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Cellpic Sunday—Sunbeams Over Celebrity Eclipse

Sunrise at Grand Cayman

February 2026.
George Town, Grand Cayman Island.

Our stop at George Town was at one of the island’s tender ports for cruise ships. The shallow water near the shore precludes large cruise ships from docking. By 7:00 AM, we were anchored offshore. While waiting for local Customs officials to clear our vessel, I stepped out onto the balcony. Nearby, the Celebrity Eclipse was already shuttling passengers to the dock, with one tender sailing away from the ship and another still loading at the gangway. Our day would include a stop at a distillery for a rum tasting, another distillery for rum-infused baked goods, and a trip to a unique geologic site at the island’s northwestern end.

The early light breaking through the clouds behind the Solstice-class ship made a striking silhouette, offering great framing for this week’s Cellpic Sunday.

Celebrity Eclipse original image
Original cellphone photo

About the Photo: Today, I’m doing a deeper dive into the processing steps to enhance the sunrise and bring the ship out of the shadows. This image was captured with my Samsung S25 Ultra, using the Rear Wide Camera in the Expert RAW app. After importing the DNG into Lightroom Classic, I created a virtual copy to maintain the original file. I first tested the Adaptive Color profile, but preferred the more natural look of Adobe Color, so I reverted to the default Adobe Color profile. From there, I made a few global adjustments—warming the white balance slightly, adding a touch of magenta, lowering highlights, whites, and blacks; and lifting the shadows to open the midtones.

My masking sequence started with selecting the ship to gently raise the exposure. I followed that with a brush mask on the upper decks to pop the details by adjusting the texture, shadows, and whites. To balance the sky, I used two linear gradients: one on the right to lift the highlights and open up the sunbeams, and another on the left to lower the highlights so the darker clouds wouldn’t dominate the frame. I wrapped up by leveling the horizon, cropping to a 16:9 aspect ratio, and adding a subtle touch of global clarity.

Metadata and a full‑resolution 2K HD version of the photos are available on my Flickr site here.

I invite fellow bloggers to join in by creating their own Cellpic Sunday posts. There’s no set theme. The first rule is that your photo must be captured with a cell phone, iPad, or other mobile device. The second rule is simple: link your challenge response to this post or drop a comment here with your link so others can find it. And remember, despite the name, there’s no penalty for sharing on a day other than Sunday.

John Steiner.

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