Spiral

Little bonus for today :). I tried a little minimalistic B&W photography. This photo was taken with my 10-20mm lens, I then just cropped it, to make a better composition, and played a lot with contrast and levels. Taken handheld inside the staircase of the Minaret in Lednice.

Jackal at Lednice

Lednice and all the surrounding areas are really a great place to visit. There are few chateaus, parks, castles, churches and a lot more stuff to take photos of :). I spend a whole day there and I see it for a few more, so I at-least see everything there is :). This photo is of the jackal in front of the greenhouse at the Chateau directly in Lednice. There is also a second statue of a lion there.

HDR from three shots, taken with Canon 450D with Sigma 10-20mm lens, from a tripod.

Trees in HDR

Here is a little tip, how I edit trees in my HDRs. They are not the simplest thing to get right (or better said, looking good) and it takes some work.

This image shows three states. The first one is a standard photo (0EV), second shows the result as it came from photomatix and the third is the final photo. As it’s clearly visible, one of the things HDR processing does, it removes most of the shadow. This is usually what we want, as we want as much detail, also in the shadow areas. But with trees (and almost any vegetation) this is a problem, as it removes any texture from them, and all that remains is a big green mess.

Adding contrast helps a lot here, but what I do, is to mix the photomatix result with the 0EV or sometimes the -1EV or -2EV exposure, to restore parts of the shadows. Just layer the photos in Photoshop, with the photomatix result on top, create a mask, and with a soft brush at around 20-30%, brush few times across the trees.

This is very simple, and it really helps, so trees look better :)

There are of course other ways, and you photomatix result really depends on what setting you use.

Church of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary

About a week ago, I uploaded a photo from inside this church. This one is to show, why I had to stop by this church :). It’s really beautiful. I love the style, with all the brick walls. It’s so great for HDR.

HDR from three shots, taken with Canon 450D with Sigma 10-20mm lens, from a tripod.

Passage

This is exactly why I like HDR. Having all the detail on the inside, but still being able to see everything that is on the outside. It takes a little more time in the post-processing, as the very different light conditions create a lot of halos, but I think it’s worth the work :)

HDR from three shots, taken with Canon 450D with Sigma 10-20mm lens from a tripod. Photo taken at the Lednice Chateau in Czech Republic

Bigger photos

With the new upgrade to the custom design on my blog, I have made few changes to the overall look. The biggest change is, that it’s now more than 20% wider. Now I can have the theme, I’m currently using, and also have nice and big photos, for everyone to enjoy :). I hope this helps to the overall look of the blog, and everyone will like it :)

Dating place

I really like the look of this place. It’s in Mikulov, Czech republic. It’s right next to the Chateau (I uploaded a photo of it few days ago), overlooking the city. Too bad I haven’t waited for the sunset, but it was few hours away, a I was already quite tired after a long day of shooting. As for the name, when I took this shot, little to the left, on a more hidden bench, there was a young couple kissing, probably on a date :)

HDR from three shots, taken with Canon 450D with Sigma 10-20mm lens, from a tripod.

Murphy’s law

Of course, the day I finally edit the CSS of my blog, the upgrade to Custom CSS on wordpress is disabled. It’s completely like a Murphy’s law. There are already few changes, mostly in the sidebar. But having the photos bigger on the blog, will have to wait.

Calm Reflection

One more from Lednice. This time from the park. As there was no wind, the water was so calm, you could see everything reflected in it.

HDR from three shots, taken with Canon 450D with Sigma 10-20mm lens, from a tripod.