Tobacco seller Day 294

Street shot, not posed at all.

HDR PP to test run HDR Efex Pro by Nik. I really like this effect. Especially on his face - such a high drama :-)

I burned out a few places, I'm assuming due to my inexperience with HDR process, since the original file has no pure whites.

Colour noise could not be eliminated after HDR process, I only managed to tone it down a bit.
Another thing I'll have to keep in mind :-)

Learning is a process, right? ;-D

Close up from the same file below.

For better colours click on pic(s)!

Hope or doom... it's like a glass half full or half empty Day 293

Testing HDR Efex Pro by Nik. I'm curious how good is it in converting one RAW file to a natural looking HDR or as I like to put it as my eyes saw it (well would if my eyesight was that sharp LOL).

For now my impressions on HDR Efex Pro:
- very capable and truly all in one software, curves and levels are integrated therefore you do not need to run back to PS for extra work.
- it has an option of creating a HDR from one file but after test running it I realized that making 3 (or more) files from one RAW file created far superior image than taking just one file. Well, that's not really surprising, huh?
- I noticed that if there is a slight chance that the image needs noise reduction, especially colour noise reduction, the said reduction NEEDS to be done before running HDR Efex because later it cannot be removed by any noise reduction program, not even Define from Nik.

Click on pic for better colours.

Sneaky pic of a space station Day 292

Where I took this one, photography is forbidden... panicky guards -> well in actuality the only thing forbidden is taking pics of the building and selling them since this is an architectural prize winning shopping mall. Go figure.

Lots of burning and masking to darken the BG, not perfect but a decent excercise ;-P