Star of India | San Diego, CA

Workflow before and after Lightroom, Nik Color Efex Pro, and Topaz Clarity

Today I came across another gem in my portfolio that was crying out to be reprocessed. I captured this photo last year during a photowalk along the San Diego Bay waterfront at the Maritime Museum. I’ve taken many photos over the years of the Star of India, but what I like about this photo is the angle. You aren’t likely to find any other photo like it and believe me, nearly everyone who has visited San Diego has photographed this iconic ship.

Since I’ve already mentioned that this is a reprocess I’d like to do a quick walk-through of on what I did to enhance this image:

  • Initial processing was done in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5. I made minor lens correction adjustments.
  • Next I exported the photo in Nik Color Efex Pro 4 where I applied the Tonal Contrast and Bleach Bypass filters.
  • I then took the photo into Topaz Clarity to bring out a bit more detail.
  • Finally, I did a few finishing touches in Lightroom  where I reduced the noise and did a bit of sharpening.

Workflow before and after Lightroom, Nik Color Efex Pro, and Topaz Clarity

Here is a larger version of the finished image:

Masts and rigging on the Star of India Tall Ship in San Diego, CA

I really love how the processing brought out the detail in the sails and the texture of the clouds. To see how I initially processed this image a year ago (entirely in Lightroom 4) visit this blog post.

What do you think? Do you find yourself going back and re-processing old images? Share your favorite in the comments!

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