After the second post about cross-processing I thought I’d make second post about HDR to even things out. So here goes. Victim this time was the old church in Uusikaupunki, Finland.

No auto-bracketing or anything, just two straight-forward exposures. One for the church, one for the sky. Manually merged in Photoshop (CS3). I’ve never been too impressed with the auto-merge in Photoshop. Just upgraded my system to CS5 and I have yet to test those features there (I’ve heard they’ve improved a lot, so I’m curious to give that a go).

Left: D700, ISO800, 1/350 sec @ f/13, Nikkor 50mm. Right: D700, ISO800, 1/1500 sec @ f/13, Nikkor 50mm.

The above two images merged in Photoshop CS3. Levels, curves, contrast and saturation adjusted.

See there’s no halo around the church (sure, go ahead, click image to enlarge)? That’s one of those typical things you see when HDR exposures are merged together automatically using software. It’s one of the reasons why I prefer to do things manually (still). Then you’re sure that things are looking more natural, and if you HAVE to cheat, you decide where you cheat and how you cheat. Of course I’m cheating. Do you really think I’m masking around branches and leaves in the trees? Of course not. I cheat. But I make sure you don’t see it, unless I want you to see it

I’ve been out of town already a couple of times, and figured I’d have to change the title to “Touristing in your own country”. I probably will in time. For now it’s “area”.
Last year I happened to pass this church in Kirkkonummi. There was snow then when I passed, and of course I didn’t bring my camera. Next time I passed with camera it the snow was gone and it didn’t look half as interesting. It was a crappy winter last year and I didn’t get any other opportunity.
But you know the saying… Patience, virtue…
Now we have snow. So I give you the church of Pyhä Mikael.

D200, ISO100, 26 sec @ f/19, Tamron 28-75mm

We went back to the old church in Espoo and this time we also had a peek inside.
Old-fashioned beauty, totally matching the beauty of the outside.

D200, ISO100, 2 sec @ f/16, Sigma 10-20mm

So we had a double touristing on the Dome Church (weren’t those lights sweet?). But I have another one…
The Russian orthodox church is a whole different kind of beauty (and it has its own lighting). I will have to go back to shoot some pictures of the inside, because that’s as gorgeous as the outside, if not more gorgeous (whereas the Dome church -in my opinion- is fairly boring once you get inside).
Uzpenski, which is the name of the Russian orthodox church, is just an impressive building. It just radiates discipline and strength and in the tungsten lighting at night it very much looks like a castle.

D200, ISO100, 45 sec @ f/22, Sigma 10-20mm, remote shutter release

D200, ISO100, 123 sec @ f/22, Sigma 10-20mm, remote shutter release

D200, ISO100, 48 sec @ f/22, Sigma 10-20mm, remote shutter release

D200, ISO100, 46 sec @ f/22, Sigma 10-20mm, remote shutter release

Helsinki’s not really my home town, Espoo is. But they’re so close and I’m actually more often “traveling” through Helsinki than I am through Espoo (and Helsink has a lot more touristic things to show for), that I’m mixing them both.
But today some Espoo. Been living here for six years now and this was the first time (yeah, I know… it’s sad…) I visited the old church in town.
This would actually fit well in the Fall series too. I love the red tree next to the church. It fits well with the building

D200, ISO100, 1/500 sec @ f/5.6, Sigma 10-20mm

Maybe it sounds familiar.
I’ve noticed when I lived back in the Netherlands, I didn’t really go out to see what was to see in my own country. Only when my better half came over did I start to actually see things in my own country. Silly, isn’t it? Then we moved to Finland and after the first period of all things new, I kind of rolled back in that same habit. You see a busload of tourists step out, all point’n'shoots at the ready, and you wonder… “Man! That picture’s probably been taken by 1,459,450 people before in 78,307,145 different ways!” And then you look at your own pictures and you realize you don’t have one…
So… Arno’s going on a tourist tour in his own town (and if I get out of this town, also in his own country).
Here’s my first, a subject of which every single tourist takes a picture (but not the way I do it, because I do it From a Different Angle ).
This is a view from the Senate’s Square on the statue of Alexander the Great with the Dome Church in the background.

D200, ISO100, 48 sec @ f/27, Sigma 10-20mm