HDR Photography in Rome

in Blog, Photo Services, Photo Tours, Post Archive by andreamatone — May 29, 2010 at 21:59 | 2 comments

HDR image taken during a Photo Tour in Rome

Met down Via del Corso in Rome and began our Photo Tour by passing through Galleria Alberto Sordi otherwise known as Galleria Colonna.  What I love about this Gallery is the ceiling where I tried to use it as a backdrop for the photo tour by trying to keep frame low to the ground and slightly tilted towards the ceiling. The effect was desirable, just a tad of flash to liven up our couple as they were walking forward and the moment  was seized, spontaneous and real, no second chance.

The weather was kind of cloudy so lighting wasn’t at  best even though Rome’s Fontana di Trevi was beautiful as always.  By viewing the picture you don’t get a sense that Trevi’s fountain was crowded as I tried to isolate our couple as best I could in order to give back the true intimacy of the moment.

The next step of the photo tour was a small courtyard which we ran into by chance.  After choosing a suitable location for HDR images by analyzing the tonal contrasts I tried to set-up as quickly as possible for a few takes asking our couple to have patience as finding the right settings is not a long process but it takes a little.  When everything and everyone was immobile we took the sequence which was later mounted in post production.  This is how the HDR process came out.

And onwards to Trinità dei Monti after passing though Piazza di Spagna, and up the Spanish steps where we stopped to take some pictures here and there.  As the weather wasn’t best I purposely overexposed in order to avoid having a grey sky and threw everything to white which is more candid and more visually appealing.   I really like the final picture effect.

Back to HDR on the next image taken in the Pincio Park by Trinità dei Monti (shown at the beggining of the page).   This is truly a great shot.  I love the moment, the intimacy, and the contrast tones so centered on the couple with these dreamy like trees overhead.   It is my favorite shot of the entire Photo Tour.

Moved over to a new nearby location where we tried to very quickly fool around with HDR photography again.  Rome has so many locations which are so inspiring.  Here I tried to stay low and take up a good portion of the composition with the element of water.

We stayed over by the Pincio a bit more and explored some other locations trying to exploit the beautiful sweeping view over the roman skyline and the city of Rome.  Portrait posses on the walls with distant churches as background.  Romantic locations, truly beautiful spots, spontaneous moments.

Romantic Photo Tour in Rome

We closed the photo tour ride in Rome with the Roman Colosseum or Coliseum which is by far the greatest work of Roman architecture.   Tried to photograph it from a new spot as that day it was being prepared for the new year concert.

This is it for now.  Please check out my main Photo Tour page for further information or other sample photo tour pages as well as my new Photo Tour proposition on the 19 Tram line around Rome.

Tags: Photographer Rome, photography tour