a practical guide to hdr vertorama photography - free sample

8/19/2019 A Practical Guide to HDR Vertorama Photography - Free Sample

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The Photo Cookbook Series


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THE PHOTO COOKBOOK SERIES A Practical Guide to HDR Vertorama Photography © Klaus Herrmann 2013

About the Author

My name is Klaus Herrmann. I

have been a computer scientist,

instructor and award–winning

scientific author for 14 years with

over 70 publications. But when I

discovered my passion for pho-

tography, everything changed.

My second life as a photographer, photography instructor and

author started in 2012 when I decided to leave the worn–out

paths of an academic career and venture onto new territory. I

had pursued travel photography since 2008 as a by–product of

my frequent business trips when I began connecting this new

passion with my profession as an instructor.

This book launches my Photo Cookbook Series – the foundation

for my premium educational material on farbspiel-photo.com.

About the Photo Cookbook Series

This is the first eBook in the Photo Cookbook Series (PCS) – a se-

ries of practical guides covering different photographic topics.

The PCS provides in–depth

information on different

photographic topics and

offers practical guidance to

photographers at all levels.

The topics include a variety

of areas related to the tech-

nique, the tools and the

workflow involved with cre-

ating, processing and pre-

senting your photographs.

Visit http://farbspiel-photo.com/pcs to get more information.

Preface

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Preface iv


About the Practical Guide to HDR

Vertorama Photography

HDR (High Dynamic Range) Vertorama photography creates fasci-

nating views of interiors. It takes your audience out of the specta-

tor's seat and puts it right into the scene. An interior photographed

this way literally comes to life. It opens towards the viewer, and in-

vites him to immerse into the scene. An excellent HDR Vertorama

will be a highlight in your portfolio.

But what does it take to create such an image? Which equipment

do you need? What are proper techniques for shooting the photos

and how do you turn them into the final image? In this eBook, I will

answer these questions and show you how to create your own HDR

Vertoramas, taking your photography to the next level.

The 7 chapters will walk you through everything you need to know

about the technology, different shooting techniques, and the post–

processing workflow for creating your own HDR Vertorama photo-

graphs.

Who Is This Book for?

HDR Vertoramas are certainly an advanced photographic topic. You

should know the basics of photography (exposure, composition

etc.) and you should have some experience with HDR photogra-


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Preface v


phy. This book is ideally suited for all those who are already practic-

ing HDR and want to step up their game to extend their skills and

ultimately their portfolio.

To achieve a necessary degree of completeness, I will give brief in-

troductions to basic topics (like HDR imaging). But this does by no

means represent a complete guide. Instead, it is meant to set the

stage for the real subject of this book.

What Do You Need to Follow Along?

You should have a decent camera to start with. While it is in principle

possible to use a compact camera, this has a number of disadvan-

tages which will let you quickly hit the limits. You are going to learn

how to take interior images under low–light conditions. Thus, you

should have a Digital Single–Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera. We are going

to discuss the requirements in terms of camera equipment in more

detail in Chapter 2.

You should own software for producing HDR images, for stitching

panoramas and for post–processing images in general. There is a

wide variety of different products on the market that provide these

features. Some are commercial, others are completely free. There is

no real need to invest in expensive software. However, I will restrict

my explanations in this book to a certain set of products that are in-

dustry–leading and well–accepted in photography: Photomatix (for

HDR creation) and Photoshop (for stitching and post–processing). I

will not cover all possible products and explain how every detailed

step is executed in each of them. This Practical Guide to HDR Vertora-

ma Photography is about the principle techniques of HDR Vertorama

photography. It is not a software guide.

Contents at a Glance

● The technical side: I will explain which camera, lenses and

tripod support you need. We will discuss different features of

your equipment and their importance for your HDR Vertora-

ma adventures. This will enable you to take an informed deci-

sion as to whether and how you need to upgrade your gear.

● Rules of composition: Composing your HDR Vertoramas in

the field without ever seeing the final result is difficult. I will

give you extensive advice on how to get appealing composi-

tions nevertheless.

● Tripod shooting: I will show you how to adjust and use a

panorama head for highest quality and precision. We will go

through the shooting process together step by step.

● Hand–held shooting: I will give you an in–depth guide on


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Preface vi


how to manage the complexity of shooting the source pho-

tos for your HDR Vertoramas hand–held. Mastering hand–

held shooting for your HDR Vertorama work will open a vast

quantity of new possibilities for you. I will give you many use-

ful tips on how to achieve this.

● Post–production: In the post–processing chapter, you will

learn the entire process of creating your HDR Vertoramas

starting with the selection and preparation of the source

photos, via merging and stitching, all the way up to the post–

processing work in your photo editing software.

● Hands–on Examples: I will walk you through three in–depth

example HDR Vertorama projects covering the shooting situ-

ation, the specific challenges and how to master them, the

post–processing approach and the concrete editing work ap-

plied to each image. You will learn a ton of tricks which help

you achieve the results you look for.

Thank you very much for purchasing this book.

Klaus Herrmann


6/62 THE PHOTO COOKBOOK SERIES A Practical Guide to HDR Vertorama Photography © Klaus Herrmann 2013

