A passing cloud at sunset in Lisbon

I took quite a few photos at the 25 de Abril Bridge, as it was the best weather I had during my Lisbon trip. But since I enjoy photographing bridges, I probably would have taken many shots here either way.

For this one, I noticed a huge cloud moving quickly in from the side, just as the sun was dipping below the horizon behind me. So I set up my shot and waited for it to catch some color, and it did. For a brief moment, even the composition came together nicely. Not long after, though, the cloud moved on, leaving an empty space above the bridge, but by then I already had the shot.

This photo is a blend of two exposures in Photoshop, taken with a 17mm tilt-shift lens.

Lisbon city center panorama

There are quite a few spots from which you can get a great view of the Lisbon city center. I’m not sure whether this one, the Miradouro da Senhora do Monte, or the castle is higher, but both offer beautiful views. The walk up all those steps isn’t the most enjoyable, though at least the way back down is easier.

It was raining on and off on the day I took this panorama. A rainy day isn’t ideal for this kind of photography. Even when it’s no longer raining, there’s still a lot of moisture in the air, which can soften distant details. And when you’re trying to capture areas far away, that becomes quite noticeable. But sometimes you don’t have a choice. I just wanted to make the most of the time I had there.

This is a three-shot panorama, with each shot blended from three exposures, mainly to tone down the highlights. Edited entirely in Photoshop.

25 de Abril Bridge

As mentioned before, my luck with the weather during my trip to Portugal was really bad. Out of the six and a half days I spent there, it rained for more than three and a half. And on one of the sunny days, there was a St. Patrick’s Day parade, so the city was full of people. Not exactly great conditions for photography.

Still, going out early in the morning and visiting less populated spots worked, as always.

One of those spots was the 25 de Abril Bridge (25th of April Bridge). And no, this is not the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, even though they look quite similar. Based on what I’ve read, both bridges were built by the same company, which explains the resemblance.

Since I like bridge photos, I took quite a few here, as you’ll see. For this one, I mostly used a single exposure for most of the image, with three additional exposures used just to tone down the brightness of the Jesus statue in the background. Although it still wasn’t quite enough.

Green lights all the way at the Arch of Rua Augusta

Let’s start with one right from the center, at the Arch of Rua Augusta. I wasn’t staying that far away, so I went there for the morning blue hour. As you can see, it had been raining just a few minutes before, leaving everything wet but also nicely reflective.

For this shot, I decided to do a vertorama with the 17mm TS-E lens so I could capture both the crossing and the whole arch. I really liked how it looked with all the green lights, and with a bit of timing, I managed to capture them even with the long exposure I needed. There were, of course, many tram line cables visible in this shot, but after some work in Photoshop, the image came out nice and clean.

Humid sunset panorama

Lets do another one right away. From the same evening, from the same Skypart Tower. Just taken a bit earlier.

The whole day was very cloudy and very humid in Bratislava, and only right before the sunset the sky started to clear. But the air did not clear completely, which resulted in this hazy view. Still made for a nice view. I especially like how the sun brings colour into the surrounding sky.

This is a two shot panorama, combined and edited in Photoshop.

Looking down

I have not posted a photo in a while, so lets do one today. I was back on top of one of the Skypark Towers in Bratislava recently, and I took few photos. You can see in the back, that the whole area is mostly a construction site, as there are multiple projects underway there, and more towers will be build.

I really wanted a shot where I could get the whole neighbouring towers in one shot, and include a part of the ground in front of them. That was nor really that easy, as the railing was quite far from the edge. I tried with the tilt-shift 17mm lens, but it was not wide enough. In the end, I used the 12mm Laowa lens, and I got what I wanted. Funny that even I could not see the ground from where I was standing, but the lens did.

This is a blend of 4 exposures, done in Photoshop.

New 4K wallpapers

As for all 4k wallpapers, these are in 3840x20160px resolution and can be downloaded from the wallpapers page.

