This one is from my archives. This photo was taken back in 2009 in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. Located on the west bank of the Potomac River the historic City of Alexandria is approximately six miles (9.6 kilometers) south [...]
This one is from my archives. This photo was taken back in 2009 in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. Located on the west bank of the Potomac River the historic City of Alexandria is approximately six miles (9.6 kilometers) south of downtown Washington, D.C. Dating back 1749, Alexandria’s riverfront was an important colonial port during the colonial, revolutionary and Civil War periods. Ok, enough of the history. The photo was created using three bracketed shots. I used the Canon Rebel's auto bracketing feature. Unfortunately I did not have a tripod at that time, but if I did, I would have not use the camera's auto bracketing feature and I could have done this manually. I'm happy with the result. I wanted a realistic feel and take advantage of the natural colors that is already in the scene most especially the color of the sun that afternoon.
It's been a while since my last posts before I went on vacation. The photo above was shot in Universal Orland. I shot this as we were walking along the Port of Entry. I had my Canon EOS 60D with the EF-S 10-22mm at the time, and it was the perfect lens to do the job. That day I only brought one camera body with me and and extra lens the Tamron 28-75mm F/2.8 because I really wanted to travel light, but I could have gone with just the 10-22mm.
Seeing the Light. It was close to sunset when I shot this. I was struck by that beautiful and unique color of sunset, I just have to take a photo and have fun with it in the digital darkroom.
Shot with the OLYMPUS E-PL1 Pen Camera [...]
Seeing the Light. It was close to sunset when I shot this. I was struck by that beautiful and unique color of sunset, I just have to take a photo and have fun with it in the digital darkroom.
Shot with the OLYMPUS E-PL1 Pen Camera with the old but still kicking Canon FD 50mm F/1.8 Lens.
This is a single exposure hdr process using my favorite Photoshop plugin from Topaz Labs, Topaz Adjusts.
Canon EOS 60D with Canon EF-S 10-22mm F/3.5-4.5 USM Lens. Process using Photomatix Pro 4 and Topaz Adjust.
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I love to use Topaz Adjust to enhanced my hdr photos, best thing about it’s [...]

Canon EOS 60D with Canon EF-S 10-22mm F/3.5-4.5 USM Lens. Process using Photomatix Pro 4 and Topaz Adjust.
I love to use Topaz Adjust to enhanced my hdr photos, best thing about it’s really simple to use. For this photo of the Old Suntrust Building in Downtown D.C., here’s what I did:
- In Photoshop CS5, I duplicate the layer.
- On the top layer I applied Topaz Adjust using the Mild Color Pop preset .
- from there, I then adjust the sliders to get to the output I needed.
- Finally I merge the layers or delete the original on the bottom. (I still have the original tonemapped photo in my Lightroom library, it’s ok for me to delete the original layer.)
(Read more about Topaz Adjust here.)
(Click here to download a copy of Topaz Adjust and try it for free for 30days.)
This is one of the exhibits on the second floor of the National Air and Space Museum. Here I really have to boost my ISO to 800 because of the limited light [...]
This is one of the exhibits on the second floor of the National Air and Space Museum. Here I really have to boost my ISO to 800 because of the limited light availability while using the camera’s Auto Bracket Feature to capture multiple images for merging into an hdr photo.
This hdr photo was created using a Canon Rebel XS and a EF-S 10-22mm Wide Angle Lens, aperture at F/5, ISO 800, Auto Bracketing set.
Software I use to create and process this photograph:
- Photomatix Pro
– I used this in creating this High Dynamic Range Photograph by merging the three exposures I shot.
- Nik Dfine 2.0
– This is a photoshop plugin from Nik Software. I used this to remove noise from my photos.
- Nik’s Viveza 2
– This is from Nik Software. I used this to enhanced the fine detail structure of this hdr photo.
- Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3
– I used Lightroom to manage and organized my photographs.
Gear:
This is the Tuscan West Building in NW Washington D.C. This was taken on early spring afternoon around 5 pm, I was walking in front of the building when, I suddenly thought of looking up. The shape of the [...]
This is the Tuscan West Building in NW Washington D.C. This was taken on early spring afternoon around 5 pm, I was walking in front of the building when, I suddenly thought of looking up. The shape of the building and the cloud formations, together with that nice sunset light really caught my eyes. So I position myself to capture that scene right on the center in front of the building. I slightly zoom to 14mm and took 3 bracketed shots. I use my EOS 60d and a EF-S 10-22mm Ultra Wide Angle Lens to take this photo, aperture at F/5, ISO 100, taken at 14mm.
Software I use to create and process this photograph:
- Photomatix Pro
– I used this in creating this High Dynamic Range Photograph by merging the three exposures I shot.
- Nik Dfine 2.0
– This is a photoshop plugin from Nik Software. I used this to remove noise from my photos.
- Nik’s Viveza 2
– This from Nik Software. I used this to enhanced the fine detail structure of this hdr photo.
- Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3
– I used Lightroom to manage and organized my photographs.
Gear:
Last weekend I went to the DC area, but since it was really hot, I decided to stay indoors and my first stop was the National Air and Space Museum. The GE CF6 Turbo fan is one of the [...]
Last weekend I went to the DC area, but since it was really hot, I decided to stay indoors and my first stop was the National Air and Space Museum. The GE CF6 Turbo fan is one of the may exhibits you’ll see on the first floor. I really wish I had a tripod, but since tripods are not allowed inside museums, I created this hdr photo using three images that I shot using the rebel’s auto bracketing feature. I have to boost my ISO and use a minimum of 400 or leave it set to Auto on all my shots because of the limited light available.
