Changing Perspectives

Changing Perspectiveshttp://www.changingperspectives.de/index.phpChanging Perspectives RSS Feedenjenni.brehm@mac.comCopyright 2008 Jenni Brehm2011-12-28T14:02:42+01:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Mi., 28 Dez 2011 14:38:52 +0100ChangingPerspectiveshttp://feedburner.google.comShowcase for my analogue camerasjenni.brehm@mac.comHardware2011-12-28T14:02:42+01:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChangingPerspectives/~3/FHSQrMb8ehQ/showcase-analogue-cameras.phphttp://www.changingperspectives.de/files/showcase-analogue-cameras.php#unique-entry-id-64

This last year I have been collecting analogue cameras but I didn’t have a proper place to showcase them. So for the better part of the year they simply stood on a table where we usually put our jigsaw puzzles (when we do one, haven’t done so in years). Of course, I didn’t really like that because I felt the cameras deserved better, since all of them are beautifully crafted and should be put somewhere so that people who visit can look at them.
After some looking around I decided on a glass case (made in sweden ;) ) that had an okay price and is relatively sturdy (I looked at one that was shaking just when you looked at it…). so a friend and I took to the job of putting this monster up. I say monster because the package weighed in at 43kg :-o
Of course, this being a do-it-yourself-assembly style package, nothing went as planned. We got the feet wrong at first, then a long glass pane for the side fell down onto the back glass panel… but luckily, nothing broke!

When we finally had it standing and i wanted to insert the glass inlays to put the camera in, I realized that still we had two feet (that go all the way to the top) wrong and that we would have to dis-assemble the whole thing again to fix this! Without a fix you couldn’t put the glass in there, so we had no choice but to do it all again. Though we decided to wait till the next weekend, because we had just spent over an hour with it and I was starting to swear ;)
So the next weekend we re-assembled the whole thing and now I have a home for my cameras where everyone can see them and have a look at them. The finishing touch will be some light from the top so I can illuminate them at night ;-)
A great bonus is that I still have a lot of room in there, so I can buy even more cameras ;-) First new resident: a Lomography LC-A+

]]>http://www.changingperspectives.de/files/showcase-analogue-cameras.php#unique-entry-id-64Best of 2011jenni.brehm@mac.comPhotoProject2011-12-21T09:01:25+01:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChangingPerspectives/~3/BR5CcbsYJi8/best-of-2011.phphttp://www.changingperspectives.de/files/best-of-2011.php#unique-entry-id-63

Another year gone by, another year with only a handful of posts (blush). But it is the end of the year again and Jim Goldstein is doing his blog project again where photographers can share their best pictures of the year. Like last year, I took a journey through my photos from this year and tried to select my favorites from the last year. Of course, I couldn’t decide (again … ) . Due to this I’ll put them into different categories with my favorite from each highlighted.

]]>http://www.changingperspectives.de/files/best-of-2011.php#unique-entry-id-63HDR at night. More work, awesome resultsjenni.brehm@mac.comPhotoProcessing2011-12-04T18:47:22+01:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChangingPerspectives/~3/DjrcRj6VBhI/hdr-at-night.phphttp://www.changingperspectives.de/files/hdr-at-night.php#unique-entry-id-62

Last weekend I went on a photo walk with Gaensler, who lives about a half hour drive from where I live and who is also shooting a lot of HDR photos (be sure to check them out!). We decided to go on a tour of my home town which already has the christmas lights up. So we met up in the afternoon but continued shooting into the night when the lights came on and still I tried my hand at HDR. At night it is a bit more work to get good HDR shots (for one, you have to hold the camera steady longer) but also because noise can become a huge issue in post-processing.

