A warm Atmosphere under a blanket of Grey
Nov, 2014Views
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in a small medieval town in the south-west of France, called Nerac.Time
Since I had visited this town before, I especially went over there to make some shots at 'blue hour'.Lighting
When I noticed that the sky was getting more and more grey, I had to change my original plan. The natural light at this hour, gave me another opportunity, so I decided to make a L(ong) E(xposure) shot.Equipment
Because I never leave home without it, my tripod that is, I was able to make a bracket of 8, 15 and 30 seconds with my Canon 450D, 18-55 kitlens and Haida ND 10-stopper.Inspiration
Having been there before, I knew I would get the exact right composition by going down to the river, and that would also get me the refelections to the max.Editing
When I got home, I simply did a standard 32-bits processing in LightRoom, as where I adjusted the histogram a little and merged the three shots to HDR in Photoshop. No tonemapping was used to get this result, the natural light (and I ;-)) did the job to get the atmosphere.In my camera bag
Being a low-budget photography enthusiast, I don't carry much, so far my 450D is my best friend, I know him by heart. A tripod, an extra memorycard and batterie and a dust cloth is what's in my bag. And a couple of weeks ago I invested in the Haida 10-stopper.Feedback
Usually I make my best photos the second time I visit a location. The first time I look around and shoot a lot. When at home, I look at them and that gives me ideas for the couple of shots I definitely think are worth going back for, which compositions, what light, which angles and what techniques to use. For the use of ND-filters, I printed a calculation schedule from mountaisandwaves.com, but most people own a smartphone and can download apps these days. But every photo starts with just a composition and a good feeling.
