LightningPaul

17 Dec 2008 • 354 views
 
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photoblog image Metro Station Stairs

Metro Station Stairs

Shot in one of the subway stations in central Paris.

 

TECH-INFO: I've shot 3 RAW files with the exposure times of 1/5s, 1/10s and 0,4s. All hand held. I used ISO100 to keep the noise to a minimun but this was not the best idea. Better was to use ISO200 and shot more exposures. As you can see, there is still some highlight clipping in the image.
From the 3 RAW files I developed 5 JPG files in DxO Optics Pro with each one stop difference. This program is very good at lens corrections (though I kept the fish eye distortion) and noise reduction. This processing in DxO was really necessary. Initially I skipped this step but the result was way too noisy. Then I merged them into a HDR file and tone mapped it with Photomatrix.
Afterwards I processed it in Photoshop using curves (only affecting luminosity otherwise it gets way to saturated) to boost the contrast, added some vignetting and did a little bit of dodging in the center. Finally I did a 12/11 ratio crop. I had to do that because some lamps at the side were not sharp enough and a bit disturing.

 

Metro Station Stairs

Shot in one of the subway stations in central Paris.

 

TECH-INFO: I've shot 3 RAW files with the exposure times of 1/5s, 1/10s and 0,4s. All hand held. I used ISO100 to keep the noise to a minimun but this was not the best idea. Better was to use ISO200 and shot more exposures. As you can see, there is still some highlight clipping in the image.
From the 3 RAW files I developed 5 JPG files in DxO Optics Pro with each one stop difference. This program is very good at lens corrections (though I kept the fish eye distortion) and noise reduction. This processing in DxO was really necessary. Initially I skipped this step but the result was way too noisy. Then I merged them into a HDR file and tone mapped it with Photomatrix.
Afterwards I processed it in Photoshop using curves (only affecting luminosity otherwise it gets way to saturated) to boost the contrast, added some vignetting and did a little bit of dodging in the center. Finally I did a 12/11 ratio crop. I had to do that because some lamps at the side were not sharp enough and a bit disturing.

 

comments (9)

Excellent architecture shot, very good light and exposition and nice perspective.
LightningPaul: Many thanks for your visit.
  • Martin
  • United States
  • 17 Dec 2008, 04:29
Looks impossibly clean, but that does emphasize the dizzying perspective.
LightningPaul: Thanks for the comment Martin. I wonder why it looks so clean to you. To me there is still too much noise in it. Luckily most of it is gone when resizing it to a smaller resolution. I was also lucky that nobody was passing at that moment.
A beauty Paul, I think the cleanliness comments relate to the lack of rubbish in the Metro.
LightningPaul: Possibly, but in fact it was all very clean. I think they do a good job in Paris. I also think that this station is pretty new. Thanks.
Great work Paul, you nailed this one perfectly. I love the perspective and your processing is exceptional. BTW must be something captivating about escalators that we like to photograph.
LightningPaul: I'm very delighted by your comment, many thanks. About the escalators: I think that non of us have this at home :-D
This is a good companion piece to the empty Metro. It is just a little sterile somehow. Perhaps this one needed a solitary person somewhere.
LightningPaul: Thanks Bill. A solitary person is an excellent idea but not easy at all when using shutter times like 0.4 second and shooting multiple images. Though I've seen successful results of others when dealing with the same conditions but they are also very skilled Photoshop users. Perhaps one day I might deliver such an image too.
  • paolo
  • Italia
  • 17 Dec 2008, 18:47
amazing compo, architecture, light! bravo!
LightningPaul: Thank you Paolo.
  • 613photo
  • United States
  • 17 Dec 2008, 22:15
I can't say what others meant, but it looks clean to me, too. It's the way it's composed...all lines flow very nicely together. The light is also balanced due to the HDR process. And it's literally clean, too, as another commenter said.

This image does not appear to be noisy to me, but often JPEG compression smooths over noise and film grain. Maybe the noise is just stuck in your head from looking at the original for so long while processing it?

Anyway, I think it's a terrific image. A person in there may have been interesting, but it would've complicated the HDR process you used so the end result would've been a completely different photo. And don't be afraid of a little highlight clipping! It really looks good. My favorite aspect is that the escalator steps seem to flow like water.
LightningPaul: Thank you very much for the extra comment, I appreciate it. I agree with everything you say. I also noticed that if you make an image smaller that lots of noise disappears. The station was very clean at that moment. I guess they maintain it very well.
  • Ania
  • Belgium
  • 17 Dec 2008, 22:35
I like this picture a lot. It gives me the feeling that I'm on the stairs going down smile
It's also very bright what I like.
  • wtfoto
  • Spain
  • 23 Dec 2008, 17:02
Very nice photo! It looks awesome to be taken handheld, and the postprocess is excellent. keep it up!
LightningPaul: Thank you. The previous days I had many problems in Paris with my tripod. Somehow the security thinks it is an extremely dangerous weapon. Very sad. So I'm practicing a lot on doing hand held images with exposure times up to 1/2s. This time I succeeded smile

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for this photo I'm in a any and all comments icon ShMood©
camera NIKON D200
exposure mode full manual
shutterspeed 1/5s
aperture f/4.5
sensitivity ISO100
focal length 10.0mm
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