This is one of my new all-time favorite photos.  My favorite thing about it is that I knew I was getting an exceptionally amazing image when I was shooting it.  I couldn’t wait to get back to my computer to process it and put it up.  Speaking of processing it—what do you think the over/under line is for how many photos it took to get this?  (I took 9 photos to get this one picture).  I took three sets of three bracketed images: one set for the left third of the image, one set for the middle third, and one set for the right third.  I used my own preset called “Greenery, Water, and Sky” that I will releasing as part of a Presets Package soon.  Then I used Photomatix to process each of those sets into it’s own High Dynamic Range HDR Photo.  After that, I merged them into a panorama using Lightroom’s “Merge to Panorama in Photoshop” edit.  For the finishing touch?  I brought it back to Lightroom to fine tune the lighting and colors.

PS: This photo was taken at the Temple of Literature in Hanoi.  It is fantastic and one of my four favorites spots to Photograph in Hanoi.

Well of Heavenly Clarity Thiên quang tỉnh....also sometimes called the Lake of LiteratureVietnamHanoiLandscapesFamous LandmarksSunsetPanoramicsTraditional CultureUnbelievableBuddhismHDRLightroomjonathanphotosjonathanphotos.comJonathan Paulson PhotographyJonathanPaulson

I went out last night to test out a new Chinese brand tripod.  Where did I got?  The heart of Shanghai of course—Peoples Square.  This is the view that I got as I walked out of the subway.  I thought, “Yeah, this would be a good place to test it out.”  I’m thinking it passed.  BTW: the tripod I got was a carbon fiber by Weifeng.

Looking Down East Nanjing Road at NightChinaShanghaiNight PhotographyCity LifeNightlifeHDRjonathanphotos.comJonathanphotosJonathan Paulson PhotographyJonathanPaulson

I gotta couple emails and comments from yesterday saying that I didn’t say explicitly enough that it is WAY BETTER TO PROCESS in Raw.  Well, first of all, I did.  But secondly, I disagree it is way better.  But don’t take my word for it—look at the results below for yourself.

I took yesterday’s JPG panorama and yesterday’s RAW panorama and put them to the test.  I used lightroom to convert both of them to Black and White Infrared photos.

The results?  The RAW one definitely holds up cleaner.  The two biggest places this can be seen is zooming in and looking at how they handle the two biggest problem areas: the sun and the skyline transition around the trees.  But overall, looking at the other areas, the JPG handles the processing just fine.  There is no real discernable difference in quality and cleanliness really anywhere else in the picture.

And you know what, even with the minor flaws, I still prefer the JPG.  The image just looks better to me.  There is more contrast, and the dark sky looks very apocalyptic.  I think the jpg is the more powerful and epic picture.  However, I do admit the RAW looks good as well.

So…the final verdict?  I’ll let the public decide.  I will print them both and hang them in my gallery.

BTW: my thoughts on the photo itself?  I set up and took shots of this hiker starting all the way on the far right side of the image and kept taking them as she walked across the image and into the distance.  I knew one of them would be amazing. And with the steam going every which direction, I knew I needed to treat it like a sports shoot (take a lot of them) and wait until I was back home to figure out which one was the best.

Epic Hike Through Volcanic Nature BW Infrared RAWNew ZealandRotoruraLandscapesPanoramicAdventureBlack and WhiteJPGS RAWjonathanphotosjonathanphotos.comJonathan Paulson Photography

Here we are at the “Zhouzhuang Inn,” or at least I think that’s the name of it, and it is so lovely that I didn’t’ even want to leave the room.  Seriously, we get there, unpack, and see this scene: an pink mesh sheets draped over an antique box bed, soft light streaming through the window, and all sorts of beautiful little details.  This particular shot has the added effect of shooting through the pink drape, casting texture and glow to the whole image.   

Sultry Woman Lounging Next to a Chinese Antique BedChinaZhouzhuangPortraitFashionLightroomjonathanphotosjonathanphotos.comJonathan Paulson PhotographyJonathanPaulson

We’re back in color.  We’re back in Shanghai.  And we’re back in 2012.  Here is a temple “treehouse” in Yuyuan Gardens.  Sneak in there on an early spring/autumn morning, make your way to the back, and meditate on this peaceful view.

Treehouse TempleChinaShanghaiTraditional CultureLandscapesAdventureTopaz LabsHDRjonathanphotosjonathanphotos.comJonathan Paulson Photography

This place was so lovely that it was one of those things where I kept walking around thinking, “oh, this is the view…no, this is the view…okay, for real this time, this is the best view.”  It got really competitive between different spots, and then when I started going onto different floors, it just became too close to call.  I finally called it a draw—each floor has one super special view that tied with the others.  This is the what I decided was the best view on the top floor.  

