Sunset Gate (HDR)

Sunset Gate (HDR)

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Before and after

Making-of

Pics to play with

Check out the Dynamic Before-and-After for this image. Simply slide back and forth between the original 0EV photo and the HDR version.

The story of this photo:
The Brandenburg Gate is one of the most famous and symbolic places in Berlin and probably in all of Europe. The Berlin wall was right in front of the gate, leaving it as a sign of imprisonment on the eastern side. I took this shot from Pariser Platz on the east side (former German Democratic Republic). When the Berlin wall was built, this place became the “death zone” where nobody could go. After the reunification in 1990, it became the center of the city again, this time being perceived as a symbol for peace and reunification.

Enjoy!

Take a look at my “HDR Cookbook”! It contains some more information on my techniques.

How it was shot:
> Handheld [details]
> Three exposures (0, -2, +2 ev) autobracketed and merged to get and HDR
> Camera: Nikon D90
> Lens: Sigma 10-20mm F3,5 EX DC HSM
> Details can be found here

How it was tone-mapped:
> Preparation: developed the RAW files with ACR mainly in order to reduce the CA [details]
> Resulting TIF images were then used as input to Photomatix
> Tone-mapping: Photomatix Pro 4.0 (Detail Enhancer)

How it was post-processed:
> Slight cropping to remove some objects at the edges
> Post-processing was done in Photoshop
> Topaz Adjust on the entire image to get back the colors and the details [details]
> Topaz Denoise on the entire image (more aggressively on the sky) [details]
> Topaz Infocus on the entire image for sharpening
> Some retouch (fixing some artifacts in the sky)
> Global levels layer (increased contrast, brightening)
> Saturation layer on the sky (master, blues)
> Levels layer on (selective brightening)
> Saturation layer on the ground (desaturation)
> Levels layer on the ground (brightening)
> Saturation layer on the gate and surrounding buildings (master, yellows, tones down the blues)
> Levels layer on the gate and surrounding buildings (brightening)
> Photo filter (orange) on the face of the gate
> Saturation layer on the Quadriga (master)
> Levels layer on (brightening)
> Saturation and levels layers on the people (restore natural skin tone)
> Sharpening using the high-pass filter [details]
> Watermarking

Any comments, feedback or criticisms are highly welcome! Thanks for viewing!

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HDR Cookbook – Before and After: Sunset Gate (HDR) Bode Museum – Berlin, Germany (HDR) Gendarmenmarkt – Berlin, Germany (HDR) Mysterious Door – Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia (HDR)