Sorry to burst in but your gatherings are just too interesting not to have a look on the results...
Hope you dont mind me commenting. You know, one day I might join you 8-)
Philber, the floor-bath (#1) is just awesome! Perfect! Usually I would demand vignetting or something in that situation but in this case absolutely not. What 35 have you put on the 5D2 there?
Carsten, I like several but tend to agree with Philber that #3 in first set stands out. Regarding HDR (which I practice probably too much for most peoples taste) I would say this: for #1, never try to cover a sunny green outside when interior is dim lit, better blow it out and keep the HDR possibilities to the interior. I dont think your images gives any faulty HDR-feel, rather the opposite. I would exploit the tonemapping slightly further. Regardless, in you 2nd set #3 again is just great as it is. One way (for me) to handle or explore HDR potential is to do BWs. A quite untasteful color HDR sometimes surprise in BW.
Sorry, I deleted 4 of the 12 pics, it was just too many. I will add more later.
Pics are larger in reality, but my free flickr account somehow cut them down to 1024px.
Great set, Bernhard! Apart from maybe 5,6,9,11 they are all incredibly strong! I love the last one, even though it is maybe a bit gimmicky Is the third-last one an HDR?
wfrank wrote:
Sorry to burst in but your gatherings are just too interesting not to have a look on the results...
This is an open thread on purpose! Otherwise we would just use our private sites.
Carsten, I like several but tend to agree with Philber that #3 in first set stands out. Regarding HDR (which I practice probably too much for most peoples taste) I would say this: for #1, never try to cover a sunny green outside when interior is dim lit, better blow it out and keep the HDR possibilities to the interior. I dont think your images gives any faulty HDR-feel, rather the opposite. I would exploit the tonemapping slightly further. Regardless, in you 2nd set #3 again is just great as it is. One way (for me) to handle or explore HDR potential is to do BWs. A quite untasteful color HDR sometimes surprise in BW....Show more →
I agree that sometimes B&W can really help an HDR, but I am intent on figuring out what I am doing wrong, and feel that the set should be in colour as a whole, even if the occasional shot would be better in B&W.
I think you are right about the greens. I did this on another shot, and it does help it. FWIW I don't really want any visible HDR in the shots, although the inside-outside contrast will be impossible with normal cameras, and this will give it away to those technically adept. I might redo some of the shots in more blatant HDR style when I am done, but for now I am going for a cohesive set.
I hear you all when you say that they are too perfect/sterile/technical, but believe it or not, this is actually what I am going for. I am deliberately avoiding flashy compositions, provocative crops, slanted angles and what-not in order to let the location speak for itself. Maybe it will work out in the end, maybe not. I think I will need to do the processing, and let the set sit for a while, and look it over in a few weeks, before I will really know what I think of this strategy.
I'm back in Bavaria. It was a great meeting at an interesting location.
LurkerX, my favorites of your shots from the last meeting are #7 and #12.
Ulff, your image #2 is geat.
Carsten, so far I like your first image best.
Philippe, your images #1 and #3 are very good.
Bernie, I like #7 and #10 best.
Hello LurkerX, your last 3 ones are really nice, I like it's colour and mood, they do not have this typical "Nikon" look that I do not particulary like, maybe your converter is a good choice for Nikon.
I remember the hallway of this building, and will see what I get out of mine....
Carsten: I really like the perspective of your first shot! Regarding the HDR-images: After looking at your images and playing with my own multiple exposures from yesterday, I have a tendency to increase the contrast between the extremes instead of reducing it.
Philippe: Your first image is absolutely perfect! I've been looking hard for a favorite perspective to this scene, but haven't found one. You did!
Bernhard: nice set, especially the last one! The second image from the entrance hall has a lot potential with more post-processing IMO
Boris: all three are great!
LurkerX: 1, 2 and 7 are great, but my personal favorite is 8!
Boris, a very strong, spectacular trio, as is expected ..:-) The "leaning floor" in the third makes me happy, as I thought better photographers than I had a way to avoid this...:-)
I desaturated the outside of my first HDR image, and like it better now. I will double-check the others when I get home tonight, but maybe that is all I needed to get the image less fake-looking. Thanks for the hint.
Thank you for the friendly comments everyone, here are the vertical shots - in those buildings I used the upside orientation more often than usually, maybe also my new ballhead with L- bracket that makes it much easier than before :-)
All shots again with ZF25/2,8, 35/2 or 50/1,4. I am not really unhappy with the better ones, but I must say that all in all the amount of things and rooms to see made me rush through it a bit too fast, not taking really the time and relaxation that it usually takes (for me) to find the interesting perspectives.
Maybe I will try Heilstätten Grabow in January and try to take a calmer, slower approach.
philber wrote:
Very impressive, Bernhard! But three lenses to take one picture Care to share this new technique with us?
I added one in monochrome....
Thank you very much, Philippe, very kind to comment. Well it is a special technique for achieving multi- dimensional and multi- perspective view, which means that each viewer will see the photos differently...
Thank you, Stefan. Well graphic appeal is probably one of the essential merits of bw/ monochrome. Takes away the attention from the colours and lets you focus on form and shape. However the colours here were indeed one of the attractive things...
Care to share this new technique with us?