Contents

Introduction 11.1 What Is HDR? ................................ 3

1.2 What Is a Vertorama? ........................... 4

1.3 What Is an HDR Vertorama?....................... 5

1.4 What Are the Major Challenges? ................... 7

1.5 The Shooting Technique......................... 8

1.6 The Workflow ................................ 9

1.7 Summary and Take–Away Points .................. 11

Equipment 122.1 The Camera ................................ 13

2.2 The Lens .................................. 20

2.3 The Tripod ................................. 21

2.4 Spirit Level and Cable Release .................... 22

2.5 The Panorama Adapter......................... 23

2.6 The Data Storage.............................

272.7 The Software ............................... 28


2.9 Checklist .................................. 31

1

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Contents ix


Planning and Composition 333.1 Planning .................................. 34

3.2 Composition................................ 37

3.2.1 Symmetry.............................. 37

3.2.2 Leading Lines ........................... 39

3.2.3 Geometric Shapes......................... 40

3.2.4 Distance and Position....................... 41

3.2.5 The Rule of Thirds ......................... 42

3.2.6 Leave Room at the Edges .................... 44

3.2.7 Vertical Angle of View ...................... 44

3.2.8 Estimating the Composition................... 45


3.4 Checklist .................................. 48

Shooting With a Tripod 504.1 Initial Preparation ............................ 51

4.1.1 Finding the Nodal Point ..................... 52

4.1.2 Finding the Right Rotation Angle................ 56

4.2 On–Site Preparation........................... 58

4.3 Immediate Preparation......................... 61

4.3.1 Setting Up Your Camera ..................... 61

4.3.2 Choosing the Right Exposure .................. 63

4.4 Taking the Shots ............................. 66

4.4.1 Taking the Source Photos Using AEB .............. 67

3

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C t t

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Contents x


4.4.2 Taking the Source Photos Manually (MEB) .......... 67

4.4.3 Taking the Source Photos Semi–Automatically (SEB) .... 68

4.4.4 After You Finished Producing a Set............... 69


4.6 Checklist .................................. 71

Hand–Held Shooting 775.1 The Challenges .............................. 78

5.2 The Preparation ............................. 80

5.2.1 Initial Preparation ......................... 80

5.2.2 On–Site Preparation ....................... 82

5.2.3 Immediate Preparation...................... 88

5.3 Taking the Shots ............................. 89


5.5 Checklist .................................. 95

Post-Production 986.1 Image Selection ............................ 101

6.2 Image Preparation........................... 103

6.2.1 Reducing Chromatic Aberration ............... 103

6.2.2 Adjusting the White Balance ................. 107

6.2.3 Turning Off Noise Reduction and Sharpening ....... 109

6.2.4 Exporting the Source Images From Camera Raw ..... 110

6.2.5 Optimizing Dynamic Range .................. 111

5

6

Contents i

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Contents xi


6.2.6 Noise Reduction ......................... 113

6.3 Vertorama Creation .......................... 116

6.3.1 HDR Merging in Photomatix.................. 117

6.3.2 Tone Mapping .......................... 120

6.3.3 Stitching ............................. 122

6.4 Correction and Cropping ...................... 125

6.4.1 Rotation.............................. 126

6.4.2 Distortion............................. 128

6.4.3 Warp................................ 128

6.4.4 Fixing Minor Stitching Errors ................. 130

6.4.5 Merging Layers and Cropping ................. 134

6.4.6 Filling the Holes ......................... 135

6.5 Image Adjustments .......................... 138

6.5.1 General Advice.......................... 139

6.5.2 Image Enhancement Software ................ 140

6.5.3 Global Adjustments....................... 143

6.5.4 Local Adjustments ....................... 144

6.5.5 Sharpening............................ 146

6.6 Output .................................. 149

6.7 Summary and Take–Away Points ................. 151

6.8 Checklist ................................. 152

Contents xii

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Contents xii


HDR Vertorama Workshops 1557.1 Basilica St. Martin – Weingarten, Germany ........... 156

7.2 Matthias Church – Budapest, Hungary ............. 164

7.3 Yeni Cami (New Mosque) – Istanbul, Turkey .......... 170

Index 177

7

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...

...

You are flipping through the free sample PDF for the eBook

A Practical Guide to HDR Vertorama Photographyby Klaus Herrmann

This is only a taste of what you will get when you go to

http://farbspiel-photo.com/pcs/hdr-vertorama-photography

and buy the full book.

Chapter 1 — Introduction 5

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1.3 What Is an HDR Vertorama?

If you combine both of these techniques, you get an HDR Vertorama.

As you will learn in Chapter 6, there are three different ways of com-

bining your source exposures into an HDR Vertorama image. To keep

it simple, I will pick one of them to show you the general anatomy

of such an image.

Figure 1.3 Te anatomy of an HDR Vertorama: camera angles (),

exposure series for each section (), the merged and tone mapped HDR im-

ages for each section (), the raw stitched Vertorama image (), and the final

cropped and post–processed HDR Vertorama image ().

2

1

3 4 5


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Chapter 1 Introduction 6


For each section of the Vertorama, you produce an exposure series.

The images in such a series are generally referred to as brackets. The

example in Figure 1.3 has 6 sections (the rows of images to the left)

with 3 brackets each. The entire set of photos used to produce the

HDR Vertorama (all brackets in all sections) is simply called a set . In

the post–production phase, you merge the brackets of each section

into a single HDR image (). Then, you stitch the resulting HDR im-

ages together to get the raw Vertorama image (). Finally, you cor-

rect and crop the raw image and apply some image processing to it

to get the final image (). The result is an image with an increased

vertical field of view and an increased dynamic range.

As you increase the vertical field of view (sometimes to as much as

180° or even more), you will naturally get a much larger dynamic

range than in any single photo you shoot. For example, the floor at

your feet (in most cases the first section of a Vertorama) will be rather

dark while those sections at the top might be very bright since they

may include windows or portions of the sky. If you do not use HDR,

losing details is almost inevitable, both in the shadows and in the

highlights. This leads to some areas being completely white (blown

out) and others being completely black. HDR imaging allows you to

capture the details in those areas despite the limited capabilities of

your camera.

Click here to view a range of example

HDR Vertoramas with specific infor-

mation on the production process and

additional material like Before–and–

After comparisons and Making–ofvideos.


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1.4 What Are the Major Challenges?HDR Vertorama photography is a combination of two multi–expo-

sure techniques. As such, it involves a number of unique challenges:

1 Producing the source images is not trivial. Keep in mind thatyou may easily need to make 12 exposures (4 sections of 3 different

exposures each) or even more for a single Vertorama image. Moreo-

ver, these images need to match (alignment within each section and

proper overlap between the sections) since you need to combine

them in the HDR merging and stitching process.

2 You will have to take the source images with great precisionsince being sloppy will prevent the software that stitches and merg-

es the photos from working correctly.

3 Some interesting environments (e.g. churches, castles etc.)have a low ambient light level and tripods are not allowed in many

of these locations. This implies that you will need to produce the

source images hand–held with low shutter speeds. Blurry images

may easily be the result of this.

4 The overall composition of the final image is not visible to youwhen you shoot the source photos because the final appearance is

a result of the stitching process. Thus, composing your Vertorama

takes some thought and experience.

5 The size of the resulting Vertorama images can be huge andvery demanding on your computer.

This list of challenges may look intimidating, but don’t worry. In this

book, you will learn how to master each of these challenges step by

step to produce high–quality HDR Vertoramas. Yes, it might take a

while and some practice. The results though, will be very impressive

images that are well worth the effort.



