Here is the original Soviet Era Hydrofoil.

Seen in Chernigov, Ukraine.

When my wife first saw this parked in Chernigov, she recognized what it was right [...]]]> •  HDR Photo ~ This is a re-visit to one of my earlier HDR attempts and redoing it with some new skills I’ve picked up along the way.

Here is the original Soviet Era Hydrofoil.

Seen in Chernigov, Ukraine.

When my wife first saw this parked in Chernigov, she recognized what it was right away.  I experienced a what the ???? moment.  This is a Polesye class hydrofoil, made to operate in shallower waters.

How this was done.  I started off with one original photo, which is the middle one on the left, below.  Now some will say HDR should be done with the differently exposed originals.  But I say you have to work with what you have.  And that’s all I had.  One original.   I proceeded to create two new copies, one with a lower exposure and one with a higher exposure.  These are seen on the left.  From the top, the original at -2EV, the original at 0EV, and the original at +1EV.  Again, some will say the exposures should have evenly spaced EV values, but really, thats not necessary.  And setting the bottom photo on the left at +2EV would have overexposed everything in that copy and left you without the ability to extract much of value to the final HDR outcome.

On the top right, you see the final HDR outcome from Photomatix 4.  It’s nice, and certainly a bit of improvement over each of the photos on the left.  Yet, it’s generally agreed that the final outcome from Photomatix does leave the photo a bit flat, so it’s off to Photoshop with it.  Some of the Photoshop adjustments are, toning down the grass between the boat and the cement wall in the foreground, and exporting it to Topaz Adjust, where I applied the “Bold Detail” setting and pumped up the saturation a bit.  Back in Photoshop, I did a fade on the Topaz outcome to 50% and applied the “Multiply” blending mode.  I then wanted to accentuate the hydrofoil itself some more, so I did a quick select on the boat, returned to Topaz Adjust, applied “Bold Detail” again on the boat only, and back in Photoshop again did a “Fade” on the Topaz outcome of 50% and a normal blending mode.

That’s how this was done!

[...]]]>

Now it’s time to stay indoors while the temperature plummets.  Predicted nighttime low later this week, -14F / -26C.

Soviet Era Locomotive, seen at Kiev Polytechnic Institute. As Locomotives go, this is a small one.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Although it may not look like it, this is a religious ceremony. Every January 19, Orthodox Epiphany, believers take a dip in whatever outdoor body of water that might be handy, whether it’s an ocean, a lake, a river, or a pond. This is in commemoration of the baptism [...]]]> Kiev Ukraine, January 19, 2012

Although it may not look like it, this is a religious ceremony. Every January 19, Orthodox Epiphany, believers take a dip in whatever outdoor body of water that might be handy, whether it’s an ocean, a lake, a river, or a pond. This is in commemoration of the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan many centuries ago.

This photo was taken today in one of the numerous events around Kiev, Ukraine, and the Orthodox world. Last year’s event locally was a bit of a disappointment, because the temperature that day was only 1C/34F. This year’s event was held in much more favorable conditions. At 10AM this morning, it was -7C/20F, a temperature that’s considered much more suitable for this event.

If I were to ever try this, the body of water I would look for would be the hot tub!