Summer Sunset (HDR)

What is HDR?

In image processing, computer graphics, and photography, high dynamic range (HDR) is a set of techniques that allow a greater dynamic range of luminances between the lightest and darkest areas of an image than standard digital imaging techniques or photographic methods. This wider dynamic range allows HDR images to more accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes, ranging from direct sunlight to faint starlight.

What is HDR?

Today's Photo - Summer Sunset (HDR)

This photo was taken just outside of Vyshgorod, Ukraine, July 2010.

~~ Processing Notes ~~

1. Create two virtual copies of original photo in Lightroom. Photo #1 = -2EV, Photo #2 = 0EV, Photo #3 = +3EV
2. Export the three copies to Photomatix. Select "Create HDR." Use the settings selected by the program.
3. Import back to Lightroom. Crop trees on right side of photo.
4. Export to Photoshop. Filter > Topaz Adjust > Clarity (preset).
5. Save back to Lightroom. Seemed too bright for my liking, so set the exposure to -.75. Adjusted clarity up to +71.
6. DONE !

Bohdan Khmelnytsky Statue

Bohdan Zynoviy Mykhailovych Khmelnytsky (Ukrainian: Богдан Зиновій Михайлович Хмельницький, commonly transliterated as Khmelnytsky; Polish: Bohdan Zenobi Chmielnicki; Russian: Богдан Хмельницкий, tr. Bogdan Khmelnitsky) (c. 1595 – 6 August 1657) was a hetman of the Zaporozhian Cossack Hetmanate of Ukraine. He led an uprising against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth magnates (1648–1654) which resulted in the creation of a Cossack state. In 1654, he concluded the Treaty of Pereyaslav with the Tsardom of Russia, which led to the eventual loss of independence to the Russian Empire.

Bohdan Khmelnytsky

Kiev Mohyla Academy

National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (NaUKMA) (Ukrainian: Національний університет «Києво-Могилянська академія» (НаУКМА), Natsional'nyi universytet "Kyyevo-Mohylians'ka akademiya") is a public, coeducational research university located in Kyiv, Ukraine. The Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, the school's predecessor, was established in 1632. The NaUKMA is located on the Academy's grounds in the ancient Podil neighborhood.

Kiev Mohyla Academy

Hercules Kills the Hydra

Seen at the Uzhgorod Castle, Uzhgorod, Ukraine, near the border with Slovakia.

Pavilion at Sofievsky Park (HDR)

Sofiyivsky Park (Ukrainian: Софіївський парк; Polish: Zofiówka) is a landscape park in Uman, Cherkasy Oblast of central Ukraine. It was founded in 1796 by Count Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki, a Polish noble. The park is named after his Greek wife Sofia (Zofia Potocka) and was built in 1802.

The cost of the original park was estimated at roughly 15 million złoty, a fortune by contemporary standards. The main designer was Ludwik Metzel, who imported many rare plants from all around Europe. The opening ceremony was also honoured by Stanisław Trembecki, who wrote a poem praising the park and its' namesake.

It is one of the world famous garden-park art creations. There are many scenic areas in the park including waterfalls, fountains, ponds and a stone garden. It is one of the most famous examples of late 18th or early 19th century European landscape garden design that has been preserved to the present time.

The Sofiyivsky Park was named one of the Seven Wonders of Ukraine on August 21, 2007, based on voting by experts and the internet community.

Uman, Sofiyivsky Park

Have a great weekend everyone, everywhere!

Pirogovo Cottages

Pirogovo Museum, Kiev

The territory of historic Pyrohiv now serves as the location of a 1.5-square-kilometre (370-acre) outdoor Museum of Folk Architecture and Life of Ukraine. Founded in 1969, the museum contains over 300 pieces of folk architecture brought here from all parts of Ukraine and carefully reassembled. The picturesque hill with several windmills is the museum centrepiece and the entire territory of the museum is divided into sectors, each representing the folk architecture and life of a specific Ukrainian region.

Commoner's homes, buildings of small trade, commerce and local administration, and old wooden village churches contain authentic items that represent the everyday lifestyle of Ukrainian villagers and townsfolk. Local volunteers and modern Ukrainian artisans selling their wares dress in old-style clothes and demonstrate the use of authentic everyday items to visitors.

Pirogovo (Pyrohiv), Ukraine

Vyshgorod, Established 946

Vyshhorod (Ukrainian: Вишгород) is a city in the Kiev Oblast (province), in central Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Vyshhorodskyi Raion (district), and is located along the Dnieper River upstream from the national capital, Kiev. Population: 22,933 (2001 est.)