Under the Margaret Bridge

The Margaret Bridge is quite a unique bridge in Budapest, as it’s a three-way bridge. Connecting not just the two sides of the Danube, but also Margaret Island. And this is actually the view from the Island, from under the bridge. It’s also a very yellow bridge, with many yellow lights.

That actually not that unusual as almost all of the historical buildings in Budapest have very strong yellow lights. You can see them in the background here. It makes for a very cool night cruise on the Danube, but also for a very hard time taking any night shots.

This one is a blend of three shots, done in Photoshop.

Evening vertorama from Lyon

Continuing with more photos from my archive. There are more than 100 000 photos there, so usually I find something to edit. But not always. This one is from 2016 from a summer trip to Lyon, France. I still remember how hot and sunny it was, that it was hard to stand in the sun.

Surprisingly, in this photo, I did not have to remove anybody. When I was there in the evening, there was not a single person there. This is the Basilica of Notre Dame of Fourvière on the hill above the city, and while there are many tourists during the day, the night is more calm, and empty. Perfect for photos. The yellow lights are a bit strong, making for a stranger color, but still nice.

This is a two-shot vertorama, edited in Photoshop

Vineyards around Spitz

Let’s continue with a photo of vineyards from the Wachau Valley in Austria. This is actually a view from the top of the Hinterhaus Ruins, in the town of Spitz, on the Danube River. It’s actually one of my recommended spots for photography in the area, as are many spots on the hill you can see in this photo. There are almost no fences around, so it’s overall a very nice area.

I took this panorama on a very hot summer day. I was there to get a photo of a passing ship (similar to one I posted a few days ago) so I could not choose a better time. I had to follow the schedule. But one has to make the best of what one got :).

This is a three-shot panorama, each shot blended from two exposures in Photoshop.

Inside the Liverpool Cathedral

While writing yesterday’s post, I remembered my visit to another huge religious building, the Liverpool Cathedral. I have been there actually twice, but both times already years ago. But I thought to myself, if I edited one of the photos I took then, would it still look good? So I did it.

I looked through my photo archive from 2010 when I was there. I still had a Canon 450D at that time, and I used it with a Sigma 10-20mm f3.5 lens. It’s funny to use photos from such a camera, as it’s only 12.2 Mpix, and if you have a 4K screen, you can almost see it 1:1 all at once. 4K is around 8.3 Mpix in size.

I ended up quite liking the result so here it is. If I compare it to newer photos, the ones I took with the Sony a7R or the Canon 5D mark IV, the lover detail is noticeable and the lens is just not as sharp as the Canon 17mm Tilt-shift, that I would use for something like this now. But since I took three exposures here and shot in RAW, I still could recover the highlight and shadows quite easily, even though the dynamic range of the 450D was quite bad.

Strangely, there is a sign “No photos” in this photo, but I don’t remember anymore if photography was forbidden or not. I just know that nobody said anything. Maybe because they were preparing for some event that day. You can see a screen in the back, and there were many tables set up in a different area of the Liverpool Cathedral. It’s been 13 years since I took this photo, so I don’t remember everything.

This is a blend of 3 exposures, done in Photoshop. I did remove a few people using Generative Fill. I do like the result, so I think I go back through the archive to see what I could not edit then, but would look good now.

The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi

Today I chose an interior shot from the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. It really is an impressive structure. Outside and inside. And you can take photos, which is just great.

But it’s also quite difficult for me to edit photos from here. Never sure how they should look. There is a mix of natural, yellow, and white (a bit bluish) lights all over the place. And on top of it, most of it is white or shades of grey. I never know if I should leave it more yellow-colored or push it more white. But in the end, usually, I wouldn’t say I like both. So this is somewhere in the middle.

For those curious, this is a three-shot vertorama, taken with a 17mm Tilt-Shift lens. Each shot from 3 exposures, blended in Photoshop. I also used the Generative Fill to remove a few people. Yes, it’s not really that empty.

Where the ships are docked

Let’s change the country again. So for today, let’s visit Portugal. To be exact, this is the small town of Barca de Alva. It’s right at the border of Portugal and Spain, and it’s also a turning point for many river cruise ships that cruise on the river Douro in Portugal.

