Jimmy McIntyre - Editor HDR One Magazine
L'Eglise
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French Journal Day 75 (Travel Diary Day 155)
Twas as dark as the pit at 6:00am this morning as we readied ourselves for the drive up the Pyrenees. Unfortunately we only had about 4 hours for the round trip, and since no-one was around to give us advice on good spots for shooting, we eventually settled on a view-point called Col d’Aspin, an hour drive from our place.
Skirting along the winding ro
ads, we came to a petrol station which was closed. It’s automated credit card pump was available so we pulled in. Under the cover of darkness, in the middle of nowhere, and in freezing temperatures a scantily clad young lass approached me while I was at the pump. She asked me if I was going to a particular town that we’d already passed about 5 miles back. She was looking for a ride, I’d assumed.
I apologised and said we were headed in the opposite direction. In my innocent mind I thought ‘poor girl, walking all that way in these conditions’. When I got into the car and explained the exchange to Rachel. She rather cynically said ‘Are you sure she wasn’t a prostitute?’
I think Rachel got a tinge of jealousy, although she wouldn’t admit it.
She may have been a prostitute but I prefer to think that she saw a handsome fella with a flash Ford Mondeo, sporting a red frilly scarf (I borrowed it from the woman who we are house sitting for), and thought ‘Wow, I wonder if this sexy, kind, and well-dressed man would drive me to work’.
Anyway, the drive was lovely and although our view wasn’t the most spectacular due to lack of planning, I did get some shots of the beautiful snow-capped mountains that have been staring at us for the past 2 days.
The rest of the day was glorious. It was 20C. We ate lunch in the garden and then visited our elderly neighbours who were fantastic. Being so close to Spain, the people here tend to roll their ‘Rs’ instead of the French guttural ‘R’. It’s actually a lovely accent, and quite clear to my untrained ears.
They are the key-bearers to the church next door. We borrowed the keys and spent a few minutes in the 250 year-old establishment taking pictures (see below).
Rachel even forced me to go out for a run. It’s such a rewarding feeling pounding the country roads and paths to the beautiful backdrop of the Pyrenees.
Today’s Photo – l’Eglise
This is the church that the house is attached to.
Many HDRists have said it before, and I’m going to repeat it here – for me, Photomatix is an important step in the HDR process but it is only the beginning. In fact, as you can see below (see blog post for before & After photo - strange-lands.com/daily/2012/12/16/leglise/
), my post-photomatix images are as flat as humanly possible (with the exception of the blown-out light to the left). The last thing I try to achieve in Photomatix is contrast and colourisation. That’s for photoshop and various plugins.
Here I applied various Nik filters in Color Efex, including Detail Extractor, Glamour Glow & a Vignette. I’m very selective about the Detail Extractor. I used it for the wood grain and the details of the window arches to the left mainly.
L'Eglise
Daily HDR Blog | HDR One Magazine | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Google+
French Journal Day 75 (Travel Diary Day 155)
Twas as dark as the pit at 6:00am this morning as we readied ourselves for the drive up the Pyrenees. Unfortunately we only had about 4 hours for the round trip, and since no-one was around to give us advice on good spots for shooting, we eventually settled on a view-point called Col d’Aspin, an hour drive from our place.
Skirting along the winding ro
ads, we came to a petrol station which was closed. It’s automated credit card pump was available so we pulled in. Under the cover of darkness, in the middle of nowhere, and in freezing temperatures a scantily clad young lass approached me while I was at the pump. She asked me if I was going to a particular town that we’d already passed about 5 miles back. She was looking for a ride, I’d assumed.
I apologised and said we were headed in the opposite direction. In my innocent mind I thought ‘poor girl, walking all that way in these conditions’. When I got into the car and explained the exchange to Rachel. She rather cynically said ‘Are you sure she wasn’t a prostitute?’
I think Rachel got a tinge of jealousy, although she wouldn’t admit it.
She may have been a prostitute but I prefer to think that she saw a handsome fella with a flash Ford Mondeo, sporting a red frilly scarf (I borrowed it from the woman who we are house sitting for), and thought ‘Wow, I wonder if this sexy, kind, and well-dressed man would drive me to work’.
Anyway, the drive was lovely and although our view wasn’t the most spectacular due to lack of planning, I did get some shots of the beautiful snow-capped mountains that have been staring at us for the past 2 days.
The rest of the day was glorious. It was 20C. We ate lunch in the garden and then visited our elderly neighbours who were fantastic. Being so close to Spain, the people here tend to roll their ‘Rs’ instead of the French guttural ‘R’. It’s actually a lovely accent, and quite clear to my untrained ears.
They are the key-bearers to the church next door. We borrowed the keys and spent a few minutes in the 250 year-old establishment taking pictures (see below).
Rachel even forced me to go out for a run. It’s such a rewarding feeling pounding the country roads and paths to the beautiful backdrop of the Pyrenees.
Today’s Photo – l’Eglise
This is the church that the house is attached to.
Many HDRists have said it before, and I’m going to repeat it here – for me, Photomatix is an important step in the HDR process but it is only the beginning. In fact, as you can see below (see blog post for before & After photo - strange-lands.com/daily/2012/12/16/leglise/
), my post-photomatix images are as flat as humanly possible (with the exception of the blown-out light to the left). The last thing I try to achieve in Photomatix is contrast and colourisation. That’s for photoshop and various plugins.
Here I applied various Nik filters in Color Efex, including Detail Extractor, Glamour Glow & a Vignette. I’m very selective about the Detail Extractor. I used it for the wood grain and the details of the window arches to the left mainly.