Free copy of DXO Filmpack 3

I randomly came across this offer from DXO. For the next two weeks, one can get a free copy of their Photoshop plugin, that includes filters that simulate analog film cameras. So if you think you could use something like that, give it a try. And of course, it’s free, so nothing to lose :) The plugin can be downloaded from here.

The church on the hill

While I was in Budapest earlier this week, the weather during the day was not that great. Normally I would not really mind, as I would just take photos in the evening and morning, but as I was there taking photos for a client, that could be only taken during the day, this was not the best scenario. Of course it got better in the evening, but that was just too late. But hopefully I got few usable ones :)

This is one taken in the evening, one could say after work :) It’s the Matthias Church on the Buda side of Budapest, on the hill overlooking the city. This is a HDR from 2 exposures (I took more, but as I was zoomed it a lot, few of them got bury), created in Oloneo Photoengine, finished in Photoshop.

I came across this wheel in Budapest quite randomly, as it’s usually not there, and it’s also quite hidden from the street level by all the surrounding buildings. Still, I really wanted to also go up, but just didn’t got to it. A two day visit is really very short. But still, I took few photos, even if the ground, but I think it would look much better from a high up spot. But there isn’t really one accessible in the area.

And since I took a behind the scenes photo while taking this one, I’m also including it here :)

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

So I got back from Budapest few hours ago and here I have a first photo from this trip for you. This is of course the Hungarian Parliament, captured during the blue hour. I did this photo from the Margaret bridge, and I really had problem with the bridge shaking very heavily, especially when a tram passed by. One would think that such a huge concrete structure would be more stable. But after a while of searching, I found a spot where the shaking was much acceptable, and you can see my setup on a photo on the right. You can also see, that I used 2.8 aperture, to just get as fast as an exposure as possible.

Btw. I have to say, each time I return to Budapest, it looks better and better. During the last months, they finished the area around the Parliament, which just looks so better now, the new metro line, which came very handy during my trip, the square in front of the train station, and much, much more. They really are on a roll now :)

This is a blend from 4 exposures, created only in Photoshop.

Still busy, still not at home. So again, no new photo today, but how about instead, few of my favorite photos, with my favorite subject, bridges :)

And we came to another Monday, and as every Monday, let’s take a look at the process of another photo. For today I chosen a photo taken late night, of the Burj Al Arab, with the Burj Khalifa tower in the back. So let’s start.

First, here is a look at the final and the original image. The biggest difference is the addition of much more detail and contrast. That’s what was really missing in the original exposure.

I used 4 exposures for this photo which I merged in Oloneo Photoengine. Looking back at them, I would probably got the same result just by editing the -1EV and then just blending the others as I did here, but that does not really madder. The process is not so important, and most things can be done in more than one way anyway.

So here you can see the original 4 exposures, corrected in Lightroom (chromatic abberations and lens distortions) and the result from Oloneo Photoengine (medium strength, a little contrast and natural mode)

From there I loaded everything into Photoshop and did the following edits (layers numbered from bottom up)
1. Oloneo Photoengine result
2. -1EV to correct the very strong lights on the buildings
3. -2EV a little more correction to the very strong light on top of the Burj Al Arab
4. +1EV to correct the top even more, as it looked strange after darkening
5. Color Efex Pro contrast, to get much more local and overall contrast in the photo.
6. -2EV once more, as the Color Efex Pro contrast created few very bright areas in the buildings.
7. Color Efex Tonal contrast, applied to the buildings in the background, to get more details and contrast in them
8+9. Added more overall contrast using curves. I could have done that only using one curves layer, but what I like to do, is to use the presets that curves have, as that gives me more even result. And when one is not enough, I just duplicate the layer.

And that’s all I did with this image. To find out more on how I edit, check out the guides and before after categories on this blog, or check out my video tutorial series here: