While I have become somewhat disenchanted with over-the-top HDR images, it is a technique I'm continuing to explore, not least because it does enable you to produce images that are impossible (or very difficult) to create by any other means. If you take a look at the metered exposure, linked below, you will see what I mean, i.e. the foreground and the area to the right of the image are both very dark.

.../archives/emirates_towers.php

The final image, as you can see, is considerably more vibrant, and the tonal range is more balanced. In short then, in my opinion at least, it's a technique that's great for this type of scene.

Oh, and this is a shot of the Emirates Towers, shot from the DIFC in Dubai.

On a totally different matter: we're currently running a competition to win a lifetime membership to our Photoshop tutorials. If you'd like to take part the details are linked below:

    http://www.chromasia.com/tutorials/online/competition.php

Here's another shot I took while in Dubai a couple of weeks ago, and beyond that I'm not going to tell you anything about it as I'm using it as the basis for our latest competition to win a lifetime membership to our Photoshop tutorials. If you're interested, there's some further information linked below:

    http://www.chromasia.com/tutorials/online/competition.php

This is my third and final shot of Jumeirah beach (the first two are here and here). Unlike the previous two, this one is an HDR image, processed with Photomatix Pro. In this instance my reason for doing this was to ensure that I captured a full range of tones in both the lightest and darkest areas of the image, i.e. no blocked shadows, no clipped highlights. Of the three, I prefer the level of detail in this one, but think that the first one I posted is probably my favourite of the set. Let me know what you think.

The metered exposure is here:

.../archives/jumeirah_beach_3.php

There wasn't anything especially complex of difficult about the post-production, but if you're interested I cover most of the relevant techniques in my Photoshop for night photography and Toning colour images tutorials. The HDR process is covered in High Dynamic Range images: part two.

As you can see from the original image, linked below, this was one of those shots that seemed to have some potential – the bright sign, the unusual mannequins, and so on – but the straight shot just didn't work out. The light was flat, the colours were dull, and the reflections were overly distracting. With a bit of work though, including the selective desaturation (which isn't a technique I'm normally all that keen on), I ended up with something that more closely matched what I had in mind when I first spotted the scene.

The original is here:

.../archives/vivienne_westwood.php

On a totally different matter: I'm heading back to Bulgaria today, and will probably be just about to land at Sofia as this entry goes live. I'm not looking forward to the trip – not least because I'll have spent most of last night at Manchester airport waiting to check in – but am really looking forward to seeing Libby and the kids. I've been away for over two weeks now, which is just a bit too long.

And finally: I'll be spending some time next week shooting portraits of our youngest daughter, so watch out for those at some point from around Wednesday onwards.

It's not often that I'm a passenger in a car at night, but when I am I often sit there shooting out of the window, just playing around with the lights. 99 times out of a 100 I end up with pretty much what you'd expect – a blurry load of crap – but every once in a while I do get one that I like.

If you're interested, the original is here:

.../archives/light_trails.php

The post-production was mostly carried out in Camera Raw: I added some contrast and shifted the hue of some of the colours to broaden the colour palette.

On a different matter: if you didn't read my previous entry, I posted my initial thoughts on Topaz Detail, a plugin that does a great job of bringing out the detail in an image without introducing any obvious processing artefacts. If you haven't tried it I'd definitely suggest that you download the demo version and try it out.

It's now Sunday, and I'm back in the UK for a week before heading back to Bulgaria. As always, Gulf Photo Plus was a lot of fun, not least because I got to meet up with some old friends from previous years, including: Bobbi Lane, Chris Hurtt, Robin Nichols, Joe McNally, Zack Arias, David Hobby, Mohamed Somji, and Hala Salhi. It was also a real pleasure to meet the new instructors at this year's event: Joey Lawrence, Vincent LaForet, Matt Kloskowski, Melissa Rodwell and Steve Simon.

If you're not familiar with the event, it's organised around a series of workshops. For example, Zack does a one-light workshop (amongst other things), I do a range of shooting and post-production sessions, Vincent did a week long session on using the 5D II to shoot video, and so on. There's also quite a lot of socialising, most notably at the Vista Bar on the roof of our hotel, and a range of other events, sessions, exhibitions, and so on.

One of the highlights of this year's event was a live shoot-out between Zack Arias, David Hobby and Joey Lawrence that took place during the closing ceremony. Each of them had 25 minutes to shoot and post-process a shot of two models, in front of an audience of several hundred photographers and students. David went first, and used about six "voice activated" light-stands (aka people with cameras and flash guns that were slaved to David's camera) to create a great, paparazzi style shot of the models. I don't think he's posted it online yet, but I'll link through when he does. Zack used three lights, and created an equally stunning shot. Joey, on the other hand, went for a slightly less sophisticated approach and shot a polaroid.

