Image Info

For this HDR “making of”, 5 exposures were taken with a Nikon D700 + Nikkor AF-S 16-35mm f/4 G ED VR with the following settings:

exposure time: 0.6s (0EV), 1/6s (-2EV), 0.3s (-1EV), 1.3s (+1EV), 2.5s (+2EV)
focal length: 16.0 mm
aperture: F10.0
ISO: 200

Before taking the shot (see location), I waited for a bus to come into the frame for the longest exposure. Fortunately, the Lexus was parked and wasn’t moving in any of the frames, making the contrast between the car/bus trails and the motionless car more striking.

RAW exposures

HDR Exposure (realistic version) processed in Oloneo PhotoEngine

HDR Exposure (extreme version) processed in Oloneo PhotoEngine

The Final Result (full HD wallpaper)

Workshop Announcement

There are still a few places available for Paris HDR workshop on May 21-22nd. If you wish to learn what you’ll see on this video, make sure to make your reservation now!

A workshop will take place on May 28-29 in Nice, France. Official announcement of the workshop in Montreal will be done in June 2011.

The Making Of

The Video

The steps

For this making of, the following steps were undertaken.

1. Image alignment: it so happens from time to time that the tripod is moved slightly in between exposures. To fix this, I used the “load files into stack” script in Photoshop and repasted the corrected TIF into its original file.
2. dual HDR processing in Oloneo PhotoEngine (if you haven’t checked the review, it’s here): The first tonemapping was fairly realistic and would be used as a basis for the image, then a second tonemapping was applied and would be used for certain parts of the image.
3. manual blending of the two HDR generated
4. semi-automatic blending of the sky of one of the exposures using selections composites.
5. manual blending of the bus/car trails and hot spots
6. local contrast adjustments using blending modes such as soft light and normal blending modes
7. sharpening and edge sharpening using low and high radius high pass sharpening
8. special effects

The mini PSD

Want to see how it’s done in Photoshop, email me and I will send you a mini PSD containing all the layers.

Full length video

This full length video of 35+ minutes will be available with text commentary and explanations on the DVD of the HDR workshop. It may be available for individuals, message me for more information and prices.

Agrandir le plan

As usual, pictures were taken with a Nikon D700 + Nikkor AF-S 16-35mm f/4 G ED VR and HDR were processed in Oloneo PhotoEngine and minor adjustments in Photoshop.

• beautiful sculpture and mural at the entrance of the Rockefeller Center, NYC

• Center alley and stores of Rockefeller building at dusk, NYC

• Teuscher Chocolatier, rockefeller center store, NYC

• the flags of Rockefeller center, NYC

• another view of the rock, rockefeller Center, NYC

• yellow cab in front of Rockefeller Center, NYC

Thanks for viewing!

The Location

Located at the end of Colorado Street, Santa Monica Pier is the city’s most prized and one of the oldest landmarks of the City.

Agrandir le plan

In the city for a business trip in November 2010 and staying in Santa Monica, I had to capture the beauty of this place at the best time of day: the blue hour! I was surprised and lucky because it was a quiet night and contrary to my last trip in the summer, it was not overly crowded. After parking at the entrance, the first building to photograph was the Bubba Gimp Shrimp Co Restaurant.

Then going up on the Pier, I was fascinated by the scene of the Surf View Cafe  and for a more dynamic scene, I let a few people walk into the frame. The result is amazing!

The view towards the end of the pier shows beautiful colours against the blue sky.

Then you get to the amazing entrance of Pacific Park where you’ll see a big octopus dominating the scene.

A few dozen meters further, on the left part of the Pier, you get this wonderful view.

And walking a bit further you get these two amazing scenes. I especially  love how the HDR brings out the texture of the weathered wooden floor of the pier and how the 2 shops light up the scene against the blue skyline. The colours balance is nearly perfect.

Order an exclusive limited edition print!

Thanks for viewing!

Equipment used for the shoot

Nikon D700

Nikon Nikkor AF-S 16-35mm f/4 G ED VR

Gitzo Leveling 6X tripod GT2540LVL

Default ISO settings : 200

Using the 16-35mm was the best way to capture the place “landscape” style and shoot for HDR. What’s really important when shooting for HDR at night it’s to capture all the details of the highlights and have a base exposure with sufficient shadow details. When choosing focal lengths, staying away from 16-20mm helps avoiding distortion and stretching. Contrary to the 14-24mm from Nikon, this lens allows for the use of filters (77mm diameter).

hardware used for the editing

Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bits

Core 2 Duo E6750 + 4GB memory

Samsung 275T 27″ monitor + Samsung 244T 24″ monitor

Wacom Intuos 3 tablet

The Wacom tablet is always a must have tool for editing. It allows for pressure sensitive adjustments and it will speed up your workflow once you get used to using it.

