Special offer

Sights In NY Harbor - Robbins Reef

By
Education & Training with Tech Training for You!

Today's photo post is showing the lighthouse on Robbins Reef which is just north of Staten Island in New York Harbor. I took this photo from the Staten Island Ferry on my morning commute to work. The lighthouse has a very interesting history including the keepers of the light in the days before it could be fully automated. (Yes, you are seeing right... that is a little tiny island!) Could you imagine this as your residence!! It was such for Kate Walker and her husband and her children. When her husband died, it became Kate's responsibility to care for the lighthouse duty. She did so for a total of 33 years before she retired. Today the lighthouse at Robbins Reef has been entrusted to the stewardship of the Noble Maritime Collection (where my wife works). The museum has excellent plans for a restoration of the lighthouse. If you are interested in a closer look, you can see 360 degree virtual views on the Noble Maritime Collection's website.

click photo for full resolution view
Robbins Reef Lighthouse NY Harbor

This morning, I discovered the photo that was accidentally left on my memory card in my camera from last summer.  The original photo is shown below.

photo before processing

The original photo as you can see was interesting but was lacking in a few things. I took the photo over into a little processing session in the Adobe Lightroom app and in the end it was a much more interesting photo! It is great to have the photo processing tools that we have available to us today. In the edit session, I did a whole series of little tweaks including cropping, straightening, adding clarity, vibrance and detail, adjusting the black and white points. You can see what a difference it made. The crop also adjusted the composition which brought tighter the more interesting elements of the photo namely the lighthouse, the boat in foreground and the NJ buildings is the background.

Photo processing is a useful thing for anyone that works with photography. In my last post, I talked about post-processing for real estate and how it helps improve a listing agent's photos. If you are interested to learn more about photo processing, be sure add your name to my sign-up list for a future course that I will be recording that will focus on photo processing for real estate.

Posted by

Follow My ActiveRain Blog
See when new posts come out!

Read More Blog Posts

My YouTube Channel

About Me

Email Me

I appreciate every new subscriber
to both my ActiveRain blog AND
my YouTube Channel!

Craig Daniels
This blog is all about technology and helping you to use it smarter! Your digital footprint is your chance to attract new clients. What kind of impression are you making via your website, blog, and social media? We’ll be talking about that! Are you as productive as you can be? What apps might help you out? Do you know how to use all the best tools inside the apps? I enjoy photography and videography, you can expect to see those topics also on this blog.
Are you ready to learn?
Welcome to Craig’s Classroom!

PS - get ready for some homework… :) 

Comments(26)

Kathy Streib
Cypress, TX
Home Stager/Redesign

Craig-I love the story about the lighthouse and I'll have to go to the site to see more of it. I am always looking for new photo editing apps for my iPhone.  Thank you. 

Jun 06, 2015 06:46 AM
Sussie Sutton
David Tracy Real Estate - Houston, TX
David Tracy Real Estate for Buyers & Sellers

WOW! You did a great job! What is that little concrete building to the right of the picture?

Jun 06, 2015 06:51 AM
Kathy Streib
Cypress, TX
Home Stager/Redesign

What I learned

Jun 06, 2015 11:41 AM
Myrl Jeffcoat
Sacramento, CA
Greater Sacramento Realtor - Retired

That's a really cool photo, Craig!  There is something about the water in that scene, that make it easy to envision being on a boat, being rocked a tad by the wave action of the water.

Jun 06, 2015 12:57 PM
Gayle Rich-Boxman Fishhawk Lake Real Estate
John L Scott Market Center - Birkenfeld, OR
"Your Local Expert!" 503-739-3843

Craig, this is a wonderful post about "localism" and its history and the woman who continued on after losing her husband. I loved this, and then you added your typical Craig Daniels' spin on it by helping us understand some "techy thing"! 

I use Ribbet.com and absolutely LOVE what I have been able to do with editing my photos. It also offers opportunity to connect with Zazzle.com, a really COOL site for doing canvas prints, mugs, t-shirts, eraser boards--many MANY things (I have used them a lot and love this site). 

Jun 06, 2015 01:41 PM
Lynn B. Friedman CRS Atlanta, GA 404-617-6375
Atlanta Homes ODAT Realty - Love our Great City - Love our Clients! Buckhead - Midtown - Westside - Atlanta, GA
Concierge Service for Our Atlanta Sellers & Buyers

Craig Daniels 
Everytime anyone reads your osts --- you have provided learning! So glad the I follow your writing and have the chance to keep learning.
Have a happy day -
Lynn

Jun 06, 2015 04:51 PM
Pamela Seley
West Coast Realty Division - Murrieta, CA
Residential Real Estate Agent serving SW RivCo CA

What a difference a little post-editing did with that photo! I look forward to your tutorials, Craig.

