Brooklyn Bridge: a photo processing session

In this article I want to show you how a fairly boring picture (reffering to the color setting) can get very interesting. With the use of right filters and an eye on how colors affect the setting I show you what I did to get the most out of one of my new favourites.
Here I show you the original picture too so you can see the ideas I had when I first analyzed the picture. As you can see I used a very uncommon angle. I call it the gnome position. Very near the floor you get a nice wide angle effect. In addition I made sure that the people are at a reasonable distance to my camera so you can realize how big the bridge is. Now as you look at the raw picture further down this post you probably agree with me that it has a cool angle but is boring otherwise. At first I thought about the sepia effect but it would not fit the cold architectural setting. So I decided to play with the colours a little bit. Blue was the most stylish one :). To achieve this look I used again the Hue/Saturation settings and the greyish-presetting. In addition to make the image more dreamy I used a special filter called diffuse/glow-filter. Sometimes when you are not sure what to use you can go to the filter gallery and try out all the filters you want. This is a very useful implementation in Photoshop!

After all that processing a big problem were the buildings behind the brooklyn bridge. At first I wanted to try out another picture with no obstacles behind. I decided not use it. My reason are the buildings in the background. With them you get a feeling how the bridge gets into the heart of Manhatten. I am not so pleased with the result but it really looks better than the alternative! I was also thinking about ereasing the buildings in the background with a stamp technique but think about all those cables....it would have been a disaster!

So let us go back to the filter I used. Especially the glow filter allowed me to show the cold day I photographed the setting. The picture was taken in February 2009 and it was freezing cold! Another cool side effect was that the cables were smoothened. The best way to notice that is in the left corner of the picture.
As a last step I have cut the picture a little bit in the upper part because the two barriers which were affecting the harmony of the cables negatively.

You also have to keep in mind that I used a common midclass lense. You see that in the very little deformation of the cables in the upper part of the picture. If you are a fan of architectural photographs you should use special lenses which have not this effect. Those lenses have a Tilt ans Shift-Function. A very good and expensive one is described HERE (in German). I only recommend them if you want to make very nice and clean architectural photos.

At last some details about the picture:

• ISO 100 with auto white balance
• Allround light measurement
• Shutter speed: 1/125 with aperture of f=8
• 28mm setting of the Tamron 28-200mm lense.
  

Goal of this blog

Here I want to explain why this blog has been created. One main reason is as follows:
I asked myself how I could share my photographs with my friends and other people and in addition share how I did it. I really want to discuss what I do. I am a member of deviantart for a while now but I was searching for something else a long time. The cool thing about blogging is that you can communicate and share your stuff in a very easy manner. I hope that this blog will live a long time. I say this, because I am not sure how long my motivation for this project lasts. I am a passionate hobby photographer but in contrast my studies are very time consuming. I really hope that I will bring lots of new content now and then.
In addition my goal is to raise the quality of my posts. That means a lot of details about the photographing process.
For example the photograph on the right is a fairly old one. I took it in 2003 in Malaysia. This was the first attempt to make a really good series of photos. About 25 out of 500 pics where then showed at a local school. I did not think that my photos would interest other people. But they did. I even sold 4 pictures :). Since then I never had the chance again to go away really far. So my projects for the future are fairly small stuff like timelapse movies. I am a proud user of a Canon EOS 40D so my ambitions are high. Now you just try and get the best out of it...delete the other stuff. I love that a LOT!

I really hope to reach a few people out there. Otherwise I just have my fun here and everybody who looks around now and then can hopefully get some info out of this site. I have to say that I am a photographer at the lower level of the big "art-foodchain" but it just makes fun to show it to the world :).

Have fun with the site and leave some comments if you like or not like my work!

Panorama Pictures: Empire State Building

This very cool picture was taken on top of the Empire State Building (click on picture to enlarge). I used about 7 pictures and the photoshop "merge algorithm" to put them together. Afterwards I just balanced the colors because the initial pictures had the common greyish look.
So if you want to create such cool pics too, here is what you have to do:

1. Go into Adobe Bridge and select your wished panorama pics
2. After selecting your pictures go to "Tools > Photoshop > Photomerge"
3. Let the process run. It can take a while, depending on your system.
4. Save file and continue processing the panoramic picture

It is really easy and straight forward. I am not shure but I think you can do that with the Creative Suite CS4.
There are some freeware apps out in the web too. So you are not limited to such expensive programs.
If you do not already know it: A very good freeware app is GIMP (GNU Image Manipulating Program).

This is the view to the financial district. To achieve this glossy look I took an aperture of about 10. A lot of effects depend on a good aperture value.


So you surely ask yourself how to exactly photograph such a thing. This is also a quiet easy task. The best way is to use a fixed point to stand or to mount the camera. The second method gives you more precise pictures.
It is very important that you always photograph in a manner that the pictures really do overlap. Otherwise the "photomerge-algorithm" can not put them together properly.
To help you to get the right settings, here is a list of the key elements of my picture

Used instruments:

• Canon EOS 40D
• Tamron 28-200mm multifunctional lense
• No mounting, pictures were taken "free hand"

Used settings:

• Put picture program to P (change the aperture in relation to shutter speed)
• Daylight Settings required a spotlight measurement of the scene
• Take photographs with a medium aperture, here 13
  
• ISO: 200
• shutter speed: 1/320

As a last information I show you how the raw image looked like as an example of the Manhatten Panorama. As you see I had to modify the brightness/contrast parameters too.

Flatiron Building New York

This pictures was created during my holidays in New York in February 2009. The original picture is quite boring. I used some sepia effects and color adjustments to get the special old look and feel out of this extraordinary building. I decided to include the street lamp so you really get it that the building is located in New York. As you see the Broadway-sign is seen very good :)
So, in conclusion I tried to achieve the typical retro stencil look.

Here is what I did to achieve this look in detail.

1. Go directly into Hue/Saturation level configuration. This is found in Image > Adjustments in Photoshop
2. Go to Preset > Sepia and click OK.
   
3. Go to Brightness / Contrast to adjust your settings. This is the easiest way. Remember, that you can adjust those settings in the Hue/Saturation window too but it is harder to find the right settings.
4. Special detail for this picture: Adjust the green value of the Broadway-Sign, also done in Hue/Saturation window.
5. To achieve the nice changeover in the sky I used the exposure tool to get the edges a little bit darker.

Used camera settings:

• ISO 100
• Auto white balance
• Shutter speed: 1/80 with aperture of 6.3
• Lens: 28-200mm Tamron