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

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.

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

First of all, thanks for all the great comments on my last three IR shots. It was fun to try something different, so it was good to see that they were well received.

As for this one: it was taken on the same trip and I think that the object in the shot is the upturned roof of an old caravan or trailer.

In this instance the post-production was relatively straightforward, but if you take a look at the original you will see that I made quite a few changes:

.../archives/untitled_0085.php

The most obvious change is I flipped the image horizontally, but you will also notice that the roof and foreground are quite a bit brighter in the final version. In this case I used Photomatix Pro to produce a pseudo-HDR version (as described in this tutorial), which I then blended with the original image. The final changes involved toning the image, as discussed in this tutorial, and a 16x9 crop.

As always, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

I was going to post another of the shots I took while out and about with Theis Dahl at the weekend, but I went back up to the Wyre wrecks on Tuesday and shot some new material. As you can see from the title, this is 16th image I've posted in this series, but it's the first new one since September 2007 as each time I've been back I've struggled to find a new angle; i.e. I ended up duplicating, or near-duplicating previous shots.

On Tuesday though, I tried something different, but rather than explain it I'd be interested to hear if any of you can work out what's different about this one. I should say that this is a pseudo-HDR image, created with Photomatix Pro as described in the following tutorial:

.../tutorials/online/hdr3_info.php

In this instance though, this isn't what I'm referring to; i.e. there's something else too.

Let me know if you need a clue ;)

First of all, many thanks for all the great comments on my last three shots - the 'after the rain' series featuring Rhowan and Harmony - they're very much appreciated :)

As for this one ...

One of the things I like about shooting HDR images is that you can shoot in even the harshest sunlight, when a single shot would be a complete waste of time. For example, if you take a look at the metered exposure for this scene you will see that it contains a range of clipped highlight and shadow detail; i.e. the dynamic range of the original scene was too high for a single shot.

.../archives/ganchovets_station_2.php

In this instance, as are most of my HDR images, this one was constructed with Photomatix Pro, from a seven shot sequence (as described in this tutorial), and as with my previous shot of one of the Ganchovets station buildings, I was aiming to produce a reasonably moderate image. In this case, it is fairly obvious that this is an HDR image, but I do think that it retains some sense of photorealism.

As always, let me know what you think.

Update: for a slightly different interpretation, taken one month earlier, take a look at this shot: posted by Craig a short while ago.

As promised, here's the first shot of our local environment over here in Bulgaria. It's one of the station buildings, just down the road from our house, and despite the rather dilapidated appearance it is inhabited.

On a related note: taking this shot reminded me that it's been too long since I pointed my camera at something other than the kids; i.e. I really struggled to think of a way to photograph this building from this angle without replicating this shot: taken by Craig on his recent trip over here. As you can see though (if you've clicked the link), despite spending some time pursuing alternative angles, I ended up taking exactly the same shot. Despite the blatant compositional plagiarism though, I am pleased with how this one turned out.

And if you're interested, it's an HDR image constructed with Photomatix Pro from a seven shot sequence. In this instance, the settings were fairly moderate; i.e. I wanted to create a vaguely photorealistic final image rather than something more over-the-top.

As always, let me know what you think.

Update: following mikelangelo's comment (below) regarding the haloing around the building I decided to do a bit more work on this one. The original (slightly haloed) version is here:

.../archives/ganchovets_station_1.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.

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 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 :)

If you were a visitor at around this time last year you will probably remember that I posted quite a few shots of the Dubai International Financial Centre (The Gate #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7). When I shot it last year I was working on a project for a local gallery, and thoroughly enjoyed the shoot, but I certainly didn't expect to be shooting it again this year.

A couple of months ago though the DIFC got in touch as they'd found my 2008 images and wanted to licence them. They also asked me to spend another three days shooting the building and the Gate Village (comprised of shops, restaurants and galleries). So I've spent the last fews days shooting, and have a couple of thousand images to work through over the coming weeks. I probably won't post quite as many as I did last year, as I'm hoping to shoot some personal material while I'm here too, but I did think that this one was worth sharing.

As with a lot of my recent stuff, it's a seven-shot HDR, but in this instance it was processed with FDRTools rather than Photomatix Pro.

