. Lots of little cloning to remove sensor dust and dirt in the windows.

View of the marina from my office when the sun had gone down and the lights started to get turned on. ISO 200, 11mm, f7.1, 8 exposures. HDR build using Photomatix, and tonemapped using Details Enhancer. Imagenomic noise reduction, Nik Pro Contrast and Remove Color Cast to try to neutralize the purple cast created by the energy conservation film on our windows. Curves in PS and slight blurring to tame some of the tonemapping on the clouds.

Another sunset view from my office. ISO 100, 13mm, f8, 7 exposures. Used Photomatix Details Enhancer. Followed by two rounds of noise reduction, with masks so less noise reduction was done on the boats. Used Nik Tonal Contrast to bring out the details in the boats and buildings, masking to leave the sky and sidewalks alone. Pro Contrast to neutralize the blue/purple cast and add contrast to the water and boats. Photoshop surface blur on the water to eliminate remaining noise and make the water smooth. Slight Graduated Coffee Filter and Darken/Lighten Center. Photoshop smart sharpen on the boats and buildings.

Sunset from Feb 9. It's been almost 2 months since I posted a photo. Hard to believe ... I've been very busy. This was the nicest sunset this winter when I was in my office. ISO 100, 12mm, f5. HDR of 9 exposures, 1/50 to 5 seconds. Processed inPhotomatix and Nik Color Efex: White Neutralizer and Pro Contrast to neutralize the blue/purple cast from the window tint. Slight Tonal Contrast and Graduated Filter. Imagenomic noise reduction.

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