Fall foliage at Huntley Meadows Park

Fall foliage at Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, Virginia USA.

Copyright © 2012 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved. www.wsanford.com

Masonic emblem

The Masonic emblem, viewed from the observation deck of the George Washington Masonic Memorial, Alexandria, Virginia USA.

Copyright © 2012 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved. www.wsanford.com

HDR composite image redux

I used Adobe Lightroom 4 and Photoshop CS5 to create a 16-bit HDR composite image from three exposures of the George Washington Masonic Memorial, Alexandria, Virginia USA.

Tech Tips: I used “More Saturated,” one of the Photoshop “Local Adaption” presets; no other adjustments were changed. I saved the resulting composite image to Lightroom, where I cropped the image, adjusted “Clarity” and added a vignette. Finally, I used the “Spot Removal” tool to remove several dust spots on the camera image sensor.

Copyright © 2012 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved. www.wsanford.com

George Washington Masonic Memorial

I used Adobe Lightroom 4 and Photoshop CS5 to create a photorealistic 32-bit pseudo-HDR composite image from three exposures of the George Washington Masonic Memorial, Alexandria, Virginia USA. I used Lightroom to make all of the adjustments to the composite image.

The iconic compass and square are symbolic Freemasonry tools; “G” stands for God and geometry.

Tech Tips: I applied “Direct Positive,” one of the “Lightroom Color Presets,” cropped the image, adjusted “Clarity” and added a vignette. Finally, I used the “Spot Removal” tool to remove several dust spots on the camera image sensor.

Copyright © 2012 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved. www.wsanford.com

Washington, D.C. skyline

The skyline of Washington, D.C. USA viewed from the George Washington Masonic Memorial observation deck. From this vantage point, the viewer is looking toward the Potomac River. The Washington Monument and Thomas Jefferson Memorial are visible on the left side of the photo; the U.S. Capitol Building is visible on the right side. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is visible on the near side of the river.

Copyright © 2012 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved. www.wsanford.com

Old Town Alexandria

Old Town Alexandria, Virginia USA viewed from the George Washington Masonic Memorial observation deck. From this vantage point, the viewer is looking down King Street toward the Potomac River. The Woodrow Wilson Bridge is shown in the upper-right corner of the photograph.

Tech Tips: This photo was shot using a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi camera and Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L zoom lens, set for 34mm.

Copyright © 2012 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved. www.wsanford.com

HDR composite image

The following photo shows the results of an experiment in which I used Adobe Lightroom 4 and Photoshop CS5 to create a 16-bit HDR composite image from three exposures of the George Washington Masonic Memorial, Alexandria, Virginia USA.

Tech Tips: I used “More Saturated,” one of the Photoshop “Local Adaption” presets; no other adjustments were changed. I saved the resulting composite image to Lightroom, where I made lens corrections.

Copyright © 2012 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved. www.wsanford.com

Pseudo-HDR composite image redux

I used Adobe Lightroom 4 to “redevelop” the photorealistic 32-bit pseudo-HDR composite image of the George Washington Masonic Memorial featured in my last post. In my opinion, the newer version looks much better than the older version.

Tech Tips: I applied “Direct Positive,” one of the “Lightroom Color Presets”; no other adjustments were changed.

Copyright © 2012 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved. www.wsanford.com

Pseudo-HDR composite image test results

The following photo shows the results of an experiment in which I used Adobe Lightroom 4 and Photoshop CS5 to create a photorealistic 32-bit pseudo-HDR composite image from three exposures of the George Washington Masonic Memorial, Alexandria, Virginia USA. I used Lightroom to make all of the adjustments to the composite image, including lens corrections. I’m not 100% satisfied with the results, but considering this is the first time I ever used Lightroom to edit a photo I say, “Not bad!”

The following gallery shows the three original photos that were composited to create the HDR image (shown above): Photo 1 is exposed correctly (0 ev); Photo 2 is underexposed (-2 ev); Photo 3 is overexposed (+2 ev). I converted the original CR2 (raw) photo files to JPGs for online display; no adjustments were made to these photos.

Tech Tips: How did I do it? See Lightroom Video: A New HDR Feature in Lightroom 4.1 for a five-minute video tutorial by Matt Kloskowski, Kelby Media Group. See also Tilt-Shift/perspective corrections in Lightroom 3, a three-minute YouTube video by “inthephotozone.”

Copyright © 2012 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved. www.wsanford.com

Powell’s Creek

The view looking upstream from the railroad bridge crossing Powell’s Creek, observed during a photowalk through Leesylvania State Park, Prince William County, Virginia USA.

Copyright © 2012 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved. www.wsanford.com