I took this photo while staying on one of those ships. It was a very hot summer night and I took a walk across the bridge (Ponte Almirante Sarmento Rodrigues) to get a bit of fresh air and enjoy the calm evening. The bridge also looks very nice, with its reflection, which you can see in this photo.

This is a blend of three exposures, done in Photoshop. It’s not really a panorama, as I cropped it down. I found the sky a bit boring and like this, the composition works just better.

Love locks in Amsterdam

Let’s do a bit simpler photo today. So no panorama, no HDR, just a single exposure (that I of course split into two and blend them back together :)). These are some love locks I found on one of the side streets in Amsterdam. I was taking a photo of the reflection in the background, and I thought it would look nice as a foreground element.

I’m wondering. Is the trend to put these love locks on every bridge, and sometimes even statues and other monuments, still alive, or it’s gone? Have not seen anyone doing it in a very long time.

Blue hour at the Matthias Church

Let’s move to another country today, to Hungary, with a photo of the Mathias Church in Budapest. You can actually also see a part of the Fisherman’s Bastion here, as I was standing on top of it while taking this photo. There is a walkway you can use, so it is easy to get there. And you don’t have to pay in the evening.

This is a two-shot vertorama, combined in Photoshop. I did have to clean up a few people, using the Generative Fill in Photoshop (beta). It really is helpful.

A nice city walk in Paris

Let’s stay with another photo in Paris today, at a spot not that far from where yesterday’s photo was taken. It was taken during a nice city walk one Autumn day. You can’t even say it was already September, it was so nice. To get to this spot, you have to go from the Pont de Bir Hakeim (Bri Hakeim bridge) towards the Eiffel Tower.

I took three exposures for this photo but ended up using only one. As it was windy that day, the trees and ships just moved too much, to get a sharp photo. But since the contrast was not that huge, I could recover everything from a single exposure. Still, it’s always better to have multiple, in case one needs them.

Passerelle Debilly at night

Staying in 2015 with another photo, let’s move to France with this one, to Paris. This is the Passerelle Debilly pedestrian bridge, not that far from the Eiffel Tower, as it’s quite easy to see. I quite like the look of it, and its being white contrast nicely with the yellow Eiffel Tower in the background. Especially in blue-hour shots.

This photo is blended from three exposures, and edited in Photoshop.

Cruising through the Wachau Valley

Have you ever been cruising on a cruise ship? I have many times. On a river cruise ship, never been on an ocean one. Due to working for a cruise ship company in the past, I have been on many of them, even on the one in this photo. It’s really an enjoyable time. You can get a drink, sit on the deck, and enjoy all the castles and beautiful nature surrounding the Danube River. And almost every time you wake up in the morning, you are in a different country.

So let’s stay in sunny Austria for one more day. Especially in the beautiful Wachau Valley. You can check my recommended spots to visit there in the Top photography spots – Wachau Valley list. This photo was taken from one of the spots mentioned there, from the top of the Aggstein Castle ruin. The ruin is high up over the lake, but you can get to it by car, so no walking is required. But to get a shot like this, you will need a longer lens. I did use the 70-200mm here.

This is a single exposure, edited in Photoshop.

Maria-Theresien-Platz in Vienna

Back to editing photos from my archive today. This time, it’s one I took already 8 years ago, at the Maria-Theresien-Platz in Vienna. As you can see it was a really nice sunny day, with a lot of people walking around the area. And as for other photos I posted recently, that was the reason I never edited this photo. But again, Generative Fill really helped here.

This is a blend of 3 exposures, done in Photoshop. I did not remove the highlights here, as I really wanted to preserve a bright look, with the white statue almost glowing in the midday sun.

Desk setup

So what do I use now? Let’s go through all the things I use, in no particular order.

