Tags
Australia, Awards, HDR images, Melbourne, photography, Photomatix Pro, postaday, Rework, Southbank
Last December I did a field trip in the city to take some night photos along the river. It is a great spot for night photos. Along there in front of the casino are some gas chimneys and at certain times of the night they light up. They do it for a little bit of time, and then stop. I hadn’t set out to take photos of it at the time, but when it happened as I had the tripod set up, I quickly turned the camera around to capture it.
This is the original HDR image I did from the series. I had taken 5 images in a series of bracketed shocks. I did this not long after I started doing HDR’s and before I purchased Photomatix Pro. It has that halo and the colours look fairly unnatural.
After seeing this again, I decided to try doing it again.
I redid the HDR with Photomatix Pro, then I cropped it, I didn’t really like the composition in the top one. Not really sure what I was thinking there. I think the cropped version is better. I also added some blur layers, so the only thing that isn’t blurred is the chimney. I also added some gradient. That was about it. I think the rework works a lot better.
Awards
I have to address the awards I’ve been nominated for. I have ignored it for too long. I think awards are great, but they are also time consuming to reciprocate. I have been given quite a number over the last few months and I haven’t reciprocated any of them. I feel bad about this. My blog takes up a lot of my time and I am always planning stuff for you and writing. My husband wants me to get a job, anyway that is another story.
I have decided that from now on, I will include the blog that has nominated me, so they are acknowledged, but I won’t be doing all the other things that are required for the award. I hope this is alright with everyone. I am going to give you the blogs for this week, and from now on, I will put them on if I receive any more. I would like to apologise to everyone who has nominated me previously and I haven’t done this for. I just can’t find all of them. So please accept my apology.
I have four blogs for you to check out today.
http://tchistorygal.wordpress.com/2012/10/07/ligo-circle-of-appreciation/
http://liviamihaelafirinca.wordpress.com/2012/10/08/liebster-blog-award-one-lovely-blog-award/
http://nettrobbens.com/2012/10/10/happy-dancing-reality-blog-award/
http://opreach.org/2012/10/11/a-little-something-about-blog-awards/
great photo, and I understand about the awards. It is hard to try and think of blogs to choose and things to write.
Thank you Alastair, I thought I should do something, so this is a compromise, I hope.
There is a remarkable difference in the two photographs. The second one is much better with the focus on the chimney and the closer crop. The soft focus is really pretty.
Thank you George, I do like it when people like the rework more. I think it worked much better as well.
As always, beautiful pictures. The awards are nice, but without your pictures there wouldn’t be any. Photos come first!
Nett
Thank you Nett, that is a lovely thing to say, I really appreciate it.
I agree – the awards are time-consuming. I too have a backlog
Yes, they really are, I hope people will agree that this is a good compromise.
I have received two awards, they sre indeed very time consuming. Real life priorities must come first… the second image does look better but the halo effect can look good in some photos.
Thank you John, I’m not a fan of the halo. Yes, I have received so many awards recently and if I reciprocated all of them, that is all I would be doing most of the week.
I don’t remember this from the first time around, but I absolutely agree about the rework – much better.
That is great Marie, I think it is much more focused now.
The re-work is thousands of per cent better, Leanne! The cropping took out extraneous ‘stuff’ and focused on the gas chimney…the angle is terrific! The bit of blurring also draws the eye to the chimney, but…I’m wondering just what they are? Steel mills here near Chicago would have a high pipe with an always-burning flame, but the purpose of the chimney is beyond my understanding.
Love the fact, too, that the infernal halo is gone…this one’s a keeper, and a real beauty at that!
They are weird 1000, they are tall structures, and every hour, I think it is, in the evening they go off, gas is ignited from them so there are bursts of flame from them. It is quite spectacular when it is dark. They start around 9 in the evening. There are a whole heap of them spread out along the river. They are just decoration really.
I am so glad you like this one, I was really happy with the rework. Thank you 1000
That pretty fascinating, Leanne…and I’m so pleased to have experienced this through your image!
Reblogged this on dulichcauvong and commented:
bài v iết của bạn rấ hay
Mùa cưới đang đến chụp ảnh cưới. Những đôi bạn trẻ chuẩn bị cho ngày cưới càng tấp lập, những hiệu ảnh cưới, áo cưới cũng bận rộn với những mẫu áo cưới vày cưới mới,
và những địa điểm chụp ảnh cưới mới để cho những đôi bạn trẻ chụp ảnh cưới đẹp và độc đáo cũng không có nhiều, và xu hướng chụp ảnh cưới ở vùng cao cũng rất đẹp và lãng mạng, với những đôi bạn trẻ,
Mộc Châu được mọi người gọi với cái tên “thung lũng mặt trời
Excellent ! I love these pictures
That is great to hear, thank you so much.
Congrats on your work recognition.
Thank you Hutch.
The re-working of the image is really interesting – I much prefer the new emphasis on the torch. Nice shot.
Thank you Richard, I think the new image works better as well.
I feel exactly the same way about awards. I’m so glad I’m not the only “bad blogger!”
Good solution— I may steal it. 
I’m with ya’ll. Nice job with the second photo. I’m impressed with the post-processed blur; it’s so difficult to do that convincingly in Photoshop, but you did a really natural-looking job here.
Go ahead and steal the idea Josy, it seemed like a reasonable solution to the problem.
, of course I may not get nominated for anymore awards, but that is okay as well.
I am getting better at the blur, trying to be more subtle with it, that seems to be working for me.
Thanks Josy.
A great way to acknowledge the awards. They do get time consuming. I find I can do less than I once did with them. Both photos have something to offer. For once I’m hard pressed to choose.
Thanks EllaDee, it seemed like a good compromise to me.