Viharn Sien Chinese Temple, Thailand

[AndyMackie]

I haven't tried much photo stacking but this subject seemed to me to be a perfect candidate and is a composite of one shot per statue - the flag was obviously flapping around during shots but otherwise I'm pleased at the resultant DOF but felt that I had to mask the resultant colour with a somewhat sepia effect (the statues are actually very dark black). Any suggestions?



This one inside came out more natural but I think I prefer the sepia above



And a couple of days later I returned at dawn to capture the temple from across the adjacent lake. This HDR will no doubt raise some eyebrows but nonetheless, I like it and hope some of you do too



It was a particularly misty, perhaps even smoky morning (Indonesian forest fires?) which is why I shot 4 of the same scene for an HDR but for the purists, here's a more natural version of what I really saw as the sun poked above the distant hill



All critique would be welcome as these are not techniques I'm very familiar with

Thanks for looking

Andy

[Stan]

Re: Viharn Sien Chinese Temple, Thailand

the stacking has worked very well and the sepia toning looks good

Not too keen on the misty scene but the third I could see as a large canvas but with about half the foreground grass cropped off

stan

[tesarver]

Re: Viharn Sien Chinese Temple, Thailand

Don't think that I can add much more to Stan's critique, other than Thailand is such a beautiful country. Which part to Thailand is the temple Andy?

Tom

[AndyMackie]

Re: Viharn Sien Chinese Temple, Thailand

Stan, good advice, thanks - I too don't like the hazy view but my family did so I posted it by way of a reason for the HDR, but whereas I do like the original HDR crop, I do admit that this one with the 3rds at the top of the reeds (more like you suggest) and top of the mountains is more pleasing to my eye:



Tom, thanks as always - the temple is about 20 minutes drive from where you were once stationed and where my home is now, Ban Chang (2hrs from BKK). The reservoir where I shot the lapwings is just 5 minutes away and I've seen sea eagles catching the cat fish at the lake in the shot (but not caught them on camera...yet)

Appreciate the critique, thanks

Andy

[Stan]

Re: Viharn Sien Chinese Temple, Thailand

Thats like I was thinking

Stan

[tesarver]

Re: Viharn Sien Chinese Temple, Thailand

Thanks for the info Andy

[DeeGee]

Re: Viharn Sien Chinese Temple, Thailand

[ST-EOS]

Re: Viharn Sien Chinese Temple, Thailand

Great set Andy, the crop suggestion on the third image from Stan has added to the image

[rcarca]

Re: Viharn Sien Chinese Temple, Thailand

Well I really like the HDR, and the second version is a cracking shot. I also like the first. Photo stacking is barely even in my vocabulary! I will have to look into it. But the sepia tone is much more pleasing than the black statues I the second.

Thanks for sharing

Richard

[Dave s]

Re: Viharn Sien Chinese Temple, Thailand

All great shots, love the sepia version ,really nice scenery in the HDR

[AndyMackie]

Re: Viharn Sien Chinese Temple, Thailand

Thanks everyone - don't often get a lot of good press from HDR shots, so I was expecting a bit more of the "I don't usually like HDR, but.." comments. Not that there's anything wrong with such comments but in this instance I do think the HDR shot enhanced the misty original and it seems others agree.

I'll certainly try photo stacking again but perhaps with macro - what got me really interested in it was an A3 shot in a magazine of a small spider at dawn with dew drops all over it, probably one of the best photos I've ever seen. The posted example of stacking above was a little bigger (:-)) and was a composite of 20 or so shots, so plenty of room for small movements in-between shots. Macro DOF is notoriously small and I can see a real use for it there, provided the subject cooperates..

Thanks again to everyone for taking the time to look and comment

Andy