During our last cruise on the Carnival Mardi Gras, I had an opportunity to get some drone footage and photos of the Carnival Dream while it was coming into port. I don’t know if the ship knew I was flying around it with the drone, but I got some great content. Here is a photo I took when I was done and the ship was sailing away from me.
Carnival Glory in Jamaica
Here is a video of the Carnival Glory docked in Jamaica captured via my drone. I captured this footage in early 2020 just before COVID hit the United States…. We probably got lucky we were not trapped on the ship when we returned to New Orleans.
NOLA Time Lapse
Before the world fell apart, MJ and I went on a cruise out of New Orleans. I captured this time lapse video from our cruise ship balcony as the ship left the Port of New Orleans.
Glory Dusk
Another short blog post for you tonight. Here is a photo I took on the Carnival Glory at dusk. I love the blue colors on the deck and the orange colors in the background just after sunset. This was also taken in Montego Bay Jamaica.
To view a larger version, click HERE
Sleeklens Overlays
A few weeks ago, I was approached by the Sleeklens.com PR Relations Manager (Jane Grates) asking me to try their overlays. They provide a number of great overlays for Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. Her offer was simple. In exchange for a free set of overlays, I’d have to use them and comment about it the experience on my website. So here goes….
Here is my honest moment. I’m okay at photography and using Adobe Photoshop, but I don’t consider myself great at it. Photoshop is an amazingly powerful software package, where I probably know how to use 5 percent of it. I always feel frankly like a weak Photoshop user. So when Jane asked me to use their overlays and comment on the process, I was sure she contacted the wrong person. But I also felt very honored Sleeklens contacted me.
So I accepted her offer and accepted a set of sky overlays. They have a number of different types. I watched a few of the Sleeklens’ “how to” videos on Youtube.com and then tried a few of them on one of my photos.
Tonight I am sharing four photos with you. One is the original photo, as I took it in Valletta, Malta. I loved the location, subject matter, and composition. But during my limited time there, the sky was ugly. Therefore, I wasn’t very happy with the photo. It seemed like the perfect photo to try these Overlays with and I created 3 photos using 3 different sky overlays from Sleeklens. I’m sharing them all with you, just so you get an idea of how they look and the impact they have on the photo.
Not being a great Photoshop user, after watching the videos I found them extremely easy to use. So it wasn’t difficult to use them or make them look good.
I don’t know how often I’ll use them, since I don’t often modify the subject matter of my photos that much. I often use my raw images to create HDR images, which enhances the color, but I don’t often remove entire portions of the photo and replace it with something that wasn’t there. It just isn’t part of my normal thinking, when processing images. That’s probably because my photos are visual reminders of my actual experiences. I create them because it helps me remember what I saw and felt when I was standing there in real life. They’re flash cards from our travels and experiences. Ways to share my memories with you. So replacing the sky with an alternative sky, would change what I experienced.
But I can see why photographers would love these. Some amazing photographers do all kinds of cool things in Photoshop to create amazing images. So if you’re looking for overlays, the Sleeklens overlays are great and easy to use. I might not use them much, for the reason I listed above. But they’re great. Check out their website at http://www.sleeklens.com
More links for Sleeklens.com:
https://sleeklens.co m/product-category/photoshop-o verlays/
https://sleeklens.com/product/ professional-photo-editing-ser vice/
To view a larger version, click here: https://500px.com/photo/200804381/valletta-malta-by-brook-ward?ctx_page=1&from=user&user_id=3695440
Valletta Malta with Sleeklans Overlay sky applied
Original photo with the sky I didn't like
Another version with a different overlay used.
Another overlay version used.
Carnival Sunset
I took this photo in Curacao, while the Carnival Breeze was in port. The sunset on this night was amazing and I got lucky to be in the right spot at the right time.
To purchase a print or see the entire gallery, click the photo above.
Miami Port Sunrise
This might not be a popular photo with most of you, but I like it a ton. Maybe because I was there watching the sun come up in Miami from the back of a cruise boat. There is always something special about experiencing an event vs. seeing it in a photo. That may be a funny thing to read from a photographer, but its how I feel about the subject. Don’t get me wrong, I always try to capture the moment, but admittedly I fail more times then I succeed. It’s very hard to capture the feeling, emotion, and senses you experience in a photo. This photo is a great example. The photo can’t capture the warm breeze as it blew past our cabin balcony. The photo can’t capture how I felt as the sun came up. The buildings went from being in the shadows of the night, to reflecting a beautiful orange glow of the morning.
Anyway, there are usually a ton of reasons why I like some photos that might not seem wonderful at first glance. But they all have meaning for me and that is often why I share them with you.
To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, click the photo above.
Cruise Port
We did a private island tour toward the end of our time on St. Maarten. I made the driver take us up to the top a hill, which had a gated community at the top. We couldn’t get into the neighborhood, but we got this great view. It was a wonderful stop on our tour that provided a view of the cruise port that most people don’t see. I hope you enjoy it.
To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, click the photo above.