Mac Mini M1

This is currently my most used PC, not really much visible in the photo, as it’s hiding behind the Ipad. It is the lowest configuration with the M1, 8 GB RAM, and 256 GB SSD. I don’t use it for editing, but it has two main uses. I use it for web surfing, writing, or other work that just does not need that much RAM on a daily basis. But mainly it works as an always-on server. I attached a drive array to it, and it’s always on, so it’s a host for all my photos and other media files. I then just connect to it from my other systems. Works well, even though MacOS implementation of network sharing is often really slow.

As with other M1 systems, one just has to love how totally quiet it is. You don’t even know it’s there. When I was changing my setup, this was one of my main requirements, making it completely silent all the time. And it works.

MacBook Pro M1

Currently my main editing machine. With the M1 chip, 16 GB RAM, and 512 GB SSD. It’s fast, totally quiet, battery life is great, and I can easily use it at home and also on the road. And surprisingly, also like the touch bar, even though I mostly use it for volume and brightness changes. Still, I get more use from it than from the F keys.

I was looking at one of the new 14-inch ones, but since I don’t do video, I just don’t need the extra memory or CPU power. The M1 is still powerful enough even when editing big panoramas. I also don’t need any of the extra ports. For years now I have been trying to move completely to USB-C and except for a few Lightning devices, I’m almost completely done.

Dell U3223QE Monitor

One of my latest additions is the Dell U3223QE monitor. It’s a 32-inch, 4K, 60hz, IPS black monitor, with support for USB-C. A really nice monitor for work, with higher contrast (2000:1), higher brightness (400cd/m2), and a huge amount of ports. It’s so great to just connect the MacBook using one USB-C cable, and you have everything in the monitor. Charging, LAN network, legacy USB ports, audio. I have not used the charger from my MacBook once while I am at home.

As you can see, I don’t have separate speakers, I don’t need those in my desk setup, just the SB521A magnetic soundbar from Dell. I almost never listen to music or watch videos directly on the monitor, so this works fine for me. And the way it magnetically attaches to the monitor, it’s just perfect. It’s fine for random youtube videos or such.

Ipad Pro 12.9 (4th gen.)

I got the Ipad as a replacement for the Surface Pro 4 I had before. But it is just not a full computer and it could not replace it. So that was replaced with the Macbook Pro, and the Ipad stayed more as a media consumption machine. And for that, it works great. Especially the speakers are superb. I also use it a lot when learning Japanese Kanji, with the pen and GoodNotes application. The Magic keyboard while nice, it’s almost useless, as apps are just not made to be used with a cursor.

Here is actually agin a comparison to the Surface Pro I had before. That one I could use completely with the pen, I did not even travel with a mouse. In IpadOS most things don’t even react to the pen. It’s quite frustrating. I was looking at the newer versions, but yet to see a reason to update. Maybe they introduce something interesting next week.

Logitech MX Keys and MX Master 3

For a while, I have been using the Magic Mouse and Keyboard from Apple. But as I had to also use a Windows PC in my last job, I needed something that I can switch easily between multiple PC. And I’m quite happy with the MX Keys. MX Master 3 is a bit more problematic, as it is prone to problems. Random scrolls, zooming, not working macro buttons, and such. Would have replaced it by now, but I’m waiting until there is a MX Master 4 or I find something better. I used to have a Wacom Tablet too, but I sold that one. I’m just too used to edit using just the mouse, and in case I need a tablet, I can always just use the Ipad.

Airpods Max and AirPods Pro

I have not had a phone with a 3.5mm audio jack for years now, so long ago I completely switched to all wireless. First I got the Airpods Pro, which surprisingly I could use. I tried many (really many) in-ear headphones, but all caused a really horrible pressure in my ears and I was not able to use them for more than a few minutes. I never had this problem with the AirPods Pro. One just has to be really careful when crossing the street with them in one’s ears.

After that, I got the Airpods Max. Yes, the price is horrible, but of course, I did not pay the full price here. With a bit of searching, I got them for much less during Amazon Prime Days sale :).   I got them because I really like how songs are in Spatial Audio. Once one gets used to it, it’s hard to go back.