Here is an example of this and some tips on what you should keep an eye on in processing the image. First, the source images:

As you can see, the normal exposure (middle) has the lights pretty good but the whole tree is too dark, you simply cannot really see it. The overexposed has a beautifully lit up tree but the lights are too bright and have lost all definition, so HDR is the way to go to balance these two.
When I am out shooting a bunch of HDR photos, I always use the batch function of photomatix to make a HDR of each threesome to get a first visual clue about which images have potential. I used the same preset I always used, but it is not usable for night captures, as this photo clearly shows:

As you can see, all you can see is noise. I have no idea why photomatix always tries to make the image so much lighter than the source material is (because really, even the over-exposed is not as bright). What you can see clearly here is noise and blown-out lights in the tree. Even the whole tree is too bright, imo.
With night time images you have to look at each one individually and make the processing based on the amount of light you have and the subject you captured, because that will have a lot of impact on how much light you want to have for the background and the main subject.
I decided to make two different versions, one in photomatix and one in HDR efex pro because I am still not sure which one I like better for night-time HDR pictures.

The one on the left is done in Photomatix, I made it relatively dark to make the lights stand out better in the tree and so that the illumination really comes from the tree - I especially like how the light looks in the tree. The one on the right is done in HDR Efex Pro and I decided on a bit more exposure for this one, the lights are not as distinguishable but I’m enjoying the blue sky as a backdrop for the tree.
As you can see though, both don’t have super noticeable noise (non have been de-noised yet) or have noticeable halos or color shifts in the sky, which is also a problem you can run into when you look at night-time HDR. If you get one or both, start over, it is easier that way than to get it back under control.

]]>http://www.changingperspectives.de/files/hdr-at-night.php#unique-entry-id-62How to take awesome Firework photos - even without a tripodjenni.brehm@mac.comBlog2011-07-04T11:30:04+02:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChangingPerspectives/~3/Z2fyYiPX_u0/how-to-take-fireworks-photo-without-tripod.phphttp://www.changingperspectives.de/files/how-to-take-fireworks-photo-without-tripod.php#unique-entry-id-60Like I told you back in March, I’ve gotten into a bit of Lomography obsession and own several analogue cameras by now - one even has permanent residency in my purse! On two occasions (New Years and a local fair) I tried taking some analogue photos using my Diana F+ and my Diana mini. Both times I did not have a tripod with me and simply thought I’d experiment to see if there was even a chance of get half-decent photos that way.

]]>http://www.changingperspectives.de/files/how-to-take-fireworks-photo-without-tripod.php#unique-entry-id-60Flickr Alternative? A bit about 500pxjenni.brehm@mac.comThoughts2011-05-13T12:17:38+02:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChangingPerspectives/~3/4aPoOnVe-ZA/flickr-alternative-500px.phphttp://www.changingperspectives.de/files/flickr-alternative-500px.php#unique-entry-id-59There have been wonderful posts with suggestions about what Flickr needs to do better, like this one by Thomas Hawk, and there has also been one of the first interviews I have seen with a Flickr executive recently. But you can’t help wondering what will happen.
This always leads me to look for alternatives. I tried Zoomr a few years back, uploaded my photos to DeviantArt for a while and also tried SmugMug. But none of them really was what I was looking for. Then a few weeks back someone tweeted about a site I have never heard of: 500px.com. So of I went again to try a new site and see how I like it.

]]>http://www.changingperspectives.de/files/flickr-alternative-500px.php#unique-entry-id-59Lomography: My new obsessionjenni.brehm@mac.comLomography2011-03-03T16:52:29+01:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChangingPerspectives/~3/jHnjCcRkdkk/efb2679962440eefc2a6aac6ddd08813-58.phphttp://www.changingperspectives.de/files/efb2679962440eefc2a6aac6ddd08813-58.php#unique-entry-id-58

Back in December I talked about how the best camera is the one you always have with you and showed you several photos I have done with my iPhone. Most of them were taken with Hipstamatic or Instagram since I really love the vintage feel they give a photo. I still love those apps and the look - but for Christmas, I actually take the plunge: I got an analogue camera - yes, really, with a roll of film in the back and everything. I had been playing with the thought for a while now but never took the plunge.
However, when i visited a little store in Frankfurt in December, they were selling some of the cameras by the Lomography Society - which is basically trying to bring back analogue and is reengineering a lot of old camera bodies and also selling the films for them. They are relatively cheap, too (compared to a modern digital that is) and some even come with interchangable lenses!

