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twilight-son — my countryside
by-nc-nd
Published: 2009-04-05 22:21:57 +0000 UTC; Views: 804; Favourites: 17; Downloads: 0
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Description
this photo was taken in Poppi, near Arezzo, Tuscany, a very beautiful medieval castle-town near where I live.. such a wonderful view I had there!Related content
Comments: 24
Great shot. The dynamic range and color range are very good. Tonal quality is low, but that is due to the high dynamic range. Catching some sun rays is really fortunate.
Minor Suggestions:
One thing to be careful of is the Blowout in the sky. It is not much in this case, but much more and the photo cannot be used commercially. Repairs are possible, but not easy, and many times not practical. Blowout can happen when dynamic range is increased in post processing. If so, you can select the highlight areas in danger of blowout, give it a large feather, invert and hide the selection, and then adjust dynamic range, but watching for banding in the selection zone.
Did you take this shot using HDRI? This is usually a good way to preserve fine detail and still maintain hight dynamic range.
If the blowout happened in the original shot, you can try taking the shot in "Histogram" mode, where you will see if and where blowout and burnout will happen.
Another really good option is to use a "Graduated Neutral Density Lens Filter, 0.06 Hard" in this case.
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this is.. wow! what an useful comment! thanks a lot for the many suggestions! that was only an experiment with hdr but I don't like particularly this technique.. I processed this shot using photomatix.. yes I took the shot using the hystogram mode trying to make the exposure to avoid blowouts, but there was too much difference between the highlights and the shadows.. I will try the filter anyway! thanks a lot again! please take a look to this [link] this isn't an hdr and I like it much more!
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You are most welcome. The link you gave me has a problem, it says the file does not exist.
HDRI can really help improve shots, but most photographers push the parameters to make it very dramatic. You can make the HDRI effect more subtle.
When you try to increase dynamic range in a regular photograph, it is at the cost of image detail and tonal quality. If a Grayscale image starts with a full 256 tones (black, white, and shades of gray), and then you increase dynamic range sharply, you might loose over half of the tones. It may look crisper, but also rougher, and you loose fine detail, with highlights going toward blowout and shadows toward burnout.
HDRI allows you to increase Dynamic Range without loosing tonal quality and fine details, ASSUMING that you do not push the parameters and add much tone mapping.
Before giving up on HDRI, it might deserve more experimenting. Even some Portrait Photographers are using it in a very subtle way.
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NEUTRAL DENSITY FILTERS or ND filters are "grey" filters. An ideal neutral density filter reduces light of all wavelengths or colors equally. The purpose of standard photographic neutral density filters is to allow the photographer greater flexibility to change the aperture or exposure time, allowing for more control, particularly in extreme circumstances.
A Neutral Density Filter can be used to prevent blowout when photographing the sky. In an another example, on a very bright day, one might wish to photograph a waterfall at a slow shutter speed to create a deliberate motion blur effect. In order to do this, one would need a shutter speed on the order of tenths of a second. There might be so much light that even at minimum film speed and a minimum aperture such as f/32, the corresponding shutter speed would still be too fast. In this situation, by applying an appropriate neutral density filter one or more stops can be taken out of the exposure, allowing a slow shutter speed and more pleasing effect.
GRADUATED NEUTRAL DENSITY FILTERS are especially handy for shooting from shadow to sky, where you would normally blow-out your sky, and for shooting Sunsets. You can get some very good skies and sunsets that way.
In short, the filter is clear on the bottom, gradually increasing near the center to transition to the filtered part of the lens in the upper half. This way the sky can be filters, while the rest of the image remains unfiltered.
- This is an example of using a Graduated Neutral Density 0.6 Soft Lens Filter: [link]
This is an example of using a Graduated Neutral Density 0.6 Hard Lens Filter: [link]
How To Use Graduated Filters How To Use Graduated Filters [link] 
Here is a Wikipedia on Graduated Neutral Density Filters (very useful): Graduated neutral density filter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [link] 
Here are the ways to use Filters on your camera:
Filters can be screwed into the lens of most SRL cameras (screw in filters)
For lenses that you cannot screw a filter into, there are 4 systems available (drop in filters). Here is an excellent illustration of them (about half way down page): Filters Buying Guide: Manufacturers - B+W, Cokin, Lee Filters, Hoya, and Tiffen - Vistek Pro-Camera and Video Store [link] 
Additionally you can simply HOLD a filter in front of your camera lens with your hand (not very easy to do without getting the filter smudged). They come in sizes like 3"x 3" and 3" x 4".👍: 0 ⏩: 0
che meraviglia... però è un hdr vero? (mamma che posto!)
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yes è un esperimento di hdr, secondo me non riuscito.. non mi piacciono gli hdr, troppo artificiosi.. devo dire che con la pellicola, che indubbiamente ha una latitudine di posa maggiore delle digitali, non ho avuto mai problemi in quanto in linea di massima prendevo sufficiente dettaglio anche sulle nuvole e sul cielo.. poi con questo digitale e con le diavolerie software come gli hdr si può fare tutto.. però io non sono molto bravo a fare queste cose, come puoi vedere da questo irrealissimo paesaggio. però è proprio un bel posto!
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Incredibile! Ho trascorso tutte le vacanze della mia infanzia e della mia adolescenza a Badia Prataglia che tu certamnte conosci! E quante volte sono stata a Poppi!
Bella foto!
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certo che la conosco! sono posti stupendi! Poppi è incredibile, veramente un posto fuori dal tempo.. e poi ciò che la circonda è degno di nota come puoi vedere!
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Il mondo è piccolo! Tra un mesetto verrò dalle tue parti perchè accompagnerò mio padre a Badia Prataglia! Ti penserò intensamente!
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miii ma che bello 
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brava! se ti ricapita di venire a firenze dimmelo, sarò felice di mostrartela!
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thanks a lot! I'm happy you had this effect!
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It does make me want to go on holiday
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so if you will ever come there you MUST tell me, so I will help you discover every single bit of the part of italy I live and every food that is typical here! there is no way better to discover a foreign country than with a local person! see you soon and thanks for the nice comment!
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Oh I agree. I also try to meet the locals and see all the small cities and villages if I can. Tourist hubs just aren't the same.... Hopefully I'll get there soon
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so contact me! I will let you discover Florence with pleasure!
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First I need to contact a millionaire for a loan 
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Breathtaking countryside, and you've captured a few rays of sunlight resulting in a heavenly glow 
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ahah thanks! it's really breathtaking, now I understand why so many foreign people come here during holidays! happy easter and a lot of love
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Happy Easter to you as well!
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Ooooh deh, ma quanto tempo era che non mettevi una deviation??? Finalmente!! Comunque dopo martedì ci becchiamo subitooooo anche la sera anche il pomeriggio quando ti pare perchè bisogna rivederci absolutely!!!
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ne ho messe 3 ultimamente! dimmi cosa ne pensi! a presto, telefonami!
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