Project HDR 02

Ever since I joined the gym end of July, I have got lesser time to play with the pictures. Whenever I switched on my laptop after a long day work and gym after work, I'll fall asleep within short time.

Thanks to RaD!c4L from Lowyat forum who passed me his 'godly package' which now there's no more watermark on the my pictures modified in Photomatix!

Whenever I go to my client's office at Paternoster Square, there's a view of the St Paul Cathedral from a small lane which I have an idea composing the image long ago. Finally last week I grabbed my camera and headed to the spot to take the shot.

The original image taken in RAW format at 18mm from my kit lens. I used the spot metering to get the correct exposure on the Cathedral, but then the foreground appeared to be under exposed and the sky became over exposed. This is a situation where High Dynamic Range (HDR) technique becomes useful.

2 more images were created in JPEG format at +2 and -2 EV respectively. An HDR image was generated from all 3 images in Photomatix. Tone mapping done to adjust the strength, saturation, contrast etc.

A quick 30 mins job. The foreground appeared much improved especially on the bricks texture and the signboards. Anyway it can be improved for sure in particular to the sky which looks a bit error to me.