My exercise routine is simple. I go to the gym early in the morning and, in the evening, I go for an easy walk with my camera at the river. If I do not exercise in the morning, I usually go for a run in the evening without a camera.
The day I took the featured photo, I had a good workout in the morning and went for an easy walk. I brought my Fujifilm XT2 and the 10-24mm lens with me.
I was rewarded with perfect weather complete with beautiful clouds and zero wind. For Montreal Island, which is surrounded by the Saint Laurence River and lakes, quiet days without wind are rare occurrences.
I knew this was the perfect opportunity to photograph the reflections on the river.
Although the composition of the shot is not exactly symmetrical, the reflection of the clouds created an illusion of perfect symmetry.
Shooting
It was an uncomplicated handheld single shot. No bracketing was needed.
Editing & Processing
It was a single RAW processing workflow.
Lightroom (80%)
I changed the aspect ratio from the original 3 x 2 ratio to 16 x 9 to make the composition more panoramic. I used the Crop Overlay Tool.
Next, I used Natural preset from my Landscape Preset Collection as the base for Lightroom Rapid Editing. Then I used the TOOLKIT to boost the Contrast slightly.
The Lightroom Preset Editing Formula: Natural (2, 9, 25, 32)
Photoshop (20%)
In Photoshop, I used the Stamp Tool, to remove the leaves from the top right corner. I also masked distractions like cars across the river.
The rest was a straightforward process of boosting details and noise reduction.
Plugins: DeNoise (noise reduction), Topaz Detail (local contrast boost).
Total time: 15min