Paulaner Brewhouse Christkindlmarkt Top Floor SeatsGermanyChinaShanghaiChristmasChristianArchitectureHDRJaunty Anglejonathanphotosjonathanphotos.comJonathan Paulson Photography

This picture comes from way back during the winter of 2007 (yes, I have thousands of pictures in my archives…). There are so many advantages of shooting during the winter.
1) Sunrise happens later and sunset happens earlier. Translation: photographers can sleep longer.
2) There are less people mingling about ruining your beautifully composed shots.
3) The mountains have snow on the top of them.
4) Antlered animals still have their antlers.
5) Lastly, it’s more fun to be battling the winter elements than it is the summer elements.

Sunset Boating in the FiordlandNew ZealandFiordlandSunsetWaterscapesMountainsjonathanphotosjonathanphotos.comJonathan Paulson Photography

One reason I didn’t have any time in the Space Exhibition is because the Leonardo exhibition was fascinating.  They took his notes and built miniature to life size models of them.  His ideas and inventions were brought to life.  This was one of them.  I got up close with a wide-angle lens and captured it in HDR to really bring out the alien-ness of it.

Steampunk Scuba Diver an invention by Leonardo Da VinciChinaShanghaiAdventureLightroomHDRjonathanphotosjonathanphotos.comJonathan Paulson PhotographyJonathanPaulson

I didn’t have a tripod for this shot.  But I was able to set up my camera on top of the corner post of the white railing.  Then I turned around and used that white railing as a leading line from my camera into the scene.  I think it all worked out quite beautifully.

St Peters Cupula on a Sunny Winter DayItalyVatican CityFamous LandmarksUrbanscapesChristianHDRjonathanphotosjonathanphotos.comJonathan Paulson Photography

I didn’t even purposefully set out to do a fantasy shot like this.  I have just had this beautiful panoramic night photo (btw, taken on a pocket Canon SD 880) for a long time and couldn’t quite decide what to do with it.  Then I thought, how about photoshopping a solar eclipse?  Then, how about a moon and a star?  And then…I got a little carried away.  But only a little.  Cause only a little carried away is a good thing.

BTW: the celestial elements that make it a fantasy shot come courtesy of Obsidian Dawn. They have a lot of really great brushes worth checking out.

Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Night LandscapeEgyptCairoFantasylandPanoramicLandscapeAstrophotographyPhotoshopPhoto Artjonathanphotosjonathanphotos.comJonathan Paulson Photography

I was at this Temple taking countless pictures.  Sun was streaming through the windows basking in the smoke from the incense.  It was epic.  And right as I was wrapping up, I turned around and saw this.  I might have set a new personal record for how fast I blurted, “Wait!  Wait!  Just one more…PS  Don’t Move!"

One last detail. Sometimes printing can be such a pain. I absolutely 100% love this image. But it also looks amazing cropped down to just the doors and silhouette. It was extremely difficult to decide which one to choose as my final--the wide shot or the medium shot. I call these "artist problems."

Standing Before the Temple DoorsVietnamHao Lu Ninh BinhBuddhismHDRLightroomjonathanphotosjonathanphotos.comJonathan PaulsonJonathan Paulson Photography

This part of the Great Wall of China is one of the two sections that are just outside of Beijing.  Due to their close proximity, thousands of people go those places every day, making it a total tourist trap.  The cherry on top was overcast blah clouds.  So, a total waste of time for any real photographer…right?  Wrong.  That mentality is outdated by about eight years.  What you can do now is focus 100% on composition, and then take it to post processing and create your piece of art.  I chose to use this powerful brunt paper texture to give it the feel that you are looking at how the wall was a thousand years ago in its full glory.

My suggestion for creating light and mood in post processing are:
1.  Textures (pictured below)
2.  Fake Sunsets (I’ll be releasing a tutorial soon on that with 100 downloadable sunsets)
3.  Photoshop some Fog and Light Beams in (I use Topaz Labs for the Fog and Photoshop>Filter>Render>Clouds coupled with Photoshop>Filter>Blur>Gaussian Zoom set to soft light)
3.  Lightroom (the two biggest secrets by far are the temperature slider under Basic and the vignette slider under Effects)
5.  HDR (using photomatix of course)
6.  Topaz Labs (I especially love the Adjust and Lens Effects plug-ins)

The Great Wall of Ancient TimesChinaBeijingFamous LandmarksTexturesPhoto Artjonathanphotosjonathanphotos.comJonathan Paulson Photography

I had a long day on New Years Eve, so I was sleeping when the ball dropped for Western New Year’s.  No worries though: time to dive headfirst into the photo art deep end…

What I had to start with was just an image of the building on the left.  I stretched out the building, then made a mirror copy.  I did all that with the idea of photoshopping fireworks into the vacant center. I played around with what kind of fireworks I wanted before deciding on a heart outline with a center burst. I think it turned out fantastically.