As always, let me know what you think, even if it is to tell me that you're totally fed up with me posting HDR images :)

I was going to post an altogether gentler image this evening – a shot of Harmony hiding in some long grass – but as I've just posted our latest HDR tutorial I thought it was probably more appropriate to put this one up. I did want to post a pseudo-HDR image (I.e. one constructed from a single original), as that's the topic of the tutorial, but if you take a look at the metered exposure for this one you will see that there's no way it would have worked for this image; i.e. even though the sky is blown out the shoe is still very dark.

.../archives/my_son_john.php

So, as with my previous entry, this was constructed from a three shot sequence taken with my G9 and then processed with Photomatix Pro.

As always, let me know what you think.

On an unrelated matter: one of the things I really enjoyed about Zack Arias video I linked in my previous entry was the music. The track that accompanies the video is Window, by Meghan Coffee, and is now available as a download via Zack's latest entry. Meghan also has a couple of albums on iTunes, and if you enjoyed Window you will probably also like Songs to Sail By, released in 2008. My favourite track from the album is Song Without a Name, and while it's not quite as haunting as Window it is just as good.

Earlier this evening I wrote quite a long entry to accompany this image, but just as I was about to publish the entry my computer crashed, taking the entry with it. On reflection though, I suspect I was probably waffling a bit, so I guess it's not too much of a disaster.

Anyway, I've now got a fractious small child sat in my lap, trying desperately to reach the power button on my laptop while typing with her feet, so here's the abridged version of my earlier post ...

1. I haven't had any time for photography this week as I've been writing my HDR book and my latest HDR tutorial (which will be published later this week, as a follow on to part one and part two).
2. I don't have too much to say about this one other than that it was shot this afternoon, on the beach at Blackpool's south shore, and is an HDR image constructed from three originals shot with my G9.
3. I got one other shot (possibly two) that I'll post at some point later this week.

What I also mentioned was a video I watched the other day, produced by Zack Arias. To be honest, it left me at something of a loss for words, so I'm not going to say anything about it here, other than to say that if you've ever lost your mojo, or inspiration, or struggled to appreciate your own work, you should definitely take a look:

    http://www.zarias.com/?p=284

Of all the HDR's I've posted in recent months, this is definitely one of my favourites, not least because it's a bit closer to how I want to use this technique; i.e. while I'm happy producing images that any of the HDR software companies could point to and say "here's a 'typical' HDR shot", I'm trying to use it in a slightly different way. What I'm trying to do, with varying degrees of success, is produce images that have my own stamp on them, not just the 'Photomatix look', or the 'FDRTools look'. Anyway, in this instance, I feel that I got a bit closer to that aim but would be happy to hear your thoughts if you disagree.

On a technical note: the foreground for this one was constructed using FDRTools while the sky was copied from the -3 EV exposure (i.e. the darkest of the original sequence). This isn't a technique I've discussed in my own HDR tutorials yet, but you might be interested in the topics I have covered so far (details about part one are here, while details about part two are here).

And if you're interested, the rather less than interesting metered exposure is here:

.../archives/bsc_workington.php

And finally: I believe that Craig is going to be posting a similar shot to this one at some point this evening, so go take a look at that one too :)

When I posted my penultimate entry for 2008 I mentioned that my big project for the first few months of this year was going to be a book on HDR photography, which will be published by Focal Press at some point after the summer. At the time the amount of work I would need to do seemed like a challenge, but as I didn't plan on starting writing until the New Year I wasn't too worried ...

Anyway, after spending the last three weeks writing I'm pleased to be able to say that I've got the first section done, and uploaded to the publisher - 15.5K words and over 200 images and screen grabs. I've also published my Working with textures: part one tutorial during this time (another 8K words), and have written the first two lessons of another online course I'm developing for Gulf Photo Plus (another 6K words). All in all, a lot of words. Oh, and I've got to get another GPP lesson written this weekend (another 3K words).

After that though Libby and I are taking the kids to Centre Parcs for a well earned mid-week break where I'm hoping to find some time to take some photographs rather than just writing about them.

All of which brings me to this one ...

It's the last but one of the shots I took when Craig was up a few weeks ago, and fittingly enough it's another HDR. As usual it was constructed from a seven shot sequence, with a 1 EV spacing, using Photomatix Pro. Craig posted a similar view of this old power station here.

In this instance it's a fraction more typical-HDR-like than I wanted, but try as I might I couldn't produce a version that I preferred to this one. My next shot, which I'll post on Monday, is also an HDR, but it's one that I'm a lot more pleased with.