So for Christmas, I got this beauty, the Diana F+:

If you are thinking: that looks like plastic - that is because it is plastic. This beauty is as mechanic as you can probably get and weighs next to nothing. It doesn’t even need a battery (well, the flash does). It takes 120 film rolls, which can mostly only be found in photography stores, since it’s a format that isn’t widespread anymore and the resulting pictures are squares. It comes with a 75mm lens but you also get a 55mm one as well as a 110mm zoom lens and a closeup lens. Even a fisheye is available. With a camera like that you never know what you results will look like...

At the moment this is still the challenge for me, since you can only set the Aperture (based on a system of weather conditions) and the focus distance. I get the settings wrong way more often than I get it right but that is part of the charm, you never know, what your photos are going to look like and it’s a way more conscious photographing than with a digital - at least for me. You only have so many shots and you want to do the scene you see justice - which can be hard to do when playing with a new toy. But sometimes you succeed with stunning results!

By now the bug has totally infiltrated me, I also now own a Diana Mini (Special Valentines Edition), which takes 35mm film (the one you probably think of when thinking film) and can shoot half-frames, which is half the format of a regular 35mm film photo, which can give interesting results since you can set contrasting images up in one frame (once I get the hang of how much to wind my film). This camera also has taken up permanent residency in my purse....

But part of the fun is also sharing the photos and articles on lomography.com where you can even get points you can use in their online shop to buy new goodies and films (you can register here and get 10 points, which is equal to 10 off in your currency). My next purchase will be the Sprocket Rocket, once I have enough points, which shoots panoramic images on 35mm film and also exposes the sprocket holes on the edges of the film, which I think is a very interesting look.

]]>http://www.changingperspectives.de/files/efb2679962440eefc2a6aac6ddd08813-58.php#unique-entry-id-58Results of Blog Project: Best of 2010jenni.brehm@mac.comPhotoProject2011-01-13T11:50:55+01:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChangingPerspectives/~3/oBCaroYRqYg/results-blog-project-best-of-2010.phphttp://www.changingperspectives.de/files/results-blog-project-best-of-2010.php#unique-entry-id-57I did last year. Enjoy!

You can find them after the jump :)

]]>http://www.changingperspectives.de/files/results-blog-project-best-of-2010.php#unique-entry-id-57Best of 2010jenni.brehm@mac.comPhotoProject2010-12-26T16:35:52+01:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChangingPerspectives/~3/J2TYONQzj5g/best-of-2010.phphttp://www.changingperspectives.de/files/best-of-2010.php#unique-entry-id-56

Another year has come and gone and it’s time to for another look back at the photos I have taken in the last year. Like last year Jim is doing a Blog Project called „Best of 2010“ in which I want to participate again (My entry last year).

As last year I could not decide on one best photo - especially since I took so many photographs, both at home and during my Roadtrip last summer (for which I still have not wirtten a blog post...). So like last year, I will have several categories in which I will show you my best photos. My favorite for each categorie is larger than the rest - you can see larger versions of all of them by clicking on an image.

Macro

Macro photography has been one of my favorite topics for years now but this year I did not have much time to go to a botanical garden or to spend time shooting in our own garden but still I got some new images I really liked. The thing for me with Macro shots is that I have become very, very picky in my images, since photos can be very similar some times - I’m looking more and more for the unusual than for simple depictions of the flowers.

Insects

Years ago, I wrote a blog post about how hard it is to get a good shot of an insect - it still is but I am getting better and got lots of practice this year with three visits to butterfly gardens.

Animals

I only visited two zoos in 2010, which is almost nothing for me but I got some pretty pictures (I think) - as with the flower Macros I was looking a bit more for the unusual than in the last years.

