Ode to HDR

Recently Greg posted an article titled “Where in the world is my postcard?“. I received mine on Tuesday and took it to a spin to Time Square during my lunch break. Not sure in hindsight if that was such a good idea between the tourists, high sun and all the construction work at the moment. I shot it with my ipod and as an hommage to Greg, I applied a HDR effect to my submission with Snapseed.

By Sebastien Grobelny

Photoblog Challenges : Results #15

This week on Photoblogchallenges, the winners are Spectrum for Best of 47 (11 Nov – 17 Nov), Shaker for Theme 47 : Rainy and Pictografio for Technique 23 : HDR.Congratulations!

Celine and I are permanent guest judges and since the middle of the year we switched the roles a little. She has to pick one favorite from the winning pictures and I have to pick several “non-winners”. Each week I will try to shed some light on some of my choices.

• For Best of 47 (11 Nov – 17 Nov): This week I picked Pictografio with the polish aviation museum. I think it’s a nice architectural shot and being of polish ascent  it spoke to me too. I also picked Rue Du Lavoir for taking us in a factory without anybody. It has a quiet feel to it, almost abandoned. I finally picked up Weib for a very expressive cow with a nice processing.

• For Theme 47 – Rainy:  I’m glad that Shaker, Boxman and Mittened Hands are the 3 big winners this week as they each have a different approach to the theme. I picked Deja for a great action shot, Ellebelle  for the sharp droplets and Xerraire for risking her life in this downpour and still getting a nice shot.

• For Technique 23 – HDR: I do believe that HDR is a big divide in photography. You have those that can’t live without it and those that wouldn’t even consider it.  For me HDR has it’s ups and downs but most importantly it needs to be subtile. That’s the reason why I picked Frances and Shaker. They bring wide range of colors and details.

My pick of the week is Deja for Theme 47 – Rainy. I can really visualize what the experience must have been with the bikes roaring in the mud. This shot takes me in the middle of the action and without the rain it would be a completely different shot.

By Sebastien Grobelny

Once more with feelings – Manhattan skyline

I was pretty proud of my recent picture of the Manhattan skyline below.

… and thenI had an interesting discussion with Celine about the role of an editor (thank you!). I tried to apply her directions and comments to a new version. Let me know what you think about it.

 By Sebastien Grobelny

Macro

Macro is an extreme close-up.
I believe these links deserve a close-up 😉

• Challenges: You can still submit for Best of 44 (10/28 – 11/03), Theme 45 : Yellow Petals, Technique 23: HDR and Monthly Project 11: One Hour on Photoblogchallenges. You can still vote until Sunday too!
• You can still win by answering the question in Buds in Monument Valley.
• NASA took the pumpkin carving to another level.
• I threw up a little on this news
• Posted a picture of a gorilla this week on 500px and Aminus with different results, earning indifference in one and praise in the other

 

By Sebastien Grobelny

Winner Winner

4PM  Update: For the first time ever I am one of the spotlight from Aminus! I had spotlight colors in the past (but not for a long time) but never a spotlight spotlight! \o/

I’m no rock star and am not ready to sell my soul in order to gain a following.
I hope that by posting quality posts often enough, people will be compelled to come back on a regular basis and over time will provide feedback and comments to what they loved or hated, what they would like to see.
One thing I do though is use all the tools at my disposal to try to drive traffic here.
As such I recently discovered photoblogs.com and have to admit I love the idea.
You register there and your pictures are displayed in their feed if you did the proper set up. People then can vote for your pictures. I discovered a lot of great pictures already and I try to vote as often as I can.
I just won the photo of the day on the 10/08 with the shot below from Monument Valley.

Celine topped that “win” in a hurry by winning her first ribbon ever on DPChallenge with this gorgeous picture of our cat Pixie. Congrats love!

Update of 4PM : For the first time ever I was part of the spotlight from Aminus!

By Sebastien Grobelny

World Wide Photo Walk

I do apologize if you were looking for your weekly long exposure fix but it will come back next week.

Tomorrow, on Saturday 5th of October I will be part of the World Wide Photo Walk. It was created 6 years ago by Scott Kelby and it will be the first one I will attend. The idea is to meet up with fellow photographer and follow a leader in a specific area. I will go with Celine and Christine and we will take part of the Greenwood walk. We will spend most of our time in the Greenwood Cemetery that is an historic landmark.

I’m very curious to see how it all goes down but last time I went to a cemetery for pictures was on a whim in New Orleans with Celine. It is a very special atmosphere to say the least.

There is also a challenge component that is fascinating. You have the opportunity to post a picture to a pool and your group leader will submit the best submissions worldwide. Last years winner was Lars from Sweden. Lars is better known on Photoblogchallenges as Larans 😉

There are apparently still openings so don’t hesitate if you want to join. Just click this link to find a walk near you.

By Sebastien Grobelny