SteamDeck and Sony Playstation 5

As you can see in one of the older photos, I used to have many consoles. I’ve been a gamer for a very long time, and I also used to create games before, so it’s more than a hobby. But I recently sold almost all of them. I used to have a PS2, PS3, PS4, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox One X, Wii, Wii U, 3DS, PSP, PS Vita, Switch, and a gaming PC. That I scaled down a lot, keeping only the Switch and replacing the PC with the Steamdeck. Recently I got the PS5 as a trade for some of the older consoles, but man, is it huge. That’s why it’s hidden so nicely behind the plants. Not that there are many games I want to play right now, but Final Fantasy 16 is here shortly.

A spot with a view in the High Note Skybar

It has already been years since I took this photo in the High Note Skybar in the center of Budapest. I looked at it already a few times, but never posted it. The reason was simple. As this is a bar, I had to hurry, as there were people around. And in my hurry, I completely forgot to move my camera backpack. So it was nice and prominently visible in the photo. And it was in a spot where it was just hard to remove. But to be fair to myself, it was in a shadow, and it was already late, so it was not that visible through the viewfinder.

Here is where the new Generative Fill in Photoshop (beta) comes in. With it, it took me seconds to get rid of the backpack. It worked almost like magic. If I wanted to remove it traditionally, with cloning and painting, it would be just too much work to look natural. It’s really lovely how by introducing a new tool, Photoshop can give new life to photos that one would discard previously.

But it’s not without problems. I have been running into an error message often. It says “The generated images were removed because they violate user guidelines.” For instance, in this photo, there was water spilled on the table. Generative Fill would refuse to remove it. I tried different selections but had no luck. I presume that this is a result of the feature being still in Beta, and hopefully, they will resolve it quickly.

This is actually the biggest issue with all the AI tools there. That it can just refuse to work. A crop tool with always crop, the brush will always paint, but the AI can just not work, for no apparent reason, and that’s not good.

This photo is a two-shot vertorma, each shot blended from 3 photos. All done in Photoshop.

New Super ultra-wide wallpapers

The super ultra-wide page keeps being the most popular part of the blog for a year now, so let’s do another update today.

In this update, new pictures from Bratislava, Porto, Paris, and Zadar. As always, these are in 5120x1440px resolution, so perfect for a 32:9 monitor. Also as always, feel free to share them further, just please link back here and give me credit as the author.

The next one to be updated is the 4K selection, as that one is lacking a bit right now. Or would you prefer a different resolution?

Exploring the colors of Spring

And here are a few photos I took today. I went with shallower DOF here, to give them this soft look. All taken handheld with the Canon 70-200 F2.8 lens.

I decided to share them all in a higher resolution (2560px tall or wide) and without a watermark, so if any of you would like to use them as phone/tablet wallpapers, you can easily do so.

View from the Sky Park towers

Recently I posted a few different photos of the Sky Part towers in Bratislava, so how about today a picture was taken from the top of one of them. This photo is not that recent, so you can still be missing the 4th tower in the background. Either way, it makes for an interesting view. I actually wanted to take the photo a bit later, during the blue hour, but it became so windy up there that day, that I could not hold the camera steady enough. The wind would move the whole tripod around; if I were not holding it, it would blow it away.

Still, this photo is a vertorama, from two shots. Each shot blended from three exposures. Edited in Photoshop. I used the 17mm tilt-shift lens here, and if you don’t know what kind of lens it is, or how it’s used, check out my guide here.

Lago di Braies reflection

I still have many photos that I never edited or posted, like this one from Lago di Braies, from all the travels I did over the many years. There are different reasons for not doing so. Either they are too similar to what I already posted, I could not get the result I wanted in editing, or it was just too much work to remove stuff I did not like. But as the times change and the programs get better, it is easier to get the result now. That is why one always should take photos in RAW, as you can always go back and edit what you got.

So for today, I went back through my photo archives, to my trip to the Dolomites in Italy, to the Lago di Braies, and edited a photo I took that day. This is a blend from 3 exposures, created in Photoshop, with some editing done with Nik Collection Color Efex. I used the 12mm Laowa lens here, to get a nice wide shot. A little behind-the-scenes shot on the side here.

