HDR Photography, Tutorials, and Travel Photo Blog

Rome By Night | Italy

Elia Locardi — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:55:49 +0000

A twilight view of Rome overlooking the Vatican from my favorite Roman Bridge, Ponte Sant’Angelo.

Over the years as a travel photographer, I’ve been fortunate enough to visit Rome many times and this is definitely one of my all time favorite views. There’s just something special about The Eternal City and with beautiful views like this, it’s no wonder I can’t get enough.

Technical Mumbo Jumbo

Travel Photography by: Elia Locardi
Camera: Nikon D800
Lens: 24-70 f/2.8 (Shot at 38mm)
Tripod: RRS TVC-33 / BH-55 Ballhead / RRS L-Plate
ISO: 100 at f/11
5 Exposure Brackets (-2,-1,0,+1,+2)

Location: Shot in Rome, Italy – April 2012 and post-processed in Venice, Italy – May 2013

Hardware: 15” 2013 Macbook Pro Retina, Wacom Intuos5 Small Tablet

Software: Lightroom 4.4, Photoshop CS6, Nik Color Efex Pro 4

Technique and Details: 3 out of the 5 exposures were blended manually in Photoshop CS6. The soft (but not too soft) water effect was created by using an 8 second exposure. Sharpening applied using a high pass filter set to 2.0.

Espresso: Freshly brewed Illy from the neighborhood Bar.

The Heart of Rome | Italy

Elia Locardi — Thu, 02 May 2013 12:52:23 +0000

It’s amazing to think that for centuries, the Roman Forum was the teeming heart of ancient Rome and the center of Roman public life. Every time I stand here, gazing out on the ruin of architectural fragments, I feel a profound sense of wonder as I try to visualize the way it looked during its prime, at the peak of the Roman Empire. It’s no wonder why the Roman Forum has been called the most celebrated meeting place in the world.

On my last evening in Rome, I spent a bit of time here enjoying the sunset and waiting for the lights to come on. Thankfully there were also some soft and beautiful clouds to work with.

Technical Mumbo Jumbo

Camera: Nikon D800
Lens: 24-70 f/2.8 (Shot at 42mm)
Tripod: RRS TVC-33 / BH-55 Ballhead / RRS L-Plate
ISO: 100 at f/8
5 Exposure Brackets (-2,-1,0,+1,+2)

Location: Shot in Rome, Italy – April 2012 and post-processed in Vernazza, Italy – May 2013

Hardware: 15” 2013 Macbook Pro Retina, Wacom Intuos5 Small Tablet

Software: Lightroom 4.4, Photoshop CS6, Nik HDR Efex Pro 2, Nik Color Efex Pro 3

Technique and Details: All 5 exposure brackets were blended using HDR Efex Pro 2 followed by some cross processing with Color Efex Pro 3. The sharpening was applied using a simple High Pass Filter in Photoshop.

Espresso: Lavazza Oro, my all time favorite roast.

Roman Dreams | Italy

Elia Locardi — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:00:10 +0000

I know I say this often but Rome is absolutely one of my all time favorite cities. With a profound mixture of excitement and anticipation, each visit makes me feel like a kid on Christmas morning and with the gift of awesome weather, this visit was one of the best ones yet.

Ponte Sant’Angelo has long been one of my favorite photography spots in Rome and even though I’ve shot here many times, I’ve never seen the Tiber River level quite like this. It was absolutely perfect for capturing colorful reflections and combined with such beautiful clouds, it was an absolute joy to be a photographer.

Thank you Rome for the gift of such a beautiful moment of time.

Technical Mumbo Jumbo

Camera: Nikon D800
Lens: 14-24 f/2.8 (Shot at 14mm)
Tripod: RRS TVC-33 / BH-55 Ballhead / RRS L-Plate
ISO: 100 at f/8
5 Exposure Brackets

Location: Shot and post-processed in Rome, Italy – April 2013

Hardware: 15” 2013 Macbook Pro Retina, Wacom Intuos5 Small Tablet

Software: Lightroom 4.3, Photoshop CS6, Nik HDR Efex Pro 2, Nik Color Efex Pro 3, Nik Sharpener Pro

Technique and Details: Nik HDR Efex Pro did a wonderful job of combining the 5 exposure brackets together. After that — using the Photoshop Clone Stamp — I painted out all the mud and muck near the river bank. From there, minor color and detail adjustments were applied using a combination of Nik Color Efex Pro and Nik Sharpener Pro. The wide angle distortion was removed using the built in tools in Adobe Lightroom.

Espresso: Lavazza Oro brewed with Roman tap water.

Atrani By Night | Amalfi Coast

Elia Locardi — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 13:00:50 +0000

I’m very excited to say that tomorrow I’ll be flying from Japan to Rome to kick off a 2 week photography adventure with my good friend and fellow photographer Ken Kaminesky. Together, we’ll be traveling through some very beautiful areas of Tuscany, Cinque Terre, and Venice, scouting locations for our upcoming series of Italian Photography Workshops.

While we’re on the road, I’ll be working on a project with Fujifilm, using X-E1 mirrorless cameras along with an arsenal of Fuji lenses to help scout and document the countryside. I’ll also be traveling with a kit of filters by Formatt-Hitech, to aid in capturing long exposures of the beautiful and rocky ligurian coast. It’s going to be a lot of fun.

