yet more pictures from kek lok si temple…

here are another couple of shots of kek lok si temple…

here's an exposure-blended composite shot of kek lok si temple on chap goh meh, the final day of chinese new year…

without going into the technicalities of high dynamic range and dynamic range increase photography… here's a straightforward tutorial on how i achieved the above composite using exposure blending in adobe photoshop cs3… this is my first real attempt at layer masking to achieve an exposure composite as my previous hdr shots were all tonemapped in photomatix…

1. load three differently-exposed images onto a stack by clicking file->scripts->load files into stack. in my case, the three shots below were taken at -2EV, 0EV and +2EV respectively. of course, when auto-bracketing your shots, a tripod is essential, and a remote shutter release is recommended.

2. order the layers so that the darkest one is on top of the stack while the brightest one is at the bottom. for simplicity's sake, let's name the -2EV exposure as layer 1, the 0EV exposure as layer 2, and the +2EV exposure as layer 3.

3. add a layer mask for layer 1, and another one for layer 2. to do so, simply click the third button from the left at the bottom of the layers panel.

4. select layer 2 and press ctrl-a followed by ctrl-c to copy the whole layer into the clipboard.

5. alt-click the layer mask thumbnail of layer 1 which is located next to the layer 1 thumbnail in the layers panel. press ctrl-v to paste the selection on the mask layer. then go to filter->blur->gaussian blur and apply a blur of 20 pixels onto the mask layer.

6. select layer 3 and press ctrl-a followed by ctrl-c to copy the whole layer into the clipboard.

7. alt-click the layer mask thumbnail of layer 2 which is located next to the layer 2 thumbnail in the layers panel. press ctrl-v to paste the selection on the mask layer. then go to filter->blur->gaussian blur and apply a blur of 40 pixels onto the mask layer.

8. the composite so far should look like this:

9. you may want to create a stamp visible layer at this point. to do so, select layers 1-3 and press alt-shift-ctrl-e.

10. it is obvious that the blended shot above lacks contrast. hence, create a new levels adjustment layer by clicking on the fourth button from the left at the bottom of the layers panel and click levels.

11. the black, middle and white points' default values are 0, 1.00 and 255 respectively. to increase the contrast of the picture, set them to 15, 1.00 and 215 respectively.

12. the final result should look better, somewhat like the shot below. bear in mind that i carried out the entire processing on the original 8-megapixel shots. hence, the gaussian blur values in steps 5 and 7 may produce different results with pictures of other resolutions, especially if you try to experiment with the resized shots in this post.

this concludes my first attempt at exposure blending… and also my first post-processing tutorial… for more hdr shots… head on to my flickr :)

kek lok si temple on chap goh meh… it was lit up so beautifully with bright lanterns and multi-colour lamps of various shapes… here are some bokeh shots for starters… can u spot the full moon? :)

cad annual chinese new year dinner at islander cafe in traders hotel downtown… courtesy of our managers… :)

a panoramic view of downtown singapore from the rooftop of esplanade…

the slightly larger version on flickr…

it seems like i'm obsessed with wide angle views of the same church… i think multi-shot composites are more than a terrific replacement for a wide angle lens… and by stitching a panorama together… there's no limit to the field of view that can be obtained… or to be technically correct… the limit is 360 degrees :)

the quote below is sadly true… i thought i'd share it although it was supposed to be yet another hdr post :)

we make them cry who care for us
we cry for those who never care for us
and we care for those who will never cry for us

the majestic st. andrew's cathedral…