POTW 11th June 2013

[biggerry]

This weeks POTW (a few days late, but nonetheless ) is selected by me , I have watched Rodneys plethora of images from his Oberon trip and one has jumped out at me, a simple composition yet it is brought alive by some creative processing. "Sacred" works for me since it brings alive the texture in the stonework, retains the detail in the stain glass window and compliments the frame with some nice selective light on the red carpet.

Well done Rodney and if you don't mind i think it might be beneficial to other members if you give a quick description of your basic processing technique to achieve this.

Full thread can be found here:

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=43666

[Matt. K]

Superb image and great choice Gerry! Beautiful image Rodney.

[Remorhaz]

Thankyou Gerry and Matt

I was happy with how this image came out too :) - which is sometimes a good sign :)

As for the creation...

OK - the church interior was really REALLY freakin dark - but it was very overcast outside so the light was relatively soft and dull (at least outside) - this did mean however that the window was relatively evenly lit even if it was a million stops brighter than the room itself.

I shot a 3 shot bracket handheld with the 35/1.4 - 0EV was at 1/40 sec @ f/2 and ISO 220, -2EV was 1/80 @ f/2 and ISO 100 and +2EV 1/40 sec @ f/2 and ISO 900
I did some initial processing of the images in Lightroom first -100 on the whites in both the normal and +2EV plus some highlight recovery on all 3, a touch of vibrance and a tiny touch of NR on the +2EV image - I then sent the files to Photomatix, adjusted some sliders to taste (sorry don't remember the exact settings :( - I know I didn't start with any of the grungy defaults :) - plus they just look like noise)
Back in LR with the resultant image a few minor edits - a little clarity, a touch more highlight recovery and some sharpening and thats it

[Mj]

Hey there Rodney... not a big HDR fan myself and generally blend exposures manually...
however for such an image as this it is works extremely well.
Which Photomatix are you using?
It's one of those tools I've yet to add to my kit and you're demonstrating that it's worth having.

[the foto fanatic]

The HDR treatment really adds value to images like this one. Well done Rodney, you have given us an excellent result.

Big thanks to Gerry for ensuring that we got a PotW this week.

[Sylvia]

good choice. Congratulations Rodney.
Your post on this was very good.

[sirhc55]

Superb

[CraigVTR]

Great shot. I would not of thought to use the iso as the variable in a bracket, another lesson learnt.

[stubbsy]

Rodney

This is a great image sensitively processed.

[Remorhaz]

[quote="Mj"]Which Photomatix are you using?[/quote]

Thanks Mj - this was Photomatix Pro - but now that the Nik Collection is so cheap (and includes HDR Efex 2) I'm sure would have done the same (perhaps I'll try) and is probably a good option (to get the whole kit)

Thanks Sylvia, Chris, Craig and Peter

[quote="CraigVTR"]Great shot. I would not of thought to use the iso as the variable in a bracket, another lesson learnt.[/quote]

Yep - I was already shooting near wide open and didn't want to go further and I didn't want to drop the shutter any more (because I'm sure handheld at 1/10th or less wouldn't have been particularly sharp) so...