Btw. I also upped the resolution of the photos I’m posting here, up to 1800px wide. As the resolution of screens went up quite a lot in recent years, one just has to keep up. I also updated to a 32-inch 4K screen and the 1350px wide I used to use before,  just looks tiny on such a screen. And it’s just the same on phones and tablets. I have not decided yet, but maybe I just go even bigger, jump to 2K, or even directly 4K resolution. Who knows what the future brings, it’s easier to change before technology catches up.

What do you think? Rather smaller images, so the page loads quicker, or better to go bit, and focus on the quality and look?

The little police car under the Eiffel Tower

I took this photo around 6 years ago now. You can actually tell that it’s an older photo, as there is no glass wall in front of the tower. While I was taking photos there that evening, a police car stopped right in my way, so I just used it for composition here. It looked tiny, a bit funny, in front of the huge Eiffel Tower.

This is a vertorama from 3 photos, blended in Photoshop. No HDR bracketing here. I used around 20 Generative Fill layers to get rid of people standing around the area.

Removal of objects

This one is the most interesting part for me, as a photographer. It is not that easy to get rid of things in a photo, and one has to use many different techniques. This makes things much easier. The only issue is the quality of the result. While it looks good, the resolution is just lower and there is a loss of detail. If you compare it to a traditional way, of creating multiple exposures and then blending them (as shown here). But that technique is not always possible, or you just do have time to wait.

I can also imagine this helping a lot with problems like burnout highlights and lens flares. When you miss this when taking the photo, it’s hard to fix.

Here I edited one of my photos from Paris, where I removed all the people waiting in front of the Moulin Rouge. What do you think?

Expanding the canvas with Generative Fill

Another use I can see is expanding the canvas. There could have been many reasons why you could not capture all that you wanted. Something in the way, the lens not wide enough, people standing around, small space to shoot from, or something else. Photoshop Betta using Generative Fill will give you multiple options and the results are quite impressive. From what I saw, having a transparent background sometimes gives better results. Also expanding already existing photos gives better results than trying to add new elements to photos. It just looks more natural.

Here first is an example of the Scott monument in Edinburgh, where I could not move further away from it, due to a road. Generative Fill nicely expanded the photo, giving the monument more space in the shot.

Or a bit different example with a photo from the 5 Fingers in the Austrian Alps, where using the Generative fill, I change a simple photo into a panorama. But yeah, the loss of quality is visible. I included two different versions here, but you can regenerate the result as many times as you want.

Generating images

The last option where you can use Generative Fill is to completely create new elements for empty or existing images. As mentioned you can continue selecting part of the image and so adding more elements to it.

Here, I took the initial image from Santa Magdalena in Italy, and at first I selected the bottom part, and used Generative Fill with the keywords “pond reflection” to create the bottom part. Then I selected a few areas around the newly generated parts and with the keyword “rocks” added a few rocks to make it more interesting.

I did try to add a few other things, like horses or a bench, but the results were quite bad. It just did not blend into the image at all.

Different view of the Sky Park towers

And for today’s photo, a bit different view of the Sky Park towers in Bratislava. You can almost see all 4 in this one. The 4th is hiding behind the middle one here. I thought of moving the camera a bit to include it more, but it’s still a construction site, so it would break the feel of the photo a bit.

Btw. the 5th one, would be on the right side here, probably not that far in the future, as there is already a big hole in the ground there. But it will be a bit different, as these four are private residences and the 5th one will be an office building.

I quite like what they are building here, as this whole area used to be industrial, if I remember correctly, there was a demolished factory here beforehand. So it was mostly ugly and empty before. You would have no reason to go there at all.

I also shared a photo on Twitter while I was taking this one, so you can see it here on the side. This was taken with the 12mm Laowa lens. It was blended from 4 photos. I had to take two bracket series here, as some people walked in front of my camera and I had to use the other set to remove them from the final photo.

