Last night at twilight with storms moving all around me.
Hope you enjoy, it was awesome to be here with the cherry blossoms falling like snow in the soft winds.
Mar 28, 2008 at 05:04 PM
Al B Offline Image Upload: Off
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John,
Want to trade locations! Wow! I am envious of your close proximity to the cherry blossoms. Nice work!
Love the colours and overall night scene.
Al B
Mar 28, 2008 at 05:57 PM
floris Offline Buy and Sell: On
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Sweet blossoms and even sweeter light! Unfortunately the path kind of draws me off into the corner, which isn't as exciting as the blossoms - a slight crop off the left edge just past that leftmost path light seems to help for me, just a thought.
Mar 28, 2008 at 06:11 PM
JimFox Offline Image Upload: Off
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Hey John,
Very sweet lighting in this. I really like how that was handled. I agree with Floris about a very slight crop on the left side. But still a very nice shot!
Jim
Mar 28, 2008 at 06:36 PM
bshamilton Online Image Upload: On
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Me, too, but wow, that lighting and colors are wonderful!
Barry
Mar 28, 2008 at 06:55 PM
Chip Payet Offline Image Upload: Off
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May I ask a stupid question?
Is this an example of HDR? I ask because it seems that the colors and contrasts are very intense and dramatic, and I'm not sure how one would capture than in-camera.
If it's not, please enlighten this beginning student!
BTW - I also agree about the crop, and also that the picture is just fabulous. So jealous!
Mar 28, 2008 at 08:02 PM
PKuglin Offline Buy and Sell: On
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OK John, I see you are sucking up all the light at those cherry trees again
I 2nd the small crop, but it is a great show for sure. How were they - I see much more on the ground, but plenty in the trees?
Chip - I am 99% sure this is not a HDR image knowing John. Blending and contrast adjustments are more John's style
Mar 28, 2008 at 08:25 PM
realkuhl Offline Image Upload: Off
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Believe it or not, this is an HDR. This is the type of lighting conditions where I am finding HDR is a useful tool. I will post after work a before HDR and a after HDR. The change is quite dramatic and I liked it, so I used it
I know, a shock to hear such words but I'm keeping an open mind on new techiques where they might actually work.
Mar 28, 2008 at 09:17 PM
Chip Payet Offline Image Upload: Off
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The rookie guessed right! Beginner's luck, that's what it was.
Maybe I need to add HDR to my long list of things I have to learn. If I can find the end of the list, that is.....
Mar 28, 2008 at 09:26 PM
PKuglin Offline Buy and Sell: On
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oh no Mr. Bill a HDR from John.
Mar 28, 2008 at 09:27 PM
floris Offline Buy and Sell: On
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realkuhl wrote:
Believe it or not, this is an HDR. This is the type of lighting conditions where I am finding HDR is a useful tool. I will post after work a before HDR and a after HDR. The change is quite dramatic and I liked it, so I used it
I know, a shock to hear such words but I'm keeping an open mind on new techiques where they might actually work.
hmm.. it sure looks good for an HDR, I would've expected it to be blending as Phil did.. If you could share some more workflow details when you post the before and after that'd be great too!
Mar 28, 2008 at 09:29 PM
Daniel Heineck Offline Image Upload: Off
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You're doing a great job of capturing these Cherry blossoms between the snow/hail/rain/snail/snain/whatever as of late. You're also making me feel guilty for not getting my fotos out as well ;-)
Great capture and I like the color contrast and the star halos around the lights --what were you at? f/11?
Best,
D
Mar 28, 2008 at 09:37 PM
realkuhl Offline Image Upload: Off
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Nice Lens Flares from lights = f22.0
Mar 28, 2008 at 10:40 PM
realkuhl Offline Image Upload: Off
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Okay, here is a side by side comparison along with the settings I used in Photomatix "Tone Mapping" plug-in inside of Photoshop CS3:
Photomatix Tone Mapping Plug-In
Strength 64
Color Saturation 59
Light Smoothing +1 (4th button from left)
Luminosity -8
Micro-contrast (5th button from left (Max))
Micro-smoothing 14
White Clipping 0.65%
Black Clipping 0.28%
Gamma = 1.00
NOTE: Just because this worked pretty well doesn't mean I love HDR. In most cases I think it's used improperly because it is being asked to blend images where the various exposures are too far away (-1.-, 0, +1 etc) instead of smaller steps. This was done with a single image with fairly moderate settings so it's not all that extreme. In cases like this, I think it can become a very useful tool to enhance areas in an image (with a layer mask).
Mar 28, 2008 at 10:55 PM
Daniel Heineck Offline Image Upload: Off
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Perhaps its the image size, but do tell me if your picture is suffering from diffraction when viewed at a normal print size or did you stitch in the light flares as well?
Either way... I like the picture a lot.
Mar 28, 2008 at 10:55 PM
PKuglin Offline Buy and Sell: On
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So you tone mapped and didn't combine multiple images. OK that isn't normal HDR, but tone mapping. Still it worked very well
Mar 29, 2008 at 12:00 AM
realkuhl Offline Image Upload: Off
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Yes, I guess tone mapped isn't technically HDR, but in a way I think it is.....
Daniel, I'm using the 17-40 and it's pretty sweet but yes, anything about f/11 introduces image quality breakdown, but given the conditions, it seems that it would print pretty nice up to 14 x 21 which is about the largest I print any of my images.
Thanks again for the kind words.
Mar 29, 2008 at 12:37 AM
KPieper Offline Image Upload: On
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Nicely done, John.
BTW, there may be some degradation of image due to diffraction at smaller f-stops, but I don't really find it much of an issue...To me, it's one of those over-analyzed variables of the digital age
Mar 29, 2008 at 12:49 AM
pjbishop Offline Image Upload: On
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This scene does seem like an excellent candidate for HDR, done with restraint, as you show, to enhance the atmosphere of the picture as a whole without destroying the tonal integration. Beautifully framed, too.
Mar 29, 2008 at 11:06 AM
mark70x70 Offline Image Upload: On
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Nice! Makes me miss my home town!
Mark
Mar 29, 2008 at 03:55 PM
realkuhl Offline Image Upload: Off
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Thanks again guys for the kind words ! This hit #12 and front page of Explore over at flickr.com....
Mar 30, 2008 at 12:17 AM
ScaryFox Online Image Upload: On
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Beautiful image with gorgeus light. Thanks for the technical details, too.
Ute
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The rookie guessed right! Beginner's luck, that's what it was.
oh no Mr. Bill a HDR from John. 
