Not a huge amount to say by way of photographic updates but I've had a couple of nice sunsets viewable from my apartment so here they are captured in HDR. The first one has an off-the-shelf filter applied beyond the HDR process whereas the second is straight-up HDR with only the usual brightness/contrast/sharpness tweaks.
A colleague who is similarly photographic suggested we go out of an evening to take some HDR shots. I think she knows I do quite a bit of HDR and was keen to see what it was about. I got some good results but my I'm struggling with freckling in some many shots taken later in the evening. The HDR process exacerbates the problem but I can see the marks on the source images. I've cleaned the lens and am certain it's spotless, I've even cleaned my mirror but the freckling still occurs. So it could be my sensor or failing that, I'm left with the terrible prospect that it's dirt inside the lens itself. Whatever the cause, it needs to be sorted before I go away for new year. I'll try to test the theory by taking a shot that freckles on my wide-angle lens, replacing the lens and seeing if it still occurs. If it does, it's the mirror or sensor in the camera body, if not, it's the lens. At least that'll give me a better idea of where I stand.
One night last week I attended 2.8 Hours Later, a 'zombie chase game' through the streets of my home city. Essentially, you report to an abandoned mill (something we have in abundance) and are sent off in teams at 80 second intervals with a map and a grid reference to get to next. There will be a scenario with actors at the grid reference the outcome of which will include your next destination and there are zombies en route/at said destination. The zombies got me right before the end and thus I was made up as a zombie for the party at the end. The resultant drinking assisted me zombie impersonation for this portrait I took when I got home (taken on my wide-angle lens, no less) but assisted my photography skills less. Nonethless, it's a decent self portrait, augmented with a vignette in GIMP. The event repeated every night until Sunday but unfortunately I was atypically busy and so didn't get to lurk and take photos of others playing the game. Here's hoping they repeat it next year.
Take a look at the above shot. Those flecks dominating the top right corner of the frame are sadly not a feature of the instagram-style filter I sadly had to use to make the shot even remotely work. Yes, I had crap on my lens. Normally this wouldn't be too much of a problem because at typical exposure, there's enough light coming through the lens to eradicate it but for a HDR shot, the underexposed frames are already limiting the light coming into the lens so the specks show up more. The HDR software then picks up on these details out and exacerbates the effect.
These are some more of the photos from my recent Austria trip- HDR shots of the state hall from Austria's national library in Vienna. A blogger working for Vienna university library was kind enough to feature them on the university library blog. I didn't have my tripod with me (nor do I particularly have a reason to think I would have been allowed to use it if I had) but the HDR has come out crisply regardless. Some loss of sharpness in the foreground of some shots so I still need to refine my technique but I think I'm improving my HDR overall.
It's been quite a while since I updated and at least part of the reason for that is that I've been travelling again, this time to Ireland, Austria and Slovakia. I've got some of the best photos I've ever taken from that trip so I think that over the next few updates I'll be sharing some of those with you. The above is from the long room of the Austrian National Library, perhaps the most beautiful and moving building I've ever stood in, which is especially remarkable given that it is not a religious building.
I was at a festival over the weekend- a local affair centred around the pubs at a major crossroads in my locality's sister city over the river. Challenging photographic conditions with the low light and the movement etc. It didn't help that I set my focus to use the wrong setting but the photo of this gentleman, a Mr. Cole Moldy, came out ok.
I wouldn't normally post twice in a day but I do have to share this wonderful portrait of my long-term friend and former flatmate Jones. This was taken on my Spanish holiday I'd mentioned in the last couple of posts which was Jones' stag do. You would think that this would perhaps explain the dress but for the fact that he packed it himself, unprompted. One does wonder if his bride-to-be understands quite what she's getting herself into. Regardless, it is one of my better portraits.
So the new laptop has arrived and I've got busy with Photomatix and GIMP. Particularly GIMP which I've not really used much before. I've obtained some scripts to replicate some of the effects I used to use with Picnik- Ortonography and Vignette, mostly. I even still dip into Aviary in Flickr when it suits.
I've just returned from a stag do in Barcelona. Not exactly a perfect photography holiday but I've got a few that are nice. Most notable was the trip to la Sagrada Familia, a modern cathedral designed by Gaudi with an interior intended to resemble a forest. Very well thought out- the columns are made from different coloured/shaded stone so that from the back it gets darker and darker towards the front until there's a golden sunburst intended to represent God. Even as an atheist, that's impressive.
I'm meant to be revising for a series of Japanese exams and this, of course, means that I've been doing anything but revising for my Japanese exams. Procrastination breeds portraiture.
Just another HDR image from my home city. This was taken very much off the cuff and I'm amazed that it came out as well as it did. Especially since the overexposed shot was so blurry. The HDR process helps to restore that.
I initially found marble very difficult to photograph; the light tends to behave oddly as marble is slightly translucent and it can be difficult to achieve good contrast. This was a rare case that came out despite that and where the orange of tungsten lighting that typically blights many artificially lit photos actually worked to its benefit when brought out by some post-processing.
The company I work for is well established in the area of the city where we're based; we have an extensive network of buildings and have had for over a century. There's some really good architecture in our premises, a number of which are listed buildings. One feature I was hitherto unaware of until I came across it yesterday was this; a war memorial built into the very stone of the foyer of the building that houses it. It lists the employees of the company who served and died in the first world war; "Our Glorious Dead".
As an Englishman, yesterday marked the highlight of the annual calendar with the arrival of Pancake Day. I divulge from many of my countrymen at this point, preferring a more savoury option. This, depending on your interpretation, might actually make the above a crêpe salées since it's filled with bacon, cheese and spinach. In any case, it's likely the most succesful food photo I've ever taken.
Just a bit more HDR experimentation. This bridge is, well, colourful. It comes from the same location as the previous entry and, being shot close up, likewise escaped the fog that plagued the rest of the shoot.
The success of my previous attempt with more aggressive HDR and post-processing drew some very nice feedback. This shot isn't as strong as that one for a number of reasons (composition isn't as strong, shot isn't as crisp- I blame HK's air quality- and the lights on the right hand side of the shot bleed too much; whatever effects I apply makes the left hand side of the shot look better but the right side look worse) but the positive comments have encouraged me to experiment and be bolder with more extreme techniques whereas previously I tended to tried to treat these with a lighter touch. This result is passable, I feel. I'll keep on experimenting with it.
Just some continued experiments in HDR. This was sunrise as seen from my living room. Again, the colours resulting from the preset are both garish and washy. I've been playing around with the settings and have created a version that more... realistic in terms of palette. I'll upload that for comparison purposes soon, perhaps.
Also, thanks to all of you who've been complimentary about my recent photos, either on FB or through other media.
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I had a last-minute trip to Tokyo for the New Year and this allowed me to try out my urban HDR a little bit more. While this photo is easily one of the best I've ever taken, clearly I've still got a lot to learn about HDR software and technique, specifically the fact that I seem to have lost all the 'true' blacks from the shot, giving it a slightly washed-out feel.
