# St. Augustine Cathedral Church (HDR) 6 to compare



## vipgraphx (May 13, 2012)

I finished up with the Cathedral Church I took the other day. I did two versions of each. I have to admit that I am proud of these shots and processing both ways.

I hope you enjoy the pictures.

*Preacher View (normal)*



st augustine church by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

*Preacher View (dramatic)*



st augustine dark crop by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

*Perspective 1 (normal)*



St. Augustine lower perspective by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

*Perspective 1 (dramatic)*



St. Augustine perspective cropped 2 by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

*Perspective 2 (normal)*



St. Augustine cropped by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

*Perspective 2 (dramatic)*



St_ Augustine Cropped by VIPGraphX, on Flickr


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## jamesbjenkins (May 13, 2012)

Perspective 2 Normal is my favorite.  

It has nothing to do with your composition, but the architecture and arrangement of the pulpit leaves too much blank space at the bottom for my taste.

As usual, very nice work!


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## Trever1t (May 13, 2012)

Damn it! You find some really beautiful Churches. The Preacher view confused me at first for the large negative space foreground...definitely like the perspective view better. As far as processing, hmm, I guess I'll choose "Perspective 1 Normal" because you shot wider, more ceiling (incredible detail) and the processing is very photo-realistic. I love how HDR seems to really draw my eyes to the perspective distortion, in a good way.


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## vipgraphx (May 14, 2012)

Thanks fellas....

Trever - that preacher shot would have been soooo cool if I had a really nice Bible with me and stand that I could have set up there on the altar.  I think I will look into buying one and a stand and try a reshoot one of these days or take it to another church with me as a prop. I wish I would have thought about that then....instead of now...!!


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## vipgraphx (May 14, 2012)

Last Church image for the set.
*
Normal*



st. augustine church jesus normal by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

*Dramatic*



st. augustine  church jesus by VIPGraphX, on Flickr


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## inaka (May 14, 2012)

I'm not a huge fan of over HDR processing. I love the subject you have here, and Perspective 2 (normal) is my favorite, but I would love to see the strength slider toned down quite a bit even in that shot. (Primarily to reduce the darker shadowing around the white areas of the ceiling.) Still a beautiful shot.

That said, even as a non-fan of over processing, that last "Dramatic" shot you just posted is really really nice. Love it. Love everything about it. And ironically, even though it has "Dramatic" processing, the way the light comes in from the window really adds so much to the shot. Perfect composition and gorgeous detail!


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## vipgraphx (May 14, 2012)

*inaka* 

thanks for the feedback. I was thinking about what you said and I did what you said. when the processing was done it felt a bit flat but I also like the more white walls. When you process HDR it tends to make the image flat and its important to keep the black levels higher so you keep the depth of the image. there are many times that I think I can easily get away with out having the shadow grey areas but, for some reason in churches I like the look of the shadows as it adds to the whole dramatic vibe you get when you enter these old churches. There is a line I know that can be crossed when it goes to far such as my dramatic versions. That is a hit or miss or a love it hate it thing. I happen to like images like this but, I know many many people do not as it is so unnatural but, that is what I like about it is that you can take something that is natural and change it into a world with no rules......just color.  

And thanks about the last shot. It was one of those that took me a while to process it. I was not sure what direction I wanted to go with it and then it hit me. there was a lot of dead space on the walls and the arches on both sides of the frame made me keep wondering what was over there. And then it hit me. Focus on the Jesus and the chair and hight light that with some light rays coming from the window to help achieve righteous moment in time. I then thought it would be good to add a black layer and mask out areas in the center to keep your eye in the middle. I thought it was lacking something at this point so I started to mask out little my little details in the arches the right window. the right lower floor just enough so you could see some detail but keeping you eye back to the important part of the photo.



Here is the edit I did. It does not get more photo realistic HDR then this just so you can see what I was explaining.  No colors have been adjusted and no masking has been done. In my eyes its lacking some depth because the shadow areas are so light. Maybe you would prefer this more not sure but, I thought since you do not like the over processed HDR as much but, took the time to comment on my post with kind words I could at least do something that maybe you would like more.

Photo realistic HDR as per request.



church photo realistic by VIPGraphX, on Flickr
original normal that was posted for side by side comparison.



St. Augustine cropped by VIPGraphX, on Flickr



Thanks again.!


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## vipgraphx (May 14, 2012)

Here is another with an atmospheric fog effect I created.




st augustine church jesus misty by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

Also my very last image of the baptismal fountain at the Church.




baptisim fountains dramatic by VIPGraphX, on Flickr


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## Eccedustin (May 16, 2012)

vipgraphx said:


> Last Church image for the set.
> *
> Normal*
> 
> ...





What did you use to add the light coming in through the window?


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## rgregory1965 (May 16, 2012)

First set No. 1 is my favorite....looks most natural....the rest look overdone to me

First set 3- 4 why do the seats look like there about to fall forward but in 5-6 they look ok

Nice set but not a big fan of the overcooked look.


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## inaka (May 16, 2012)

vipgraphx said:


> *inaka*
> 
> thanks for the feedback. I was thinking about what you said and I did what you said. when the processing was done it felt a bit flat but I also like the more white walls. When you process HDR it tends to make the image flat and its important to keep the black levels higher so you keep the depth of the image. there are many times that I think I can easily get away with out having the shadow grey areas but, for some reason in churches I like the look of the shadows as it adds to the whole dramatic vibe you get when you enter these old churches. There is a line I know that can be crossed when it goes to far such as my dramatic versions. That is a hit or miss or a love it hate it thing. I happen to like images like this but, I know many many people do not as it is so unnatural but, that is what I like about it is that you can take something that is natural and change it into a world with no rules......just color.
> 
> ...



vipgraphx, I completely understand where you're coming from.
Me personally, since I'm not a fan of overcooked HDR, I would create a shot more in-between the photorealistic HDR you created, and the original HDR you created. 

I just some quick an dirty editing, and came up with something like this:







To me, a big sign of overcooked HDR is the way the white arched ceiling walls have that heavy darkening around all edges. Almost like they were in a fire and burned, etc. Again, this is just my opinion, but anytime I see that, or let's say a leaf glowing around clouds or objects in front of a sky, it just looks too much to me. So what I like to do is process the HDR image more as a photorealistic HDR image (which I agree can look flat) but then after that's done, post-process it selectively in Aperture/Photoshop (or Lightroom) to so you can bring out selective details of certain things and not others. Like the wood grain from the church pews to me looks beautiful, etc. This way you get to select the items to "cook" or not.

Once again, this is just my take on it and in no way is there a "right" way to do this. I just like sharing ideas, etc.

Your shots here are still excellent, with your very last shot being my absolute favorite! :thumbup:


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## Ernicus (May 22, 2012)

Time for a noob "chime in"  lol.

I can only hope to take pictures with as awesome detail as you have here.  Truly inspirational to new photo junkies.  Thank you for sharing.

In your original set, I don't care for the dramatic views on 2 and 3...for me...maybe just a bit softer...however dramatic take on shot 1 I like, alot.  I also like your dramatic take where you brought in the light rays...very nice.

Again, the detail is stunning, that will be what sticks out the most for me.  Truly beautiful work.

/noob out


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## vipgraphx (May 23, 2012)

Thanks for looking Ernicus ,

Here is another view of the cross. I like this angel a lot!





cathedral church 3 by VIPGraphX, on Flickr


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