Abandoned - Gate to Empty Factory | 22 Jan 2009

22 Jan 2009 • 995 views

Abandoned - Gate to Empty Factory

Here is another shot of an abandoned building, located in Zyrardow in Poland. Once this city was very famous for its linen. These days most old factory buildings are just standing there, waiting to be photographed by me :-)

TECH-INFO: The sun is behind the building providing an extreme back light. A tripod, cable release, water level, ultra wide angle and 9 JPG shots to capture this. Made a HDR file and tone mapped it. Afterwards I did a contrast boost using the curve tool. With the selective color tool I enhanced the whites, the blacks and the reds.

The image may look a bit surreal but I have the feeling you get this easily when tone mapping HDR files with a huge dynamic range. When the range of light is smaller you only enhance details. Though I like the result a lot. It gives a good impression of how peaceful this abandoned place really is.
I also made a black and white version but I like the colors too much. They add something to the image.

VAZAAR: posted for the topic Abandoned Structures.

camera	NIKON D200
exposure mode
shutterspeed
aperture	f/8.0
sensitivity	ISO100
focal length	12.0mm
resolution	3872x2592 pixels

Abandoned - Gate to Empty Factory

comments (14)

Polydactyle

Canada

22 Jan 2009, 01:02

Excellent treatment! But I'am not sure I want enter in this place...maybe tomorow?

LightningPaul: Thank you for your comment! This place is quiet OK to visit. Nobody there to bother you

Jeff

United States

22 Jan 2009, 01:18

This is really cool!
Virtually no halos and the effect is really good. Did you go exploring?

LightningPaul: Thanks Jeff. I wanted to go inside but unfortunately all entrance doors of the building were blocked. Luckily I was able to enter a few neighbor factories. I'll post the next coming weeks and months.

Framed and Shot

United States

22 Jan 2009, 02:44

We think you are spot on with the processing. The tones in the metal gates are excellent (very metallic...).
Did you use all the frames for the HDR? We find that for subjects with a lot of dynamic range, we can use fewer frames with a wider bracketing.
The "surrealness" in our view often comes from the amount of micro contrast (details) and can be avoided (if you want to) by turning that slider down.

We like this capture, well done.

LightningPaul: Many thanks for your visit and comment. I used all the 9 frames. I have the impression that there is no significant difference in using frames of each stop or every two stops, except the quality is a little bit better when using all of them. I also found the same conclusion in the HDRI Handbook of C. Bloch.
I'll experiment a bit more with the micro contrast slider, mostly I push it nearly to the max.

613photo

United States

22 Jan 2009, 03:44

Yep, I would have turned down the micro contrast a notch or two on this one. To my eye it's a little too surreal looking, but again that's just my opinion. It's an excellent subject and well processed in my opinion except for that one small detail.

I envy you that the gates were opened. There's no shortage of abandoned buildings around here, but everything is locked down so tight.

LightningPaul: It's indeed hard to set the micro contrast right. I really love pushing this slider, because I like the revealed details so much. Thanks for sharing your opinion.

Ivar

United States

22 Jan 2009, 04:22

Great processing, I can see you have pushed the levers a bit here, but nonetheless the result is excellent. What a great subject too...great work.

LightningPaul: Many thanks for posting a comment. I made more of such images. I'll post them the next coming weeks and months.

Rosalyn Sears

United Kingdom

22 Jan 2009, 06:10

It looks like this factory has been abandoned for quite some time. Great image. (:o)

LightningPaul: Indeed it's abandoned for several decades. Probably the first or second world war destroyed it, but I'm not sure.

rem_la

France

22 Jan 2009, 07:15

une impression de fin du monde !

LightningPaul: Indeed, it might look like that one day. Thanks for commenting.

Chris Phillips

England

22 Jan 2009, 07:16

This is a very striking image of dereliction Paul

LightningPaul: Thank you Chris!

Chantal Huijbregts

Netherlands

22 Jan 2009, 08:33

good symmetry with the walls on the right and left

LightningPaul: Thanks!

Mark / One Way Photo

England

22 Jan 2009, 08:55

Superb post-processing work, and it really conveys a sense of the place. The detail is amazing. Would have been good if someone was walking out of the gates into the foreground, but that's just me being picky ;-)

LightningPaul: Many thanks for your comment. The idea to add someone walking is very nice but in such case the person would need to hold position during the 9 shots I took. Perhaps there is a work around.

Rob

Thailand

22 Jan 2009, 14:16

Nice image with a stark contrast between the smooth gate and the rough ground and wall.
Love the post processing.
I am hopeless at that stuff
Cheers
Rib

LightningPaul: Many thanks for your visit and comment!

Richard Trim

Leicester UK

22 Jan 2009, 18:16

Grim reality ... great result Paul. richard

LightningPaul: Thank you Richard!

Zebigleb

France

22 Jan 2009, 18:50

Dramatic atmosphere - perfect work !

LightningPaul: I'm very delighted with your comment.

Kavita J.

Suriname

23 Jan 2009, 14:20

Je heb het heel mooi gemaakt, Paul. Krijg ik een serie te zien van de foto's die je in Zyrardow gemaakt heb

Magnifying shot!!!

LightningPaul: Bedankt voor je commentaar. Ik zal de volgende weken en maandag nog fotos van Zyrardow laten zien.

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