SuKai Loc: California

I came upon this old abandoned gas station, which happens to be a movie set, and I thought it would make a great HDR subject. The first photo is actually been photo-merged in PSE after processing the two individual pictures in Photomatix. Once merged I cropped and added some more detail in Topaz. I used a set of 3 pictures at -2, 0, 2

The second picture is also 3 photos at -2, 0, 2 run through Photomatix and then Topaz.

Old Gas Station


No Gas

colo43 Loc: Eastern Plains of Colorado

like the 2nd one alot..

conkerwood

The second shot is a stunner. Not often I like clear blue skies but this one's a beauty. Composition perfect, placement is lovely. Tones, contrast all really nice and the control of the light is spot on. You do have a minor halo over the hills. Duplicate the layer, darken the top layer, create a layer mask and set to 'hide all' then very slightly brush in the slightly darker sky over the halo. A couple of minutes work no more halo. But even if you don't do that because as I said its only a minor halo it cries out for some sharpening. I used unsharp mask set at threshold 0 amount 150 and radius 1.2 and the difference was amazing. But what a gorgeous shot. best compliment I can give you is to say its a shot i wish I had taken. Keep them coming.

Peter

john blue Loc: Lowndesboro, Al

like #2

SuKai Loc: California

Thanks,

:thumbup:
:thumbup:

I have taken pictures there a few times, I like the look of the broken down car and "No Gas" sign.

SuKai Loc: California

Thank You Peter,

I really value your critique. I have started to think of you as my instructor and I think a lot more about my end result, hence my lack of posting lately. I will take your suggestions and try them this weekend and see the result. I haven't used the unsharp mask much I think I have that option in PSE 10. I think what's happening is I use topaz and reduce the noise so that makes the slight blur in the photo.

The sky with the exception of the corner the cloud is in is from the the original. I layer masked it and set it at 100% to bring it in at the top of the hills to get rid of that, I will try the darkening technique you suggest and see if I can fix it.

I was having some major trouble with CA in this picture to begin with. First, I took my RAW and converted them to JPEG then ran them through Photomatix. The CA was a green line all around the tires, the no gas sign, and it was pink around the grill of the car plus the wheels.

I was frustrated and tried so many ways of fixing it with not much luck. You couldn't see it at the size I was viewing, but I knew it was there, and when you blew it up to 200% there it was. Knowing about it was bugging me to the point of scrapping it into the archives.

After a Google search about fixing CA, I tried again in the RAW, 0. Reducing the CA there first then taking them into Photomatix with out converting into JPEG. That worked :thumbup: Photomatix automatically converts the RAW image to JPEG anyway so that will save a step.

greymule Loc: Colorado

Number 2 is awesome. Love the composition. The Joshua Tree and "no gas" really makes it!!

:thumbup: :thumbup:

SuKai Loc: California

Thank You, We have Joshua Trees all over around us. I never fail to chuckle when a tour bus is pulled over on the side of the freeway with all the tourists taking pictures. I guess one just gets use to them when you see them daily.

SoHillGuy Loc: Washington

To bad we can't have before pictures of the old truck scene. It is hard to imagine,what life was like at that time for those that lived or worked there.

Daryl New Loc: Wellington,New Zealand

no.2 is beauty.Cheers

LoneRangeFinder Loc: Left field

Love #2. I looked at the download, and from my perspective, the processing is very well done. My only comment is regarding composition-- and this is admittedly highly subjective. I'd like to see more of the building on the left and less of the foreground.
Your images are wonderful.... Love the desert-- but rarely get to visit. I hope to see more from you. Unfortunately, I have limited time and spend most of it on the Macro Forum.

Allen

SuKai Loc: California

Thanks for all the great comments. I like to photograph that place it reminds me of that old gas station in the Terminator Movie...LOL

tusketwedge Loc: Nova Scotia Canada

like # 2 a lot,When you download # 1 it has a lot of blue fringing around the tree on the left ,the garage and the hill in back.Also it looks painterly, did you apply an effect to produce this effect and if so what is it called? I can see using such effects ,if that 's what it was,on certain type of pictures.Thanks for posting.

gmcase Loc: Galt's Gulch

Kind of looks like one of the sets for the original 3:10 to Yuma with Glen Ford.

SuKai Loc: California

Yes I did use painterly for number 1. I was trying to get the entire scene so I had to merge 2 photos together to capture all of it so I just used a preset on each picture first. I can see the lines here that you speak and I didn't spend much time on cleaning that up. I spent most of my time on number 2.