Letchworth State Park

This was our last stop, with quite a few stops inbetween which I hope to get to later. I got tired of trying to figure out an exposure that I could work with to get details in the waterfalls and see into the shadows of the cliffs, so I resorted to bracketing, figuring I'd work it out later. Later has arrived and I'm starting to take a look. Here is a quick HDR merge via Adobe Lightroom on one such set of photos

Upper Falls, Letchworth State Park, NY

Two More From Last Summer

Went looking at some more of my photos from our time ashore in Mexico during our cruise this past summer. The first photo, the walls of stone, is a three image HDR which I used mostly just to bring out some details in the top flat portions of the wall.

...and they lifted many stones (Neil Young - "Cortez, The Killer")
Chacchoben Mayan Ruins - Mexico



While with this second photograph, I used photoshop's ACR lens correction function "vignetting" to actually add vignetting (the darkening of the corners caused by light fall-off, poor lens design, too many filters etc) for creative effect to add emphasis to the center of the photo and to the steps receding into the distance.

The Jungle Takes Hold - Chacchoben Mayan Ruins, Mexico

Fall

I haven't done one of these is a while. This is an HDR merge of three photos I took just an hour or so ago.

Autumn Night in Veliki Park - Sarajevo

Blagaj - Source of the Buna River

With the Dervish House peeking out on the left.

This is another one that I'm not sure where to go with. I took HDR sets in landscape and portrait orientation as well as different framing options. I generally like all of them. This particular iteration is a fairly complicated (for me) combination of two different HDR merge techniques (to keep the water from "blowing out" to pure white while keeping details in the cliffs) combined using an opaque layer mask (first time I've ever done the opacity thing on an entire layer). Topped off with a saturation layer and a curves layer adjustment (to get the colors "right", whatever that means to you:). This is one that definitely looks better viewed large.

Devish House at the Source of the Buna River - Blagaj, Herzegovina

Crossroads

An HDR merge from the other day in Veliki Park next door. I don't know if it was the wind or very slight camera movement that sort of gives it a subtle dreamy texture, but I like it. This is just a minute or two in photoshop (after the merging part), someday I'll have to find the time and do it right....I think I've said or thought that before :)

The Power of Peace

This photo borders on illustration. It is a merge of two different HDR interpretations of the same three photographs. I used one interpretation to make the human form of the sculpture "glow". The second interpretation I used for everything else in the frame to even out the tones in the bright sun and add some "richness". I then combined the two images using layer masks in CS2. Last, I did some serious perspective adjustment to straighten it all out. I really should have taken the photos with the 24mm Tilt/Shift lens that I don't have :) And very last, you rarely ever see this sculpture looking anything like this anyway...I felt like I waited forEVER for the pigeons to get off of his head! I've heard, but can't confirm that this is some sort of "peace" sculpture (hence the title).

Sculpture on Liberation Square (Trg Oslobodenja)
Along Ferhadija - Sarajevo



Saborna Crkva, Largest Orthodox Church in Sarajevo in the Background

More Cemetery Photos

The first photo is one I promised earlier. A Muslim "new" cemetery from the mid-90's siege of Sarajevo. All the obelisks neatly in rows, with dates primarily from '92-95. In some cases, what are entire families, three generations worth right in a neat row. I'm really not sure where to "go" with this photo, but in this iteration, I "blew out" the white on one side of the obelisk to empathize the angles. To see the details in the marble on the side of the obelisk facing the camera, you need to click and view the larger iimage.



This second one is from Veliki Park, and literally right outside our door. It is an HDR image, but again I've purposely blown the whites of the obelisk gravestones from the war in the background. Compositionally, my idea is to draw the eye from the old to the new...



This is a different angle, time of day etc. but many of the same gravestones as this earlier photo.

Night Time HDR - City Living

Reading Sean Duggan's recent blog entries on night time HDR in Las Vegas prompted me to mess around a bit on my own. Last night I took shots of the "eternal flame" and the National Bank Building. I didn't realize at the time how much I would have to compensate for the vast difference between the bright light of the flame and the lights the bank sculptures hold respectively, so I'm not real keen on my results. Photos like these are beyond the capabilities of the camera's generally very good evaluative metering I'll try again soon. In the meantime, I decided to make sure I understand, and get it right next time. So I took shots off our balcony in "front" and out the "suicide door to nowhere" in "back". Here are the results. The "front" photo is a combo of 7 shots, the "back" is a combo of 9 shots. The "back" shot especially, combines some of my favorite things, HDR, night photography and mixed temperature lighting. I may have to try this at night in Veliki Park to add gravestones to the mix!

FRONT


BACK

Sarajevo

This is one of those images I've had in mind for a while. I knew the spot, time of day etc. that I wanted for the shot(s). I even took them a few months back but as I was processing them I realized that there was a little bit of camera movement (even on a tripod) that made the final product a little less than I was looking for. I went back today and got what I was looking for. Like the previous playground/park there are still some little details I want to work on, but overall I'm happy with it. The bridge in the foreground is where Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated to start World War I.

City Park

Today, I saw this on the way to take the photo that follows. Again it is HDR, my current "phase". The photo still needs some work, for instance I'd like to work on making the graffiti draw the viewer's eye a little more. I'm happy with the composition though, and the way the slide seems to encircle one piece of the "urban art".

Helicopter

I'm sort of at a loss for a title. I've been wanting to take photos with HDR in mind of this abandoned helicopter for quite a while. Today was another unseasonably warm and sunny day, so I walked over late this afternoon and took a series of photos. To get there from our apartment, I walked through an area of the city which is still devastated from the war. I passed by a couple blocks of burnt out, bombed out buildings, some with portions people have made "livable" with cloths hanging out to dry. It is all a grim reminder of how destructive and long lasting the effects of war can be. So I'm left without a clever title...

Bosnian Helicopter


Close-Up


Another gentle reminder, all the photos on my blog look best when clicked on for a larger view.

Another HDR -Roman Ruins, Salona Croatia

This is a different type of HDR. A lot of photographers don't like the "cartoonish nature" of this type of HDR translation. Other people like the "painting" look it can give a photography. For the right subject, I think it can be appropriate (not saying this is the right subject though :) This is a combination of 5 exposures again.

Messing around with HDR

Messing around with Photoshop CS2's HDR function. I took a lot of photographs with HDR in mind since the workshop in August. This one is a composite of 5 exposures along with some layer masks, curves adjustments etc.