This kinda abstract, High Dynamic Range (HDR) garden shot was taken at Brookside Gardens in Silver Spring, Maryland. It’s been a while since I posted a photo from my visit last May so I thought I’d dig one up.
Processing: I used seven shots spaced from -3 to +3 ev and used Nik HDR Efex Pro for Tone Mapping and overall Structure. This is another totally realistic HDR image. I used Adobe Photoshop to correct Exposure and balance the overall scene with Curves. I then added a very small amount of High Pass filter for sharpening.
Equipment used: Nikon D700 with 28-70mm 2.8 set at 62mm, f/16, ISO 400. Manfrotto 190XPROB with 486RC2 ball head.
Since I’ve been presenting alternatives to full color lately, I’m finishing with a sepia, monochrome version of this image. Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 was used for this effect.
The color version looks great, Mark. The B&W, however, does not bring out the contrast between the flowers and the surrounding foliage due to red & green being the same tone in B&W. I suggest you try out the red and green filters in Silver Efex Pro, both of which will help separate the tones, to see which works best for you.
Thanks, Mark. You’re right about the mono version. I worked a while to get the reds to stand out but making them lighter looked too fake. So I settled for darker but I agree that the tonal difference is not enough in monochrome. Might try again later.