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1.5The Shooting TechniqueYou can generally approach HDR Vertorama photography in two dif-

ferent ways: You can shoot the source photos from a tripod or you

can shoot them hand–held . Both have their purpose, and both have

advantages and disadvantages.

Shooting From a Tripod

Whenever possible, you should use a tripod for your HDR Vertorama

shoots. Not only will this ensure perfectly aligned source photos for

later HDR processing straight out of the camera, it will also avoid

potential stitching problems in the post–production phase. These

problems are usually caused by parallax errors which I will explain in

Section 2.5 »The Panorama Adapter« on page 23 and Section 4.1.1

»Finding the Nodal Point« on page 52. Beyond that, using a tripod

offers the usual advantages of having sharp images irrespective of

the shutter speed you use.

Shooting Hand–Held

The points listed above are compelling, and consequently you may

think there is no reason to ever shoot hand–held. However, life is not

always so simple. Often, the usage of a tripod is simply prohibited in

certain locations for different reasons. As soon as you set it up, there

is usually somebody approaching you and asking you not to use it.

In other situations, you may not have the time to set up your tripod

properly. You may not have enough space, or there is a danger of

people tripping over it, hurting themselves and damaging your gear.

The Necessity of Mastering Both

If you rely on being able to use your tripod, you will walk away with-

out a photo in any of these situations. Therefore, learning how to

take high–quality photos under a wide range of conditions is very

important. We will discuss the detailed techniques and workflows

for both in Chapter 4 and 5.


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Chapter 2 — Equipment

You will learn about…

f Which features your camera should have

f Which lenses are well–suited for HDR Vertorama

photography

f How to build a panorama head that is simple and

light–weight

f Which other equipment you need

In this chapter, we will take a closer look at the technology required forHDR Vertorama photography. I will explain which gear you need in terms

of camera, lenses, tripod and other equipment. I will point out some im-

portant features that your equipment should have. You can use this list

to check your current equipment for its adequacy. In case you plan to

buy new gear, you will find some features in this list that you should be

looking for. This chapter will end with a brief discussion about the soft-

ware that you need throughout the post–processing stages.

Creating great HDR Vertorama images requires two things: the right

technology and the right technique. Both depend on each other. If you

shoot hand–held, your equipment needs to have certain properties that

are irrelevant when you shoot from a tripod and vice versa. In general,

hand–held shooting is more demanding on your equipment because

sometimes you have to shoot in low light. Hand–held and low–light donot go very well together. In the following, I will discuss the features that

your equipment needs to have if you want to master both hand–held

and tripod shooting.

Chapter 2 — Equipment 13


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2.1The CameraLet us start with the camera itself. As you will see, there are a num-

ber of features to look out for if you want to take up HDR Vertorama

photography and you plan on buying a new camera. Not all the

features discussed here are equally important though. Table 2.1 on

page 19 indicates the importance of each feature for both hand–

held and tripod shooting.

Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB)

Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) (Figure 2.1) is a camera function that

lets you take two or more images with different exposure values

with a single click of the shutter release button. You can configure

the way in which these exposures are taken. The most common

setup is a set of three images, one with a normal exposure value

(0 EV – e.g. the exposure measured by the camera's metering sys-

tem), one underexposed by 2 stops (-2 EV), and one overexposed

by 2 stops (+2 EV).

AEB is important if you are shooting hand–held since it is the sim-

plest way to produce the source photos with minimal offset (mini-

mal movement between the exposures). If your camera does not

have an AEB function, you have to adjust the shutter speed value

manually between exposures. This is possible, but it requires a lot of

practice in order to hold your camera still. It also requires a lot more

time to produce the large number of source photos you need, and

it increases the danger of objects moving in the frame or changing

conditions interfering with your shoot.

When it comes to AEB functions, there is a clear difference between

the entry–level to mid–range DSLR segment and the semi–pro to

professional DSLR segment: Entry–level and mid–range DSLR cam-

eras are typically limited to 3 shots with a maximum step width of

2 EV. This will cover many situations in HDR Vertorama photogra-

phy. Semi–pro and pro cameras can usually do up to 9 shots with

a maximum step width of 1–3 EV. Some entry–level DSLR cameras

Figure 2.1 ypical auto exposure bracket-

ing (BK) button on a Nikon camera body.


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will only do the 3 shots with 1 EV step interval. Others do not have an

AEB function at all. Stay away from the latter two types of cameras.

The minimum AEB functionality recommended for HDR Vertorama

photography is 3 shots with a step width of 2 EV.

Speed – Frames Per Second

The speed of a camera is measured in frames per second (FPS). This

is the number of exposures the camera can take on average in one

second under normal conditions. Today, some professional cameras

will go as high as 11 FPS while a cheap compact camera may only

do 1 FPS or less. The more FPS your camera has, the less time passes

while your camera takes the exposure series (assuming you are us-

ing AEB). This limits the movement in the scene and reduces the ef-

fect of camera shake and, therefore, the offset in the source photos.

You do not need 11 FPS (even though it would be nice to have). A

value between 4 and 6 FPS is sufficient even for hand–held shooting.

AE/AF–Lock Button The AE/AF–Lock Button (Figure 2.2) is a button on the camera body

(usually to the right of the viewfinder) that allows you to freeze the

exposure settings (auto exposure – AE) and the autofocus (AF) of your

camera. If you point the camera at the subject and press the shutter

release half–way through, the metering system measures the scene,

the camera sets up the exposure accordingly, and the autofocus ad-

justs such that the scene is sharp (assuming the autofocus is on and

the camera is not in manual mode). If you press the shutter release

button all the way through and let the camera take a series of shots,

the metering system will try to adjust to any changes between theshots. This may result in a different focus and an adjustment of the

exposure value even if you move the camera only slightly. Of course,

this is not what we want for an HDR exposure series. Exposures with

a different focus (e.g. one with the focus on a tree in the foreground

and another one with the focus on a mountain in the background)

are not useful as source photos for an HDR image.

For an HDR Vertorama, we need to take multiple exposures series

with the same focus and exposure settings. The AE/AF–lock Button

Figure 2.2 AE/AF–lock button of a Nikon camera.



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2.5The Panorama AdapterA panorama adapter (also called nodal point

adapter – example shown in Figure 2.8) is a de-

vice that you mount on top of your tripod. Yourcamera is then attached to this panorama head.

