Treasure Trove and Human Greed

Jwellery display at Eid mela in Toronto



Which one to pick?, originally uploaded by codepirate.

I took this shot a while ago at a Eid Mela here in Toronto. Eid Mela is a special event organized by Bangladeshi community of Toronto before Eid celebrations. (Muslims celebrate 2 Eids each year: Eid-al-Fitr marks end of Ramadan and Eid-al-Adha commemorating Prophet Abraham's sacrifice). Marchents selling traditional costumes and jewellery setup tiny stalls under one roof. You can think of it as a one stop shopping for all Eid essentials.

Obviously this is no HDR. I took the RAW image and enhanced vibrance and color contrast. I also applied vignette around the edges. That's aobut it.

Recently I was reading how the Egyptian officials are discovering stashes of treasures stowed away by Husni Mubarak's currupt regime. Fortunately the history has turned a page on these greedy individuals and people have emerged victorious (at least for now!). Now we're witnessing the fall of another power hungry ruler desperately clinging on in Libya. Here's to hoping end to human greed and victory for the people of Libya.

Flatiron building through my lens

Gooderham Building of Toronto, more commonly known as Flatiron building, was the first Flatiron building in North America. It was built in 1892 for a cost of $18000! Other Flatiron buildings are located in Atlanta and New York. You can find more info about this building in Wikipedia.

Every time I pass by this building I notice at least one photographer in the vicinity trying to capture the beautiful ornaments and subtle red brickwork contrasted against the backdrop of tall bank towers. This is such an iconic building in Toronto that I had to get my own shot. I wanted to create something that would pay tribute to the designers and architects while maintaing the true essence this building has come to represent. I am not sure how much I have succeeded.



Original Image in RAW



I didn't have a tripod with me, so I was left with no choice but to capture single RAW images. From the original shot you can see the details on the sky is completely blown out. The overall picture looks very dull. The image in my head was one of red/orange glow with subtly toned background. (On a side note: from studying professional photographers I have learned that you should envision the final result in your mind and try to get as close as possible with your image). Photomatix did the trick of bringing out red, but it also darkend the sky, as is the case with daytime HDR images. The sky on the original shot also didn't have very many details, so I couldn't use it to remix. I opted for Photoshop Dodge tool to lighten the sky. Then I desaturated whole image masking out the main subject to preseve red/orange glow. I also removed the distracting utility cable on the left. Here is the final product.




Final product, click to see larger version

 By the way, I don't post before and after images to brag about my Photoshop skills, actually far from it. My intention is to show you the potential of HDR and encourage you to give it a try. I think you will agree the final image looks much better than original, after applying a few tricks. This image ranks high on my personal favourite list. I'd love to hear your thoughts and suggestions.

The Comfy Royal York Hotel Concierge in HDR

Royal York Concierge, originally uploaded by codepirate.

This shot presented a few challenges. There were a lot of dimly lit lights hanging from the walls, ceiling and on tables. The fluorescent light made it difficult for the camera to distinguish various color tones. To make things worse I had only one RAW image to work with. I wanted to see what light I could extract from this single handheld shot. I did a tone mapping in Photomatix and then applied another tone mapping. This is the "double tone mapping" technique explained by Trey Ratcliff in his book A World in HDR. Bringing the picture in Photoshop I reduced the noise and played with Nik's Color Effext filters. I am happy with the final image. For a comparison here is the original image:

Notice the details on the ceiling in the HDR image vs this one? Comments and constructive criticism are certainly welcome.