HDRshooter

Slovakia

Long exposure panorama at the Strbske pleso

October 25, 2017 No Comments

DxO acquires Nik Collection

Funny thing. Just few days ago I was talking to a fellow photographer about, what would be the best future for Nik Collection plugins. And we both agreed that the best would be for some company that actually makes photography software, to buy them away from Google. We just don’t want loose such a great piece of software (they have not been updated for years and they still are great). And just today, that happened. DxO acquired Nik Collection assets from Google, and even announced plans to continue development on them.

This is definitive great news for all photographers and I can’t wait for the “Nik Collection 2018 Edition” that also been announced for the next year. You can see the official announcement on DxO website here.

Long exposure panorama at the Strbske pleso

I just love taking panoramas recently. They looks just so great and give a different view to normal photos. And with the 21:9 monitor, and now a 18:9 phone, they just look great on my devices. But they don’t look so nice on the blog. And I yet to find a better way how to show them off here. So for now, here is a bigger version of the photo, and you will see also few close ups under the full shot.

This is a 3 shot panorama taken at the Strbske pleso lake in High Tatras in Slovakia. I used a 10 stop ND filter here, to blur the water, to get the nice reflection. The lines in the water were just a nice bonus :) The panorama was combined in Lighroom and finished in Photoshop.

Long exposure panorama at the Strbske pleso, Slovakia

And here are few details:

Dubai, Plotagraph, United Arab Emirates

Sunset clouds in Dubai – Plotagraph

October 24, 2017 No Comments

How to share plotagraphs in a blog post?

Since I’m posting a plotagraph today, I though I would also show you how I include it in the blog posts.

I use the video HTML tag to include the MP4 versions of the plotagraph. Of course if you just export it from Plotagraph, it would be too big, so first I compress it using Hanbrake transcoder (which you can get for free here), where I just use the default settings to recode the file. A file of 1200×800 px then ends up between 0.5 to 1.5 megabytes in size.

Then I use the tag in this form:

‹video poster=”link to image that shows while the video is loading” autoplay=”autoplay” loop=”loop”›
‹source src=”link to the video in mp4 format” type=”video⁄mp4″ ⁄›
Your browser does not support the video tag.
‹⁄video›

You have to fill in the poster, as you need to show some image while the video is loading. Also the image shows when on mobile, as mobile browsers don’t load mp4 videos in pages. Also, if a older browser is used, they will only see the text message that you specify there. The autoplay part is for the video to start automatically on load and the loop will force the video to loop indefinitely.

Sunset clouds in Dubai – Plotagraph

I have not posted a plotagraph in a long time, so how about one. This one is created from a photo I took few years ago at the Burj Al Arab in Dubai. The sunset was great that day, and having the possibility to add a bit of movement here, really adds to this photo.

(if you are on a mobile or use an older web browser, you may only see a static image)

Available photography courses

October 24, 2017 No Comments

Online and offline course available from today

If you want to learn more about how I take and edit photos or just get better in your photography skills, you may find my offering of photo course interesting.

I can do all tutoring in English or Slovak language.

For any questions or inquiries about more personalized offer or bigger groups, feel free to message me under miroslav.petrasko@hdrshooter.com or use the contact form here.

Online course via Skype

If you want to get better at editing your photos, this may be for you. For the one or two hours (based on your choice), over a Skype connection we would cover topics from :

Basics of photography, terminology, exposure
Basics of working with Lightroom and Photoshop
Basic corrections, perspective correction, fixing errors
Composition basics
HDR, using HDR specific software like Oloneo Photoengine
Luminance masking
Exposure blending
Working with Panoramas and HDR panorama
Editing one or multiple of my photos together, or a photo you provide.
Photo critique, with suggestions on improvements
General photo discussion

I’m not doing any specific course content, as everybody’s skill level is different and you may be interesting in a specific topic. Based on your skill level, you can suggest what you want to know, or I will choose for you.

For this course I would suggest you own at least Photoshop and Lightroom. Basic knowledge of working with computer is of course also a must.

Everyone who buys this course will also get a copy of the video tutorial series Master Exposure Blending for free.

Online and offline course available from today

Offline course in Bratislava

The second option, is to meet up in Bratislava (for now I’m limiting this to only one city) and take photos together. Here is what we can go through is:

Basics of photography, exposure
Composition in landscape and cityscape photos
Setting up your camera
Taking multiple exposures
Panoramic photos, panoramas, vertoramas, 360 photos
Taking long exposure photos
Choosing exposure
Focusing your photos
General photo discussion

I’m not doing any specific course content, as everybody’s skill level is different and you may be interesting in a specific topic. Based on your skill level, you can suggest what you want to know bout, or I will choose for you.

The location for this course will be the center of Bratislava, the area around the Bratislava castle, SNP bridge and Old bridge. Other location is possible on request.

For this course I would suggest a camera that support manual settings. Since it’s a cityscape course, a tripod.

Everyone who buys this course will also get a copy of the video tutorial series Master Exposure Blending for free.

Once you buy a course, I will contact you within 24 hours so we could arrange a date and time that would suit your needs. For any questions or inquiries about more personalized offer or bigger groups, feel free to message me under miroslav.petrasko@hdrshooter.com or use the contact form here.

Slovakia

The reflected colors of autumn

October 23, 2017 No Comments

Sale on all Topaz plugins

Right now you can get all individual Topaz Labs plugins with a 25% discount by using the code FALL25. This sale is until the 30th of October, so if you are missing a plugin from their series, now is maybe the time to get it.

You can see the whole list of plugins and buy them on Topaz Labs website here.

The reflected colors of autumn

I did a short trip to High Tatras last weekend and while the weather was a bit all over the place, I did manage to get few nice shots. And while most of them were very wide panoramas and huge landscape shots, I did have my 70-200mm lens with me, so I ended up taking also few more close up shots. And here is one of them :)

These are the trees right next to the Strbske pleso lake. I just loved the color here and I wanted a nice reflection. The problem was that it was a bit windy, so the lake was not stable enough. So what I did was, to get out the 11 stop ND filter I have from VF FOTO and slowed down the exposure by quite a lot. There is a bit of movement in the trees, but the reflection is just wonderful.

This is a single exposure of 80seconds, edited mostly in Lightroom, finished in Photoshop.

Bucharest, Romania

Another stunning ceiling

October 20, 2017 No Comments

Another stunning ceiling

I posted a vertorama from the Palace of the Parliament some time ago, and here is another one. One just have to do a vertorama, just to be able to catch all those stunning ceilings. There is one in every room :)

This is a three shot vertorama, each shot from 5 exposures, but used them only to blend in the chandelier.