HDR

Okay, I’ll admit it, I was obsessed with HDRs this year - this was heightened even more with the new versions of Photomatix and HDR Efex Pro, which gives my HDR shots a lot more different looks. I used HDR mainly when I was on vacation, so the photos in this category were taken in the USA (Atlanta, New Orleans, Columbus, MS, Natchez, MS, Vicksburg, MS) and in Germany (Meersburg, Konstanz, Dreieich, Frankfurt). And yes, this is a best of and not all pictures I did take - I just had a hard time deciding, since a lot of memories are connected to these images.

P8295952_3_4_tonemapped - Arbeitskopie 2

Miscellaneous

These photos did not fit into any one of the categories - either because they are single exposure photos or because I was experimenting at night.

So here they are, my best pictures of 2010. Besides the ones shown, I took a lot of iPhone photos this year (some of which I highlighted in my last post) and started taking photos with a film camera (I got it for christmas, so not much to show yet). So next year there will probably be an even wider range of photo subjects.

]]>http://www.changingperspectives.de/files/best-of-2010.php#unique-entry-id-56The best camera....jenni.brehm@mac.comBlog2010-12-17T19:59:09+01:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChangingPerspectives/~3/EGE_tddxGhU/1d87b4d4f40c0f4e286e3c7965af5926-55.phphttp://www.changingperspectives.de/files/1d87b4d4f40c0f4e286e3c7965af5926-55.php#unique-entry-id-55

... is the one that is always with you. Until recently, that always ment for me that I didn’t take a lot of photos because I did not have my camera with me - because I did not want to always carry my DSLR, especially when I was at college or at work. But now the smartphone cameras are finally becoming serious contenders for great photos. Recent months have seen a spike in iPhone apps which allow you to alter your photos and share them more easily with others (I know that there are some for Android and WinMo, too, but I have an iPhone, so I know most about those :) ).

This change has led to a change in how most of us are taking photos - because finally, you do have the opportunity to take a photo when something catches your eye, because sometimes the small details or a stunning sunset come totally unexpected and give you a different creative outlet for your photos (I find it pretty interesting, how different the style of some of my favorite photographers is with their phones than with their „big“ cameras).

Besides taking different photos, most of us are sharing those photos differently, too. I’m sure most of you have heard of Instagram by now, an iPhone app that allows you to capture and edit photos on the go with an included network for sharing those photos. I like the app, but really hate the fact that they do not have a way to view photos of your contacts on the web, because I’m not opening the iPhone app regularly. Thankfully, some photographers are sharing their snaps on the web as well, some on Flickr and some on Tumbler blogs. Some examples are Jim’s iPhone (by Jim Goldstein) and MalsoMalso (by Martin Gommel).

I decided to share mine on Tumbler as well, because most often I don’t find them good enough to share them on Flickr but want to share them with you anyways. You can find them at pfenya.tumblr.com or you can add me on instagram under the nick „pfenya“, as always :)

While I use instagram and some of the apps that let you apply filters to your photos, my absolute favorite is Hipstamatic, which is a digital version of a toy camera with lots of different lenses and film types. The great thing is that you have to decide on your lens and film before you take the photo - which makes it really fun, since you have to be very deliberate in composing your shot and finding out what you want to do with it, which makes for a really great challenge when you love photography.

]]>http://www.changingperspectives.de/files/1d87b4d4f40c0f4e286e3c7965af5926-55.php#unique-entry-id-55Tip: Go back in your Archivejenni.brehm@mac.comPhotoPhoto Tip2010-12-02T10:26:53+01:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChangingPerspectives/~3/61arIF-puIc/tip-go-back-archive.phphttp://www.changingperspectives.de/files/tip-go-back-archive.php#unique-entry-id-54

I took the photo above over 3 years ago - but only published this version on Flickr a few days ago. Why the long wait you ask? Because I decided to re-process it recently. The photo has been one of those that has shown up on my Screen Savers from time to time and I always thought that I need to open it up again and do a different processing, because I never quite liked the original version I did:

It’s one of those photos were you see the potential but when you’ve been editing photos for a while, you also know that it could be way better and jaw-dropping. But with so many new photos taking up my time (I’m still processing those from my summer holiday...), I never went back to this photo. But it was always in the back of my mind, nagging me. So this weekend I decided to search my archive for it and see what I could do with it - it’s not just the fact that my tastes have changed but also that my processing knowledge has grown, as well as the apps I use (at the time I didn’t even know Photomatix existed!).

