Gina and I went out birding today, and about 15 miles N. of our home we saw The San Xavier del Bac Mission. "White Dove of the Desert", and I thought, I could try a HDR scenic photo of the mission. Only had my 70-300 (Eq. 140-600) so I gave it a try from about 100 yards away. The interior and the west tower have been restored, with construction trucks and scafolding on the east side with lots of tourists walking around. Took a few series of three using my tripod, and here is my first result using Photomatix Pro and CS4 for a bit of fine tuning.
As I usually stick with birds, I think I will continue with them.
This photo is the one of three that had no highlight blinkies processed in CS4. Olympus E-520 IS, Zuiko 70-300mm ED Aperture Priority F/9, 1/2000s ISO 200 -0.70eV Auto WB 140 mm focal length
I like the second post Uncle Gus,
I like the colors hues of the second image, it looks more natural. Question, the image looks like it needs to be leveled. I don't know if the ground is level and the Church has settled over the years???:D:cool:
Gus, I like both for different reasons,The first one has unique colors and is interesting. The second one as Gus stated is more natural,and I like the way you framed the 2 palm trees. But on both the crooked feel is distracting(I can see that the ground s straight)Is that the keystone effect? Or just the settling?
The building is centuries old, and by co-incidence it was featured on the front page of our newspaper this morning telling us that the West Tower was finally revealed after 5 years of being covered by canvas to restore it. Also, they are now going to cover the East Tower for 3 years. They brought experts from Italy to restore the interior, and supervise the exterior. I was lucky to even see the Mission without half of it being covered.
The buildings are not square, and below you can see it where the verticals are correct, and horizontals are not level . . . to my old eyes.
Hey Gus what do you do in cases like this? Do you present it going off the verticals or horizontals? and how do you know which one is correct? These old buildings are hard
Lady Denise,
In cases like the one at hand, you tell it like it is...:eek::D I would record the image the way it is as part of history; showing Mother Nature's gentle touch through the years...I would not level the building...Thats why I wanted to know from Uncle Gus if the building had settled over the years...Its all good...:cool:
Here it is leveled as above. As far as colors go, yes, this single photo without the blinkies is much more natural. However, I was under the impression that HDR was more vivid like HD Television over non HD TV.
I think I need to study up on it, and would like posters to show Before and after so we can all see the difference.
What difference should we see?
About the level aspect, appears the buildings, wall etc all have their own foundations, and through the centuries have all settled differently. I took a front view which showed all the worts where I should have taken it from an angle . . .
Like I said, "I think I will stick with birds, and remain a birder" :D:D
I played around with straightening in LR, would like to see if someone can make it look better?
Maybe we have a Leaning Tower of El Bac in the making? :-))
Last edited by Gus Hallgren; 01-07-2009 at 10:50 AM.
Uncle Gus,
I like to record the old building as they truly are; a piece of history, and all of the characteristics that go along with them... In this case I fancy it being slanted...good show Uncle...:D
By the way...yes you can continue with painting birds; but its also good to expand your horizons, and become well rounded in the different disciplines of the photographic art....and if you desire, specialize on birds...:eek::cool:
Gus, Thankyou for clearing that up!
Uncle Gus, You should not stick to just birds .I love this image-I am only trying to learn about the straightening for my own images. I think you are right about the HDR colored images, there seems to be alot of discussion on whether or not they are over colored and un-natural. I think if you disclose it is an HDR ,then you are stating that you are putting forth your artistic impression and not a documentation print. I love your HDR rendition and would hang it on my wall!!
Hi Gus, Nice old mission with a long history in the area. Interesting about the level. The flat roofed addition on the right seems level with ground, so my preference would be to go with level to ground. The first post seems more dramatic to me and I wonder how a combination of the first two would work out, i.e. dark church light back ground or dark bg and light church?
I hope you keep posting all sorts of things Gus, I keep learning from you!
Thanks Gus, Denise, Al, David for your comments, every one of you have added to my learning experience. The level was interesting and my thoughts on that are that I like Gina's perception better than my own. Your comments made me look closer, and on examination I think that a comprimise between the two might be more pleasing to my eye, even in my camera settings I prefer "Natural" over "Vivid".
My father had a saying, "Nobody is listening" . . . maybe not to trivia, however, I find that in this forum that everybody comes up with comments that I learn from, my only gripe is that 24 hours in a day is not enough!
Having joined this forum at the very start it is very evident from the comments that the non proffesionals have come a long way in their critiques of the varied posts we have. Birds drew me to this forum in the first place and I'm only now appreciating, "It ain't only birds" . .
Two things I believe in: "You can teach an old dog new tricks." and "If you don't use it you lose it."
Keep up the good work folks . . . I love it.
Still buying green banana's :eek:
Uncle Gus
BTW: Noticed in newspaper article, "And here’s something special for photographers: From dusk to 10:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 9, the grounds will be open so people can view the church and photograph it. There are lights that bathe the front of the historic structure."
Don't like driving at night, but Gina doesn't mind, so might give it a go . . . though it might be crowded?
Last edited by Gus Hallgren; 01-07-2009 at 12:15 PM.
OK . . . I'm stubborn . . . Took last photo, so called final into CS4, cropped off roof line of addition to the east that was not level, saved it as roof.psd. Then leveled it with Image>Rotate.Arbatrary>.03 CW. Then went to File>Recent, and brought up mission again, dragged roof down beside Mission, pressed "V" (Move) and dragged roof into place. Opened Eraser, Hardness 0, Opacity 50%, and carefully blended it into place.
UG, i think the last one looks level as can be. i still prefer the colors/lighting of the second post. it looks more accurate to me. you could probably do a color balance on the last one and make it look just like it.
For what is worth uncle Gus, I like the first one. If you're not going to get those types of colors and effects, then why do HDR. Just my point of view.
Regards to Gina
White Dove of the Desert