Update: David's take on the shoot-out is here:

http://strobist.blogspot.com/2010/03/speedlights-at-twenty-paces.html

Anyway, I'll tell you more about the event and everything else that went on later this week, but for now, here's another shot of the Jumeirah beach taken while I was out with Catalin Marin and Robin Nichols. The content is fairly similar to the previous one I posted, but I decided to process this one in a slightly different way. As always, let me know what you think.

Oh, and if you've been following my Facebook updates you'll know that ended up in the Emirates hospital on Friday evening, suffering from disturbingly painful stomach cramps. I'm still not quite sure what the problem was, but after taking a variety of tablets for a couple of days I now feel a whole lot better. At which point I should definitely thank Khaled for driving me to the hospital and Miriam for driving out there too to look after me.

It's now day three of Gulf Photo Plus 2010 and I'm about to start my landscape photography workshop. We're heading out to the desert this afternoon, and then back to the DIFC for an urban landscape shoot tomorrow morning. After that it's back to the lab for some post-production training. I'm really looking forward to it.

As for this shot: it was taken down at the Gate Village down at the DIFC and is an HDR, constructed from three exposures (-2 EV to + 2 EV) using Photomatix Pro.

If you're interested, the metered exposure for this sequence is here:

.../archives/gate_village_1.php

It was the first day of the 2010 Gulf Photo Plus workshops today, and I had a great time. I was down at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), who were kind enough to host our HDR location shoot and, although I haven't seen many of their images yet, I'm pretty sure my students got some great shots. Catalin Marin has already posted his first one, and I'm sure that plenty more will appear over the next day or so ... including some of my own.

In the meanwhile, here's a shot of one of my students, taking an exposure sequence underneath the DIFC.

On which note, I'm hitting the sack as I have a full day in the labs tomorrow: HDR post-production in the morning, and ‘enhancing portraits’ in the afternoon. It's going to be a fun day :)

I arrived in Dubai on Friday morning, but didn't manage to get out shooting until yesterday afternoon. I took a trip to the Palm Jumeirah, with my good friends Catalin Marin and Robin Nichols, and while my pre-twilight shots aren't great, I'm pleased with at least three of the ones I shot after sunset. I'm not sure if I'll post all three: the post-production is quite different for each one, but they share much the same content. I'll see.

And if you're interested, the original (Camera Raw default version) is here:

.../archives/jumeirah_beach_1.php

And I would write more, but I have some work to do this afternoon, after which I'm heading off to the Mall of the Emirates to attend the opening night of the in the blink of an eye' exhibition (which features six of my beachcombing images). The other photographers who are exhibiting their work are Joe McNally, Joey L, Melissa Rodwell, Steve Simon and Zack Arias, so I'm definitely feeling honoured that I was asked to take part.

After that it will be time to hit the sack as my first GPP workshop kicks off bright and early at 8.00am ... and I'm so not a morning person ;) I am looking forward to it though :)

Here's my first shot for 2010, taken back in November when I was in Dubai – a shot of an old bicycle down at the Souk. In this instance the post-processing was reasonably straightforward other than that I combined two similar shots of the same subject to construct the final image: one for the main detail, and another to lighten and add texture to the background. If you're interested, both shots are here:

.../archives/ringing_in_the_new_year.php

And beyond that I don't have too much else to say today other than Happy New Year :)

This is a companion shot to the first of my desert tracks images, and I initially decided against posting it as it's quite similar to that one (other than it's in portrait format and was black and white). However, as I've just finished the latest of my tutorials – Creative workflow #3 – which I based on the first of the desert tracks images, I thought I'd post this one too, not least because the tutorial works through both a colour and black and white version of desert tracks.

If you're interested, there's more info about our Creative workflow tutorials here:

http://www.chromasia.com/tutorials/online/cw_info.php

On a related matter, I'd be interested to hear if anyone prefers this image to the first one. I'm guessing not, but would be happy to hear otherwise.

This is probably the last of the shots I'll be posting from my recent trip to the desert near Dubai and while it doesn't portray the same sense of scale as my previous two 'desert tracks' images, I am pleased with it. Like desert tracks #2, this one was also processed almost entirely in Camera Raw (with just some minor cloning and sharpening in CS4).