Software used for the editing

Photoshop Cs5

32-Float Plugin from Unified Colours – HDR Experts

This was my first series of tests done using this new application from Unified Colours | The HDR Experts. Contrary to other tools like Photomatix, it’s much more easier to set the black point and once you find the right “recipe”, it’s pretty straighforward to use. Colour rendition is way superior to Photomatix and overall result is more realistic. Check for yourself and use coupon code “dgphotohdr” for a get 20% off any of the products.

Contact me for questions or if you’d like to see some topics discussed in more details here!

Thanks for viewing.

It was a beautiful day of fall in California with no clouds in the sky  and the sun was starting to go down. I was driving on a beautiful scenic rout towards Klamath, Ca, meditating on the power of visualization as a way to get what I want from my life. As I was going through my memories, I realized that most of the photos that I love were the result of that (mostly) unconscious (at the time) process. I was also thinking I had never taken a photo of golden rays of light coming through the trees. I had seen these photos a few times and I had a clear image in my mind. I then decided to hold that thought and keep feeling how it would feel to take that particular photo.

As I was going through the curves of Highway 1, I was going uphill when this vision became reality, I was amazed by the beauty of the scenery, it was pure perfection, a moment of pure blissfulness, I hit the brakes immediately and did a u-turn to park so that my car would not be part of the image. I then took my time to put the camera on a tripod, select the right lens and position myself in the middle of the road and snap the 7 exposures necessary to capture the scene with as many details as possible.

The final image involved manual blending between a DRI (also manually blended) of -2,+1 and +3 exposures and an HDR of 7 exposures (-3 to +3ev) from Photomatix.

Here is the result (Nikon D300 – Tamron 17-50mm – ISO 200 – 17mm – 1/160 to 0.4s exposures):

Each time I look at this photo, I feel blissful and happy, hence the reason I named this photo  “The Blissful Road to Happiness“.

Book me for:

• a portrait session or a portfolio, or
  
• an assignment (architecture/urban landscape), or
  
• a Photoshop training lesson (english and french)

View my portfolio and contact me now!

Photos and videos are all rights reserved – David Giral 2010.

My collection of right managed stock photos of Yosemite Park is now online for sale on my website, see the images below:

Stock | USA, California, Yosemite National Park – Images by David Giral

More photos will be added to this collection and I will keep you updated.

Photos are also available for prints upon requests.

Book me for:

• a portrait session or a portfolio, or
  
• an assignment (architecture/urban landscape), or
  
• a Photoshop training lesson (english and french)

View my portfolio and contact me now!

Photos and videos are all rights reserved – David Giral 2010.

• Ranked 10 | The hilly Streets of San-Francisco II | HDR/RAW

• Ranked 9 |  Classic Seattle Skyline,  Washington, USA

• Ranked 8 | Spooky Evening in Bodie, California, USA | RAW

• Ranked 7 | San Francisco at Night from Russian Hill, California, USA

• Ranked 6 | Rush Hour on Rue Royale, Paris, France

• Ranked 5 | Blue Hour on Hawthorne Bridge and Portland, Oregon | DRI

• Ranked 4 | The Streetcar of Powell Station, San Francisco | DRI

• Ranked 3 | The old Plymouth on the road less travelled, California, USA

• Ranked 2 | Blue Hour on Vancouver, BC, Canada | DRI

• Ranked 1 | The Big Rocks of Klamath Beach, California, USA | HDR

Enjoy! You are welcome to use them as wallpapers.

All those photos are available as prints and some as stock photos at www.davidgiralphoto.com !

During my last trip to San Francisco, I had the opportunity to take a few photos at the blue hour in San Francisco before heading out on a road trip to Seattle, Wa.

The photo above was taken at Union Square and pictures the amazing facade of Macy’s store along Geary Street.

The three photos used were taken at 13mm with a Sigma 10-20mm lens mounted on a D300 and a Gitzo tripod. Exposures ranged from 1.6, 0.8 and 6s.

The particular challenge with this pĥoto was to correct
1- Level the photo accurately,
2- Correct the perspective using the lens distortion filter,
3- Blend the photos together via layers.
4- make various corrections.

Here is the making of of this photo – 3min 10s  (22 min in realtime) :

Enjoy!

Don’t forget to check my portfolio and my stock photos at http://www.davidgiralphoto.com