5.12.2008

HDR Sunset



6/25/2008 I redid the HDR using photoshop to merge the images and the new photomatix to tone map. I also changed the crop and played with a few other things. Take a look and let me know which one looks better.




This is the first HDR shot that I have done. Again this image was taken on the beach in San Francisco. I used bracketing on my camera at +/- 2 EV. This gave me three images that each exposed a different part of the picture correctly. The water, sunset and rocks where all at very different light levels. I used photoshop to make the HDR image but I used photomatix to actually do the tonemapping and 8 bit output. I tried to give this image a slightly surreal look without going so far to make it look fake. Let me know what you think.

Canon 350D (RAW)
1/15, 1/60, sec at f/11, ISO 400
50mm (17.0-50.0mm f/2.8 Tamron)

Adjustments made in Lightroom:
- Levels, Tone Curve, Clarity, Saturation, Vibrance

Adjustments made in Photoshop:
- Used bridge to merge photos to HDR
- Opened photos in photomatix and used tone mapping slidders.
- Brought the photo back into photoshop and applied Noise Ninja, saturation, and a little rubberstamping for dust

5.11.2008

Beach




This is another panoramic shot that I took on the beach in San Francisco. This time I used the same exposure settings so that it would blend better. I adjusted the middle image in Lightroom and copied the settings and applied them to the other 5 images. I would like to have done this in HDR so that I could have brought out the sunset.

Canon 350D (RAW)
1/30 sec at f/8, ISO 100
17mm (17.0-50.0mm f/2.8 Tamron)

Adjustments made in Lightroom:
- Levels, Tone Curve, Clarity, Saturation, Vibrance
- Synchronized all the settings across all images

Adjustments made in Photoshop:
- Used bridge to add the photos to photomerge
- Noise Ninja, Crop, Saturation

5.09.2008

Beach Birds



This was the third day of our trip to San Francisco and we were on the beach near Golden Gate Park. It was late in the evening and we were there to watch the sunset. There were these two birds that were fighting. They kept on swooping and attacking each other in the air. I think one is a seagull (or as Mr. Pignato would say "garbage duck") and the other might be a crow.

Canon 350D (RAW)
1/800 sec at f/10, ISO 400

150mm (70.0-300.0mm f/4-5.6 IS Canon)


Adjustments made in Lightroom:
- Levels, Brightness/Contrast, Clarity, Saturation

Adjustments made in Photoshop:
-Noise Ninja

5.06.2008

Golden Gate



I've been gone for the past week on vacation. See if you can guess where we went. The last night we were there, Molly and I went to the Marin Headlands to see the Golden Gate Bridge and the city at night. The fog started to roll in just as it got dark. I was able to get the picture off before the entire bridge disappeared. Just a couple of minutes after I took this picture, you couldn't even see the top of the first tower.

Canon 350D (RAW)
30.0 sec at f/13, ISO 100
17mm (17.0-50.0mm f/2.8 Tamron)

Adjustments made in Lightroom:
- Levels, Tone Curve, Clarity
- Only tweaked the settings, no major changes

Adjustments made in Photoshop:
- Noise Ninja, and slight sharpening
- Crop
-
Duplicate background layer using the multiply blend, then lowered the opacity