It allows you to rotate your camera/lens combi-

nation around the nodal point (also called the

no–parallax point ) of the lens. If you rotate your

camera around the nodal point in your Vertorama

shoot, parallax errors are avoided. This means that

the overlap of the different sections of your Ver-

torama will perfectly match which is important

for the stitching process (for details, see Section

4.1.1 »Finding the Nodal Point« on page 52).

The nodal point is different for each camera/lens/

focal length combination. Therefore, you need an

adapter that lets you adjust the camera mounting

accordingly.

You can buy off–the–shelf nodal point adapters

from various vendors. However, most of these de-

vices have the following problems:

1

2

3 456

7

Figure 2.8 Te Do–it–yourself panorama adapter fully assembled. Te panorama plate ()

with the scale () helps you control the rotation. A macro rail () enables you to move the camera

back and forth for finding the nodal point (see Section 4.1.1). wo quick release clamps let you

mount the camera on the rail () and the rail on the panorama plate (). An L–bracket () is

used for conveniently mounting the camera in landscape and portrait orientation. A DSLR camera

is permanently attached to the L–bracket, and a snap hook () is used to connect the L–bracket to

the camera strap when it is not mounted to this adapter.



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● They are bulky and heavy because they are designed to fit

many different camera models and use cases while still offer-

ing a stable platform.

● They are immensely expensive with prices ranging up intothe 4–digit dollar figures.

If you do not mind any of these problems, or if you already have

one of these adapters, that's fine. They will do the job. But you can

also build an adapter yourself that lets you create the source images

for an HDR Vertorama while being light, compact, and comparably

cheap. There are different ways of doing this, and you can use dif-ferent components, some of which you may already have. Below, I

show you one alternative.

This do–it–yourself nodal point adapter is composed from photo-

graphic equipment that you can buy on the Internet without having

to handcraft any parts. However, please note that this is a single–

row adapter . That is, you can only rotate it in one direction (either

horizontally or vertically). With other adapters that you can buy, you

can rotate around two axes, and thus, take multiple rows of images

which enables you to create complete spherical (360° x 180°) pano-

ramas. But for taking the source photos for a Vertorama, this adapter

is sufficient. Let us go through the individual parts in turn to see how

it is constructed.

Panorama Plate

The panorama plate (Figure 2.9) enables you to smoothly rotate the

camera around the nodal point. The screw on the right lets you lockthe position, and a scale in degrees around the plate helps you ro-

tate the camera in equal increments between the sections. There is

1 2

3

4

Figure 2.9 Novoflex panorama plate: Allows you to rotate thecamera. Te camera or any other device on which you actually mount the

camera is screwed on top (). Te knob () allows you to lock the plate

in a certain position given by the scale (). A spirit level () lets you

eliminate any tilt of the plate.



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Chapter 3 — Planning and Composition 37



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3.2CompositionA good composition is essential for a good photograph. Of course,

this is also true for Vertoramas. But what exactly makes a good com-

position for this type of image? While you can easily verify the com-position of a normal photo simply by looking through the viewfinder

of your camera, composing a Vertorama image is much more diffi-

cult. The reason is that you will never see the entire image until you

have stitched all the sections together on your computer. Overcom-

ing this restriction takes imagination, experience, and a few tricks. Inthe following, I will give you some tips for planning and improving

your Vertorama composition.

3.2.1 Symmetry

Due to their inherent distortion, there are only a few compositions

that work really well for Vertorama images. If you scan through thisbook and browse the Internet, you will find many Vertorama images

with a symmetrical composition. In particular if you are photograph-

ing architecture, an asymmetric composition often has a distracting

effect on the beholder (Figure 3.1). Of course, there are asymmetric

elements in many scenes, but the main architectural components

(e.g. pillars, arches, gates etc.) work best in most cases if they are ar-

ranged symmetrical in your image. As with every photographic rule,

you may deliberately break this rule, but in general, it is useful to

start out by looking for a way to compose your image symmetrically.

If you go for symmetry, it is vital to take the source photos with preci-

sion. Due to the distortion of ultra wide–angle lenses and of the Ver-

Click here to view a range of example HDR

Vertoramas and examine their composition.

Chapter 3 — Planning and Composition 38

http://farbspiel-photo.com/view/vertoramas?utm_source=ebook&utm_medium=pdf&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=in_verto_bookhttp://farbspiel-photo.com/view/vertoramas?utm_source=ebook&utm_medium=pdf&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=in_verto_bookhttp://farbspiel-photo.com/view/vertoramas?utm_source=ebook&utm_medium=pdf&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=in_verto_book


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torama itself, any sloppiness will am-

plify in the final image. Most often, you

will find your Vertorama image drifting

away from the symmetrical composi-

tion in a curved line towards the topof the frame. This is very hard (some-

times even impossible) to correct in

post–processing. Therefore, when you

are choosing a position, you need to

make sure

● you are on the axis of symmetryof the scene,

● your camera is level (not tilted

to the left or right) and

● your camera’s optical axis is

parallel to the axis of symmetryof the scene.

This holds irrespectively of whether

you shoot hand–held or from a tripod.

1 2

Figure 3.1 An asymmetrical Vertorama () compared to a symmetrical one (). While image is

compositionally balanced, the strange bend towards the left side shown in image has something disturbing.

Note that image still has many asymmetrical elements (e.g. the people on the floor) but the main architectur-

al features (ceiling and dome) are in perfect symmetry. (Note: Image is non–HDR and mostly unprocessed)



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Chapter 4 — Shooting With a Tripod 52



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4.1.1 Finding the Nodal Point

In Section 2.5 »The Panorama Adapter« on page 23, I have ex-

plained how you can build a solid and yet simple panorama adapter.

Irrespective of whether you use this device or some off–the–shelfadapter, you need to find the nodal point of your lens before you

head out to shoot your first HDR Vertorama. I will explain this process

based on my adapter, but it is essentially the same for any kind of

adapter. Note that we will find the nodal point using a panorama set-

up (camera is rotated horizontally). For the actual Vertorama shoot,

you will simply put the adapter into vertical orientation using your

tripod head. The nodal point is exactly the same for both setups.

Finding the nodal point for a specific lens involves some testing and

incremental adjustments of the panorama adapter. You need to ad-

just the camera position on the adapter both in longitudinal direc-

tion (parallel to the optical axis) and in lateral direction (perpendicu-

lar to the optical axis). For doing this with this simple adapter, use

the two quick release clamps as shown in Figure 4.1.

