What a place this is. When I first entered, I thought it was endless. The rows of pillars just repeat into the distance. It’s just stunning. And as I was there quite late (around 7 o’clock) it was completely empty. Just me and my camera. It was also a great place for HDR. If you look at the before/after comparison, you will see that the bottom part was quite dark, with the ceiling brightly lit. A perfect example for when to use HDR.
There is one thing about HDR’s different to normal photos. This is that the bigger they are, the better they look. The reason for this is simple. HDR photos have usually so much detail, that in a small view, most of it gets lost. And this holds true even more by cityscapes, like the one I’m posting today. So if you want to see it in the best way possible, I suggest clicking on the photo, to open the one stored on my portfolio page.
A lot of times I get asked, what I used to take a specific photo. So I created a page on this site, which includes all the gear I currently use. You can find it in the sidebar as My gear or directly here. Also each post you expand, includes a description of the used camera and lens under the photos.
This is the view from the top of the Alcazar in Segovia. It really was just beautiful. After it was overcast the whole morning, the sky cleared and we had this beautiful view of the city. The view was great, but the light was horrible. The photos came out colorless, really boring. I edited this few times, until I was at least partially satisfied with the result. If you look at the comparison with the original 0EV shot, you will see what I mean.
This was taken the last night I was in Madrid. My friends decided to visit a gallery, but I preferred a place where I could take photos. This was again a scene like created for a HDR. The whole bottom part is very light, with the building and the base of the statue very bright. On the other side, the sky was dark, and the statue has no lights pointing to it. But with HDR I got both.
This really is a classic composition for a place like this :). I just could resist to also have a photo like this. I took this shot in the cloister of the Segovia Cathedral in Segovia. I wanted to try few different composition, but few seconds after I took this shot, I was asked to stop using my tripod, and the security guard started walking around, interfering with my shots. Probably he thought I will destroy the stone floor tiles with the rubber feet of my tripod :) But either way, I’m happy with this shot.
I heard a lot of stuff about Pinterest lately, so I decided to join it. I just started to add stuff to my page http://pinterest.com/hdrshooter/ but I quite like how it’s done. Feel free to follow me there and if anybody wants to try it out and needs an invite, just let me know :)
Would be nice to take this photo without cars, but that was really not possible. So instead I went for light trails. I took the same shot few times, until I had a photo, where none of the cars was visible. I also played a lot with the colors on this one, but in the end I chosen a little warmer look. I really like it :)