Fireworks Over a Japanese AlleyJapanOsakaPanoramicFireworksPhotoshopPhoto Artjonathanphotosjonathanphotos.comJonathan Paulson Photography

Every temple (according to my source) has a traditional calligrapher who will sign and seal something for you as proof that you were there.  Some people get a piece of paper signed and frame it like a certificate.  That is okay.  A much cooler thing is to get a traditional kimono and get that signed and sealed by each temple.  What you are seeing here is the front left lapel (breast) area being signed.

One more thing: you know how DVD’s have deleted scenes, extra features, and all that good stuff.  I feel like I could release a whole DVD about this picture.  It is so rich; it could be successfully printed a 100 different ways.

Calligrapher Marks Temple PilgrimageTagged JapanKyotoPortraitTraditional CultureHDRjonathanphotosjonathanphotos.comJonathan Paulson Photography

I frequently like this more painterly look…especially with the architecture and colors on Mykonos.  What I especially like about this particular one is that since it is a panorama, parts of it look painterly while other parts look photography.  This is cool because it kind of plays with your mind and makes you think wait--what is exactly going on here?

Mykonos Island Beach House PanoramaGreeceMykonosIsland LifeArchitecturePanoramicHDRjonathanphotosjonathanphotos.comJonatha Paulson Photography

This is a real picture, not photoshopped at all.  Elephants seriously can paint.  It’s really bizarre.  I mean really really bizarre.  This painting sits in my mother in laws office.  Look at that painting up close.  It’s an elephant grazing on green grass underneath an autumn tree.  It’s appropriately colored.  It has appropriate details.  Jeeze…and here I have been catching flak that anyone nowadays can be a photographer.  Shucks, multiple species nowadays can be a painter.

Elephant Painting a Self PortraitThailandChiang MaiPortraitWildlifeUnbelievbleLightroomjonathanphotosjonathanphotos.comJonathan Paulson PhotographyJonathanPaulson

ThisNotCruiseShipItsHanoi

Like all photographs from Laylas Magical Book, you can have YOUR VERY OWN CHILD photoshopped in.  All you have to do is email jonathan@Jonathanphotos.com with a picture of your child skipping away, and my team and I here can photoshop your child into here in Layla’s place.  For more information click here.

The background of this picture was taken at Wat Phra That Doi Suthep—a most famous temple outside of Chiang Mai, Thailand.  Then I brought it straight into Photoshop did a few things here and there in combination with four different Topaz Labs plug ins: Topaz Clarity, Topaz Adjust, Topaz Lens Effect, and Topaz Star Effect. Actually, the original picture is quite drab, dull, and in a word: boring. But thanks to Photoshop, Topaz Labs, and creative vision, we were able to turn that boring image into a piece of art.

Skipping Into a Temple ParadiseLaylas Magical BookFantasylandChiang MaiLandscapesBuddhismAdventurePhotoshopTopaz Labsjonathanphotosjonathanphotos.comJonathan Paulson PhotographyJonathanPaulson

This is the film strip version. They are also available separately as individual photos. My original idea with this film strip, was to show the temple through the various eras of photography. I thought I’d start with the old grainy, faded sepia to yellow murk photos of the late 1800’s. Then I thought I’d bring to the 1950’s with Ansel Adams Black and White zone system. Next would be the film era and Velvia saturation and silhouettes. Finally, would be the digital HDR era. However, when I put them in that order, it didn’t quite make sense to the brain (why is the BW in the middle and why is the dark one in the middle?). So I chose a more visually pleasing order than an intellectual historically pleasing order.

BTW: these HDR photos were put together from 9 different bracketed photos. The textured one was from one of my own textures combined with the detail plug in from Topaz Labs. The Black and White was from Topaz BW Plug In. And the HDR was processed in Photomatix.

VietnamLakePagodaYesteryearChùaTrấnQuốc

Inspired by the Nightmare Before Christmas, I went with a high contrast grayish look featuring darker blues, yellows, black and white tones, and dark vignettes.

Walking Through the Moganshan MountainsChinaMoganshan MountainsAdventureTravelLandscapesJonathan Paulson Photographyjonathanphotosjonathanphotos.com

It’s my little brother’s birthday, and the sunrise does his birthday justice.

