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I discovered this photographer not long after I finished my earlier composition and in many ways his work relates to the technique I used on mine. I guess the idea is also related to HDR. He even has a name for the technique!! I haven’t been able to find out too much about him but I would like to as his methodology and subject matter are very inspirational and, I feel, close to my work.
Thomas Weinberger was born in Munich, Germany, in 1964. He studied architecture at the Technical University of Munich and at Università di Sapienza in Rome. In 2001 he started to dedicate himself to photography which is now his sole dedication. He photographs industrial architecture, roads and deserted streets and railways. His images have been called spectral arquitecture. The surreal lighting that envelops his work make this images feel like an alienated reality, empty spaces that in the absence of human and animated presence become the main protagonist.
The technique used in his photography has been described as Synthesis, he photographs his motif twice. He does this once at nighttime (using a large format and long exposure) and the other during daylight. He then digitally superimposes both images, creating an artificial fictional lighting that gives his images a fascinating atmosphere.
Marina Dubai, 2006
Below is the image I was talking about at the start of this blog:
After looking at HDR photography I had a look through my recent pictures and I was very happy to discover that I had two different exposures of almost the same image. I decided to work on the composition below in Photoshop. I wanted to see what kind of result I would get by merging two different exposures, looking to achieve a certain similarity to those achieved by the techniques of night time photography. The result of this composed image has little to do with a composition from a bracketed exposure for HDR as there is a greater difference between the exposure value (EV) of my two original files to what you would get with a shoot at -2 EV, 0, +2 EV.
When I started working on my image, I first had to match the different perspectives of the image which I did using the transformation tools. Then I started to merge both pictures till the background of the lighter exposure was erased and the overexposed picture came through. I also added a black gradient to the background image to give the foreground a more surreal lighting. I have also discovered that an overexposed version of your image mixed with a proper exposure in HDR may help in reducing the shadow noise in your photograph, this is a good find. To sum up, it was a long and involved process, one that was rewarding; I am happy with the process and the finished image and I hope the result will have the ability to transmit a sense of time encapsulation that will raise questions about the subject matter.
Original images:
1/200 shutter, f/3.5, ISO 125 1/800 shutter, f/3.5, ISO 125