Incidentally, if you would like to learn more about HDR photography my next PPSOP class will be starting on February 6th, or you can take a look at either or both of my HDR tutorials (details about part one are here, while details about part two are here).

And I guess that's about it for today, other than to say do check back on Monday as the shot I'll be posting is definitely one of my recent favourites.

I wasn't going to post anything else until Monday – I'm trying to spin out the few remaining shots that I have because I know I wont have any time for shooting this week – but we're celebrating today, so I had to put something up :-)

When I posted my 'no it's not a texture' shot of Elvis yesterday I mentioned that Libby was out at the Northwest Women in Business Awards 2009 awards ceremony as she had been nominated for the Best New Business category in her role as head honcho of our training company (i.e. the one that runs our online Photoshop tutorials, sorts out one-to-one training, and so on).

Anyway, I'm really pleased to say that she won, but won't tell you any more about it because she's also written about it on her new blog: including a shot of the shoes ;-)

On which note, back to this one ...

It was taken three minutes after the sequence I used for this shot, but facing the other way down the tracks, and as with a lot of my recent HDR work it was constructed from a seven shot sequence using Photomatix Pro. In this instance, while I didn't want it to end up looking like a straight shot, I didn't want it to look like a typical HDR image either.

Anyway, I like it, but would be interested to hear what you all think.

On a related note: Craig has just posted a shot of this same scene, taking a wider view than me – it looks good.

This is a pseudo-HDR image, i.e. it was generated within Photomatix Pro from a single RAW file, and was shot on Blackpool seafront last weekend after Craig and I had walked for about three miles in the rain. With the benefit of hindsight, and after seeing the version that Craig posted, I wish I'd gone a bit wider and/or shot from an angle rather than head-on, but on the whole I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

If you're interested, there's a straight conversion of the original here:

.../archives/three_wheels_on_my_wagon.php

As you can see, the tone mapping has really brought out every last scrap of detail.

One of the things I like most about HDR work, though this is also what makes it frustrating at times, is that there doesn't seem to be any reliable way of working out what the final image will look like. In this instance for example I had a more vibrant/brighter image in mind but the tone mapped image ended up looking a lot darker than I expected. This is partially a consequence of the fact that the lightest shot in the sequence wasn't quite light enough (i.e. it was underexposed by at least a stop), but I also think that the tone mapping algorithms in Photomatix Pro sometimes behave as though they had a mind of their own :)

Anyway, all that said I'm pretty pleased with how this one turned out and would be interested to hear your thoughts.

If you're interested, the (rather uninteresting) metered exposure of the sequence is here:

.../archives/out_of_the_darkness.php

On a totally different matter ...

Those of you who subscribed to our online tutorials from the outset will know that the first one we posted was the Tonal Range and the Curves Tool tutorial. Well, there are now two more versions: one in catalan and the other in spanish, both of which were translated by Eduard J. (atzu). Over the coming months we're hoping to translate all the tutorials, but in the meanwhile, if you do know anyone who a) speaks catalan or spanish, and b) would like to know more about the Curves tool, you know where to send them :)

    Gamma tonal i l'eina Corbes (catalan translation)
    Gama tonal y la herramienta Curvas (spanish translation)

As I mentioned when I posted my last shot, my good friend Craig was up this weekend and we spent most of Friday and Saturday out shooting, as well as Sunday morning. I only got one shot from the Friday trip, that I'll probably post on Wednesday, but got six on Saturday and two on Sunday. More importantly though, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, despite the freezing temperatures on Saturday and the rain on Sunday. So, thanks Craig - it was good to see you again and I'm looking forward to seeing what you post in the coming days. Craig's first shot from our various outings is here.

As for this shot: it was taken on the disused railway line behind ICI in Fleetwood, and is probably my favourite of all the ones I'll be posting. It's an HDR image, constructed from a seven shot sequence using Photomatix Pro (as described in my second HDR tutorial), but unlike some of the recent HDRs I've been posting I've gone for a slightly subtler look with this one.

If you're interested I've also posted the metered exposure (processed using ACR's default settings) here:

.../archives/along_the_tracks_1.php

As always, let me know what you think.

As I mentioned a few entries ago, my major project for the next few months is a book on HDR Photography. It's provisionally titled 'Practical HDR', was commissioned by Ilex Press, and will be published by Focal Press at some point in the 3rd of 4th quarter of 2009. I'll also be running an HDR course for Aspen Photo Workshops in Tampa, Florida, from the 19th of April until the 23rd, and am continuing to run my online HDR course with PPSOP. With all that in mind, I remembered that I'd shot a sequence of images inside the Sagrada Familia when I was Barcelona last September. I did look at them not long after I got back, but decided against processing them, though can't remember why.

