3 replies to this topic

[SteveCampbell]

I've noticed that the membership on this site tends to be slightly technically inclined. I thought this one might be of interest since I combined a number of different techniques.

This was shot on my infrared-converted Canon 5Dmk2 (715nm) with a Samyang 135mm f/2.0, which works beautifully in infrared.

F/2.0, ISO100, 135mm, 18x 1/13, 1/50, 1/200 (effective 74mm f/1.096 with Brenizer)

I took 18 sets of 3, 2-stop bracketed photos. My first step in post-processing was combining each set into an HDR, for a total of 18 HDRs. Next, I combined these HDRs into a panorama. The extremely shallow depth of field appearance is a result of the Brenizer method.

It was shot at the abandoned Old Helensburgh Station, in Helensburgh, NSW, Australia.

Full resolution



Here is a visible-light version I took at the same spot, for comparison:

[Andrea B.]

And wow! That is a quite some big construction. I'm not sure I would have the patience myself.

It did turn out so lovely with that glowing effect. And it is interesting to see the detail in the rear of the photo as a change from the usual front part of the photo. So who needs a Large Format camera anyway when you can build the effect from smaller parts!!??

I was wondering what software you used for the HDR and for the pano stitching? That's always interesting to everyone.

Many folks these days enjoy "stacking" for increased depth of field. The opposite of this glowing Brenizer construction. Have you tried any stacking in Infrared? It would be very interesting to see a stacked result in IR.

[SteveCampbell]

The large format idea is exactly the idea! I love that it's possible to use a camera with any sized sensor and replicate the effect of a $50,000 camera, or even one that's technically impossible to construct!

I did all of the HDR in lightroom, and I believe I used lightroom for the stitching as well. If I have a particularly difficult case I'll use photoshop and use masking layers +/- puppet warp to make the images come together. Also, lens correction is sometimes helpful when stitching wide angles (but sometimes works works better without), but with a high-performing 135mm it wasn't necessary here.

I've considered stacking if I venture into macro, but at the moment I'm more likely to use it for noise reduction from my ancient full-spectrum 450D via smart object median blending!

[Andrea B.]

Steve, you're way ahead of me on the Photoshop thing!! I gave it up years ago. But it is always useful to the viewers to know about what tools can be used for such cool effects.