New skyline of Bratislava

While of the topic of the new part of Bratislava, here is a panoramic view of it. Most of the towers here are less than 3 years old. The whole city part just changed completely.

I took this photo last Sunday, from under the Bratislava castle. I got a bit of bad luck with the sky, probably because it became quite windy in the evening. It just blew away all the clouds. I also had quite the issue keeping the 70-200mm lens steady. So no bracketing here.

This is a panorama from 3 shots.

Blue hour at the Sky Park

The modern center of Bratislava changed quite a lot in recent years. There are a few new highrises, huge shopping malls, and other new buildings. The whole area is just different from what it used to be a few years back. There are still many constructions there, but part is complete, so one can start taking photos there.

So for today, here is a photo of two of the four Sky Park towers (SKY PARK by Zaha Hadid). From what I have seen, there will be also a 5th, a bit different, one. But that one is just a big hole in the ground right now. There is not that much space to get further away from the towers, so I used the Laowa 12mm lens to get this photo. Like that, I could get the whole tower in one shot.

Mobile wallpapers

While experimenting I created quite a few that are very suitable for mobile phone wallpapers, all 1:2 aspect ratio, 2000x4000px. Should be good enough for almost all phones available. They especially look good on OLED screens. Since there are a lot of them, I decided not to post them directly here, but in a separate gallery on my portfolio page. You can find them here.

Content

The series includes over 2 hours of video, covering these toppics

1. Welcome
2. Preparing brackets in Lightroom
3. Working with layers and layer masks
4. Luminance masks explained
5. Creating luminance masks
6. Blending two exposures
7. Blending multiple exposures
8. Using Oloneo Photoengine
9. Using Photomatix Pro
10. Blending panoramic photos
11. Adding glow

I don’t go through the edit from start to finish on the provided photos, I rather focus on the blending technique of the images, which is the main subject of these videos.

Additionally, you can download all the videos and also the RAW files I’m using (28 in total), so you can try all the edits also for yourself.

Head over to the Master Exposure Blending page to get them now!

32:9 and 4K walllpapers

And for the wallpapers I already shared, you can get them here. There are some in 32:9 (3440×1440) and standard 4K 21:9 (3840×2160) resolution.

New super ultra-wide walpapers

New ones for the super ultra-wide selection. Again from a few different spots, this time it’s London, Cesky Krumlov, Bratislava, and the Austrian Alps. If you would like a wallpaper version of any of my photos, feel free to leave a comment. Will do so in the next update :)

4am in Astana

Is it Nur-Sultan or Astana again? I’m not even sure, as I read somewhere that they are changing the name of the capital of Kazakhstan back to Astana. I do prefer Astana, as it’s a simpler name.

This is a vertorama I took while taking a walk at 4 am, near my hotel while I was there. I could not fall asleep due to the time difference. So instead I decided to just go out and wait for the sunrise.

This is a two-shot vertorama, each shot blended from three exposures. Taken with the 17mm tilt-shift lens. Makes vertormas just so easy.

Early morning at the Chrles bridge

I noticed I never posted this image to the blog, so here it is. It’s an early morning panorama of the Charles bridge in Prague, taken around a year ago. As you can see from the absence of other people, this was very early in the morning.

But actually, there were few people there, as you can see on one of the behind the camera photos, but with a nice long exposure and a bit of blending, there were not that hard to remove :)

Ukraine colors on the Bratislava castle

I dont think I have to explain why the Bratislava castle is lit up like this, but I do wish they would do this more for happy occasions, than sad ones. Not that there were that many happy ones in last years.

And as this is again a nice wide panorama, here is a wallpaper version for you, in 5120×1440 for super ultra-wide monitors with 32:9 aspect. This one and all the other super ultra-wide wallpapers can be found here.

Some time ago in Budapest

I don’t even know if there were St. Stephens day Fireworks in Budapest this year. I don’t even remember when I was there the last time. It feels so strange, as I used to be there at least 5+ times every year. Strange times we live in.

This is a single exposure, double processed, then blended back together in Photoshop.