With so many awesome countries to visit this year, It’s hard for me to pick a favorite destination but with Italy, It feels as though my heart is returning home. Sometimes I think I could spend my entire lifetime exploring and photographing Italy and who knows… someday I just might.

Atrani By Night

With thoughts of Italy consuming my mind as of late, I felt inspired to process another photo from my 2012 visit to Atrani, an incredible little village on the Amalfi Coast.

This was shot on the last Sunday in August marking the end of the Italian vacation season. With so many cars and motorbikes zooming around the coastline, conditions were perfect for long exposure light trails. As I enjoyed capturing the beautiful scene below, I raised my glass of local Limoncello and made a toast to this beautiful and unique part of the world. Salute Italia, grazie per la costante ispirazione.

Technical Mumbo Jumbo

Camera: Nikon D800
Lens: 14-24 f/2.8 (Shot at 16mm)
Tripod: RRS TVC-23 / BH-40 Ballhead / RRS L-Plate
ISO: 100 at f/8
5 Exposure Brackets

Location: Shot in Atrani, Italy – August 2012 and post-processed in Fukuoka, Japan – April 2013

Hardware: 15” 2013 Macbook Pro Retina, Wacom Intuos5 Small Tablet

Software: Lightroom 4.3, Photoshop CS6, Nik Color Efex Pro 4, Nik Sharpener Pro

Technique and Details: 3 of the 5 exposure brackets were blended manually in Photoshop using painted masks. Contrast and color corrections applied using a combination of Nik Software and Photoshop adjustment layers.

Espresso: 8 shots of Lavazza so far today! Zoooom!

The Mothership | Prague Metro

Elia Locardi — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 13:01:42 +0000

I’m not sure why I’m so fascinated with shooting metro stations but I’ve been seeking out interesting ones for a few years now. There’s just something special about controlled lines of symmetry and the orderly chaos of interesting angles and shapes. It may also be the fact that aside from crowd mitigation, a specific time of day has no effect on the look of the photo. Blue hour, sunrise, sunset, snow, fog, clouds – who cares… For a photographer like me who always carefully considers how the time of day will influence a location, I have to say that shooting underground — in a 100% controlled and static lighting environment — is pure awesomeness. You can literally spend an entire shooting in metro stations – something I often find myself doing while armed with an arsenal of strongly caffeinated canned beverages.

So one late night while I was exploring the metro system in Prague, I happened upon this particular station. With what must have been the perfect blend of late night fatigue and an overdose of caffeine, I swore I had stumbled into some sort of subterranean alien mothership. Considering all of the strange lifeforms wandering around down there after 2am, it might have actually been true.

Technical Mumbo Jumbo

Camera: Nikon D800
Lens: 14-24 f/2.8 (Shot at 18mm)
Tripod: RRS TVC-33 / BH-55 Ballhead / RRS L-Plate
ISO: 100 at f/8
5 Exposure Brackets

Location: Shot in Prague, Czech Republic – July 2012 and post-processed in Fukuoka, Japan – April 2013

Hardware: 15” 2013 Macbook Pro Retina, Wacom Intuos5 Small Tablet

Software: Lightroom 4.3, Photoshop CS6, Nik Color Efex Pro 4, Nik Sharpener Pro

Technique and Details: All 5 exposure brackets blended manually in Photoshop. I then used the clone stamp to remove some scattered trash on the floor before applying selective sharpening with Nik Sharpener Pro. Additional color corrections were applied using Adjustment Layers.

Espresso: Too many Boss Coffees.

Bohemian Sky | Prague

Elia Locardi — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 14:03:23 +0000

**Update: I’m now on tumblr! I’m happy to say that over the next few months I’ll be starting some exciting new projects, including authoring some “on location” and behind the scenes videos. Tumblr will become the hub for many of the new posts, videos, and of course, “the moments between.” You can find me at: http://elialocardi.tumblr.com

Bohemian Sky || Prague

I always enjoy going back through my past trips and Lightroom catalogs as it allows me to relive so many great moments in different locations all over the world. When I processed this photo, it was great to reminisce about watching these beautiful dramatic clouds slowly roll over Charles Bridge in Prague. While I was there that night, I knew this sky was special and it turned out to be a fantastic way to kick off the first of seven days exploring and photographing this Bohemian paradise. Someday soon, I hope to make a return visit to the fascinating Czech Republic. Until then, reliving memories through my photographs will have to do.

Technical Mumbo Jumbo

Camera: Nikon D800
Lens: 14-24 f/2.8 (Shot at 20 mm)
Tripod: RRS TVC-33 / BH-55 Ballhead / RRS L-Plate
ISO: 100 at f/8
Pano: 5 Exposure Brackets

Location: Shot in Prague, Czech Republic – July 2012 and post-processed in Kyoto, Japan – April 2013

Hardware: 15” 2013 Macbook Pro Retina, Wacom Intuos5 Small Tablet

Software: Lightroom 4.3, Photoshop CS6, Nik Color Efex Pro 4

Technique and Details: All 5 exposure brackets blended manually using Digital Blending techniques in Photoshop. Nik Color Efex Pro 4 was used to bring out some of the subtle details.

Espresso: Since I’m in Japan, I’ve been drinking as many Boss Coffees as possible.