On a totally different matter: as many of you know, Libby (my wife) has been away for almost the last eight weeks – she returned to the UK to give birth to our latest daughter – but she'll be home again tomorrow. We're driving to the airport in a little over 24 hours to pick her up, and I'll be taking some shots of Tegan (our newborn) over the next few days. It's been a long time since I photographed a newborn baby :)

Both the previous two shots that I posted, this one, and the next one, were taken during my landscape workshop at the recent Gulf Photo Plus Fotoweekend. One of the the things that I asked the students to do was to bring along some props. Some brought sunglasses, or flip-flops, or other items that you might relate to being in a desert, but one student brought a plastic dinosaur and a miniature Spider Man. Initially, I was a bit sceptical - there isn't much of a link between the desert and a cartoon super hero - but after seeing the shots I think it was a pretty good idea :)

Incidentally, if you've wondering why Spider Man is buried quite so far into the sand, take a look at this shot of one of my students:

.../archives/desert_storm.php

As you can see, it was rather windy :)

Here's the second of my desert shots, and while this is not quite as dramatic as my previous image, I do like this one too: not least because it gives a much better sense of scale than the previous one. Oddly, for me at least, this one was processed almost entirely in Camera Raw (other than a bit of cloning and a mild vignette).

If you're interested, the original is here:

.../archives/desert_tracks_2.php

On a related matter: I had a great time at the Gulf Photo Plus Fotoweekend, not least because it was an opportunity to meet up with some old friends – Bobbi Lane, Chris Hurtt, and Robin Nichols (my fellow instructors); Mohamed Somji and Hala Salhi (the event organisers). I also met David Tejada: a first time instructor at GPP, and an all-round nice guy (if you're not familiar with his work, take a look at his website or blog). I'd also like to say a big thank you to all the people who attended my classes: it's always a pleasure to teach enthusiastic and talented students :)

I've had a great few days at the Gulf Photo Plus Fotoweekend, and did find a bit of time to take some shots during my landscape workshop out in the desert. I have another three that I'll be putting up, but think that this one may well be my favourite.

And I would write more, but have another class to give in an hour or so, so will tell you more about my trip when I post my next entry. In the meanwhile, let me know what you think of this one.

If you're interested, the original for this one is here:

.../archives/desert_tracks.php

Update: I've just posted my latest tutorial – Creative workflow #3 – which is based around this image. If you're not a subscriber to our tutorials you can find out more about our Creative workflow series here:

http://www.chromasia.com/tutorials/online/cw_info.php

This is my last shot from my recent trip to the 2009 Gulf Photo Plus training event, and like the previous seven shots in this small series it was shot down in the Souk. Unlike the others in this series though, this one is a pseudo-HDR image, not because I especially wanted to produce an HDR-like image, but because the original a) lacked detail, and b) was slightly over-exposed. If you're interested you can take a look at the original here:

.../archives/souk_portrait_8.php

And you can find out more about creating pseudo-HDR images from a single RAW file here:

.../tutorials/online/hdr3_info.php

In this instance, running the image through Photomatix Pro enabled me to really bring out the detail in the original and, because I used reasonably conservative settings, the end result still looks fairly natural.

As always, let me know what you think.

This is my penultimate shot from my trip to Dubai, after which I'm definitely going to turn my attention to documenting Bulgaria. Strangely, I've now been here for almost a month but have found that I've been oddly reluctant to commit myself to photographing anything other than the kids. I'm not sure why I haven't been more proactive, but suspect that it has something to do with being overwhelmed by choice; i.e. there are millions of things I could be photographing – old buildings, the locals, aspects of our village and Bulgarian culture, and so on – I just haven't done so, at least not yet.

Anyway, in between starting my new book (which I'll say more about in a subsequent entry) and continuing to settle into our Bulgarian routine, I will make an effort to get out and about with my camera.

On a totally different matter: I'll be back in the UK in June as we're running a training course in Blackpool on the weekend of 13/14th June. The cost for the course is £225.00 and we still have a few places left. If you'd like to receive some more information please email Libby for the details (libby AT chromasia DOT com).

As promised, here's the second shot of the construction work on the Nasa Multiplex building in Dubai. As I mentioned, I think I prefer the previous one I posted – it was a bit more graphic than this one – but this shot does convey a better sense of scale, not least in terms of demonstrating that it's a long way down from the 82nd floor :)

As always, let me know what you think.

