Amsterdam (various) (HDR)

[Octane]

Hi all,

When I was in Europe, I went to the Netherlands and spent a bit of time in Amsterdam. I fell in love with this place. It was the most decadent and hedonistic place I visited, but, it has a certain charm and appeal, which all other places lacked to some extent. I met some of the friendliest people here. It seems like a very liberal place and very tolerant too -- evidenced by the sheer number of ethnic minorities throughout the beautiful city. I didn't want to leave.

The first image is of Anne Frank Huis (Anne Frank House), taken from across the Prinsengracht canal. I went inside. It really is quite a sombre experience.

The second image is just down from Anne Frank Huis. It is the Westerkerk (Western Church). It is a Protestant church that was built 1620-1631. This was shot from the same vantage point as the Anne Frank Huis photograph.

The third and fourth images are taken from the Red Light District which is pretty much in the oldest, and one of the most beautiful, parts of Amsterdam. The Sint Nicolaaskerk (Church of St. Nicholas), which is a Roman Catholic church, can be seen in the background. The church is offiicially called St. Nicholas inside the Walls, due to it being part of the Amsterdam defence works.

In the high resolution version of the final image, you can see people inside the houses/units. :)

I loved Amsterdam and can't wait to go and visit again some day.

All images are HDR compositions.

Comments and critique, most welcome.

Regards,
Humayun

[Starkler]

I was there myself in April, and totally agree with your sentiments about this unique place. You are absolutely right that the red light district is strangely one of the most charming parts of the city.

I posted a few snapshots (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=30524) from there myself.

Btw, whats this HDR I keep seeing mentioned around the forum?

[h0ughy]

Fantastic shots - I personaly like the last one

[Octane]

Geoff,

Woohoo! Glad you got to see this city, too! I meant the whole place was charming, but, yes, the Red Light District had its own appeal, too.

A good friend of mine went to Europe last year. He was only supposed to be gone for 2 months. He ended up going to Amsterdam and came back to Australia after 3 months. He said that Amsterdam was the only place where he witnessed "all seven sins", yet, he spent an extra month there, because he liked it so much. :)

HDR is high dynamic range photography. It is a method whereby you take multiple exposures of one-to-several stops difference each (from underexposed to overexposed) and then combine them together to get the entire dynamic range of a scene. If you go through the last couple of pages of the terrestrial imaging thread and look at my subject titles, any images I've posted with HDR in the title should show you the results you can obtain. Some people overdo it and the images look horrible. I tend to use it only in certain scenes where I know there is enough detail in both dark and bright areas to capture.

Thanks for your link -- I'll have a look at it from work.



Thanks, David. :)

Regards,
Humayun

[RB]

Beautiful shots H !

So interesting to see the actual Ann Frank House, I bet it was a real sombre experience, almost surreal.

Nice work mate.

I bet the red headlight torches we use for astro would really stand out in that aforementioned district. :whistle:

[Starkler]

Heres a few snaps from the red light district. Theres no taking pictures of the girlies in the windows allowed :whistle:
Hope you dont mind Humayun and thanks for the explanation re HDR :)