Totally Cool On Black
The recent storm left these smooth and cool undulations on the snow in our back yard. So as the sun set, the shadows became deeper and deeper blue. This got a kitchen sink full of processing:
1) seven frame HDR to start
2) photomatix with white point, black point, luminosity jacked pretty high
3) one original exposure blended to restore sense to the sky
4) Topaz Adjust to trick out the moguls
5) Surface blur to mellow out the distraction of the tree line at the edge of the property
6) slight (yes… slight) saturation boost to reds and yellows to make that sun just weep with sadness as it leaves this beautiful setting.

As for the Kinkade reference: my landscaper’s wife commented on some processed photos I made for his sight: “These look like a Thomas Kinkade painting.” I’m just listening to my customers…

What a fine morning walk we had with the new Gitzo tripod. This final image is the result of four vertical five-frame exposures, stitched together in photoshop. Cropped. A channel selection used to create a mask, and a couple of blending layers used to, well, undo some of the magic that Photomatix sometimes gets carried away with. Topaz helped provide some nice crunchy detail to the tree line, and a nice gradient vignetted the foreground.  Orig post on flickr.

This pic, a bit of a cliche to be sure, is the result of several key processing enhancements.

First, it’s five frames blended and tone-mapped using Photomatix Pro.  When I brought the TIFF into camera raw, I was amazed by the register accuracy.  So just the same I went and made some detail / sharpness adjustments in camera raw.

In Photoshop, it required a crop from the original.  I used Topaz — quirky given the memory constraints but still a fine tool — to bring up local contrast to create the texture, and to boost some of the saturation.

I used a mask to reduce some of the overzealous pixel effects, especially on the water.

Surface blur enabled me to remove some of the distracting detail in the surrounding trees.  I really wanted to keep attention on the rocks and water.

Finally, an elliptical selection, quick mask, gaussian blur and fill with black: to produce a bit of vignette around those same tree detail areas.

Enjoy!

Tags: Alps, Alpine stream, synopshots, Switzerland, Suisse, Schweitz

Testing image widths for PhoBlo posts…

Trying to sort out the best image size for the postings… just a test.

Ah Flickr. I started out with a far smaller Great Blue Heron when I originally posted this photo… but the beauty of the Flickr Gallery is that there are critiques galore to help you refine your technique. Here I was able to tighten up considerably by layering the bird, using LucisArt Exposure to bring out the under-wing detail without too terribly generating digital artifacts, add the vignette… and here you have it.

Browse the Faces of Iceman 2007.

Ice-Puddle, originally uploaded by TimDD.

Here’s the scene at the site of the Iceman start.  Steve and I arrive very early to tie up loose ends and set some final trail markers… just before sunup.  Ice on the puddle, appropriately, a nice mist rising, the Kalkaska water tower, frost on the grass.  Nice!

Photos also available to view on Flickr.