In Figure 4.2, you see a typical example of a parallax error: Two verti-

cal poles are positioned at different distances from the camera. Two

photos are taken and the camera is rotated by about 30° between

the exposures, just as in a real panorama/vertorama shoot. In Fig-

ure 4.2 and, you see the two photos taken with a panorama

adapter that is not adjusted well. In the magnification ( and),

you see that this results in a parallax error: The two poles are shifted

relative to each other to an extent where they even switch positions.

12

3 4

5 6

Figure 4.1 Possible adjustments of the panorama adapter in lat-

eral () and longitudinal direction (). Te adjustments are made by

sliding the long rail () and the L–Bracket () in the respective clamps

( and).



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1 2

3 4

5 6

7 8

9

Figure 4.2 Example of a parallax

error (/ and/) occurring if your

camera is not rotated around the lens' nodal

point. After you adjust the adapter care-

fully, the overlap regions match (/)

and/), and the photos can be stitched

without any problem ().



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4.3.2 Choosing the Right Exposure

When you shoot from a tripod, you may use a wide range of different

aperture values. Your only restriction is the slowest possible shutter

speed of your camera. Most DSLR cameras available today have aslowest shutter speed of 30 seconds. If you want to go beyond this

limit, you need to use bulb mode. In this mode, the shutter will open

for as long as you press the shutter release button, and in order to

time your exposure you need an external clock. This raises the level

of complexity even higher. Thus, we will limit our discussion to shut-

ter speeds of 30 seconds or less. In an environment with low ambient

light, this may limit your choice of aperture values.

There are many ways of finding the right exposure values for your

source exposures. Some involve auto exposure series, others involve

manual exposure series. Additionally, manual and automatic expo-

sure series methods can be combined in many different ways. I will

explain three basic methods:

1 Auto exposure bracketing (AEB): If the dynamic range of thescene is not too extreme, this is the quickest and simplest method.

So, to keep your shoot simple, you can produce a set using the AEB

method. If you find that the source photos are well exposed (no

blown–out highlights and no blocked–up shadows), stick with this

method.

2 Manual exposure bracketing (MEB): This method is the mostflexible one. It allows you to cover virtually any dynamic range you

may find in your scene since it is based on manually measuring the

right exposure. Revert to the MEB method if the dynamic range is

too high for the AEB method.

3 Semi–automatic exposure bracketing (SEB): This method isa combination of the AEB and MEB methods. You measure the expo-

sures manually (as with the MEB method), but instead of proceeding

through all the shots manually, you produce consecutive AEB series

for every section to cover the measured dynamic range of the scene.

ISO and Aperture

Irrespective of the method you use for finding the right shutter

speeds and for executing the shoot, the first two things you need

to do is to choose your ISO sensitivity as low as possible (ISO 100

in most cases) and find an adequate aperture. Aperture values be-



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tween f/8 and f/16 usually give you the best sharpness. Note that if

you hit the 30 second shutter speed limit or if you exceed the high-

est possible shutter speed of your camera in your exposure series,

you have to adjust those settings accordingly. But you should always

try to keep the ISO value as low as possible to get the best imagequality.

Measuring the Exposure for Auto Ex-

posure Bracketing (AEB)

If your camera has an AEB function, the simplest method is the fol-

lowing:

1 Measure the correct 0 EV shutter speed by pointing your cam-era to a section of medium brightness.

2 Set your camera to manual mode and dial in the 0 EV shutterspeed.

3 Set your camera's AEB function to as many shots as possibleand chose an adequate step width. If your camera can only do 3 ex-

posures in AEB mode, use a step width of 2 EV to cover the highest

possible dynamic range. If it can do 5 or more, 1 EV steps should be

chosen.

Your camera is now ready to take the source photos by going

through all the sections one by one and firing off an AEB series foreach section. Note however, that this method involves some guess

work as you did not really measure the exposures necessary to cover

the actual dynamic range of the scene on the dark end and on the

bright end of the spectrum. Instead, you hope the series is sufficient.

Moreover, with a standard 3–shot AEB function, you will sometimes

have a hard time covering the dynamic range. In these cases, youshould revert to the MEB method. If you have 5, 7, 9, or even 11 shots

available in your AEB mode, this is much less of a problem.

Measuring the Exposure for Manual

and Semi–Automatic Exposure Brack-

eting (MEB/SEB)

A more systematic way to produce the right exposure series is to ac-tually measure the darkest and the brightest spot in the scene and

arrange your exposure series between these two values. The photos

are then also shot manually by iterating through the different expo-

sures section by section. This requires more work and more thought,

and it is slower. But you are not restricted by any limitations of the



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Chapter 5 — Hand–Held Shooting



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Chapter 5 Hand Held Shooting


f The challenges of hand–held HDR Vertorama

shooting

f Important camera settings

f Finding the right exposure in low light

f The right shooting technique

f Avoiding parallax errors despite not having a pan-

orama adapter

In this chapter, you will learn how to produce the source photos foryour HDR Vertoramas hand–held. I will first go through some of the

challenges you are facing when you do so. Then, I will give a detailed

explanation of the entire workflow and the shooting technique.

In a nutshell, the workflow can be divided into the preparation and

the shooting itself. In the preparation phase, you will set up your

camera and plan the shoot (the composition and how you dividethe scene into different sections). During the actual shooting, you

will apply a special technique to take all the photos fluently and with

high precision.

To illustrate my points, I will show you how different camera settings

can be achieved with a typical Nikon camera. This may not directly

apply to your camera model. But it will at least give you some hints

on how to set up your camera accordingly.

Chapter 5 — Hand–Held Shooting 78


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5.1 The ChallengesIf you shoot the source images for your HDR Vertorama hand–held,

you are facing a number of challenges. However, you can actually

produce good results with source images that are taken hand–held.Mastering the challenges only takes the right technique and a bit of

practice. In the following, I will discuss the challenges briefly. Later

in the chapter, I will give you detailed instructions and tips for deal-

ing with these challenges in order to produce high–quality images.

Low Light

Since the HDR Vertorama technique is ideally suited for creatingstunning presentations of interiors, you will find yourself in situa-

tions where the ambient light is low, irrespective of the time of day

and the weather. Low ambient light means that your shutter speed

will be low, down to a point where the natural movement of your

hand and body may introduce blur and lead to a lack of sharpness.

