Photography.

[Retro_Link]

Yeah thanks!

[dan-likes-trees]

Wowzas!! That came out really well for a faux-HDR shot. What program did you use for it? The derelict pictures are also really cool. Apparently there was a massive empty olympic sized swimming pool that they gave up on building halfway through, near where I live, but it's been closed off now I think..

 

York photos

 

 

 

 

 

[Goafer]

Wowzas!! That came out really well for a faux-HDR shot. What program did you use for it?

 

Photomatix. It was using a single RAW file. Sometimes they come out ok, sometimes they don't. It's hit and miss really.

[Goafer]

Taken from my first proper* derelict exploration:

 

The building:

 

 

The interior:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*one that involved "improvised" entry. I'd like to point out that nothing was damaged on my trip. The place is exactly the same as I found it.

[Retro_Link]

Cool! HDR looks great applied to the building photo... nice and dramatic!

 

Would have been well scary if you'd gone into a room and found some random guy in there just like in the last photo!

[Goafer]

Cool! HDR looks great applied to the building photo... nice and dramatic!

 

Would have been well scary if you'd gone into a room and found some random guy in there just like in the last photo!

 

I don't think I'd ever be able to sleep again if that happened.

 

There was a moment when we both looked at each other in a sort of "Oh Christ!" moment. We were on the top floor and there is only 1 staircase in the whole building. We heard a bang from downstairs. It was freaky. I assume it was just a pigeon or something, but it made quite a loud noise for a pigeon.

 

We didn't go into the basement as it was pitch black and the place was trashed.

[MoogleViper]

Would have been well scary if you'd gone into a room and found some random guy in there just like in the last photo!

 

It would have been the Blair Witch Project.

[Goafer]

It would have been the Blair Witch Project.

 

That's what gave me the idea for the photo.

 

I have a few more potential explores lined up so hopefully more photos soon!

[Paj!]

Though nice subject matter, the HDR feels a bit gratuitous. Everything looks a bit like a videogame level.

 

While HDR has looked really nice in a lot of your photos on here (and other peoples), I'm not such a fan of that set. Apart from the one with the pipes on the celing. It's all too much all over the place to take in. (imo)

[Goafer]

Yeah, I think you might be right. The only ones I actually like the HDR on are the building itself, the pipes and the picture of my fellow explorer in the corner. I really don't like it on the fallen pipe picture.

 

I'm still new to HDR so I'm spamming it like crazy to learn what works and what doesn't.

[Goafer]

Some photos from other peoples "Urban Exploration" although some aren't really urban:

 

This ones known as "Optimus Prime". Not sure why. It's tunnel that allows the river Wier to pass under Victoria Station. This cattle bridge used to be above ground, but the tunnel was built over/around it:

 

 

Next up is Middleton Limestone mine. Check the sizes of the people in the shots. Mental:

 

 

 

These ones are of an old tunnel that was Bristols shelter during WWII:

 

 

 

 

 

There's plenty more on Derelict Places.

 

 

Expect some more of my own soon.

[Retro_Link]

Holy shit!! where is Middleton...

*checks* Warwickshire... south of Drayton Manor... so not too far!

 

I'd be pretty interested in checking that out!............................. providing it's stable!

 

 

Also @ Goafer...

Did you buy a mini tripod a while ago?... one of those ones with bendy legs. If so which one was it and have you found it to be good?

Edited May 12, 2010 by Retro_Link

[Goafer]

Holy shit!! where is Middleton...

*checks* Warwickshire... south of Drayton Manor... so not too far!

 

I'd be pretty interested in checking that out!............................. providing it's stable!

 

 

Also @ Goafer...

Did you buy a mini tripod a while ago?... one of those ones with bendy legs. If so which one was it and have you found it to be good?

 

I got the Gorillatorch, which is like the bendy tripods but with a torch on the end. No idea how well it works with a camera, but the torch version is good.

[ReZourceman]

Here's the ghost I caught on camera when doing some urban exploration of the old (closed over a decade ago) Odeon cinema in Aylesbury.

 

 

 

 

 

(Turns out it was just a rip in the wall lol)

[Ashley]

Nope, it was one of these fellows:

 

[Happenstance]

I dunno, looks like it could be ghost Tingle to me

 

[ReZourceman]

Where do you live Retro? We should all do a cool Urban Exploration sometime.

[Happenstance]

Photo I took yesterday, quite liked it:

 

[Retro_Link]

Where do you live Retro? We should all do a cool Urban Exploration sometime.

I live in Gloucestershire. Would probably take me an 1hr to get to Goafer's neck of the woods, well Oxford anyway!

 

Yeah that might be an idea, safety in numbers!

That mine especially looks pretty epic! A regular Bat Cave!

Photo I took yesterday, quite liked it:

 

Nice Macro Happenstance!

[dan-likes-trees]

On the subject of derilict... stuff, we found a burnt out van by the side of the road and chilled. First is faux HDR

 

 

 

[ReZourceman]

I tried looking at Wiki to explain what HDR is, but I couldn't understand.

 

Can someone explain?

[Paj!]

It's all to do with depth and luminescence or something. It's why it doesn't look quite like normal, and more like a videogame. Like it all stems from one thing. Or something. It's there's a lack of depth/the depth is different. TONES DEPTH LIGHT AH I DON'T KNOW

 

Something like that. Just what it looks like.

 

Or at least that's what little I know.

[Goafer]

I tried looking at Wiki to explain what HDR is, but I couldn't understand.

 

Can someone explain?

 

Basically: A cameras "Dynamic Range" is the difference between the darkest colour in the photo and the lightest. Cameras (and possibly the human eye) can only capture a certain range at a time. HDR uses 3 images (each capturing a slightly different range) to get a greater range than usual.

 

An example with numbers. Imagine pitch black is 0, pure white is 10. A camera can only capture 5 numbers at a time*. Take one picture of 0-5, one of 2.5-7.5 and one of 5-10. When you put the 3 pictures together, you have covered a range greater than the camera can capture.

 

*It can actually take all ten, but can only capture the detail in five out of the ten.

 

In terms of the actual image, a camera can capture the detail in the shadows, mid range or highlights, but not normally all 3 at once. By getting a greater range than normal, you can get a lot of detail in all 3.

 

The end result is an image that is more detailed than a camera can normally capture.

 

 

 

That's my understanding of it, I could be wrong.

 

 

 

 

 

Edit: This is a good example of a cameras limited range:

 

 

To get the detail in the exterior, the camera has to use a setting that blacks out the interior. When capturing the interior, the exterior is "blown" (too white). Using HDR you could merge these 2 different exposures to have all the detail.

Edited May 15, 2010 by Goafer

[Fresh]

That's my understanding of it, I could be wrong.

 

That's perfect. Think of it as your camera usually sacrifices detail in the extremities to achieve a more balanced picture. By isolating the different ranges you can achieve a picture that, upon merging with two or more pictures, has a higher range; A High Dynamic Range (HDR) picture.

[Goafer]

Photos from the recent exploration of the Aylesbury Odeon and the Shipston Cement Works with some bonus satellite dishes between. The cinema ones came out quite nicely considering that it was pitch black inside. Seriously, whatever wasn't lit by the torches wasn't even remotely visible.