DSLR Photography Forum

I have a lot of photos from my recent trip to Morocco and Spain. Here are a few landscapes and cityscapes...


Arcos de la Frontera in Andalucia, Spain





I walked up to the top of an old Moorish tower in Zahara de la Sierra, Spain - hoping for a great view. I wasn't disappointed.





This bridge in Ronda, Spain, is called the New Bridge - the "Old" bridge is even older.





Chefchaouen, Morocco. Always a million photos to be taken here.





Near Arcos de la Frontera in Spain. I call this one "Bliss" because it reminds me of the standard Windows XP wallpaper.





In the mountains of Andalucia...





Chefchaouen again, taken a few minutes after #4...

The windows theme () stands out with being a little different. A bit of HDR in some/all of the others?

There is a bit of HDR processing in about 3 of them (#s 3,4 6). I don't like to call that out though. HDR is just another technique like levels, curves or noise reduction - and not the *subject* of the photo.

What you are seeing is photo enhancement alright - but mostly the old fashioned way - selecting a bit of the photo and dodging and burning (in PhotoShop).

Very inspiring. You found some amazing view points.
The first one and 'In the mountains of Andalucia' are my favourites..

You really make a place come alive. Amazing dynamics in your photos. You keep my eyes busy. They feel good.

Toad Wrote:There is a bit of HDR processing in about 3 of them (#s 3,4 6). I don't like to call that out though. HDR is just another technique like levels, curves or noise reduction - and not the *subject* of the photo.

What you are seeing is photo enhancement alright - but mostly the old fashioned way - selecting a bit of the photo and dodging and burning (in PhotoShop).

It was not a criticism, more a curiousness.
I thought the first came across as HDR, so it is a compliment to your dodge and burn techniques.
I have a shot of the Ronda 'New bridge ' almost identical to yours but taken from a bit of private land up the side of the gorge.
A good area for landscapes.

Thanks guys.

These are very impressive photos. Large-scale landscapes are difficult for me, but you seem to breeze through that. I love the composition on the first image in particular. How do you deal with haze? My apprach works, but only from here to there - I think yours is better.

Great looking at your photos - a real treat. Pavel

NT73 Wrote:It was not a criticism, more a curiousness.
I thought the first came across as HDR, so it is a compliment to your dodge and burn techniques

No problem - what I usually do is make 2 or 3 exposures from the original RAW and blend them manually (as layers) by erasing the bits that are *wrong* in each one. I usually use HDR only when it is too complicated to be done easily (or when I am lazy - like in the Ronda bridge shot)...

Dreamingpixels Wrote:These are very impressive photos. Large-scale landscapes are difficult for me, but you seem to breeze through that. I love the composition on the first image in particular. How do you deal with haze? My apprach works, but only from here to there - I think yours is better.

After looking at your last set of photos published today, I am honored that you think so - they are truly superb. My secret for large scale landscapes (and it isn't really much of a secret) is to shoot lots of photos at different zooms - choose the best one and work from there. As I said, not much of a secret. The one that you like from Arcos is just the best of 10 or 12 - and the one I chose to fiddle with.

As for haze, I just select areas of the photo and play with contrast for the most part - usually I will fiddle with contrast 2 or 3 times during the retouch process. I also use curves a lot - I take the eyedropper in curves and touch the tone point on the photo that needs work - that highlights that spot on the curve. Then I grab the curve at that spot and adjust to taste. Then I choose the next tone that needs adjusting and repeat as required.

I use the word tone because it is not the same as color - it is an area that reflects a degree of darkness or lightness rather than a particular hue.

Anyway, thanks for the comment - your latest stuff rocks!

Aboslutely gorgeous Toad!
Such a beautiful place and your photos really do it justice.

I think the thing I miss most about living in Western Australia are the mountains and views I left behind in Tasmania. Even though Tasmania is *very* different to Spain, looking at photos like these still makes me a little bit homesick.

Stunning Toad - the sense of being there is really captured in these images. The last one is my favourite and I love the first one for it's scale.

Thanks for your kind words, guys

What an amazing experience it must of been, Love the mood on these shots...

Thanks Toad for your advice.

Pavel