LightningPaul

A new image of my abandoned series, shot in Zyrardow, Poland. This is another empty factory, a rest over of the beautiful times when they were producing lots of high quality linen. Luckily this one was easier to photograph because there was no security around. The building is nicely lit by the sunset. This shot is a bit less spectacular as my others of this series but I took also a few shots of the interior places. I'll post them soon. There used to be huge machines inside but now it's all very empty, except for some broken glass and dirt. While walking around I had to be very careful because every few meters there was a deep hole in the ground.


TECH-INFO: due to the high dynamic range of light I took 7 shots of each a stop difference. Of course I used a tripod and a cable release. Lens distortion is removed with DxO Optics Pro. I merged the shots in Photoshop into one HDR file and tone mapped it in Photomatrix. Then the big work started in Photoshop. First I used the free transform tool for perspective correction. I really like straight lines. Then I used a whole bunch of layers of the curves, vibrancy and selective color tool. I tweak them (heavily) and set them in multiply, luminosity, soft light and other blending modes. By painting on the masks of the layers I enhance and regulate the contrast and lightness of several parts like the windows, the grid, the wall, the red bricks, etc.
The goal is to show the same dramatic situation as I experienced it over there. Here it is bit twofold because the sun is nicely and beautifully shining on the building (and even inside on the walls) while I try to show the dark and dirty side this abandoned factory.