For today I chosen to show you how I edited this photo from the Grand Mosques in Abu Dhabi. This was the main entrance area, so quite busy. That why I chosen this compositin, trying to look more up, so getting a shot over everyone heads. It was also a scene with quite a high dynamic range, so I used 6 exposures, with a -3EV taken for the lights.

So lets look at the final image and the original 0EV exposure.

Finished photo

Original 0EV exposure

I started as always in Ligthroom. I corrected the lens distortion, removed the chromatic aberrations and corrected the angle. After that I exported all the files as 16-bit tiff files and loaded them into Oloneo Photoengine.

All exposures taken

Distortion corrected in Lightroom 

In Oloneo I just changed the strength and contrast, as I do most of the time. From there I loaded the HDR result and the original exposures into Photoshop, and did the following edits (layers numbered from bottom up):
1. Photoengine result
2.-3EV exposure to darken the lights
3. Curves to brighten the overall image
4. Just a merged layer I needed for Color efex plugin
5. Color efex Detail extractor, to get more detail from the photo. Set to default settings and then 50% opacity.
6. Curve to darken the brightest lists in the photo.
7. Merged layer for noise reuduction
8+9. Added contrast to the whole image
10+11. Desaturated the red color and added more saturation to yellow.
12. Color balance for the shadow areas to remove the red cast.

HDR in Oloneo Potoengine

Photoshop editing

And that’s all I did with this image. To find out more on how I edit, check out the guides and before after categories on this blog, or check out my video tutorial series here:

This one was a very unplanned panorama. I actually took few photos right after each other, with very similar settings, and had no plan to combined them. But as I got home and was playing with the photos, I tried putting them in to PTgui, and they blended nicely :) I still had a lot of work with warping and trying to get the photo to be more than just a thin stripe, but that also worked out somehow.

This was taken from the Cayan tower in the Dubai marina. The sunset was not the best, as it was quite hazy in the background, but the view was just spectacular. This is a panorama from three shots, each one from 2 exposures.

I don’t take credit for finding out this composition. I seen it from many photographers. But since I was there, I just could not resist and take it. It’s just a cool view :)

This was a little crazier photo to edit, as it was created from two series of exposures, one focused on the foreground and the second one focused on the city. From both series I created HDRs in Oloneo Photoengine, and then blended them, with some of the original exposures in Photoshop.

Social networks

Which one is your preferred social network? I noticed that each time I add a new one, I drop one. There is only so much time I’m prepared to spend on posting stuff. That’s why I almost completely dropped G+ recently, when I added Instagram. So right now I post regularly to Facebook, Instagram, Flickr and Tumblr (but Tumblr is automated and connected to my Flickr account). I also do 500px, but not on such a regular basis. And I just feel that’s enough. What do you think?

Very blue sky

I usually don’t use the polarizing filter at all, but in Dubai, with the crazy blue sky, it was a must. And it really helped. But still there is something I don’t like about daytime shots. Maybe I just need to get used to them, as I much prefer sunrise/sunset and blue hour shots :)

This is a HDR from 3 exposures, created in Oloneo Photoengine, finished in Photoshop.

Free copy of Perfect Effects 8

For those who missed this last time, you can again get a copy of OnOne Perfect Effect 8 completely for free. Just head over to their page and get it now :)

Perfect Effect is a huge collection of filters, than you can apply to your photo, to make your work and editing easier. And since it’s free, so why not give it a try?

Above the city

If I lived in Dubai, I would probably go up to the Burj Khalifa very often. There is just something about being so high above a city, that I really like. I actually though about doing a helicopter tour while in Dubai, but let it be this time. But will definitively have to try it next time (and there will be a next time :))

This is a HDR from 3 exposures, created in Oloneo Photoengine, finished in Photoshop.