Safe Harbor (Through the Fog)

I captured this image of the Wood Island Lifesaving Station, Portsmouth Harbor, Kittery, Maine, in July 2010 less than an hour before sunset. I was shooting with a Nikon D90 & 80-400mm VR lens. There was a fog rolling in behind the structure and a haze in the air between the island and me.

After reviewing the image later, I really liked many aspects of it, like the diagonal line created by the weathered wooden structures in the water, and how they create a triangle of water on each side. The rocks in the lower right foreground also create the appearance of a triangle as does the island in the background. There are also several triangles created by the rooflines of the station building as well.

However, the original image was flat, lower contrast, and kind of washed out, and due to the limitations of the software I was using back then (or the limitations of my skills), I could not make it look like I envisioned. But I did not delete it, as I thought in the future I could revisit it with more advanced software and breathe new life into it. Since I began using On1 PhotoRAW, I have been “revisiting” many images that I captured in the past, including some on film from 40+ years ago.

After giving this one a second look with On1 I really liked the final product.