As I also mentioned, between now and the end of July 2009 we are offering a 15% discount on our tutorials. Further details here:

http://www.chromasia.com/tutorials/online/

This is one of two shots I took of the construction work on the Nasa Multiplex building in Dubai (I'll post the second one on Thursday), both of which feature the Burj Dubai dominating the skyline in the background. Of the two I think I prefer this one, but the next one does give a much better sense of scale.

As always, let me know what you think.

In other news ...

15% off our online tutorials
Between now and the end of July 2009 we are offering a 15% discount on the first year's payment of an annual subscription or our lifetime membership package. All you need to do to take advantage of either offer - and gain access to all our existing tutorials, members' forum, and our current members' offers - is enter the coupon code below in the box at the bottom of the sign up screen. Further details here:

http://www.chromasia.com/tutorials/online/

Our next training weekend
I'll be back in the UK in June as we're running a training course in Blackpool on the weekend of 13/14th June. The cost for the course is £225.00 and we still have a few places left. If you'd like to receive some more information please email Libby for the details (libby AT chromasia DOT com).

This is a shot of one of the students who took part in my landscape course at the recent GPP Training event.

We had a great storm last night, here in Bulgaria - the lightning flashed and the thunder rolled - but I was so engrossed in watching it that I didn't manage to take any photographs. Unfortunately the storm was followed by a 16 hour power cut - apparently the transformer in our village was damaged - after which I discovered that our router was fried. So tomorrow I'll be buying a new router and either a surge protector or UPS as I believe that storms are quite common at this time of year.

As for this shot: it was taken at the new mosque in Abu Dhabi during my recent trip to Dubai.

I had hoped that this post would be a shot from Bulgaria, not another from Dubai, but since posting my last entry I've been somewhat under the weather (i.e. being ill, laying in bed, and generally feeling sorry for myself). The good news is that I'm now feeling a lot better so should be out and about shooting again fairly soon.

I've been in Bulgaria since Thursday, but haven't had an opportunity to go out shooting yet so am posting another shot from my recent trip to Dubai. This one is another shot of my good friend Bobbi Lane, taking in the Dubai Mall.

Tomorrow though, Craig and I are going to drive over the Shipka Pass, which should be fun. It's an hour both ways and I'm absolutely determined that I'm going to get a good shot :)

In case you're wondering this is a shot of a part of the DIFC – part reflection, part distortion through a window – and beyond that I don't have too much else to say about this one other than that I like the detail and the way in which the various elements of the original scene interact/overlap. As always though, let me know what you think.

On a different matter: I'm pleased to say that Craig and I are now in Bulgaria. I drove down to Welwyn Garden City on Monday, picked up Craig at around 1pm, then drove down to Dover. We then got the ferry to Calais and drove until 1am - through France, Belgium, Holland and a small part of Germany. On Tuesday we drove almost 1000 miles: through the rest of Germany, all of Austria and most of Hungary, which took us 15 hours. We spent the night in a small campsite at Mako, a few kilometres short of the Romanian border. On Wednesday we drove through Romania, which can best be described as hellish: not least because it took almost 17 hours to traverse the potholes and roadworks. We were also slightly hampered by the fact that the van broke down at one point. It has an electronic throttle: which failed; i.e. you could press the pedal, but nothing happened. It recovered after we stopped, but it did add a certain tension to the rest of the journey :)

We've been busy since we got here, so haven't had any time to shoot yet, but I'm hoping we'll get out over the weekend.

If you're reading this round about the time at which it was posted Craig and I will now be somewhere between Calais (France) and Bucharest (Romania). If we've made good time we'll be an hour or so into Romania, if not then we'll be heading towards Szeged – a town on the Hungarian side on the Hungary/Romania border, and will head down through Romania tomorrow. Apparently, Romania is not a country that's good to drive through in the dark as the roads can be quite bad at times; i.e. they have the sort of potholes that you really don't want to hit at speed ;)

As I mentioned on Monday, Libby will probably be tweeting our progress, so feel free to follow her on twitter. Her twitter name is @libby_chromasia.

As for this shot: it's another portrait shot down in the souk in Dubai, taken on the same trip as this one and this one.

Let me know what you think, and I'll get back to you later this week when I sort out my internet access in Bulgaria.

One of the biggest problems I faced when shooting in Dubai was the almost constant haze – caused by the sand from the desert, construction work, and so on – and for most of the shots I've posted I've done my best to eliminate it. In this instance though, it wasn't a problem; i.e. the soft diffuse background works well. And you may remember that I also posted another football shot a while ago. That one was taken 12 minutes before this one.

