I spotted the boats earlier in this morning during my jog and thought I would return to get a nice shot with the sunset. It’s very similar to the sunset blending from last week, but instead of blending at a horizon, you blend along another naturally occurring line, in this case where the edge of the water and beach meet. It requires a little more work, but in some cases, not only is this the best way to do it, it is the only way to do it without doing HDR. Please trust me when I tell you that I have tried these types of shots in HDR and I am often not pleased, in some cases this is faster.

Start off with 2 exposures, again, use a tripod. I like to shoot in LIve View, one exposure is for the sky, the other for the boats. Open both images in Photoshop and create an all black mask to conceal the darker layer. I used the quick selection tool to find the edge for starters, and then did the retouch with a brush. Notice where the mask breaks. Do a quick pop on the sky, adjust the exposure of the boats down a little and thats all there is to it!