Neal Osborn
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Abe, if all fishing is local, then saltwater fly fishing is a magnitude more specific – like a closet in a room in a local store. A guide is often worth the money just to get you close to fish – they know the tides, the winds, the patterns, the lore, etc. I only fish flats and beaches that I know well, and usually I still hook up with a local who knows the runs.
As for Pensacola, you couldn’t have picked a worse time to chase fish on the flats. They are not there yet. Also, that is a one tough place to fish in general without a guide and a boat. However, with a guide – well let’s just say I’m hooked. I try to get down more frequently now that I have found Baz (http://www.gulfbreezeguideservice.com/gbgs%20photo%20gallery%202009%20winter.htm).
You need days like this in Pensacola to site cast.
The Pensacola Pompano are challenging but very addictive.
Henry, sorry if this hijacks the goal of your original post – I love your images. Here a few more things to think about with B&W processing on the digital side. Also, great B&W conversion John! On the above post, SEP = Silver Efex Pro by Nik. I too use Viveza (the new Version 2 is incredible) and Color Efex Pro but for different purposes – honestly they are both used often in combination with Define 2.0 for general tonal/color correction early in the editing process. However, for B&W I generally go with Define 2.0 for noise reduction and then move strait to SEP for the B&W conversion because it is sooo good at what it does.
Here is a great trick for editing low light color images using B&W filters. It’s a bit of a stretch but it works! The technique involves blending 3 sets of background copies, each with a B&W layer on a mask which serves to desaturate and correct the exposure corrections. It’s a leap of faith for sure but the final product allows you bring out the underexposed regions without using HDR fancy trickery. It’s amazing what can be done with modern digital B&W processing.
Original RAW image – 50mm, f1.6, 1/60, 1/3EV, ISO 1600 (exposed for the window highlights)
Processed with merged color-and-B&W layered blending
For a lark you can then do a fresh B&W conversion on the edited tonal-corrected image.
p.s. – this is the trick I use to get good B&W fishing lodge shots at night.
Great shots everyone. Hey Henry, the Nik SEP software is a secret weapon piece of software for sure. I had the opportunity to work with a real master of the program and you wouldn’t believe what the software is capable of doing in the hands of a pro . . . a few secrets include the use of “film types” in multiple renders with a subsequent blend; selective color-to-b&w masking; tonal range improvement using the details slider; and the biggest tool is understanding how the software separates photographic zones 1-9 for selective processing (think HDR for b&w). You can’t make an action of the program in PS but you can save a SEP preset in custom settings – I have a ton of these over time.
Here are a few examples of the above SEP tricks applied to some personal/fun photographs I took this weekend while on business. Notice also the carriage buggy shot and how the image blends the b&w and color layers using selective blend modes in PS, I am really loving this effect personally.