The earliest historical mention of Vyshgorod, whose name literally translates as "the town upstream" dates as early as 946, when it was described as the favourite residence of Saint Olga. Also mentioned in De Administrando Imperio, Vyshgorod had been the fortified castle and residence of the monarchs of Kievan Rus on the Dnieper from that time until 1240, when the Mongols sacked it. It was there that Vladimir the Great kept a harem of 300 concubines.

After the Mongol invasion, the location was not mentioned until 1523 and even then it was documented as a poor village. Vyshgorod grew considerably following the construction of the hydroelectric Kiev power plant and was finally incorporated as a town in 1968. The old town was excavated in 1934-37 and 1947. The most striking find was the basement of the eight-pillared Church of St. Basil, founded by Vladimir the Great and named after his patron saint. As the church was one of the largest in Kievan Rus, it took twenty years to complete it. Before the Mongol invasion, the church housed the relics of the first East Slavic saints, Boris and Gleb, but their subsequent fate remains a mystery. The ancient cossack military monastery, the Mezhyhirskyi Monastery, was located not too far away from the city.

Vyshhorod, Ukraine

Building on Kreschatik

Kiev, Ukraine

Memorial to Pantusha the Cat.

The owner of the nearby restaurant, Pantagruel, decided to let a cat named Pantusha live inside the eatery. Soon the cat became a favorite with visitors. However once the restaurant caught fire, killing the poor pet. The restaurant’s patron renovated the restaurant, of course, and insisted a small monument be erected in memory of the cat.

Link to the article. However, there is nothing more about Pantusha in this article, Kyiv Post

House of Actors, Kiev

The Karaite Kenassa (Now the House of Actors) on 7 Yaroslaviv Val
Another object in Kyiv with a link to Turkey is the Karaite Kenassa. In the Middle Ages, Istanbul was one of the main centers of the Karaites, an ethnically Turkic sect who professed Judaism. In the nineteenth century there were more than 3000 Karaites in Turkey, making them the largest such community in the world. Today they are very few –elderly people of Turkish extraction scattered here and there. The first Karaites appeared on Ukrainian territory in the twelfth century - immediately after the Mongols took Crimea. There’s even a kenassa, or Karaite temple, here in Kyiv, just like in Istanbul. It’s at 7 Yaroslaviv Val, in the building that the Actors House now occupies. In the late Soviet era, the ‘Zorya’ cinema was located there. It was built at the end of the nineteenth century by the Kyiv architect Vladislav Horodetsky, who built the famous House of the Chimeras.

What's On Kiev

Venice Beach, Kiev (HDR)

This is a beach at Kiev's Hydropark. Although it looks like I took it from a tall building, it was taken from the Venetian Bridge connecting two islands in the park. The 20mm setting on the lens just makes it look like I'm much further away.

~~ Have a great weekend everybody! ~~

~~ Processing Notes: ~~

HDR made from three versions of a single original photo.

1. Photo 1 = -1EV, Photo 2 = 0EV, Photo 3 = +1EV
2. Export the three copies to Photomatix. Select "Create HDR." Use the settings selected by the program.
3. Import to Photoshop. Select all regions of the photo, except the sky.
4. In Photoshop, Filter > Topaz Adjust > Detail - Simple Pop (preset). OK
5. Back in Photoshop, Edit > Select Inverse. (In other words, now select only the sky).
6. In Photoshop, Filter > Topaz Adjust > Detail - Simple Pop (preset). OK
7. In Photoshop, Edit > Fade Topaz Adjust. Set slider to 50%. This fades the effect on the sky only! Save back to Lightroom.
8. In Lightroom, saturate blue +50.
9. DONE

The Spirit of Sputnik.

Seen at the Kiev Polytechnic Metro Station.
Unlike Metro/Subways in many places around the world, I have yet to encounter a problem taking photographs in the Kiev Metro system. I believe that the policy, official or otherwise, is that photography is permitted as long as you do not interfere with Metro operations or unduly harass others.

I seem to remember that I had read that Kiev Polytechnic University had an important role in the Sputnik program. I can't find that reference now. However, Sergei Korolov, future head of the Soviet space program, did attend university here. Besides this Soviet era statue in the Metro station, there is a statue commemorating Mr Korolov on the grounds of Kiev Polytechnic University.

Some references to Mr. Korolov in modern media...

▪ In Stargate SG-1, the Russian BC-304 (a spaceship) is named Korolev after the Soviet Engineer.

▪ In Star Trek, the Korolev class starships are named after Korolev.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergey_Korolyov

Not bad for a victim of Stalin's purges.

Thunderhead (HDR)

An hour before sunset, just outside Vyshgorod, Ukraine.