Like I said, it had been nagging me, so I knew a fair bit about how the final result was supposed to look like (kind of like when sculptures tell you the stone speaks to them or that they have to free that beaver from within that wooden block). I wanted it to be a bit ominous and for both the stone church and the clouds to have more structure to them. For this I knew that an HDR would probably be a great idea - of course I only had the single image but that’s okay, too, at least as long as you have a RAW file (you could do it from a jpg but I wouldn’t advise you to try). For this I fired up HDR Efex Pro, since I also knew that tonemapping was probably not going to be the final touch for the image (though it gave me some great results, too).
In the end I decided on this very dramatic version with some cross-processing applied and a very strong vignette applied, too, so that the clouds would be very dark and oppressing while still being very interesting (to me at least). But it also focusses the attention towards the church, which has a wonderful structured look and seems to almost glow in comparison to the sky.

The learning here is that it pays to go back to your favorite images from a few years ago (I know, you probably won’t like most of them and will cringe while looking at them). Because oftentimes they are worth a second look and a second try at becoming great and one of your all-time favorites!

How about you? Ever went back to an old image and made it something different?

]]>http://www.changingperspectives.de/files/tip-go-back-archive.php#unique-entry-id-54Results with HDR Efex Projenni.brehm@mac.comPhotoProcessingSoftware2010-10-18T12:14:45+02:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChangingPerspectives/~3/S6YXvEnqzJU/results-with-hdr-efex-pro.phphttp://www.changingperspectives.de/files/results-with-hdr-efex-pro.php#unique-entry-id-53Tweet
Last year I fell in love with Nik Software’s Silver Efex Pro and tried out the Complete Collection of their apps and decided to buy all of them as a Christmas gift to myself. I’ve been using them a lot since then and got really excited when I heard that they were working on an HDR plug-in. Of course, the big question that I asked myself, as I am sure countless others did as well, was: how was it going to compare to Photomatix?
I got an early peek at HDR Efex Pro when Nik offered a webinar showcasing the beta version of the app during the summer. I really liked what I saw, especially since it offers you a huge number of visual presets with a lot more options than Photomatix does. Photomatix is the app you process your HDR in and then go into Photoshop or some other collection of filters to get your final results. This got so out of hand for me in the last few months that I, literally, spent hours perfecting a single photo. Granted, the photo was worth it but when you get home with several hundred photos you like from a summer vacation, there is just no time to spent hours on each individual photo.
Another thing I really got to appreciate is the U Point Technology, which is a faster way for changing settings for just an area in a photo without changing the overall look (similar to masking in Photoshop) - this is especially helpful with an HDR where you are almost bound to have some areas you would like to change a bit (e.g. the clouds).

Something they did not show in the webinar, was their Ghosting Technology and I was therefore really looking forward to seeing what they had done in that area, since I am tired of having to go into Photoshop to somehow rescue people strolling through my images. In the new Photomatix you simply highlight the area you have ghosting to reduce or eliminate it, with HDR Efex you get several options for Ghosting (youtube link) and I was really amazed at the results so far, people really were in one piece and they had a subtle HDR effect applied to them - something you lose with masking in from the original image.

I also enjoy the interface with the presets on the left and all your options on the right. Besides the strength of the tone mapping you also get a drop down with several options for the tonemapping, like sharper details or extra halo reduction, which gives you countless options for the look of your HDR. It also gives you the ability to do some advanced editing like adding a cross-processed look to the photo or going B&W in the app. You can even add a vignette in there (which I think is super handy).