Anyway, I decided to take another look at them today and am pleased with how it turned out. I appreciate that it's a Marmite shot ;– i.e. it's the style of HDR shot that people seem to either love or hate – but it's one that will probably make it into the book. And for those of you who are interested: the HDR image was created in Photoshop and then tone mapped with Photomatix Pro (as described in my 2nd HDR tutorial).

As an aside, one of the odd things about HDR images is that the smaller they get, the worse they look. For example, I think this one works really well as a high res' image, and would look good as a fairly large print, but it doesn't look quite as good at the resolution presented here. I've put some 100% crops from the high res' version here:

.../archives/the_sagrada_familia_hr.php

As you can see, while these are obviously crops from an HDR image, the tone mapping doesn't seem quite as unnatural at this higher resolution. If you're interested, I've also put a 2000px x 1333px version here.

As always, let me know what you think, even if you don't like it :-)

As you will all have noticed I haven't been posting at all regularly in recent weeks, not because I don't want to, but because I haven't had anything to post. The upside of my lack of blogging is that we've been busy arranging a variety of things, all of which will carry us through until May 2009.

Our major project for the New Year, and the one that will keep us busy up until mid-March, is a book on HDR Photography. It's provisionally titled 'Practical HDR', was commissioned by Ilex Press, and will be published by Focal Press at some point in the 3rd of 4th quarter of 2009. If you've been visiting for a while, you may remember that I did a book on baby photography for the same publisher last year, so it was good to get asked to do another one.

As I'll be writing a whole book on the topic I'll also take the opportunity to write a couple more HDR tutorials to add to part one and part two that have already been published alongside our other online tutorials. I'm not entirely sure of which topics I'll be covering yet, but I suspect that one will be on creating photo-realistic HDR images and the other will be on either working with low-contrast scenes or single RAW files (or maybe both).

And if that wasn't enough on the same topic, I'll also be running an HDR class at this year's Gulf Photo Plus training event in Dubai (March 30th to April 4th). I've attended the last two GPP events but this year promises to be better than ever with a great list of photographers: Joe McNally, David Hobby, Drew Gardner, Vincent LaForet, Zack Arias, Carol Dragon, Chase Jarvis, Cliff Mautner, Asim Rafiqui, Chris Hurtt, Bobbi Lane, and Robin Nichols (and probably a few more I've forgot to mention).

I'll also be continuing to run my HDR class at PPSOP (the Perfect Picture School of Photography). I've been running the course for around three months now, and have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. If you've interested in signing up for any of their courses now would be a good time as they're offering a 10% discount until tomorrow (i.e. the 21st).

And finally, I'll also be running an HDR course for Aspen Photo Workshops (run by Charlie Borland) in Tampa, Florida, from the 19th of April until the 23rd. If you're interested, there's more information about the course listed here. I'm really looking forward to this one, not least because I've never been to Florida.

So, if you are an HDR fan, then it's all good news. If not, then ... err ... come back in May ;-) More seriously though, I won't just be posting HDR stuff as I imagine that I'll probably fancy a bit of a change at some point – probably by the end of the first week in January :-)

All of which brings me neatly to today's shot: the old lift tower at Bispham, a couple of miles up the coast from Blackpool. It was constructed from a a seven shot sequence (with a 1 EV spacing) and processed with Photomatix Pro, after which I merged the sky from one of the original images. If you're interested, the metered exposure is here:

.../archives/the_lift_tower.php

I went up to Fleetwood this afternoon with the intention of shooting some slow shutter speed images at high tide. Unfortunately, it was raining, windy, grey and dull, and none of them worked out. So, especially since I haven't had anything to post for a few days, I'm really pleased that I decided to shoot a couple of HDR sequences while I was there.

This one was shot at the top of the sea wall and was constructed from seven exposures (with a 1 EV spacing between them). I used Photomatix Pro to produce two versions: one optimised for the foreground and another, less radical version, tone mapped to produce a less HDR-like sky. These were then merged in Photoshop and toned using a Curve.

