Travelog: Travel to Belur, Karnataka, India

[Umesh Bhatt]

A couple images from my recent travel to this ancient (12th Century) south Indian temple. More details about this location here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belur,_Karnataka
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chennakesava_Temple

More images coming soon...

Channa Kesava Temple - SNS HDR

The Temple Premises - Digitally Aged to give a sense of time period

Well, there is a bit of lens distortion - this is expected considering - this was shot with a 14mm lens. My only other option was to shoot Panorama, which I also did. More of this coming soon.

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Umesh,

Channa Kesava Temple - SNS HDR

The Temple Premises - Digitally Aged to give a sense of time period

Two very nice pieces.

The simulated "pencil sketch" effect of the second one is very effective and handsome.

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Asher Kelman]

A couple images from my recent travel to this ancient (12th Century) south Indian temple.

Channa Kesava Temple - SNS HDR

The detail of the elephants at the base is likely only seen this well as a result of the SNS-HDR magic. I'd love to see the before and after just for my own education. It does appear that this process is especially valuable with such a detail rich building, the mastery of which has to be discovered, not only in the grand design but also in each individual work of sculptural art.


The Temple Premises - Digitally Aged to give a sense of time period

This extremely simple drawn version is also seemingly perfect. It removes unneeded greyness of stone and so the design is able to excel over the pervasive and strong stone.

Good job!

Asher


Well, there is a bit of lens distortion - this is expected considering - this was shot with a 14mm lens. My only other option was to shoot Panorama, which I also did. More of this coming soon.[/QUOTE]

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

I like the first one and I don't mind the lens distortion. Did you perhaps reduce the saturation on the blues? The tourists to the right are slightly distracting. One could deghost them in case one takes multiple exposures but it takes patience and luck. I know that it is not always possible. Lastly, the sky has very little definition despite the hdr. Was this from a single bracket?

Re. the aged photo, the technique and the results are not my cup of tea I'm afraid. The grain/scratches are mostly in the area of vignetting and the middle portion is unrealistically clear. Just my 0.02 €

 

[Umesh Bhatt]

Cem - Good suggestions. I will clone out the tourists - from other shots. About the aged photo - I agree, it is not everyone who likes such things. It was a photoshop accident - which I decided to keep, and enhance. The scratches are from grunge overlay. In some ways, I feel I salvaged the photo and made it a usable frame from an otherwise "blah" image. See original for what I mean.

About the sky - It was completely overcast - and had been raining (Monsoon season). I am surprised at the amount of details that SNS was able to extract.

In tourist places such as this - I had to wait a long time for people to clear the place, and often had to request folks to be out of the frame...

In any case, I have added the original 0EV image FYI...

Original 0EV shot for Temple details

Full image (no crop) and before shot of other image

 

[Asher Kelman]

Cem - Good suggestions. I will clone out the tourists - from other shots.

Just use a tripod and long enough exposure. The tourists will vanish!

In any case, I have added the original 0EV image FYI...

what does OEV stand for?

Full image (no crop) and before shot of other image

Is this processed or as shot? Did you add the grunge? Pity if you did. Still, I like it and far better than the cropped version.

Asher

 

[Umesh Bhatt]

long exposure...yes, unfortunately - the entire temple is on a 6 foot raised platform/pedestal. I was standing as far back as possible without compromising the sculptures behind. There was no spot for a tripod. In any case, this was a travel shot...not one of my photographic expeditions. My family would have not liked the fact if I had carried my tripod and gear.

In any case - 0EV - stands for Zero EV - the Mid shot from the sequence of 3 shots: -2,0,+2 exposures.

To answer your last part - Unfortunately - this is not "as-is" shot - this was post processed with Topaz - one step behind the pencil shot - grudged as part of preparing it for the penciled version. I will post "as-is" - as soon as we get power (no power in several parts of eastern US).