My Round the World Trip


The original looks right to me. It is a sunny day. Maybe your monitor is too bright?

I dunno maybe other people can comment on which ones looks natural.

i thot the original looks alrite too.. cheers
 

Thanks guys for the input.. i guess it is the monitor. Will get it calibrated and re-look at the photos! I have presume that the photos will appear the same to everyone's computer screen.
In fact, while in the office now, I decided to take a look at the photos again and realise its looks different - the original looks ok here... so how am i going to trust my own eyes from now??
 

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#2 Israel, Jerusalem - I hear you​
 

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Stunning series. For sure a trip of a lifetime.
 

Interesting hairstyle :D
 

Hi Alantkh,
here is a copy of the original - which i thought was too bright at the castle on the hill
Dear all, please share your thoughts on the original ( can also share how the edited version to your eyes?)

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the original is far better, but excellent in any way, but it is still natural. laptop can be very far off, but most desktop monitors are about just ok as they are, depending on how picky one is.

the edited version is too dark with even the brightest portion being the clouds and the light yellow stone castle becoming gloomy and overcast. the light blue hue in the shadow region of the mountains in the distant now becomes too bluish. and the sky is dark, gloomy and saturated, with the limited latitude, noise start to appear. to improve on the original, post processing is of limited value. u need either to wait for even better lighting, or with less effect use a grad ND filter, or ideally both. otherwise u might have to expect the original at that time of the day and with your tool, as the best possible outcome. composition wise, i think this is fair and ok.
 

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Now, I know why I heard that some people can spend 20 hours post processing just a few photos.. it is hard work. I read on forum that there is a Lightroom course in Nov - i'll go !

really? maybe there is a lot of special effects and stitching?

i normally do about 5-15mins. more than half the time is used in looking and thinking, rather than any actions.
 

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#3 Israel and the occupied Territories, Which side are you on?
About two-thirds of the 700km+ route, featuring a 8m-high wall, electric fences, sniper towers and "buffer zones" up to 100m wide, is completed or under construction




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#4 Israel and the occupied Territories, The Dividing Wall
Supporters argue that the barrier is necessary to protect Israeli civilians from Palestinian terrorism, including the suicide bombing attacks that increased significantly
(Photo captures from the car as we are not allowed to get off without permission)


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#5 Palestine, West bank - Graffetti on Wall

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#6 Palestine - Bethlehem, Despair
Only one car rental company is allow to enter Occupied Territories(Palestine) we rented a car and went though tens of military security posts before arriving in Bethehelm. I was driving, the Italian -navigator and the French Arabic was back passenger. We saw smoke from afar and we would never have guess there were riots and they were burning the streets.. every corner we turned, the roads were blocked with burning vehicles/ rubbish dump or crowd of angry people.
we were afraid but also curious so we decided to drive closer to have a look and maybe capture some photos. (from the car, of course) The soldier asked where we going as the road is close. we replied "the Church of Nativity". he waves his hands and asked us to drive through..???!!!

whhaaaat, you sure? we stared at him in amazement
Yes , yes he replied as he turns away from us

I did that, the crowd of protestors falls apart, probably like how Moses parted the red sea.

French arabic was yelling " careful, careful.. they might attack our car" he gesture vigourously..

all i could shout at that time was " Shut up!!!" I dont want to run over anybody's toes.. or they might really attack us! My mind conjuring a few ugly scenarios even though I try not to show my own fear. I cant imagine what would've have happened to us then if things went awry. It was a nerve racking moment, I swear.

(This photo was captured after we returned from the Church of Nativity)
 

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Palestine - Bethlehem, Despair

Only one car rental company is allow to enter Occupied Territories(Palestine) we rented a car and went though tens of military security posts before arriving in Bethehelm. I was driving, the Italian -navigator and the French Arabic was back passenger. We saw smoke from afar and we would never have guess there were riots and they were burning the streets.. every corner we turned, the roads were blocked with burning vehicles/ rubbish dump or crowd of angry people.
we were afraid but also curious so we decided to drive closer to have a look and maybe capture some photos. (from the car, of course) The soldier asked where we going as the road is close. we replied "the Church of Nativity". he waves his hands and asked us to drive through..???!!!

whhaaaat, yous sure? we stared at him in amazement
Yes , yes he replied as he turns away from us

I did that, the crowd of protestors falls apart, probably like how Moses parted the red sea.

French arabic was yelling " careful, careful.. they might attack our car" he gesture vigourously..

all i could shout at that time was " Shut up!!!" I dont want to run over anybody's toes.. or they might really attack us!
I cant imagine what would've have happened to us then if things sent awry. It was a nerve racking moment, I swear.

(This photo was captured after we returned from the Chruch of Nativity)


Wow this is too exciting for my heart :bigeyes:
Like a scene from an action movie... :sweat:
 

really? maybe there is a lot of special effects and stitching?
i normally do about 5-15mins. more than half the time is used in looking and thinking, rather than any actions.


Thanks for precise feedback about the photo. I am learning about filters now! I saw a friend had one that gave orangy burst of sunrise when we were in Bromo and someone else had a gradual grey one attached to the front of his camera.. Small tinge of regret - wished I knew more before.. these small equipments seems to be of help when taking photos in certain conditions

I heard of someone who spend a lot of hours doing post editing - I didnt know what the software is capable of back then, now I know and I guess for effects and stitching might take a longer time
Seems there are two school of thoughts about post editing as i read through other threads. Personally, not against it but sometimes when i look at a gorgeously edited photo and I wonder if that is the real feeling one gets when we arrive at the same place one day:p
 

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salute to your 15mths backpacking! :thumbsup: thanks for sharing all the wonderful pictures!
 