On a totally different matter: this one was auto-posted as I'm currently on route to pick up Craig, after which we're heading down to Dover to catch the ferry to Calais: the first leg of our drive to Bulgaria. I'm going to schedule another shot to go up on Wednesday, and one more on Friday, but I should be back online by then.

In the meanwhile, if you want to know how Craig and I are getting on, I'm sure that Libby will be tweeting some updates as we drive down through Europe. Her twitter name is @libby_chromasia.

While my shot of the Burj Dubai reminded me of Gotham city, this one reminds me of Tracy Island from the Thunderbirds. Mind you, I suspect that quite a few of you are a bit too young to remember the Thunderbirds, but it was one of my favourite programmes when I was a young lad.

Anyway, reminiscing aside: this is a shot of the Emirates Towers in Dubai, shot from the roof of the DIFC. In fact, if you take a look at the shot I posted the other day – Sheikh Zayed Road – you can see roughly where I was shooting from; i.e. the DIFC is the square/arched building immediately in front of the Emirates Towers.

As with that shot, this one was also constructed with FDRTools from a sequence of seven bracketed exposures. And if you're interested, there's a slightly larger version here:

.../iblog/archives/tracy_island.php

As always, let me know what you think.

On a related matter: my latest Creative workflow tutorial went live yesterday. It's based on my shot of the Burj Dubai and the fountain. If you're interested, there's some more info here:

.../tutorials/online/cw_info.php

And finally ...

I'm heading out to Bulgaria next week. I'm driving over, with my good mate Craig – www.id7.co.uk – and leave first thing on Monday morning. I'm picking Craig up just north of London, after which we're driving down to catch the 5.50pm Dover to Calais ferry. When we get to France we're going to drive for a few more hours and will probably get some way into Belgium, maybe Germany. The following day we're aiming to head down through Germany, Austria and Hungary, and on the last day we're planning on driving through Romania then drop down into Bulgaria from the north. From there it's another hour and a half to our village. All in all it's around 1900 miles, so I imagine that we'll be fairly tired by the time we get there, but the first job on Thursday morning will be sorting out internet access and getting back online.

This is another portrait shot down at the souk in Dubai, shot on the same trip as this one. In some ways, I think I prefer this one – it's certainly more striking – but I do have a soft spot for the old gentleman in my previous shot, not least because I've now photographed him two years in a row.

Anyway, I don't think there's too much else I can tell you about this one other than that it was converted to black and white using the channel mixer (as described in this tutorial) then contrast adjusted and toned with a Curve. I also added a bit more light to his eyes (as described here) using a masked Curve, but that was about all that was done to this one.

As always, let me know what you think.

I don't have too much to say about this one other than that it's one from about 100 shots I took while being a passenger in a variety of vehicles in Dubai. Of the 100, this is the only one worth posting, but I'm pleased with how it turned out.

As always, let me know what you think.

On a different matter: I'm pleased to say that we've announced the winners of our Creative Point of View competition for our tutorial subscribers. If you're interested, there's some more info and the winning shots here:

http://www.chromasia.com/news/

This one was taken from the same vantage point as this one; i.e. 82 floors up the part-finished Nasa Multiplex, and is a shot of buildings that flank either side of the Sheikh Zayed road, the main drag from the airport to the centre of the city. Unlike my shot of the Burj Dubai this one is an HDR: a seven shot sequence constructed with FDRTools.

On a totally different matter, and with apologies to those of you who already read the following when I posted it on twitter, I wanted to let you know about a couple of new services I've introduced on chromasia. If you take a look at most of the (larger) images on chromasia you will see a 'Buy Print' and 'Send as E-card' beneath them, both of which are provided by Fotomoto. I'm currently beta-testing both services and have been very impressed so far, especially with the 'Buy Print' option. In the past our method of providing prints was a bit cumbersome; i.e. people needed to email me, then send a manual payment through PayPal, after which I'd upload the image to the printing company we use, get it back, mail it out, and so on. Fotomoto, on the other hand, provide an automated service; i.e. you can order prints in a variety of sizes and all I need to do is upload the high-res' file when a particular image is ordered.

If you're interested, just click either of the links to see how they work or take a look at this New York Times article which summarises the aims of the company and what they hope to provide to the photographic communit. Personally, I'm really excited by this as it will allow us to provide high-quality prints, to a world-wide audience, in a much simpler way than previously.

And finally, if you are interested in ordering any of my images as a print, Fotomoto are offering free worldwide delivery for the next week or so, so now would be a great time to try out the service :)