Olympic Sunset

The Story
January, 2009. My sister was at the time working in Athens and invited us to go there for a week (check the Meteora II photo story for more details)...
After spending a couple days sightseeing the historical places in Athens, we decided (as advised by our guide, i.e, my sister) to check the Olympic Complex. The Olympic Complex was built for the 2004 Summer Olympic Games, held in Athens, the birthplace of the Olympic Games.
The weather was kinda cloudy, almost rainy, but we decided to go anyway. After all, there isn't as much places to see in Athens as I thought. We picked the subway and when we got there, the first thing that captured my attention was the metallic structures. The main entrance of the Olympic Complex has a big metal structure with fountains around it. We started our visit there. I picked the camera and tried several perspectives with the fountains and the metal structure.
After a few shots, I noticed that the sun was setting in behind one of the pavilions. The sun, the clouds, the water mirror, the trees and the pavilion combined into this picture. I also find the line formed by the lake shore, combined with the lines of the pavilion, quite interesting.

Equipment / Technical Info
Nikon D80
Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC

Shutter Speed: 1/125 second
Aperture: F/5.6
Focal Length: 20 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Original Photo


Post Processing
I liked this photo almost as it came out of the camera.
A few things were to be corrected, though: the colors were a bit dull and the sky was burn (white, without any color information).
I imported it into Lightroom and applied the Highlight Recovery to the maximum. I then, increased the Contrast and the Vibrance, added some Vignetting and reduced the Luminance for the Oranges, Yellows and Reds. In CS4, I've just increased the Contrast a bit more. That was it.
I should have been more careful in the location and prevented the sky from being burned out. Somethings can't really be recovered in post processing and this is one of them (tip: always expose the photo to prevent the highlights burn out. It's easier to recover the shadows than the highlights).
I usually publish my photos with 1024px in the largest size and use a great Photoshop action by Manyk to do the re-size.
You can find it here: http://manyk.deviantart.com/art/Web-Sharpening-with-Photoshop-29038461

Final Photo


Link to image
http://jpgmn.deviantart.com/art/Olympic-Sunset-110254658

Read more

Estrela

The Story
November, 2008. I was home with nothing to do in that Sunday afternoon and wanted to get into the car and go somewhere to take some photos. I went to flickr to search for spots nearby that could be interesting. After some search I remembered the Portuguese parliament area in Lisboa. It was near and I've never been to that area (with my camera, I mean), so it was a good candidate. I searched for interesting spots around this area and noticed that, from there to the Estrela area it was very near. So I had found an itinerary: I would go to the parliament area, then go to Estrela and end the day in Belém.
We drove to Lisboa and parked near the Estrela basilica. First we went to the parliament and I took some photos. After that, we walked back to Estrela and while my wife went to a small fair that was in the Estrela garden that day, I stayed near the basilica trying to get some new angles.
I was, at the time, becoming somewhat interested in finding some spots where I could capture the pavement lines to guide the eyes into the photo. Before I left home, I scanned the area in google earth to see if the tram rails in the area could fit that purpose. In location I've started to get in the middle of the street (between cars, of course :)) trying to use that rails. They weren't in a great place that would allow me to compose the photo as I wanted to. But the lines in the pavement were. Another interest of mine at the time was the Dutch Tilt style of photos.
So, with both these styles in mind, I took some photos of the area and went to the next stop: Belém.

Equipment / Technical Info
Nikon D80
Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC

Shutter Speed: 1/25 second
Aperture: F/8.0
Focal Length: 10 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Original Photo


Post Processing
Went I got home from this small trip, I scanned some photo candidates and selected a few. This was one of my selections, and probably the strongest for the Estrela area. But it was too dark and without color.
So, I imported the NEF into Lightroom and done the following:
- Highlight Recovery
- Added some Fill Light
- Increased Contrast
- Applied the "Matt's 300 Look - Strong" preset (you can find it here: http://www.lightroomkillertips.com/2008/monday-presets-the-300-look)
- Darkened the Oranges, Blues and Greens to the maximum
- Reduced the Vignetting (the 300 preset has very strong Vignetting)
- Increased the Saturation on Yellows, Oranges, Reds, Blues, Greens, Purples and Magentas to the maximum
- Increased the Sharpening, the Exposure, the Contrast and the Vibrance
- Compensated the Blue Chromatic Aberration
- Reduced some Color Noise
It was a very complete processing in Lightroom and the CS3 was ready to get in and do it's part.
In CS3 I've used the Virtual Photographer plug-in (you can find it here: http://www.optikvervelabs.com) with the setting "Fall Colors" and increased the Brightness.
And that was it. I think the result speaks for itself.

Final Photo


Link to image
http://jpgmn.deviantart.com/art/Estrela-102476272

Read more