This hdr photo was created using a Canon Rebel XS and a EF-S 10-22mm Wide Angle Lens, aperture at F/5, ISO 640, Auto Bracketing set.
Software I use to create and process this photograph:
- Photomatix Pro
– I used this in creating this High Dynamic Range Photograph by merging the three exposures I shot.
- Nik Dfine 2.0
– This is a photoshop plugin from Nik Software. I used this to remove noise from my photos.
- Nik’s Viveza 2
– This from Nik Software. I used this to enhanced the fine detail structure of this hdr photo.
- Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3
– I used Lightroom to manage and organized my photographs.
Gear:
This hdr photo was taken from what looks like to be a big compound that was burned a long time ago. This photo is composed of 5 frames taken manually. Camera on a tripod, set to Aperture Priority, ISO [...]
This hdr photo was taken from what looks like to be a big compound that was burned a long time ago. This photo is composed of 5 frames taken manually. Camera on a tripod, set to Aperture Priority, ISO 100, Aperture F/16. Taken with a Canon EOS 60d and a EF-s 10-22mm lens at 10mm.
Software I use to create and process this photograph:
- Photomatix Pro
– I used this in creating this High Dynamic Range Photograph by merging the three exposures I shot.
- Nik Dfine 2.0
– This is a photoshop plugin from Nik Software. I used this to remove noise from my photos.
- Topaz Adjust – This from Topaz Labs. I used this to enhanced the details on my photographs.
- Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3
– I used Lightroom to manage and organized my photographs.
Gear:
This was taken same day I took the photo of the Abandoned Old House. I took the photos using my cameras auto bracketing feature. I really wish i had a tripod with me that day. This HDR photo was created using Photomatix Pro 4, same as the old abandoned house, the only difference with the two is, in this photo, I did not use Topaz Adjust, but instead, I used Niks Viveza to bring out the details. In Nik’s Viveza, there are four sliders, brightness, contrast, saturation and structure. I boost the brightness to 20%, contrast to 5%, left saturation as is, and lastly and most important part, I boost the structure to 65%. Hope you like it.
Software I use to create and process this photograph:
- Photomatix Pro
– I used this in creating this High Dynamic Range Photograph by merging the three exposures I shot.
- Nik Dfine 2.0
– This is a photoshop plugin from Nik Software. I used this to remove noise from my photos.
- Nik’s Viveza 2
– This from Nik Software. I used this to enhanced the fine detail structure of this hdr photo.
- Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3
– I used Lightroom to manage and organized my photographs.
Gear:
I found this photo while I was browsing through my lightroom catalog. This photo was taken somewhere in the small town of Fredericksburg, VA last January 30, while I accompany a friend. I ask him to just drop me off somewhere so I can walk around and maybe take some photos if I get lucky.
When I saw the old house, I knew it would look great on HDR, problem is I don’t have a tripod with me. I didn’t have any choice but to create this using the Rebel’s auto bracketing feature and at 3fps, I really needed to hold it steady. I took 2 sets of auto bracketed photos, luckily 1 of the 2 sets came out ok and I was able to create this hdr photo of the old abandoned house.
Software I use to create and process this photograph:
- Photomatix Pro
– I used this in creating this High Dynamic Range Photograph by merging the three exposures I shot.
- Nik Dfine 2.0
– This is a photoshop plugin from Nik Software. I used this to remove noise from my photos.
- Topaz Adjust – This from Topaz Labs. I used this to enhanced the details on my photographs.
- Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3
– I used Lightroom to manage and organized my photographs.
Gear:
Lens Reviews
- Canon EF-S 10-22mm Ultra-Wide USM Lens Mini Review
- Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens Review
- Tamron SP AF17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di-II VC Review
- Tamron SP AF17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di II VC Review Update
- Tamron AF 28-75mm F/2.8 Mini Review
- Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Review
- Canon EF 70-200mm F/4 L IS USM
- Canon EF 70-210mm F4 Macro Review
- Canon EF 70-210mm F4 Macro Review Update
- Canon EF 70-210mm F/4 Low Light
- Canon EF 400mm F/5.6 L USM Lens Review
- Canon EF 50mm F/1.8 II Prime Lens Review
- Tamron AF 60mm f/2.0 SP Macro Lens Review
- Canon EF 85mm F/1.8 USM Prime Lens Review
- Tamron AF 180mm f/3.5 Di SP Macro Lens
- Raynox DCR-250 Macro Lens Adapter Review
- Pro Optic Budget Auto Extention Tube Set
Recent Posts
- It Was Better than Last Time – My Favorite shots from my recent baseball game
- Favorite Shots from the March 4, 2013 Varsity Softball Game
- Favorite Shots from the March 4, 2013 Junior’s Softball Game
- First Baseball Match
- First Softball Match I Shot- Feb 27, 2013
- Finalizing My Sites Backend and Optimization With Amazon Web Services (Cloudfront)
- Sigma DN Lens Bundle w/Sigma 19mm EX & 30mm f/2.8 EX DN Lens
- Some Photos from the Wrestling Tounament I Covered last Saturday
Favourite Photography Resources
- Canon Blogger
- David "Strobist" Hobby
- Digital Photo Experience
- Digital Photography School
- HDR Photography By Captain Kimo
- Joe "NumNuts" McNally
- Joe Farace Blogs
- Juan Pons Wildlife Nature Photographer
- Peta Pixel
- Photo Focus
- Photo Gear Store
- Rick Sammon's Main Site
- Stuck In Customs
- The Carey Adeventures
- The Photo Nuts