From new towards the old

A big part of the center area of Bratislava changed recently, with many new high-rise buildings being built there. The contrast between the old and the new is quite high there.

This view is from one of the new ones. Actually, the building you can see on the left here, is one of three identical ones, with fourth being built next to them. And this is the view from the middle one.

This is a two shot panorama, each schot from 4 exposures, blended in Photoshop.

Blue evening in Prague

Let’s go with a shot from Prague today. The view of the center from the Visehrad area. There is a small lookout area there, that gives a really nice view. I would just suggest a longer lens.

This is a panorama from thwo shots, each shot from three exposures, blended in Photoshop.

Classic view from Prague

It really has been a long time since I was in Prague. Not really strange with how the world is right now. But it was really nice to be able to walk around Prague again. I was actually surprised by the number of people and tourists there, even in November. And most of the time it was even not that warm.

Still, I had a nice weekend there, while taking quite a few photos. And most of them being panoramas. Here you have one, taken right in the center of Prague. It’s a very classic view from Prague, but each time I’m there I take at least one photo of it. It’s a must.

This is a two-shot panorama, each side from 5 exposures, blended in Photoshop.

New super ultra-wide walpapers

And as the super ultra-wide wallpapers are the most popular, here are 5 new ones for that category. A bit from all over the place today. Bratislava, Amsterdam, Prague, Nur-sultan and Barca de Alba to be exact. If you would like a wallpaper version of any of my photos, feel free to leave a comment. Will do so in the next update :)

The center of Budapest

I started with a panorama to check the performance. This one, from the center of Budapest, is a two-shot panorama each shot from 5 exposures. Both first blended together, and the photo merged into a panorama and finished.

Here are few details from this photo, as it’s hard to see in these big panoramas.

And for those that would like this one as wallpaper, here is a version in 5120×1440 for super ultra-wide monitors with 32:9 aspect.

Sparkling tower in the night

This photo is a bit darker for my style, but I wanted the Eiffel tower to stand out here. And with the surroundings not being so interesting anyway. This is of course not a new photo, as I don’t have any. It was one of those still taken while I used the Sony a7R. It’s a two-shot vertorama, each shot split into two and then merged back together in Photoshop.

How were they created?

For all these AI-generated images, I used Midjourney v4, with different prompts. For instance one like:

solitary figure in steampunk diving suite, looking up an impossibly large Lovecraftian monster with tentacles, in a giant underwater cave, glowing walls, eldritch horror, hyper-realistic

Then I used Topaz Gigapixel to get a higher resolution and to clean them up. After that, I finished them up in Photoshop with a few final tweaks.

Mobile wallpapers

I created quite a few that are very suitable for mobile phone wallpapers, all 1:2 aspect ratio, 2000x4000px. Should be good enough for almost all phones available. They especially look good on OLED screens. Since there are quite a lot of them, I decided not to post them directly here, but in a separate gallery on my portfolio page. You can find them here.

21:9 AI-generated wallpapers

These are also mostly Lovecraft and steampunk inspired, as I have been reading many such books lately :). All in 3440×1440 resolution, suitable for ultrawide 34-inch monitors.

4K AI-generated wallpapers

And these are all in 3840×2160, exactly for a 4K monitor.

Winter in Super ultra wide

And here are the two new wallpapers, as always available in 5120×1440 px.

Foggy night at the Charles bridge

It has been a while since I edited a photo and this one is not really an easy one. Fog likes to create a lot of color banding in photos, and it was the same in the sky with this one. I had to add a huge amount of noise into the sky to get rid of most of it, but I feel like there is still a bit there. But I did not want to add more. If you want to know more about this, check out my guide on removing color banding here.

In this photo the Charles bridge in Prague, with a very large number of birds around it. Yes, every dot on the water is a bird, and there were even more there. Taken already in 2018, during an early spring trip there.

This is a single exposure, broken up into two and then blended back together.

New Super Ultra-wide wallpapers

As always, these are all 5120×1440 for 32:9 screens.