If you're interested, I've posted the metered exposure here:

.../archives/storm_conditions.php

On a totally unrelated matter, and my apologies for bringing this up again: if any of you have been pondering signing up for our Photoshop tutorials, now would be a good time, as we're giving away 75 copies of our 2009 Calendar to the next 75 people who sign up for an annual subscription or lifetime membership. Well, there were 75 when we started – we now have around 30 left.

If you're interested, you can find out more about the tutorials and the calendar here:

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

If you're already a subscriber, then you can also win a copy of the calendar by entering our new competition, full details of which have been posted in the members' forum. There have already been some great shots posted so even if you aren't interested in entering the competition you should definitely take a look.

When I posted my last entry I mentioned that I would be spending a week abroad. What I should also have added is that it isn't a photographic trip. The reason I should have mentioned this is that I'm finding that I haven't had much time so far to take any pictures, and those I have taken have been shot in poor light. Anyway, excuses aside, I thought it was about time I posted something so thought I'd put this one up. Technically, it's not great, but it is an interesting shot of this wonderful town.

So, who can tell me where I am?

Here's one last shot taken with the Tamron AF 11-18mm - a shot of Blackpool's North Pier, taken from about five inches above the decking.

Oh, and by the time this gets (automatically) posted I'll be in London. I'm going abroad for a week - I won't tell you where yet - so should have some new/different material to post.

When I first processed this series of images, shot with the Tamron AF 11-18mm, this one was definitely my favourite of the four. Now though, I'm not so sure; i.e. I really like the vibrancy of the previous one I posted.

As always, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts, either on this one or the series as a whole.

Oh, and this one definitely works better with the black theme.

Like my previous two entries, this is a partial HDR; i.e. the foreground was created with FDRTools while the sky was dropped in from the original exposure. Unlike the previous two though, this one was constructed from a single RAW file rather than a bracketed sequence. The net result is that there's more noise in this one (though it's not especially obvious at this resolution) so a bracketed sequence would have produced a technically better image. In this case though it just wasn't possible as the plastic basket was vibrating in the wind; i.e. there would have been too much movement between the different frames to produce an HDR from multiple exposures.

This is the second of the four shots that I mentioned yesterday, taken with a borrowed 400D and a Tamron AF 11-18mm F/4.5-5.6 Di II LD Aspherical [IF]. It's not my favourite of the set, but I was pleased with how it turned out. I'm also glad that I went out yesterday, despite the rather fierce wind, as it's poured down today.

As I mentioned yesterday I'm currently writing a review of the Tamron AF 11-18mm F/4.5-5.6 Di II LD Aspherical [IF] for Digital SLR User magazine so went up to Fleetwood this afternoon to try it out. It was a glorious afternoon - though rather cold and windy - and I got four shots that I'm happy with.

All the ones I'll be posting are partial HDR's, constructed with FDRTools. This one and tomorrow's were constructed from a three shot bracketed sequence, while the ones I'll be posting on Sunday and Monday were created from a single shot. In all four cases I've used the sky from the original shot (or one of the originals).

Of the four I think that the one I'll be posting on Monday is probably my favourite, followed by this one, then Sunday's, then tomorrow's - but I'm pretty happy with all of them.

Oh, and the only other thing I can tell you about them is that they were all shot with a 400D - which I've borrowed to use with the Tamron lens.

Having rediscovered my previous image in a folder from early 2007 I thought I'd track back a bit further through the archives in search of something else to rescue ... and came across this one. Like the previous one it's a partial HDR; i.e. the helmet and foreground were produced with FDRTools, while the sky was dropped in from the original shot.

Personally, I prefer the previous one I posted, but I'm reasonably happy with this one too.

If you're interested, the original is here:

.../archives/untitled_0073.php

I was browsing through a folder of old RAW files earlier today and came across this one. I did try to process it at the time, but couldn't come up with anything I liked. Anyway, motivated by the fact that I don't have anything else to put up, I thought I'd give it another try.

This time around I decided to try an HDR version so used Photomatix Pro to generate and tone map a pseudo-HDR image. If you take a look at the original, you'll see that this version has a lot more detail and texture, especially on the surface of the object:

.../archives/the_entrance.php

The rest of the changes were fairly straightforward (Curves, Hue/Saturation, and so on) other than that I used the sky from the original image, not the tone mapped version. If you've tried single shot HDR's you'll know that one of the major problems is that they can be quite noisy. This doesn't much matter for textured areas of an image - such as the sand and scratched object in this image - but can be very noticeable in smoother areas such as the sky.

As always, let me know what you think.