The Filmmaker

Taken at night with a tripod and the Tokina 11-16 @ 13mm and processed with Photomatix. ; Do like the starbursts you get with the Tokina when the aperture is stepped down. ; I used f/11 here.

1.


After reading a book on HDR, the three images I used to make the above image were not good candidates to make a good HDR image. ; I needed a bigger EV spread and more images. ; The book did give me some ideas on how to re-do so here is another attempt. ; Used the Tone Compressor for this one.

2.


Again, re-visited the Details Enhancer with more knowledge of all the sliders and came up with one more verson.

3.

 

i really like this, is it possible to seperate out the statue a little and bronze it darker?? i'm thinking that might make it stand out even more, but that's just a personal prreference

 

Very nice.

 

Gary, I see what you are saying as that is the statue's real coloration but I like how the statue is front and center and separated from the background due to the color the HDR processing gave it. ; Hey, I think this makes me an art-tist! (kind of, sort of)

 

I really like the composition and the white balance here, but I think the shot as processed looks like the shadows/darks and the blacks/contrast are a little low (you can see this in the noise in the sky). ; I agree with Gary that this makes it look slightly flat.

 

I've been returning to this shot here and on flickr and was becoming less and less enchanted with it because of the noise you mentioned, Tom. ; I will do some more research on Photomatix processing and see if I can clean up the noise and restore some of that contrast.

Thank you and Gary for your comments. ;

 

I use Aperture, Craig. ; No layers for me. ;

However, I did re-do it. See the original post.

 

#2 for me, now admittedly that's a personal preference, but the first time i viewed it, my eyes were immediately drawn to the statue, i only became aware of the background as more than just there, after i had my fill of the statue, it was not a conscious process, just a how i processed internally, then i visited the background, and i guess it's just how i'm wired, it's a strong photo to me. with a clear subject, foreground and background. now granted some folks have accused me of faulty wiring, but that doesn't mean i can't know what i likes

 

I agree with you Gary. ; Once I get Aperture 3 with S-Curve adjustments, I think I can improve it more without increasing the background too much. ; The biggest problem is the three photos did not include the whole EV range. ; The HDR's that did come out good, did encompass the whole range. ; Like this one:

 

If you had the capability to edit the 0 EV shot with layers, you should have enough dynamic range (in my opinion) to have a balanced shot. ; That's just in going with my own personal experience shooting at nighttime over in that area (and editing those shots). ; The only thing that would be a little blown is the AIE giant TV screen.

A single RAW file has a lot of dynamic range in it...

 

Once I get Aperture 3, I'll do so, Roger. ;