That peak on the top right is called Manly Beacon, and that is just one prominent feature at the Zabriskie Point area, which is located in Death Valley National Park in California.  Confused yet?  I feel like Death Valley is California’s best kept secret.  Everyone talks about the beaches, the Redwoods, Yosemite, the girls…and no one ever mentions Death Valley.  It’s simply stunning.  Don’t leave it off your California itinerary.

Photographing Manly Beacon Point on a Dreamy MorningCaliforniaDeath ValleyLandscapesFamous LandmarksSunriseTopaz Labspanoramicsjonathanphotosjonathanphotos.comJonathan Paulson Photographyjonathanpaulson

These things were a bit tricky to shoot.  I wanted an intense, slightly intimidating look to this image.  In the back of my mind I had those looming Kings from Lord of the Rings in my mind.  And I wanted to make sure I kept all the surroundings of the hall without diminishing the size of the knights in armor.  A wide angle lenses wouldn’t be able to do that.  So I shot an old school panorama using a 50mm lenses and then stitching 3 photographs together using Lightroom’s “merge to panorama in Photoshop” function.

Protectors of the HallItalyTraditional CultureAdventureLightroomPanoramaTexturesjonathanphotosjonathanphotos.comJonathan Paulson PhotographyJonathanPaulson

I just love this "photo." And I saw "photo" because this is not exactly how it looked when I took it (see below). But I do love simple black and white photos with sunbeams cutting through fog. They are just so powerful.

But, yes, it's powerful. But why go through all the steps below and process it this way? The answer is becuase I loved the composition of the original photo, but I just didn't think it was special enough. Lot's of people could have gotten that photo. So many people do photography these days, that I always strive for images that people can't find anywhere else. So why not wait until the right day/weather conditions to take it as a real photo? The answer is I'm still waiting for the real photo and might be waiting for a long long time, in the meantime, this will have to suffice.

Skyscrapers Bursting Through CloudsChinaShanghaiUrbanscapesCity LifeSurrealBlack and WhitePhoto ArtTopaz LabsPhotoshopBefore and AfterWorkflowjonathanphotosjonathanphotos.comJonathan Paulson Photography

This photo wraps up my time in Australia.  It is such a beautiful country—great people too!  I feel like it just doesn’t get its due up in the Northern Hemisphere.

SPOILER ALERT! If you are the type of person who doesn’t want to know how magic works, then stop reading.  This picture was originally taken in the afternoon.  Then how did that plus color scheme get into the sky?  There is a reason this image was tagged “photoshop.”  I created a blue-to-violet-to-purple-to-pink-to-orange sunset in photoshop and then merged it onto there.  The easy part is putting it into the sky, the part that takes some skill is blending the sky with the skyline, but the truly tricky part is blending the sunset tones with the rest of the image (the water, the skin etc…).

Obviously though, the better looking the scene, and quite frankly, the model, the more forgiving people are of those technical adjustments.

BTW: soon I will be releasing a 100 different sunsets availbe to purchase and download so you can start spicing up your own images. Check back soon!

Photo Shoot on the Sydney Harbor WaterAustraliaSydneyPortraitFamous LandmakrsPanoramicSunsetPhotoshopjonathanphotosjonathanphotos.comJonathan Paulson Photography

Everyone hears that Cairns means "reef + rainforest." If you're looking for a reason to visit the rainforest part, look no further than here.  It seemed like every time we went around a corner, we were presented a vibrant view like this.  I literally could have stopped every mile (that’s 1.6km for our non-‘Merican readers) or so to take a picture.

Daintree Rainforest DriveAustraliaCairnsAdventureHDRLandscapesPanoramicjonathanphotosjonathanphotos.comJonathan Paulson Photography

Did anyone see that full moon last night? It kind of looked like this—right? I’m sure this is kind of what the Apple House looked like last night…if the moon rose in the south and there were tendril clouds whisping by. So maybe it didn’t look exactly like this in “real life,” but this is what it looked like in my mind. And thanks to Photoshop, it was easy to show you what I saw.

The Apple House at Mount Hood Organic FarmsOregonLandscapesSunsetWeddingsHDRBlack and Whitejonathanphotosjonathanphotos.comJonathan Paulson PhotographyJonathanPaulson

The Pyramids of Giza offer endless amounts of photographic opportunities. A photographer could easily spend a month here just working the light and weather both day and night. This photograph was taken by climbing up onto one of the construction platforms over near the Sphinx. I loved the composition, but I wanted to spice up the photo a little bit. Bending light to your will and messing around in special effects is only illegal if it’s for news reporting…but for fine art it is totally acceptable.

