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Seascapes are my favorite genre of landscape photography. And when I’m away from the ocean… I still tend to gravitate toward water. Streams, rivers, waterfalls … even in a city, I’m looking for a fountain! An important part of my processing is to bring out details in water splashes, wave crashes, and the streaks of foam in whitewash. My secret weapon? Dynamic Contrast in ON1 Effects.

Step 1 - Add Dynamic Contrast to the Water

Once you’ve done the basic processing of your photo, get it into ON1 Effects. The first step to accent the water detail is adding Dynamic Contrast to a broad amount of the water. How much of the water to affect depends on the scene. If it’s a stream or river, I typically apply it everywhere. For the ocean, it’s usually limited to the foreground.

You can use SuperSelect Ai to choose the water, or sometimes a simple gradient is all you need. In this example, a gradient worked just fine.

Pro tip: Start with the Natural style and fine tune the Small slider to boost smaller details, like ribbons or fingers of water.

Step 2 - Paint In Extra Dynamic Contrast To Splashes

Use a second Dynamic Contrast filter to accent splashes and fingers of water. Add the filter, choose the Texture Enhancer style, and invert the mask. Inverting the mask removes the effect from the entire photo. Use the masking brush to paint in the additional detail selectively. Be sure to feather the brush and, if you need to, make additional brush strokes at a lower opacity to smoothly blend the look with the unaffected areas of your photo.

Here, I painted in the extra Dynamic Contrast on the wave splash and the make-shift waterfall that formed as the ocean hit this rock.

Conclusion

This pair of Dynamic Contrast filters in ON1 Effects is a perfect finishing touch to your water photos. Your waterfall photos will jump to life, your images of streams will have more depth, and ocean waves will better convey their power.

Have fun!