People in Your ShotsIf you use a tripod, you can use shutter speeds in the range be-

tween several seconds and several minutes. At these speeds, most

moving people will simply disappear from the scene in the final im-

age as they move too fast for your camera to depict them. If you are

shooting hand–held, your shutter speeds will usually be 1/10 s and

higher. This is fast enough to let moving people appear in your im-

ages. Thus, you need other techniques to deal with crowded placeswhen you shoot hand–held.

Lack of Alignment

The camera movement caused by the inevitable movement of your

hands and body will cause the exposure series for each section to

not be perfectly aligned. That is, for each exposure in a section, your

framing will be slightly different, and the images will have a relativeoffset to one another, creating a challenge for the HDR merging

procedure.

No Rotation Around the Nodal Point

Since you do not use a tripod, you cannot rotate your camera / lens

around the nodal point (see Section 4.1.1). This potentially intro-

duces parallax errors in your stitched image. You will learn how toavoid these errors as much as possible by adjusting your composi-

tion. In Section 6.4.4 »Fixing Minor Stitching Errors«, you will also

learn how to fix this type of error in post–processing if necessary.

Chapter 5 — Hand–Held Shooting 79

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THE

PHOTO

COOKBOOK

SERIES

A Practical Guide to HDR Vertorama Photography © Klaus Herrmann 2013

No Support for Fixed Rotation Angle

In order to create enough overlap between the images of two con-

secutive sections, you simply rotate the camera for a predefined

number of degrees when you shoot from a tripod. When you shoot

hand–held, there is no panorama plate that supports this rotation.

However, there is a simple technique for controlling the rotation

based on visual cues.

Limitation in Autobracketing Range

Shooting hand–held makes you dependent on the auto exposure

bracketing function of your camera. Manual exposure bracketing as

we applied it on the tripod takes too much time and requires toomuch interaction with the camera. Therefore, you cannot set up your

camera to use any arbitrary exposure series that may be required

by the scene. This may be a more or less severe restriction, depend-

ing on your camera. In Section 6.2.5 »Optimizing Dynamic Range«,

you will learn how to work around this problem (at least partially) in

post–processing.

Limitation of the Image Buffer

Your camera will have a limited image buffer that most likely cannot

hold all the images you are going to produce in some hand–held

HDR Vertorama shoots. You have to consider this in your planning

in order to avoid the unfortunate situation of being bent over back-

wards for the last section while you are waiting for your camera tostore each image on your memory card.


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Klaus Herrmann 2013

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Chapter 6 — Post-Production 103

6 2I P ti



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Klaus Herrmann 2013

6.2Image PreparationAfter you have selected the best set, you need to prepare the images

before you start merging and stitching them. In the following, I will

explain the steps of this preparation phase. Note that I assume your

source exposures are in RAW format. We will execute all the prepara-

tion steps in a single run in Adobe Camera Raw (the RAW converter

software that comes with Adobe Photoshop) and then save the cor-

rected photos at the end.

6.2.1 Reducing Chromatic AberrationChromatic aberration (in short CA, sometimes also referred to as

color fringing) is an effect caused by most lenses, in particular cheap-

er models and wide–angle lenses. It is caused by the failure of a lens

to focus all colors to the same convergence point. The effects are

color fringes, especially at high–contrast edges and a generally more

blurry image (see Figure 6.1). The fringes tend to get worse towardsthe edges of the image.

HDR software is typically not very good at removing these artifacts

automatically and the usual HDR workflow tends to amplify the ef-

fect, creating visible strange–looking fringes and blur in the final im-

age. Most RAW converters will let you correct CA. If you are using

Photoshop and Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) in version CS4 and above,

you can proceed as described below. Note that the screenshots are

of CS5, but the manual reduction of CA is basically the same. Let us

look at the manual correction steps:

1

2

3

Figure 6.1 Example of chromatic aberration (CA)

at the edge of an image (): high–contrast edges with CA

() and without CA ().



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Klaus Herrmann 2013

1 Load all RAW images of your set into ACR by selecting themin your file browser and by dragging them onto the Photoshop win-

dow. The main window (Figure 6.2) of ACR will open.

2 Go to the Lens Corrections tab on the right side of the window.

3 Under Chromatic Aberration, you will see three controls: two

1

2

3

Figure 6.2 Adobe Camera Raw – main window: o reduce CA, select the Lens Corrections tab () and

the Manual tab () and make the corrections in the Chromatic Aberration section ().



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Klaus Herrmann 2013

sliders for correcting different fringes and a general Defringe drop–

down list.

4 First open the drop–down list and select All Edges. This en-sures that the color fringes are reduced on all edges in the image,

not only on specific ones.

5 Zoom into a suspicious part of the image (e.g. high–contrastedge to the far right or left in the image) using a zoom factor of 200–

300%: Hold down the Z key and select the area by clicking and drag-

ging your mouse. To pan the view, hold the Space bar and click–drag

with the mouse.

6Use the sliders Fix Red/Cyan Fringe and Fix Blue/Yellow Fringe to

remove the visible fringes. The specific setting is highly dependent

on your lens. As you experiment to find the right settings, you can

observe how the fringes increase or decrease when you move the

sliders. Finding the optimal settings should be a matter of a couple

of minutes. Note that the same lens used at the same focal length

and aperture produces very similar CA across all photos. Since you

will likely take all your HDR Vertorama source images with the same

lens and focal length, you can save a lot of time by storing your set-

tings as a preset

1

2

3

Figure 6.3 Chromatic Aberration controls: Slid-

ers for changing Red/Cyan shift (

) and Blue/Yellowshift () and the general Defringe option ().

Click here to learn how to save your set-tings in Adobe Camera Raw as a preset.


7

http://farbspiel-photo.com/pcs/hdr-vertorama-photography/saving-a-preset-in-adobe-camera-raw?utm_source=ebook&utm_medium=pdf&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=in_verto_bookhttp://farbspiel-photo.com/pcs/hdr-vertorama-photography/saving-a-preset-in-adobe-camera-raw?utm_source=ebook&utm_medium=pdf&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=in_verto_bookhttp://farbspiel-photo.com/pcs/hdr-vertorama-photography/saving-a-preset-in-adobe-camera-raw?utm_source=ebook&utm_medium=pdf&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=in_verto_book


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Klaus Herrmann 2013

7 When you are satisfied with the result, youcan apply the settings to all loaded images (Figure

6.4): Press the Select All button in the upper left cor-

ner of the ACR window and then Alt –click the Syn-

chronize… button.

