Skoda Octavia

Another nice old car today :) This time it’s the Skoda Octavia.

Photo taken in front of the Incheba exhibition center in Bratislava, during a veteran rally.

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

Only by moonlight

I really wish I took this shot few seconds earlier. There was a beautiful full moon that night, but with fast moving clouds. So until I focused my camera correctly they already covered the moon, and as a storm started few minutes after it, It stayed covered for the rest of the night. But still, I think It’s a very nice photo :)

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

Summer colors

I had to take this photo very quickly :) There were so many bees around me, that I was quite scared that they won’t like my presence there. But for the most time they ignored me.

I vent very light on the HDR processing on this one. I used it just to correct the dark parts in the middle and very bright parts on the corners. I aimed for a very natural look. Most of the photo (around 50%) is from a standard (0EV) photo.

HDR from three shots, taken with Canon 450D with Sigma 18-50mm MACRO lens, from a tripod.

Night shooting

As I added a few night shots in a row, I thought about sharing also few tips about taking HDR’s at night.

• use a tripod (of course :) )
• get a faster lens, if you are shooting subjects that are further away from you, you will get a sharp image even on F2.8
• if you are using AEB, your first image (0EV) should be equal or under 8s, so the +2EV is equal or under 30s (most cameras don’t allow exposures longer than 30s)
• if your first shot is too long, use a higher iso or use a bigger aperture (smaller F number)
• use manual focus, using live view (available on most new cameras) you can zoom in into your scene, and manually focus to the specific point you want to have sharp
• disable image stabilization on your lens (if you have it), it causes vibrations if you are using a tripod
• always use a self timer or a remote

Night fishing

I know, I know.. .another reflection :) I just really like to have reflections in my photos. I think, if I ever start a new blog, I will have “reflection” directly in the name :).

This is one of those night shots, I sometimes do, where I’m absolutely not sure how they will turn out. I had to push my iso up to 400, just to fit into the 30 seconds for my +2EV photo, and I had to focus manually on one of the lights in the background, since that was the only thing I saw on the cameras screen. But it worked quite nicely :)

Taken at Strkovec lake in Bratislava

HDR from three shots, taken with Canon 450D with Sigma 18-200mm lens, from a tripod.

Layers, layers and more layers

How about a little more info on the daily photo. A lot of people like to see more on the post-processing, so here are the steps I did on this one (can be seen in the layer photo on the right – going from bottom to the top):

• I loaded the 4 original shots together with the tonemapped image into separate layers
• corrected the blurring of the clouds, by using the sky from the 0EV photo
• corrected different problems in the darkest areas from the +2EV photo
• corrected the white poster in the middle from the -4EV photo
• removed noise, but not on the building (so it remains sharp)
• darkened the poster in the middle a little more
• used topaz adjust (photo pop) on the boats and the buildings
• desaturated yellows on the trees
• used Color Effects Tonal Contrast on the boats and the trees to give more detail
• added contrast to the whole image
• used unsharp mask to sharpen it
• that’s all :)

Sometimes I do less, sometimes I do more. It really depends on the photo.

Boats and the City

There was such a lovely sunset this Friday. I went to the Strkovec lake in Bratislava as it’s not really far from my flat. This great clouds first gave me great photos and then a nice walk in the rain, as I was returning home :). But as it was a warm summer day, I didn’t mind at all :)

HDR from 4 shots (-4 to +2), taken with Canon 450D with Sigma 10-20mm lens, from a tripod.