the hotel room at night HDR photograph

the hotel room at night hdr photograph by arthakker

TITLE: the hotel room at night

LOCATION:   blakes hotel in london, we got a complimentary upgrade to the best room in the house for free! little did i know it was HDR heaven with that wonderful lighting as well as being beautifully designed.

CAMERA SETTINGS: Aperture priority, f4.5 infinity, ISO 200, auto white balance but changed to “cloudy” in lightroom afterwards as it gave a better light. 7 exposures from -3EV to +3EV. i also used my gorilla pod tripod for this shot as i was travelling, i strongly advise 1 of those when a full sized tripod isn suitable.

HOW DID I PROCESS THE IMAGE:  the 7 exposures were taken into photomatix and tone-mapped using my own preset which i saved for interiors with amazing lighting. this image maybe a bit over-processed to be honest, as i over cranked topaz adjust “photo pop” on purpose, but i dont care as sometimes that look suits the mood. i needed topaz de-noise to smooth out the textures in the wood and the smoothness of the linen covering the table, and then a final glamour glow to give the place the feeling i had when i was there.

Click here to order an HDR canvas print or a hi-res desktop picture of this image.

I WANNA TAKE A SHOT HERE TOO:

click the image to find the blakes hotel london location

 

dont drop your tripod 300 feet! daily HDR photograph

dont drop your tripod 300 feet! hdr photograph by arthakker

TITLE: Dont drop your tripod 300 feet!

LOCATION: We managed to get up into the roof at Ely Cathedral, open up one of those little painted doors you can see, and HANG THE TRIPOD over the edge of a 300 FOOT DROP to capture 7 exposures without dropping the damn thing! phew…i was sweating taking this shot! If you look closely you can see a guy standing in between the chairs at the bottom looking like an ant!

CAMERA SETTINGS: Auto Bracketing 7 exposures from -3EV through to +3EV. White balance on Auto, Aperture 5.6, ISO was on 250, Lens was a Sigma 15mm Fisheye set to infinity mode.

HOW DID I PROCESS THE IMAGE: For this HDR image, i had to create 3 Photomatix versions, and then carefully brush through with layer masks various parts of the scene in Photoshop. I needed a grungy version for the walls and architecture in the Cathedral, i also needed a more detailed and less calm version for the details 300 feet down and i needed a dull version as the light in that place was incredible and a lot of parts were blowing out! Finally a little Color Efex Pro 4 Pro contrast and Glamour Glow helped to “lift” the whole thing and give the sense of height and scale.

click here to order an HDR canvas print or a hi-res desktop picture of this image.

I WANNA TAKE A SHOT HERE TOO:

click me to find the ely cathedral location

mind control! daily hdr photograph

arthakkers mind control! HDR photograph

So, i took this shot at Norwich Cathedral and was happy with it, but in a rush as i always am in certain photographic situation, i hadn’t noticed the woman in the Red on the left or the guy in Black further up were “in the way” so i decided to keep them in as they looked like they were under some kind of zombie mind control from the powerful sphere!

How did i edit this image?

I used 2 x Photomatix versions to create this one. One version REALLY over cranked for that grungy dark feel of the Cathedral and the lights, i turned micro-smoothing right down to get the textured stone looking really grimey and old. I then created a “normal” Photomatix version for the sphere itself. I then painfully brushed through in Photoshop with a layer mask every separate part of the sphere to make it pop-out in the final version!

If you would like to buy a hi-res desktop picture or a canvas print of this photo click here.

doors and bed frames daily hdr photograph

doors and bed frames? boring right? but they are not just any old doors and bed frames, they were in a derelict room at the Château de Champlâtreux 20km North of Paris, where i was lucky enough to attend the midnight in Paris photography workshop with Trey Ratcliff and Miss Aniela. I went upstairs to the spookiest most abandoned areas and found room after room of treasures just laying around, a complete waste of beautiful artefacts but an HDR photographers dream!

How did i process the image?

For this image i double tone mapped it in Photomatix to get those textures up in the doors and walls, i then created a version in Topaz Adjust but only brushed through the bed frames using a layer mask onto the original as topaz grunged it up too much to use the whole thing. After that i used the Color Efex pro 4 plug-in called “Glamour Glow” to show off the beautiful light that was in the room. If you would like to buy a hi-res desktop picture or a canvas print of this photo click here.

doors and bed frames HDR photograph

Doors and Bed Frames HDR Photograph

doors and bed frames? boring right? but they are not just any old doors and bed frames, click through to find out why?

doors and bed frames HDR photograph

Mind Control! HDR Photograph

I took this shot of the sphere at Norwich Cathedral, Click through to find out how i created this final version!