From Photoshop version CS5 upward (ACR 6 and

above) the CA removal (along with other lens cor-

rection features) can also be done based on a lens

profile (Figure 6.5) if you are working with RAW im-

ages: Go to the Lens Corrections tab, choose the Pro-

file tab and select your lens profile in the Lens Profile

section. All corrections stored in the profile will be

immediately applied to the selected image. If there

is no lens profile for you, choose the Manual tab and

go through the steps explained above.

1

2

Figure 6.4 Applying the

settings to all loaded images: Click

Select All and then Alt –click the

Synchronize… button.

1

2

3

4

5

Figure 6.5 Lens corrections

using lens profiles: Go to the Lens

Corrections tab () and choose the

Profile tab (). Click Enable Lens

Profile Corrections (). If your

lens is in ACR's database, the make,model and profile will appear in the

Lens Profile (). Fine tune the re-

sult in the Correction Amount sec-

tion ().

Click here to get more information on

Correcting Chromatic Aberration.


http://farbspiel-photo.com/learn/hdr-cookbook/correcting-chromatic-aberration?utm_source=ebook&utm_medium=pdf&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=in_verto_bookhttp://farbspiel-photo.com/learn/hdr-cookbook/correcting-chromatic-aberration?utm_source=ebook&utm_medium=pdf&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=in_verto_bookhttp://farbspiel-photo.com/learn/hdr-cookbook/correcting-chromatic-aberration?utm_source=ebook&utm_medium=pdf&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=in_verto_bookhttp://farbspiel-photo.com/learn/hdr-cookbook/correcting-chromatic-aberration?utm_source=ebook&utm_medium=pdf&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=in_verto_book


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Klaus Herrmann 2013

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6 4 Correction and Cropping



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Klaus Herrmann 2013

6.4 Correction and Cropping

The image resulting from the stitching process is far from being fin-

ished. It has rugged edges and needs some very basic perspective

corrections before we can work on things like contrast and color

(Figure 6.25).

Before you start with the correction work, make the grid visible by

pressing Ctrl + ' on your keyboard. Go to Photoshop > Preferences >

Grid, Guides & Slices and set the options in the Grid group to display

a grid line every 10 percent. Next, enlarge the canvas to create more

room on the edges of the image. This will give you some more space

to maneuver. To do this, open the Canvas Size dialog (Figure 6.26) by

going to Image > Canvas Size… in the main menu of Photoshop. Set

1

2

Figure 6.25 Te HDR Ver-

torama in Photoshop right after thestitching: You may have to rotate the

resulting image (). In the Layers

panel, you find each source image

in its own layer (). Photomerge

created a layer mask for each image

to hide the parts that do not con-

tribute to the final Vertorama. Note

the rough edges that are a result of

distorting each image to make the

overlapping regions match.


h d h d h fi ld b f h Fig re 6 26 I i


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Klaus Herrmann 2013

the Width and Height fields to about 10% of the current

size of the image and check the Relative box. Make sure

the Anchor is set to the middle. This adds the amount

of pixels to the width and to the height and centers the

image on the enlarged canvas.

In the following, I will explain typical correction steps.

For this purpose, I will use an image that makes the ne-

cessity and the effects of the steps more obvious.

6.4.1 Rotation

In many cases, your composition is symmetrical along the vertical

axis (like the examples shown before). For such a composition, the

image needs to be exactly aligned with that vertical axis. There-

fore, the first correction step is to rotate the image (if necessary) to

achieve this alignment (Figure 6.27).

1 Define a new vertical guide by clicking with your mouse onthe left ruler (make the rulers visible if necessary by selecting View

> Rulers). Click on the ruler and drag the new guide into the middle

of the image. Most images have a natural line of points that define

the vertical axis of the image (e.g. the top of arches, the middles of

an aisle, the center of paintings on the ceiling). Drag the guide onto

that imaginary vertical center line. If all the points on that line are on

or very close to the guide, you are done. If the guide and the vertical

center line are not parallel, you need to rotate the image as follows.

2 Choose Edit > ransform > Rotate from the menu to activatethe Rotate tool. A bounding box will appear around the image.

1

2

3

Figure 6.26 Inc r ea s ing

the canvas size: Set the Width and

Height fields () to about 10%

of the current size of the image

and check the Relative box ().

Make sure the Anchor () is set

to the middle.


3 Cli k f th f th b di b d d th 4 Wh th ti l t li f th i d th id


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3 Click on one of the corners of the bounding box and drag themouse to rotate the image. It does not matter which corner you use.

4 When the vertical center line of the image and the guide areparallel to each other, hit Return to apply the rotation permanently.

1

2 3

Figure 6.27 Rotating the image to get the

vertical lines straight: Create a vertical guide ()

to align the vertical features (in this case the center

of the tower). Drag the corners () of the bound-

ing box () with the mouse to rotate the image.

1

2

Figure 6.28 Distort the image to tune the

horizontal and vertical symmetry: Create guides ()

at the elements that need to be symmetrical and drag

the corners of the bounding box () until the image

is symmetrical.



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Chapter 7 — HDR Vertorama Workshops



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f The challenges and the thought process behind

different HDR Vertorama projects

f The specific steps taken to post–process each of

the sample images

f The individual adjustments applied to each image

and the ratio behind these adjustments

In this chapter, I will walk you through three exemplary HDR

Vertorama projects. I will give you details on the settings used

in the camera as well as in the post–production steps. This will

help you approach your own projects.

The emphasis in these examples will be on the post–produc-

tion side. The chapter picks up where Chapter 6 left off – with

examples of the image adjustment steps that are specific to

each image.

Remember that each project will be different in terms of post–

production. Therefore, it is not easy to give you a general pro-

cess that applies to each and every HDR Vertorama. Demon-

strating the process by using examples will give you enough

insight into the general process to enable you to apply it to

your own projects.

Chapter 7 — HDR Vertorama Workshops 156

7 1 Basilica St. Martin – Weingarten, Germany

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7.1 g , y

Location

This image was shot in the Basilica

St. Martin in Weingarten, Germany. The basilica was built between 1715

and 1724 in the Italian–German Ba-

roque style. With 102 meters, it is the

longest Baroque church in Germany

today.

Challenges The specific challenge with this Ver-

torama was to capture the afternoon

light falling through the windows

onto the white interior. This light cre-

ated a large dynamic range, and it

was imperative for the image that the

spots where the light hits the pillars(for example) was not blown–out but

still had enough details.

