I wanted to post an up-to-date photo to hopeully show the improvement that has come from a year and a half of HDR.

This shot was taken just after new year at Hamilton Gardens

Arches (Click for full size)

Apart from the normal Photomatix processing, this image has been manipulated in several other ways:

  1. There were many people about this day, as it was glorious and also the 2nd Jan so everyone was on holiday. I took two sets of three autobracketed shots. These were processed to two HDR images using the same settings. I used Photoshop to pick out the parts from each image where there were no people. In a few cases both shots had people and I had to color-in or clone areas to erase all signs of people.
  2. I used Topaz Adjust and Topaz Detail to process the images. In most cases I created a background copy layer, processed the top layer then mixed the processed and unprocessed layers to tone down the processing.
  3. I created several (4) images, each processed in a different way. Then I stacked them all up and picked the best parts. For example, one image had the best brickwork. One had the best ground. One the best sky. And in some cases I mixed from more than one image.

I think the shot works as it’s a strong shot to start with. It has interesting shapes and light. The HDR processing just adds to this.