Prague

St Nicholas: back to church interiors, one of my favorite subjects. I shot this while sitting on a bench and quietly setting up my camera on my tripod. The interior of this church is very beautiful. It is not very large, but is beautifully decorated. I processed the image to show as much detail as possible as one can see when being there.

 

The Shot:

- ISO 100, 10mm, f13,

- 3 shots at 1, 4, 16 secs.

 

HDR using Photomatix:

- HDR of the 0 and +2 shots.

- Started with painterly effect, reduced temperature, increased micro contrast and then played with lumniosity and gamma to try to center the histogram.

 

Photoshop:

- Reduced brightness on -2 exposure and blended over the windows to get back a bit of the frames.

- Rendered clouds on a separate layer and blended on the windows.

- Nik Color Efex: Pro Contrast to compensate blue cast and add contrast.

- Nik Color Efex: Color Contrast to darken the yellows.

- Surface blur over marble to remove Photomatix grunginess.

- Dodge all golden ornaments and areas with excessive shadow.

- Burn front bench and people to make them less obtrusive.

Done