Château de Chambord

[LongLensPhotography]

On the way to Chamonix I decided to make a little detour and see some castles in the Loire valley. Chenonceau in the morning was nice but the light wasn't in the right place at this time of year. I had the option to stay there till the evening or explore some more and get a bit closer to my end destination. When I made it to Chambord in the early afternoon. It was rather dreadful, windy and nearly raining. All I could do was go and explore the b*****d's castle. Very impressive... and highly recommended.
The weather cleared just in time for the late golden hour. The obvious shot looking head on to the castle and its reflection was impossible due to permanent "art exhibition" of these horrible big yellow things and floating crap in the canal. I bet they are there deliberately to make any decent image impossible. In the artistic sense that "art" is truly abhorrent and repugnant, let alone out of place in these historic gardens.
The most obvious alternative shot to me was the view from around the old bridge. I had to clone out a few people to get a clean image. Most of the moved so all I had to do was just use 2 consecutive exposures and mask the out. Two of them unfortunately required a bit more direct approach.



After sunset everyone was gone. It was nice and quiet just as you'd like it to be. The bonus feature was a changing illumination display. Nobody else wanted to see that. They cycle it from golden, red, white (blueish) lights and then dim it for a minute of two.
Red was the easiest to work with as it a fair bit dimmer than the bright amber lights... I know you will say it needs 10% more space on the bottom. Sure, it is quite easy to do it once I get round it.



Same view from the bridge ledge. Note the rising full moon (genuine). It was a very nice touch.

 

[LongLensPhotography]

And finally late blue hour (manual 2 exposure blend to compensate for bright lights).

 

[SFTPhotography]

Simply the business. That is a fantastic exposure and blend.

Critique though - because of the technical competence of the blend it looks a bit unusual as an image having no actual real blown highlights. This is probably what images like this will look like once camera dynamic ranges move on dramatically and can be done in one.

I would really love to shoot this. Never managed it.

One other thing, take in your blue tone curve black point to render the shadow areas more neutral (ie around the wall and in the corner)

Love the first. Great trip and some of your very best.

 

[SFTPhotography]

Did you take the lighting of one composed like 2 or 4?

I always take a variety of compositions under the different lighting so I have a comprehensive set.

The conditions are great also - that sky and light. Really doubt anyone will ever better these.

 

[LongLensPhotography]

Simply the business. That is a fantastic exposure and blend.

Critique though - because of the technical competence of the blend it looks a bit unusual as an image having no actual real blown highlights. This is probably what images like this will look like once camera dynamic ranges move on dramatically and can be done in one.

I would really love to shoot this. Never managed it.

One other thing, take in your blue tone curve black point to render the shadow areas more neutral (ie around the wall and in the corner)

Love the first. Great trip and some of your very best.

Thanks. It was quite ridiculous shot to do: ISO 320 f/5 30s for the base exposure. I could barely see any colour in the sky. It think if you look closely there are still brighter areas, but sure they are compressed quite a lot to fit within 8 bit file. I think once we move to at least 10bit standard and compatible displays we can have more "natural-looking" looking extreme exposures.
You can pretty much only do this through layers in photoshop, but its rather quick and simple once you are there.

I take the suggestion about the shadow treatment on board. I would think it needs to be done as an adjustment layer with a mask to make sure it doesn't affect sky.

Did you take the lighting of one composed like 2 or 4?

I always take a variety of compositions under the different lighting so I have a comprehensive set.

The conditions are great also - that sky and light. Really doubt anyone will ever better these.

It wasn't very still there to begin with... I got away with quite decent set considering just how bad it looked during the day.

 

[SFTPhotography]

Thanks. It was quite ridiculous shot to do: ISO 320 f/5 30s for the base exposure. I could barely see any colour in the sky. It think if you look closely there are still brighter areas, but sure they are compressed quite a lot to fit within 8 bit file. I think once we move to at least 10bit standard and compatible displays we can have more "natural-looking" looking extreme exposures.
You can pretty much only do this through layers in photoshop, but its rather quick and simple once you are there.

I take the suggestion about the shadow treatment on board. I would think it needs to be done as an adjustment layer with a mask to make sure it doesn't affect sky.



It wasn't very still there to begin with... I got away with quite decent set considering just how bad it looked during the day.

It's all in the timing for reflections. If you use Lightroom you can split tone the shadow area's - I reckon though a small correction in levels/curves and it's there but a layer/mask for just the dark shadow area's will do the job nicely indeed.

 

[LongLensPhotography]

It's all in the timing for reflections. If you use Lightroom you can split tone the shadow area's - I reckon though a small correction in levels/curves and it's there but a layer/mask for just the dark shadow area's will do the job nicely indeed.

Problem is the sky is also within the shadow range here. You really have to mask it even if it is quite crude.