Last 3 hours

Only 3 hours left to the Oloneo Photoengine giveaway, so if you haven’t done so yet, you still can join in. The winner will be chosen at midnight today. You can join on the contest page.

How to remove lens flares

There is a new guide on the blog, this time dealing with lens flares. So if you want to know how I deal with them and how I remove them, head over to the guide page.

Westminster bridge in the morning

Sometimes I can feel so stupid. I finished editing this photo and by accident I clicked the close button and dismissed the save dialog without realizing what it was. So I dismissed all my work, and had to start from scratch. Good that I remembered at least partially what edits I did, so the repeating process was much faster :)

This is a very early morning view of the Westminster bridge in London. During my stay there earlier this year, my hotel was very close to it, so it was the ideal place to go to take some sunrise photos. But with the ugly weather, the sunrise photos were nothing to be proud off, so at least the blue hour shots were not bad. This is a HDR created in Oloneo Photoengine and the manually blended with the original exposures.

As plugins go, this one creates a very particular effect. I think you all have seen photos, where the lights or the sun look like starts. This can be usually achieved in the camera, by using a smaller aperture. But what if you don’t get the look you wanted, or you had to use a bigger aperture, as you needed a shorter exposure time. In that case, this plugin can help you.

Topaz Star Effects will create a star from any bright area in you photo. You can specify the look, color, brightness, opacity and many more. You can also brush it only on the places you want it to be applied, or have it applied based on the strength of the light. It also can create a light glow, or a sun flare.

There are many presets, but I find the they create just to strong of an effect. They are good for a start, but you will probably go and change the settings right away.

Overall I like the look of the starts, even if I don’t tend to use them. If you need this kind of effects in your work (maybe you are creating and add for diamonds and you want to add few sparkles here and there) or you just like the look, I suggest you try it out.

For additional information please visit the Topaz Star Effects site. And if you want to buy it, between the December 10th and December 31st 2013, you can use the code “decstar” for a 50% discount.

View all my other reviews here.

Last day of the giveaway

Tomorrow is the last day you can join my Oloneo Photoengine giveaway, so if you have not yet joined, this is your last chance. You can find it on the contest page. It’s also the last day to vote for you favorites in the editing contest, so head over to the contest album and give a like to your favorites.

Nik Analog Efex Review

To continue my additions of reviews to this blog, there is a new review of the Nik Analog Efex Pro plugin. This is the latest addition to the Nik plugin collection, and one to give you that popular vintage look.

Castle an the bridge

The Bratislava castle is a very dominant landmark in Bratislava. You can see it from so many spots. But it also is hard to come up with a new view, I haven’t used before. But this time I found one. I went to the Port bridge, and took a photo with my longest lens. I was hoping for a nice reflection of the bridge in the Danube, but as it was a quite windy day, I had no luck with that. But that only means that I will have to revisit the spot :)

This is a HDR created in Oloneo Photoengine, then blended with original exposures.

First issue of HDRshooter newletter

Yesterday I send out the very first issue of the HDRshooter newsletter. I hope it will be the firs one of many to come :) If you are curious, you can see it here: HDRshooter Newsletter Issue #1

The newsletter won’t be are regular one, as I will create a new one only when I have enough new stuff to put in it. If you like it, and want to stay in touch with the blog, feel free to subscribe. I promise not to spam you, and the newsletter will always include a links to guides, not yet published on the blog :)

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Nik Silver Efex Pro review

I have again added a new review to this blog. This time it is a one of the Silver Efex Pro plugin by NIK. So check it out to see what is this plugin about and if it’s something you might use in your post-processing.

Sunset riders

This is a statue called the Mythical ship in Bratislava, next to River park. I wanted a photo like this for a longer time, and yesterday, thank you a coincidence (the spot I wanted to go for sunset was not accessible) I got it. The sunsets the whole last week were just beautiful, full of purple and pink colors. Too bat its over, with today’s weather being a snowstorm.

This photo was such a pain to edit. As with all photos with very high differences in bright and dark areas, I had a huge problem getting rid of the halos around the statue. I tried first to blend them using Oloneo and Photomatix, but in the end I had to do it all manually. I actually thought of retouching the supports out of the photo, so having it just floating in the air, but that wouldn’t look so real after that :)