Old and Weathered Sunrise

[xxpinballxx]

Thought I would share another edit....
I think I have come to terms with my mediocrity in taking the shots and realized im more geared for processing the photos into something a bit better....

here is the original 0EV for the HDR Orton Image......


Here is what I did in a nutshell.....

1. Take the three RAW images and merge to HDR through CS3.
2. Take file thats created and switch to 16-bit and change mode to local adaptation. Then change sliders top all the way to the right bottom all the way to the left.
3. Adjust curve to slight s-curve and catching all the range of the histogram
4. Once that file was created I got to work cloning out what I did not want...the house to the right the building in front....took a bit of trial and error to get a decent look but I am pleased with it after three attempts.
5. Applied tone mapping in photomatix to get desired look.
6. Added the lens flare over the top where the sunrise was shining around the image.
7. Took guassian blur and applied very slight to a duplicate layer....then erased areas where details where meant to be....left blur in selected areas.
8. Added a new fill layer to give it a slightly yellower look to the sky and enhance the sunrise.
9. Added the drop shadow and flattened the image.
Thats about all I did....hope you like it.......

Here is the final result!

[prince]

Excellent way to transform a less than average photo into something stunning...

[xxpinballxx]

the reason for the so bad shot is due to the fact i was driving by and actually stopped in the road clicked off the shots and drove off.....I had already stopped on a previous day to ask if it was okay to go on the property to shoot it and they said they'd rather me not...

[prince]

Aah so you mean you are not as bad at taking photos as you made it sound .. j/k.. nice work..

[xxpinballxx]

no i am pretty bad at it.....I am impatient which is my biggest problem....
also lately with the heart condition and all the meds I have to have a tripod even shooting at high speeds..I shake like long tailed cat in aroom full of rocking chairs!
Im working on it though...lol!

[peeperita]

beautiful retrieval.....you have such an artistic eye....

i followed your flow right up to where you tonemapped on photomatrix.....one of the reasons i haven't tried hdr yet is that one step.....i hesitate to load in photomatrix and i wonder if you would be so kind as to describe what tonemapping is and if i can simulate it in cs2 without the extra program....

thanks

peeper

[Drax]

Thumbs up, dude!!! You are just good.

[xxpinballxx]

THanks,
Peeper its not something that can be done well in CS or any other version.
There are ways to get a close look but I do not have a established flow for it....I stumbled upon it once or twice with a slew of adjustments and layers.
Tone mapping addresses the problem of strong contrast reduction from radiance to the displayable range while preserving the image details and color appearance.
It helps display a greater tonal range of a photo...

[peeperita]

thanks pin.....now let me bore you with another question.....

say i have a stack of images compressed into one using the hdr thingie in cs2 and i pick up my shadows and highlights tool.....is that working in the right direction?......or would my using layer selections set to different blending modes over different parts of the image be more like it?....if the latter is the case, would the stacked hdr thingie give the full range of exposures in each area?

thanks

peeper

[xxpinballxx]

yeah that can get a tone mapped feel.....I would after flattening duplicate then use shados and highlights on both for different areas.....then once blended with wither overlay or multiply (dependind on how dark you want the final image) you can erase the top layer to show the bottom areas....for instance adjust for the sky on the top layer then the bottom can be adjusted for the foreground. Then use overlay and erase the top layers foreground exposing the bottom layers foreground. you could do all that on one layer by selecting the sky adjusting then selecting foreground and doing the same but that sometimes gives you a definite edge that looks bad in my opinion.