Weekly Photo Challenge: Details

Often when I am photographing at a spot like St. Edmundsbury Cathedral, I first take a few overview photos, trying to get a feel for the place.  Then I will take some time to look for what I think is unique to the spot. A few weeks ago I posted a look at the exterior of the Cathedral, the big picture.  In the past week I was looking at some of the photos of the interior, and one of my favorite shots was taken looking out from the Cloister:

ISO 400 4.3mm f/2.7 1/80

This spot, with textured windowpanes overlooking an enclosed garden, was peaceful.  This version of the photo has been edited using Photoshop. I was making my first attempts at using Photoshop Actions this week. Basically, actions are a series of edits done all at once. The link provided gives an overview of what they are and how to install them within Photoshop. You can make your own or a google search will reveal ones that are available for free download. I found one that I thought would fit with what I was doing with this photo.  Then I went to work on the details.  While actions are often advertised as a quick way to edit your photo, I think most photographers will want to add their own edits, after all its unlikely that your vision will match else’s exactly.  Here is the photo as it was originally shot:

ISO 400 4.3mm f/2.7 1/80

As you can see, the edits changed the mood of the photo quite a bit.  I do like the edits, for me they give the photo a feel that I was looking to apply to it. Do you like the change? Feel free to leave a comment below.  Do you use Photoshop actions? why or why not?

Cheers!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Lost in the Details

Lost in the Details.  Any photographer will tell you that is easy to do when it comes to photography.  So interesting that it would be a challenge from WordPress.  There are all kinds of details to think about when it comes to photography.  I chose to focus on the details that you can get in a photograph when using HDR.  Here is one of the exposures that I used in my final image:

ISO 100 50mm 0ev f/9 0.5s

Here is the image in HDR:

3 exposures together in Photomatix

The difference is subtle but can be seen most in the lower part of the butterfly wings.  There is just more detail there.  I took three separate images that had different exposures and merged them together in Photomatix.

Just for fun, I then made a black and white version:

HDR in Black and White

If you are interested, these HDR images are available for sale in this gallery on my website.

What I’d like to know is which version is your favorite?  If you have a moment and an opinion, please leave a comment below.

Cheers!