Jun 06, 2015 06:32 PM
Ginny Gorman
RI Real Estate Services ~ 401-529-7849~ RI Waterfront Real Estate - North Kingstown, RI
Homes for Sale in Southern RI and beyond

Craig, I usually take it over to Ribbet for my photo editing...I am being old school...?  Love the story!

Jun 06, 2015 09:18 PM
Olga Simoncelli
Veritas Prime, LLC dba Veritas Prime Real Estate - New Fairfield, CT
CONSULTANT, Real Estate Services & Risk Management

Craig, I love the New York harbor! Thanks for sharing the light house story, this is an unusual angle for me as I've only taken the ferry for fun once. Signed up for your next course, love what you did with that photo.

Jun 06, 2015 09:26 PM
Ted Glover
Alderman Classic Realty, LLC - Moultrie, GA
ABR in Moultrie, Georgia 229-854-5422

Thanks Craig Daniels for sharing the story of the light house and the learning tools available for photo editing. The end result is impressive.

Jun 06, 2015 10:05 PM
Patricia Feager, MBA, CRS, GRI,MRP
DFW FINE PROPERTIES - Flower Mound, TX
Selling Homes Changing Lives

I fell in love with lighthouses in Maine and have been fascinated with them since. What a great story and heroic woman who managed to serve and protect for 33 years and raise three children on this tiny little island! There is a story about her that should be told in more detail too, if it hasn't already been done. That 360 video and the way you improved the quality of the photo is amazing! I'm going to have to explore those photo processing tools you described in this post and follow you more. Thank you so much!

Jun 06, 2015 11:38 PM
Sheila Anderson
Referral Group Incorporated - East Brunswick, NJ
The Real Estate Whisperer Who Listens 732-715-1133

Good morning Craig. I love the picture and the story and marvel at your creativity.

Jun 07, 2015 12:27 AM
Dorie Dillard Austin TX
Coldwell Banker Realty ~ 512.750.6899 - Austin, TX
NW Austin ~ Canyon Creek and Spicewood/Balcones

Good morning Craig,

So glad I caught this post on Kathy Streib's post this morning on her "Ah-ha moments for the week! I missed this..love lighthouses and your edited photo is amazing!

Jun 07, 2015 12:39 AM
Chris Ann Cleland
Long and Foster Real Estate - Gainesville, VA
Associate Broker, Bristow, VA

The adjusted photo is certainly much more attractive than the first.  Great lesson in post production for our photos.

Jun 07, 2015 01:09 AM
Silvia Dukes PA, Broker Associate, CRS, CIPS, SRES
Tropic Shores Realty - Ich spreche Deutsch! - Spring Hill, FL
Florida Waterfront and Country Club Living

Craig, a great demonstration on how a not do good photo can be much improved !  Photo processing has come out of the lab and moved into our laptops and computers!

Jun 07, 2015 04:38 AM
Mary Yonkers
Alan Kells School of Real Estate/Howard Hanna Real Estate - Erie, PA
Erie/PA Real Estate Instructor

Craig Daniels Absolutely amazing what today's technology can do for us.  Thanks for tips.

Jun 07, 2015 11:42 AM
Ed Silva, 203-206-0754
Mapleridge Realty, CT 203-206-0754 - Waterbury, CT
Central CT Real Estate Broker Serving all equally

I have photo-shop software but find that for just a quick touch-up, Ipiccy works fine as well. 

Jun 08, 2015 02:45 AM
Rene Fabre
ARFCO Media - Renton, WA
Practicing Philosophical Eclectic of the Arts

Love the photo Craig Daniels ... Nice details and you get a lot more depth via cropping and good use of "the rule of thirds" ... Love the story about the lighthouse and the 360's are great on the the Noble Maritime site! Great share, thanks! 

Jun 08, 2015 03:35 AM
Praful Thakkar
LAER Realty Partners - Burlington, MA
Metro Boston Homes For Sale

Nice story about the lighthouse Craig Daniels - and yes, we have so many tools available for improving the pictures, including the Adobe app you mentioned.

Jun 09, 2015 02:33 PM
John Novak
Keller Williams Realty The Marketplace - Las Vegas, NV
Henderson, Las Vegas and Summerlin Real Estate

Nice work with Lightroom! Of course it's nice to have an interesting subject to start with.

Jun 29, 2015 05:26 PM