Hi Gang,
I ventured down to Santa Monica pier on the last evening of my visit to Los Angeles hoping to photograph the ferris wheel, but was not happy with the lights on the wheel nor the amount of activity. It was Monday evening, cool and slow at the pier. I decided to move on and practice some HDR shots. These are definitely in the more extreme range for what I would typically produce, but thought it worked well with the subject matter.
I’m including a screen shoot of the settings I used in Photomatix as a starting point and in all images I was using 3 stop brackets. Anyone doing HDR must recognize that Photomatix is truly just a starting point and that all the finishing work must occur in Photoshop or Lightroom, etc. (click on image to see larger view). In Photoshop, I did all color work using Lab Mode and did selective sharpening using a High Pass Filter at amount = 20 and layer set to soft light blending mode.
Here’s the set of finished images. Hope you enjoy.
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7 Comments
Love, Love, LOVE the shots! Great depth of color. Your composition really makes the subject matter interesting. I love how you picked up the wood grain on the floor in the “Zoltar” photo. Wish I’d been there just to watch you do the work.
What lens were you using?
Yo KC,
Thanks for the kind words. In all images I was using 3 stop brackets, which I failed to mention above but have now added. I also shot using my 16-35mm.
Fun! Sometimes HDR is so cheesy… I’m very blah on it. But other times, it really makes you feel like you’re standing there. Love that I’m getting that feeling in the middle of winter. These are great! Excellent compositions… and processing. Haha!
Hey MG,
I’ve blogged previously on this very issue and couldn’t agree with you more. HDR has a place, but A LOT of what I see I definitely don’t enjoy. I think “Blah” is very well put. I also appreciate the validation from YOU that this feel and subject matter works with HDR. Stay tuned for the next HDR project I’m working on.
Alec, I like these images. Great use of HDR. There is a wonderful playfulness to the images, of a place that should be playful! Well done. C
The surreal effect works really well with your subject matter.
I’m looking forward to your Lab Mode tutorial!
Hi Chet and Kevin,
Thanks for stopping by and for comments. Again, I appreciate the affirmation that this processing goes well with the subject. Cheers,
Alec