Pyramid and Sphinx under the SunMiddle EastAfricaEgyptCairoFamous LandmarksLandscapesHDRTexturesTopaz LabsPhoto Artjonathanphotosjonathanphotos.comJonathan Paulson Photography

The sun has set on this little Shire run of photos the past six days. Time to say goodbye for a while. But for the last one, I wanted to shoot the extremely photogenic Green Dragon Inn along with the bridge and the Mill. I just had a couple of teeny problems like (1) The lighting was blah (2) The construction wasn’t finished. Guess what? I can’t wait for six months to come back later. It’s not like I live down the street. And I can’t come here four days in a row at sunrise and sunset waiting for spectacular lighting. What to do?

Time to shoot in raw, bust out Photoshop, and craft a photo art piece. Everyone raise his or her glass to hashtag “CreateYourOwnLight.” I know there are some haters out there who don’t like people messing with photos. That’s cool. I have complete respect for photojournalism and authenticity. But the truth is, most people want awesome photos. And most people want awesome photos at a very specific time. And that is a huge differentiator and how I sell jonathanphotos service to clients. “You have to have it shot August 5th no matter what—even if the lighting is blah. Well, it is always easier with spectacular lighting. But don’t worry, even if the lighting is blah, I can create my own light.”

Quick summary of things I did. (1) Made a spectrum sunset and dropped it in. (2) Added lights to the buildings. (3) Added smoke to the chimneys. (4) Added green grass and shrubbery to the lakeside. (5) Added mirror reflection to the lake. (6) Removed signs of construction.

The Green Dragon InnNew ZealandLord of the RingsThe HobbitHobbitonLandscapesCountry LifePhotoshopPhoto ArtTopaz LabsBefore Afterjonathanphotosjonathanphotos.comJonathan Paulson Photography

ThePowerKingCobra

The Shire is so beautiful that the challenge is finding out what not to include rather than what to include in each shot.  Ken Rockwell said it best: the art of photography is the art of exclusion.  Here I used the dirt road running from bottom left across the image to the right and the three trees in the skyline to serve as my composition starting points.

Shire Hill Panorama in SpringNew ZealandLord of the RingsLandscapesCountry LifeLightroomHDRPanoramicjonathanphotosjonathanphotos.comJonathan Paulson Photography

The urban skyline in Pudong is photographed at a paprazzi inspired frequency.  So how do you shoot it different?  I backed way up, put on a telephoto lenses, and included the People’s Monument on this side of the river to change up skyline and add some balance.  Then, to spice it up, I printed in a yellowy black and white.  Unique?  That was the idea.

PS: There is also a sans moon version.   

Looking Across the River on an Unusual NightChinaShanghaiUrbanscapesNight PhotographyBlack and Whitejonathanphotosjonathanphotos.comJonathan Paulson PhotographyFull Moon Version

Ayutthaya, Thailand doesn’t have a ton a ton of things to see or do, but what it does have is really cool. And one of those cool things is this Buddha stone face amidst this swampy multi-trunked tree.

Buddha Tree in the FogThailandAyutthayaBuddhismBlack and Whitejonathanphotosjonathanphotos.comJonathan Paulson Photography

MaoriCrossingNorthIslandNewZealand2012

MaoriCrossingNorthIslandNewZealand2012

What is China?  Is it the country of tomorrow with futuristic architecture?  Or is it the county of 100 years ago with opium and silk?  Truth is: it’s both.  Opium rooms can be hard to find (it’s illegal), but they’re out there.

The Opium RoomChinaShanghaiPanoramicHDRNightlifejonathanphotosjonathanphotos.comJonathan Paulson Photography

We’re here at the top of the Shanghai World Financial Center, also known as the “Bottle Opener.”  Why wait four hours in line to get to the top of the Pearl when you have this view (see here for Shanghai Travel Guide)?  They serve cocktails and coronas up there.  And it’s never crowded.  So get there, pop a top, kick your feet up, and enjoy a sunset getaway…or just put this picture on your wall and skip the whole trip altogether.

Shanghai Puxi City of the FutureChinaShanghaiUrbanscapesCity LifeHDRSunsetUnbelievablejonathanphotos.comJonathan PhotosJonathan Paulson Photography

In photography (as in life) timing is everything. Here, the sun is just setting and the weather is just changing. Perfect. And the weather even cooperated more by putting in a little mist in the bottom of the canyon on the left hand side. Truth is: the Big Man upstairs did most of the heavy lifting on this one.

Tree Over the Grand CanyonArizonaFamous LandmarksLandscapesTopaz Labsjonathanphotosjonathanphotos.comJonathan Paulson Photography