Andy
Mar-30-2004, 06:34 AM
hello everyone,
one of the things i try to do when photographing architecture is to "stay away from the ordinary" as much as possible. and it's the very first thing i cover when taking a new group out in new york.
let's take a look at the guggenheim museum - a building known by sight around the world. here's the original shot, and the scene as it looked:
http://williams.smugmug.com/photos/3165048-M.jpg
pretty blah, and plain, and it could be one of 10,000 nyc vacation photos. not much you can do at the scene, you are subject to the weather, the light (sun) the traffic, pedestrians, construction, and of course, the condition of the building (they need to work on the facade).
so, i could settle for this shot, and put it in my architecture gallery, or i could get some inspiration from this collection of post-processing tips:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1009&message=7987678
and try to make something memorable, and something that my friends back home would say *wow* too..
http://williams.smugmug.com/photos/3164220-L.jpg
i like the result, though i could play with it for hours more, i stopped here. you may or may not like this particular result - and that's what's so great about our art - first and foremost *you* the artist must like it. secondly, if you don't like it one way, you can use the techniques in post to modify it slightly and suit your individual taste or style. as an example, one of the *drafts* of this photo i made earlier today had the entire scene really super-high key, i was thinking about the challenge... but i really didn't like the result so i went back to what i'm presenting here.
in post: using adjustment layers for all steps, converted to b&w (*) and then various building repairs (i don't have my union card, so please don't tell!) with the clone and healing brushes. some levels and masking, contast and masking, and finally a toning layer (**) applied with an opacity of 22% to give it a slight bit of monochromatic color.
(*) summary of the b&w techniques is here:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1009&message=7475823
(**) toning in post explained here:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1009&message=7823308
enjoy (getting the most out of post) photography,
one of the things i try to do when photographing architecture is to "stay away from the ordinary" as much as possible. and it's the very first thing i cover when taking a new group out in new york.
let's take a look at the guggenheim museum - a building known by sight around the world. here's the original shot, and the scene as it looked:
http://williams.smugmug.com/photos/3165048-M.jpg
pretty blah, and plain, and it could be one of 10,000 nyc vacation photos. not much you can do at the scene, you are subject to the weather, the light (sun) the traffic, pedestrians, construction, and of course, the condition of the building (they need to work on the facade).
so, i could settle for this shot, and put it in my architecture gallery, or i could get some inspiration from this collection of post-processing tips:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1009&message=7987678
and try to make something memorable, and something that my friends back home would say *wow* too..
http://williams.smugmug.com/photos/3164220-L.jpg
i like the result, though i could play with it for hours more, i stopped here. you may or may not like this particular result - and that's what's so great about our art - first and foremost *you* the artist must like it. secondly, if you don't like it one way, you can use the techniques in post to modify it slightly and suit your individual taste or style. as an example, one of the *drafts* of this photo i made earlier today had the entire scene really super-high key, i was thinking about the challenge... but i really didn't like the result so i went back to what i'm presenting here.
in post: using adjustment layers for all steps, converted to b&w (*) and then various building repairs (i don't have my union card, so please don't tell!) with the clone and healing brushes. some levels and masking, contast and masking, and finally a toning layer (**) applied with an opacity of 22% to give it a slight bit of monochromatic color.
(*) summary of the b&w techniques is here:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1009&message=7475823
(**) toning in post explained here:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1009&message=7823308
enjoy (getting the most out of post) photography,