I processed several photos these last few days with the new app, simply to get a feel for the options and I really, really enjoy using it. It’s very different from Photomatix but I like the added options and the ease of use of HDR Efex. I’m suddenly plowing through edits again after spending hours to get a similar result before, which is really great for the number of photos I tend to take.

If you want to try it yourself, there is a 15 day trial available for Aperture, Photoshop CS 5 and Lightroom.

(As always, click any photo to see a larger version)

]]>http://www.changingperspectives.de/files/results-with-hdr-efex-pro.php#unique-entry-id-53Long time exposure for a beautiful night skyjenni.brehm@mac.comPhotoPhoto Tip2010-08-13T10:08:00+02:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChangingPerspectives/~3/PV4vqiJZ6ts/2fafa76a3ffbea791a2143033bdbe904-52.phphttp://www.changingperspectives.de/files/2fafa76a3ffbea791a2143033bdbe904-52.php#unique-entry-id-52 As many of you are probably aware, yesterday night the Perseiden Meteor Shower was visible. Of course I had to go out and try to catch a meteor on a photo. Unfortunately, I didn’t but still I got several beautiful images of the night sky above our house and wanted to share some different images taken with different shutter speeds to show how much the shutter speed changes the lighting in a longtime exposure shot (and the ISO, too).

First of, the different in ISO on the lighting of the sky (please view the large versions to get a real impression of the differences). The first photo was taken at ISO 400, the second at 250 and the third one at ISO 100, as you can see the higher the Iso the more details and light you have in the photo (the 250 is a bit misleading because the camera was positioned slightly more to the right were there are street lamps). But with increasing the ISO you also increase the noise in the image, something that you will have even at a low ISo when you are taking long time exposure photos). Because of that I decided to try the bulb mode on my camera and do even longer exposures.

Bulb mode is the name for photos you want to take at even longer exposures than 30 seconds. With my camera, the Canon 7D, there is an entry for it on the mode dial like there is for shutter priority and aperture priority. When you choose that you simply decide on the aperture, which I set at f4 and then you simply hold down the shutter button for as long as you like. This is best done if you have a remote shutter release, which will usually have the option to secure it so you don’t have to hold down the button the whole time.
With that mode the following four photos were made. The ISO was set at 320 because I felt that gave me a good middle ground between noise and light sensitivity and the shutter speed fluctuated due to my holding down the shutter longer or shorter, since I didn’t time myself, I simply went by feeling. The first photo has a shutter time of 64 seconds, the second is 51 seconds, the third 77 seconds and the fourth 19 seconds.
As you can see, the difference in light and especially ambient light, something I cannot get rid of living in a small city and relatively close to the big airport in Frankfurt (half of our sky is almost invisible to the east due to the light pollution from the airport). I think the 60 seconds is a pretty good middle ground for my area, since the sky is still relatively dark and bluish (all of the shots here haven’t been processed or edited) but you see lots of stars and even a whole lot of small stars you cannot see with your eye from the ground.

One last tip if you go out for such shots: be sure to check your settings and take the lens cap of before you go out into the night.... I went out twice to take photos, the second time I forgot to take the lens cap of for the first shot - had I taken it off, I would have a photo with a meteor in it :(
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]]>http://www.changingperspectives.de/files/2fafa76a3ffbea791a2143033bdbe904-52.php#unique-entry-id-52Cleaning up a HDR imagejenni.brehm@mac.comPhotoProcessing2010-05-25T19:55:03+02:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChangingPerspectives/~3/jBuzb0UEJto/cleaning-hdr-photo.phphttp://www.changingperspectives.de/files/cleaning-hdr-photo.php#unique-entry-id-51
I started out with these three images (shot handheld):

Like you would expect, the sky is the best in the -2 shot, he people and the ruins in the background look best in the normal exposure photo and the details of the carousel look best in the +2 shot since they are in the shadow due to the roof of the carousel.
Since I had handheld the shots, I decided to use the HDR function of Photoshop 3, which I mainly use for overlaying the images and then used the Photomatix Tone Mapping plugin on the image Photoshop supplied. The result looked like this:

