Luminous Landscape Forum

Equipment & Techniques => Landscape & Nature Photography => Topic started by: Larry Heath on November 15, 2012, 04:53:57 pm

Title: The Barn
Post by: Larry Heath on November 15, 2012, 04:53:57 pm
My son does something called hipotherapy once a week for his CP, keeps his muscles loose, so I have to stand around not doing much for thirty minutes. The barn intrigued me with the highly shellacked wood interior so I tried an HDR looking from one end out the other end of the barn into the bright sunlight. Not really sure whether I like it or not. I guess I am also kind of afraid of that over the top look some HDR stuff can have.

(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8479/8186244916_501252eaae_b.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lgheath/8186244916/)
The Barn (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lgheath/8186244916/) by Larry Heath (http://www.flickr.com/people/lgheath/), on Flickr

All comments and suggestions thankfully received.

Later Larry
Title: Re: The Barn
Post by: Chris Calohan on November 15, 2012, 10:43:57 pm
I'm not much of an HDR fan. I've given it a go a few times but only half-assed, quite unlike this shot. I find that I like this shot..it is perhaps a teeny tad overcooked, but not enough to dissuade me from having a longer than usual look and certainly appreciating the technique, composition and overall visual impact.
Title: Re: The Barn
Post by: francois on November 16, 2012, 03:28:46 am
I like it but find that it is on the verge of overcooking… I would try to darken the interior a bit.
Title: Re: The Barn
Post by: stamper on November 16, 2012, 04:28:35 am
The previous two posters said it all.
Title: Re: The Barn
Post by: kencameron on November 16, 2012, 05:17:41 am
For me color is about emotion, among other things, and I am not sure what emotion you are after with the colors on this one, as they struck me as verging on being ugly. I thought the shot might work better in B&W, so I had a go. If you are unhappy with my version being posted, let me know and I will delete it at once.
Title: Re: The Barn
Post by: sierraman on November 16, 2012, 10:06:45 am
I like it. Seems a little out of focus on the (r) edge of the image.   :)
Title: Re: The Barn
Post by: dmerger on November 16, 2012, 11:38:28 am
To me, the outside part seems a little too dark to look realistic.  If it was my photo, I'd try to lighten that area a little.
Title: Re: The Barn
Post by: Larry Heath on November 17, 2012, 09:15:40 pm
Although I like to think I have a reasonable color managed work flow I must admit that sometimes I get color surprises, usually not large ones but some none the less. I have been playing around with some new materials, to me anyway, Breathing Color’s photo glossy and metallic papers, using there ICC’s as a start. Anyway I was over where I keep one of my printers printing some school/sports packages and on a whim decided to print this file on the Breathing Color gloss material using their profile and got a bit of a happy accident. For whatever reasons it seems to have given me by chance most of the suggestions voiced here.  The interior printed just a slight touch darker and warmer and the exterior a tiny bit lighter. As far as that goes it seems to have allayed my discomfort as to whether there is a blunt obviousness that the print is an HDR shot.

On the down side the print seems to have accentuated the significant differences in the color temperatures inside and outside to the point that it’s more noticeable than on my monitors.  I was fairly happy with the color inside given the florescent lighting as seen on the monitor but the print has a slightly heightened yellowish color cast in the concrete. As well the blue cast from the outside light on the far end has gotten a bit garish and will need to be dealt with as well. I suspect that if I build my own profile that interior color should be managed, I likely will need to knock down the blue at the far end by other means.

This is all well and good.

Then of course, much to my disbelief, using a bit less time and work you could just do it with one apparently useless NEF frame and using LR 4.2.

(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8485/8194070841_5f3b8e1c01_b.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lgheath/8194070841/)
BarnOneFrame (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lgheath/8194070841/) by Larry Heath (http://www.flickr.com/people/lgheath/), on Flickr

That started here.

(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8341/8195166000_8ef616968b_b.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lgheath/8195166000/)
StartOneFrameBarn (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lgheath/8195166000/) by Larry Heath (http://www.flickr.com/people/lgheath/), on Flickr

Then ending here.

(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8061/8194073367_1700386e38_b.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lgheath/8194073367/)
EndOneFrameBarn (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lgheath/8194073367/) by Larry Heath (http://www.flickr.com/people/lgheath/), on Flickr

I really didn’t think it was possible to do this. Now there is a good bit more noise in the single frame, but all in all not too shabby.
Title: Re: The Barn
Post by: Chris Calohan on November 17, 2012, 10:06:42 pm
Well, I said you may have overcooked the original image a bit..but that was before I had a go at it...

(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8197/8195319938_1360ca0284_o.jpg)

Did manage to get a good background in the opening and it may be a bit "bright," but I kind of like this much pop.
Title: Re: The Barn
Post by: dmerger on November 17, 2012, 10:42:12 pm
Larry, your new version is a huge improvement!  It's amazing what LR can do with severely underexposed images.
Title: Re: The Barn
Post by: Larry Heath on November 17, 2012, 11:06:00 pm
WHOA! That is a bit disturbing. Not the picture itself, but more so the momentary sensation of having a flashback from my college days, brought about by the various chemical enhancement experiments I occasionally performed on myself. I have to say that’s not only “pop”, but snap crackle bang and boom as well as a few others I can’t bring to mind at the moment!  ;)

Later Larry
Title: Re: The Barn
Post by: Chris Calohan on November 17, 2012, 11:58:57 pm
I was thinking psychedelic myself when I finished..I like your newer version but now I find it a bit on the flat side...maybe a marriage of the two somewhere.
Title: Re: The Barn
Post by: tom b on November 18, 2012, 01:24:44 am
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CNIWR7ap6vc/UKh0jO7ZJII/AAAAAAAABJM/8JkugIjYsYY/s640/barn.jpg)

A desaturated version.

Cheers,
Title: Re: The Barn
Post by: francois on November 18, 2012, 04:28:22 am
…A desaturated version.

Cheers,

I like this version a lot. It removes the saturation that seemed unnatural to me.
Title: Re: The Barn
Post by: Chris Calohan on November 18, 2012, 09:02:34 am
Once I finished that last stick of ganga, I went back to "normal," and reworked my original insanity...gotta love flashbacks.  ;D

(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8060/8196533984_c58d415e49_o.jpg)
Title: Re: The Barn
Post by: langier on November 19, 2012, 01:16:15 pm
Much nicer, more realistic.

For the "Ansel Adams" technique of HDR (N-2, N-3), the goal is to tame the contrast for the limited DR of the paper AND not have the garish look that screams "HDR", IMO.
Title: Re: The Barn
Post by: Peter McLennan on November 19, 2012, 09:05:27 pm
To me, the outside part seems a little too dark to look realistic...

I agree.  Even on the latest version.