Thanks for precise feedback about the photo. I am learning about filters now! I saw a friend had one that gave orangy burst of sunrise when we were in Bromo and someone else had a gradual grey one attached to the front of his camera.. Small tinge of regret - wished I knew more before.. these small equipments seems to be of help when taking photos in certain conditions

I heard of someone who spend a lot of hours doing post editing - I didnt know what the software is capable of back then, now I know and I guess for effects and stitching might take a longer time
Seems there are two school of thoughts about post editing as i read through other threads. Personally, not against it but sometimes when i look at a gorgeously edited photo and I wonder if that is the real feeling one gets when we arrive at the same place one day:p

if u pay notice to the brown filter, u may also note that some movies also apply the same effect, making the pale white sky appearing orangish, while having the grass cool green. i think that is used in my sassy girlfriend (korean movie, unknown grassland where the couple is supposed to meet below a certain tree) and tian ya hai jiao (天涯海角, hk movie at scotland). having an appreciation of how warm or how cool the colors will enable one to know if the effect will turn out natural or not.

for example, real saffron light in the sunset should shine on and reflect a very gentle orangish cast on grass, and even less so for less reflective for the trees and bushes who have darker green or brown/grey for the trunks. a GND makes everything on the top orangish.

also, the darker the sky, the more natural looking will be the colored GND filter. the paler the sky, the more unnatural it will be, applicable for polariser as well.

all these came from practices. so it may not be applicable for you if u have not started using filters. filters are a hassle to apply, so they are used only if you bother. it will depend on how much u wanted to have control over your sky-containing landscape, versus how light and easy u want to be on the go. i have more or less already know i'm not for tripod, star trail and waterfalls, basically no long exposure.
 

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Thanks for sharing the information about filters.. it looked so simple, just slot it in front of the camera and never guess that is is a hassle.:) as you know by now, I am also not a tripod nor any extra accessories person when it comes to photo taking but I reckon the more effort, the better the results! I'll start with one filter (probably the orange/brown) and see how it goes!
 

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#7 Israel - Tel aviv, Yad Vashem Musuem

Children's Memorial: Perhaps the most haunting of all memorials on site, this building memorializes the 1.5 million Jewish children who perished in the Holocaust. This is an underground cavern in which the flickering flames of memorial candles are reflected in an infinity of tiny lights within the prevailing darkness. As one finds their way around the circular path, he views photos of the children as a recording plays, simply stating the children's names and countries of residence.
 

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New Series - SPAIN


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# 1 Spain - Granada, Sunset from roof terrace of oasis Hostel
One of my favourite sunset to-date.​
 

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#2 Spain - Granada, Windows and doors of Alhambra

The former palace and citadel of the Moorish kings of Granada, and perhaps the greatest monument to Islamic mathematical art on Earth. The Moors were Muslims from North Africa and held control of the area for over 300 years. Alhambra's full Arabic name is Qal'at al-Hambra, which means The red fortess.It takes a day to walk the complex which is full courtyards, beautiful gardens and intricte designs and writings sculptured on the walls.

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#3 Spain - Granada, Intricate works
Imagine you are the stone carver of this design painstakingly using handtools to chip away the negative space to reveal the intricate design.


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#4 Spain- Granada, The Columns


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#5 Spain-Granada


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# 6 Spain, Granada
Columns of the El Alhambra
 

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Thanks for sharing the information about filters.. it looked so simple, just slot it in front of the camera and never guess that is is a hassle.:) as you know by now, I am also not a tripod nor any extra accessories person when it comes to photo taking but I reckon the more effort, the better the results! I'll start with one filter (probably the orange/brown) and see how it goes!

the thing abt filter is - u have to know when to take it out and when to put it on. u cannot keep leaving it there. it degrades picture quality, esp when dirty (and dirty if u keep it exposed a lot of time.), and it can cause bad effect if not used in the correct situation. even if u dun care abt that, u cannot keep it on all the while too, cos with this kind of filter holder (u can cap it on for those round filters though), u cannot cap it on and dust gets in to dirty the lens front element or front filter.
 

the thing abt filter is - u have to know when to take it out and when to put it on. u cannot keep leaving it there. it degrades picture quality, esp when dirty (and dirty if u keep it exposed a lot of time.), and it can cause bad effect if not used in the correct situation. even if u dun care abt that, u cannot keep it on all the while too, cos with this kind of filter holder (u can cap it on for those round filters though), u cannot cap it on and dust gets in to dirty the lens front element or front filter.

bought a GND and a CPL that fits a square filter holder just for a Nepal trip that i recently came back from, after 1 day of struggling to screw in/out the adaptor and holder, and having to change lens occasionally... i decided to simply hold the filters with my barehands when i needed it.. :bsmilie:

Hi Pupuce, I've been glued to ur thread. A dream that probably wont come true for me, married with 1 toddler, 1 baby.. by the time i can be away from the kids for so such a long period of time, i'll be 50 already!! Mayb me and wife still can make it for extended trips, but i doubt we can handle those long treks and sleeping conditions! (i'll love to do that gorilla trek!) Im hoping we can at least to a 3 mth one when the kids grows slightly older...

keep posting!!
 

btw U were asking about taking pictures of dark-skinned people.. if u wan to correctly expose for their facial features, it's almost inevitable to get the brighter background overexposed... if possible u could try to let light fall directly on their faces (sun is behind you) and have them composed with a darker background... but i understand that when you're travelling, u dun have much of say on how ur subject should stand...

u could try using a CPL filter to cut glare and diffused light... or simply do a tighter crop, have a minimal background, focus on the subject's expressions or facial features, metering will be more accurate too...

Im no expert, but hope that helps..
 

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