There was A LOT of ghosting since people were moving around and one part of the carousel revolves around itself, so that had been in movement, too - and the noise in the carousel was awful as well, so I decided to do some cleaning of the photo using the lighter two exposures. I added them as layers in Photoshop and aligned them with the tonemapped image so that I could paint in parts of those layers using layer masks. Since I knew I needed several areas of each photo, I decided to keep the original layers untouched and simply duplicate them for the cloning. This has the bonus that you don’t have to mess with your old layer mask when adding a new layer.
As a first step, I decided to get rid of the ghosting of the people in the foreground (all the moving parts etc. are referred to as ghosting) so I duplicated the normal exposure layer and added a black layer mask and used a soft edge brush to reveal the parts of the layer I wanted to use for the people. The result looked like this:

Unfortunately the stone ground lost some of its texture but the people look ley they are supposed to and the foreground looks way less busy, even though there are sill a ton of people. If you look closely, you can see that there were people moving in the carousel as well, so those had to be replaced, too. For this I decided to use the +2 layer, since I wanted the people (and even more the paintings) to be visible. So I duplicated that layer and worked with a layer mask again to paint in the non-moving people, which improves the picture again:

Since you can’t really see it from the zoomed out photo, I did a zoom into the area where most people were standing & moving. This is after cleaning up this part of the image.

As you can see, the people are clearly visible now but the paint job looks like it has been out in the weather for decades because the noise is soo bad. This is mainly due to Photomatix, which introduced a lot of noise into your photo. So you should sometimes clean up very dark or very light areas to get a more even look - and less noise. For this I used the +2 layer, too, since that one had the most details for the paintings.

I think the difference in the zoomed in images speaks for itself, doesn’t it? Here is how it looks like zoomed out:

A lot more details are visible now in the paint job but the trimming on the roof was too dark, so i painted it in from the normal exposure photo to get an even look and, since it is its own layer, I was able to increase the brightness a bit of just that layer to match the overall brightness of the carousel.

As a last step, I cleaned up the lower floor and the horses on it, using the normal exposure photo to get to the final image:

(Links to Flickr where you can find a larger size)

Here is also a look at the different layers I ended up with for the final image): The Cleanup took longer than I usually take the time for my images but I think the results are clearly worth it. I hope this little guide helped you see how some little cleaning up can improve a HDR image. If you have questions - hit the comments!

]]>http://www.changingperspectives.de/files/cleaning-hdr-photo.php#unique-entry-id-51iPad Wallpapersjenni.brehm@mac.comWallpaper2010-04-04T20:56:58+02:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChangingPerspectives/~3/8bcbVGJ3190/ipad-wallpapers.phphttp://www.changingperspectives.de/files/ipad-wallpapers.php#unique-entry-id-50As most of you probably know (unless you live under a rock ;) ), Apple released its iPad yesterday with a beautiful bright display from what I hear. Since I’ll be needing some wallpapers for it, I decided to browse my whole library and make some wallpapers for everybody :)
I’ll be releasing four packs with different themes: Architecture & Landscapes, Animal & Reptiles, Fire and Flowers & Insects. You can find the packs in the download section and I might make them available as a gallery soon, too, so you can download them directly from your iPad. I’ll also be adding iPhone versions soon, too.
But first things first, here are some previews. I hope you enjoy them! :)

]]>http://www.changingperspectives.de/files/ipad-wallpapers.php#unique-entry-id-50Comments!jenni.brehm@mac.comOrganizational2010-03-16T23:07:57+01:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChangingPerspectives/~3/-AP7nWMqQjQ/65679e10365b59384e2b5c576d9ec796-49.phphttp://www.changingperspectives.de/files/65679e10365b59384e2b5c576d9ec796-49.php#unique-entry-id-49Hopefully, comments should be up and working again and will be in the far more superior Disqus format from now on - I hope that I’ll be able to migrate the old comment, too.

A new post will be up soon, too - I tested light painting for the first time today. I’ll definitely show you my first results!

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