Welcome to Shutter Notes, our weekly community feature. Shutter Notes gives you the chance to get to know our community members a bit better. Each member will share a little bit about themselves and their chosen image.

Tom Golota lives outside of Boston. He has been photographing most of his life and now considers himself semi-pro (he makes some money). Tom’s favorite subject is landscapes, especially early morning light. He also makes portraits of families and children.

Tom Golata Chatham Sunrise boat at sunrise
Nikon D700, Tamron 28-75 set to 75mm, ISO200, 1/80 at f8

Why and how Tom created this image

This image was created in Chatham Harbor, Chatham, Massachusetts. Tom loves sunrises and this one showed the peacefulness of the early morning light. He prefers landscapes and loves the stillness and quiet of early mornings.

Tom took a series of about 25 images here as the sun was rising. He chose this one based on the amount of sun that was peeking through.

All edits were done in Photoshop Camera Raw. He tweaked the exposure, saturation, and vibrance, and brushed in a little highlight on the boats. Tom always shoots in RAW. This RAW image was a little pale, but he says don’t give up on an image until you give it some edits. You never know where the best images will come from!

Please join us in the Photofocus Community and find the complete description and instructions on how to submit your image for consideration here.

Please only submit one image at a time and for now only one submission per person. We’ll ask for more at a later date if we need them. If you have any questions, comment here or send me a message within the community. We look forward to your submissions.

If you have any photographer friends you know would enjoy or benefit from being in the Photofocus Community, be sure to invite them!