Paris Cityscape by Barry O Carroll

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
Canon 40D, Sigma EX 24-70 lens, a tripod

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
This is an HDR from 3 images taken at 3 different exposures:
-2 ISO 100 F22 1/100 sec
0 ISO 100 F22 1/25 sec
+2 ISO 100 F22 1/6 sec

Q3. What software did you use during the post-production?
I used Photomatix to blend the 3 images with the strenght set to 70%. I then used a combination of Lightroom and Photoshop to finish the processing.

I darkened the photo in Photoshop using curves and then painted back in using masks the areas of light for a more dramatic and cinematic effect. This is definitely one of those photos where I've pushed the meaning of "what is photography" a little.

Q4. What is the location?
The photo was taken in Paris along Quai de la Tournerlle looking towards the Île de la Cité. Notre Dame de Paris is to the left and the Tour Saint Jaques is just visible to the right of the photo.

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
The shot and the the style of processing is inspired by 2 French photographers: Stephane Rey Gorrez and Jean Michel Berts.

I love taking photographs in Paris in general. It is a stunningly beautiful city that contains some of the most magnificent architecture and monuments in the world. I love trying to capture the beauty but also mood of the city in my shots. Paris is by far my favourite photography location.

The processing in this photo is meant to portray the dark moodyness that hung over the city that day. There was heavy grey cloud through wich occasional rays of light burst through illumination buildings or sometimes parts of buildings.

Guardian of the haunted villa by Roman Sołowiej

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
I used Nikon D700 with Samyang 14 mm f/2.8 IF ED UMC (cheap but good Korean manual lens) and Benro tripod.

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
I took 9 exposures for HDR photo at ISO 200 and aperture f/11.

Q3. What software did you use during the post-production?
To create HDR photo I used Photomatix for tone mapping and Photoshop for post processing.

Q4. What is the location and who is the model?
Location is abandoned "haunted" villa in Gdańsk, Poland. Model is my friend Andre Govia who was cut from his self-portrait (www.flickr.com/photos/andregovia/4796696675/) and pasted into my final HDR image during post production.

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
Nothing special, I like pictures of abandoned and forgotten places. An HDR technique shows more details than a human eye normally sees, so that's the main reason it is often used in such kind of photos. At first I had a feeling that there is something missing in the picture and I thought it was nice to put any person there. So I asked for permission to use the picture of Andre. The title came to my mind during the processing of the image.