PhotoLine Forum

Night Shot

2 images. One exposed to the scene with blown highlights in the clock and the posters, one exposed to the clock and the two posters. The scene is the background. The clock and the posters have been copied from the second image, pasted into the first image as a new layer and then brushed in with a mask. Negative film would have mastered the scene in one single shot, but digital due to the narrower tonal range not.

Lots of retouching the debris and litter on the pontoon jetty, the bow of the ship, rust on the bollards on the left side.

Made completely with PL (I refuse to install and use any Adobe products).

50mm prime lens @ f=11 and t=4 seconds, camera mounted on a tripod. Measured with an old Gossen ProfiSix lightmeter and object metering.

https://iili.io/Jpx2hN.jpg

Manual HDR! My favorite HDR program is SNS-HDR, it is very realistic.

Added dehaze and a few curves:

No, that's not »manual HDR«. I've just exposed 3 parts of the scene differently and inserted them into the correctly exposed scene. All HDR processes kill a well lit and balanced image: shadows too dark, contrast too high (sail ship and background same color), color shifting, light and color transitions far too harsh... Not my world, and definitely not the situation in that particular location.

I prefer realistic and authentic images, using a digital camera with a linear tonal range of 12 EV. Or, if required, a large format camera with negative film, which delivers around 15 to 16 EV in one single exposure like this example (note the bulb in the street lamp). Blowing highlights with negative film is almost impossible:

https://iili.io/Jp12qb.jpg

Fuji GW 690 III Professional (Texas Leica) mounted on a tripod, Fuji Pro 400 H negative film, measured with my old Gossen ProfiSix, developed from a professional lab, digitized with a dedicated film scanner @ 4.000 ppi @16/48 bit (image size 12.900 x 8.600 pixels), retouched and scaled down with PL.

Not to start an argument, but . . . you have captured a high-dynamic range subject (HDR) using multiple low-dynamic range images that you manually blended together (as opposed to an automated app), and that is manual HDR. Don’t think that all HDR images have to be like the terrible ones that come from gross overuse of tone mapping. In my opinion, “good” HDR looks realistic, like your images.

http://www.russellcottrell.com/photo/PhotoLine/HDR.htm
http://www.russellcottrell.com/photo/BT ... amples.htm