Be quick with your tripod!
When it comes to shooting in Las Vegas, my favorite spot has got to be The Venetian. I love how authentically they have recreated the grandeur of Italy. When you come in the main valet registration area you step into this grand Italian hallway, rather than the typical casino view with slots, bells and cocktail waitresses. The occasional tour guides explains the authenticity of the imported Italian marble and original ceiling paintings. They even imported Venetian gondoliers. In fact, next time you are in Vegas, be sure you take time to walk through the canal shops and ride in a gondola to be serenaded in grand style. There is even a replica of St. Mark’s square with sidewalk cafes and street artists. It is just like I remember it at age 11, minus the pigeons and fountain. Best of all the stories is how this property was designed to replicate an Italian castle. The owner built it for his wife, who loves the original city of water. He certainly succeeded bringing a little bit of Italy to the Nevada desert. Hats off to the Venetian!
Caryn Esplin - Venetian Grand Hall - HDR - Photomatix / Photoshop
This is the grand hall, which you see from the registration desk. I was lucky enough to set up my tripod long enough to get some bracketed exposures without too many people walking through the scene. The security guards will tell you to put away your tripod, so set it up quick and get the shot before they see you on their hidden cameras. In post-production, I used Photomatix to process the bracketed exposures and tonemap the composite image. Next I brought the image in Photoshop where I cloned out the exit sign and some text in a background poster, and finally I sharpened things a bit and used the perspective tool to straighten things up.
Caryn Esplin - Venetian Grand Hall - 3 exposures for HDR
Caryn, this shot is so fantastic! How was Photoshop World this season? By the way a lot of those model shots from Florida are paying off in my portfolio, people love them! I loved what I learned when I went. Thanks again!
I missed you at Photoshop World! I will be posting some model shots I captured at the Vegas PSW. I learned from you it was important to haul around the big camera and I got some good shots too. I am glad they look great in your portfolio. It should tell us that we need to set up some models and get some Wes
tcott continuous lights? Ha… pretty expensive?
AMAZING! This is one of your best HDRs, I think.
Thanks, Emily!
I think this is your best (and my favorite) HDR yet. Reall nice work. 🙂
It is great to hear from you! All week at Photoshop World, we kept thinking that you should have been with us. You would have LOVED it! I hope things are well?
This is a great shot! Did you spend time taking people out of it?
No, I did not have to clone stamp at all. When I was shooting, I waited as long as I dared to take it until there were less people walking the hall. Of course, I kept an eye behind me for the security guard to stroll by and make me take down the tripod. I had time to do two sets of bracketed shots. This one had the least amount of people. I had a slow shutter so those were walking by disappeared due to their movement. Next time, I want to go at about 5:00am so I can shoot all different angles with no people. Maybe they will be more lenient about tripods when there are no people around? I will try it before the end of the year. I LOVED shooting at the Venetian, didn’t you? I can’t wait to see your shots. 🙂
Caryn this is awesome! The HDR definitely gave this frame an awesome effect. You were able to pull some really nice color into this photo. The warm gold color really makes this place even more ritzy. Great job! I’m still going through my photos from Vegas and trying to decide which ones I want to edit. I took a portrait of Erica out at Red Rock and I think it turned out perty good. I have it on my blog: jacerichardsphotography.blogspot.com. For some reason Blogger screws the colors up on my photos, so it doesn’t look as good as the original, but it still looks ok. I’m hoping to get my other photos somewhat organized and edited soon so that I can get them up on my blog.