Composition

Note how the four main pillars serve

as leading lines towards the centralelement of the image – the paintings

on the ceiling. The location of these

paintings in the frame obeys the rule

of thirds vertically.

Post–Processing Ap-

proachAt the start of the post–processing,

it turned out that an appealing color

contrast between the white walls,

the paintings, the floor and the win-

dows would be the biggest asset of

this image. Therefore, these elements

had to be processed separately. Thewhite areas had to be desaturated

and the colors in the other areas had

to be enhanced to create the desired

contrast.


Basics and Major

Mil t


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2 31

Milestones

The 15 source photos () were

taken hand–held with auto-

bracketing series of 3 shots

(+2 EV, 0 EV, -2 EV). The exposureseries are shifted a bit towards

the dark end to capture the light

reflections on the pillars.

The source images were merged

in Photomatix Pro and then

stitched, corrected and croppedin Photoshop () before I ap-

plied a series of selective adjust-

ments to get the final image ().Exposure Data

Camera: Nikon D90 Exposure series:5×3 auto–bracketed shots

(+2 EV, 0 EV, -2 EV)

Lens:Sigma 10–20mm F3,5

EX DC HSMShutter speeds: 1/40 s, 1/160 s, 1/640 s

Focal length: 10mm Aperture: f/7.1

Method: Hand–held ISO: 800



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Tone Mapping

I used Photomatix Pro's Details Enhancer for the tone

mapping. To create a good local contrast, I set the

Strength and the Detail Contrast fairly high. To avoid ex-cessive noise due to the high Detail Contrast, I increased

the Micro–smoothing , and to prevent the white walls

from showing color artifacts, I slightly decreased the

Color Saturation.

I set the White Point to 0% to keep the bright spots on

the white pillars and walls from loosing details. To bringsome brightness back into the image, I increased the

Luminosity setting to its maximum. A secondary effect

of the increased Luminosity is a slight painting–like style

that fits the image quite well.

The Lighting Adjustments were set to 4.0, a value that

puts the image well on the natural side. Values of 0 andbelow would have created a grungy surreal look with the

danger of causing halos. Finally, I increased the Smooth

Highlights setting to avoid grayish–looking highlights.


Post–Processing Stages


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Essentially, the whole post–processing was structured into four

steps:

●

The source images were merged, tone mapped andstitched, resulting in the raw image () that was the basis

for all the work done in Photoshop.

● Topaz Adjust was applied to the entire image to bring out

the details and the colors ().

●

Selective adjustments were applied to the key elements ofthe image ().

● The global contrast was increased, a vignette (darken-

ing the edges) was added and a spotlight was put on the

paintings in the ceiling (). The vignette and the spotlight

support the composition and lead the viewer's eyes to the

paintings.

The adjustments were executed coarsely in this order, but the

whole process was an iterative one where the global and the local

adjustments were refined step–by–step.

1 2

3 4



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Selective Adjustments

In the following figures, you see a summary of all major adjustments

applied to the different areas of the image according the general

post–processing approach sketched above. The presentation is ba-sically arranged in 4 columns: In the left column, you see the final

image. The second column shows the masks applied for selective

editing. In the third column, you see the relevant part of the Layers

panel in Photoshop. Each adjustment is residing inside a group, and

the respective mask affects the entire group. The fourth and final col-

umn shows the settings of the respective adjustment layers.

So, you can easily follow each of the adjustments by going from left

to right in the figures.

Click here to read the article Structuring

a Photoshop Project for information on

using groups to keep your project tidy

when you have many local adjustments.


http://farbspiel-photo.com/learn/hdr-cookbook/structuring-a-photoshop-project?utm_source=ebook&utm_medium=pdf&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=in_verto_bookhttp://farbspiel-photo.com/learn/hdr-cookbook/structuring-a-photoshop-project?utm_source=ebook&utm_medium=pdf&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=in_verto_bookhttp://farbspiel-photo.com/learn/hdr-cookbook/structuring-a-photoshop-project?utm_source=ebook&utm_medium=pdf&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=in_verto_bookhttp://farbspiel-photo.com/learn/hdr-cookbook/structuring-a-photoshop-project?utm_source=ebook&utm_medium=pdf&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=in_verto_bookhttp://farbspiel-photo.com/learn/hdr-cookbook/structuring-a-photoshop-project?utm_source=ebook&utm_medium=pdf&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=in_verto_bookhttp://farbspiel-photo.com/learn/hdr-cookbook/structuring-a-photoshop-project?utm_source=ebook&utm_medium=pdf&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=in_verto_bookhttp://farbspiel-photo.com/learn/hdr-cookbook/structuring-a-photoshop-project?utm_source=ebook&utm_medium=pdf&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=in_verto_book


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1

2

3

The largest and most important adjustment to this image is the de-

saturation of the white walls (). This was achieved by putting a

Hue/Saturation layer onto these areas and decreasing the saturation

to a value of -71. This removed the slight pink color cast that was a re-

sult of the tone mapping and of applying Topaz Adjust on the image.

I increased the saturation on the window areas () to bring out the

blue tones, and I added a slight Curves adjustment to the floor ()

to pronounce the dark and reflective look.



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The paintings () are the actual star of this image, and quite a bit

of work went into making them vibrant. I applied a Color Balance

layer () to remove a reddish color cast. A Vibrance layer () helped

boost the less saturated colors in the paintings, and finally I used a

Hue/Saturation layer () to control the intensity of the colors. This

may also have been achieved with the Vibrance layer, but the Hue/

Saturation layer gave me more control.

To get a bit more contrast into the image, I added a Curves layer to

the ornaments around the paintings ().

12

3

4

5


The finishing touches

consist of a spotlight


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consist of a spotlight

on the paintings ().

This is simply a levels

layer with a decreased

white point to makethe areas brighter. The

mask has an oval shape

and a Gaussian Blur fil-

ter with a large radius

was used to create a

very smooth transition.

As a result, it appearsas if an additional light

source was present

that illuminated the

area around the paint-

ings.

This spotlight effect goes hand–in–hand with a slight vignette ()applied to the edges of the image. The darker edges and the bright-

er paintings help leading the eyes of the viewer towards the paint-

ings and create a subtle sense of depth.

Finally, I used a Levels layer to fine–tune the overall contrast (). The

mid–tones are slightly brightened, and the white and black points

are pulled inwards to increase the contrast. Note that a layer mask

protects the highlights on the pillars and walls. These would have

lost details if the Levels layer had been added to the entire

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