Drema Swader  

St Martin of Tours Church at Sunset by Drema Swader

March 2025 - St Martin of Tours Church at Sunset

About the Image(s)

St Martin of Tours Church at Sunset

This picture is of a church taken last fall in Wisconsin, just 15 minutes from Milwaukee. It took 12 images to put together this one picture.

First, I used 9 originals, 3 different shots of 3 exposures each. I used Lightroom's Photo Merge to "HDR Parnorama" to stitch and exposure blend the 9 images, which created a new DNG. I corrected the perspective and adjusted the colors. Then, I created the 11th image using Lightroom Denoise, which saved an enhanced DNG.

Finally I brought it into Photoshop to clean it up a bit, and to use luminosity masks to darken some of the brighter spots on the buildings (I'm not sure whether or not I overdid it... the front of the church is away from the sun, so I actually darkened it down a bit after increasing the exposure on the bottom half of the picture). The final image, the 12th, was saved to PSD.

This round’s discussion is now closed!
8 comments posted

Pete Scifres   Pete Scifres
Post production is brilliant, producing a lovely image!

Cropping...I don't think the left side is helping much and I would have preferred a more vertical image, see image   Posted: 03/11/2025 12:44:30
Comment Image
Drema Swader   Drema Swader
Thank you, Pete. A good suggestion! I agree, the vertical aspect ratio is better. But I think the church is a little too close to the left side, especially since the church is facing that way (I kind of wish it was facing to the right, but if I had moved the drone to the left and turned it right, the sun would have been in a different location).

I took your idea and cropped it myself. At first, I put the steeple in the center, but I think it balances with the sun better if I had it a little left of center.   Posted: 03/11/2025 14:14:26
Comment Image
Lou McLove   Lou McLove
Hi Drema beautiful image, I love the sky. I think the lighting on the church is great too. I see the problem with cropping, I think your solution is best.   Posted: 03/13/2025 16:40:39
Drema Swader   Drema Swader
Thanks, Lou   Posted: 03/30/2025 22:32:01
Richard Stauber   Richard Stauber
Hi Drema, I avoid reading what others say before I look at an image. And I saw the same thing, an interesting church and a beautiful sky with just the right setting sun position. But the building to the left not so good, the vertical crop helps a lot.   Posted: 03/25/2025 02:06:23
Drema Swader   Drema Swader
Thanks, Richard   Posted: 03/30/2025 22:32:21
Mike Fernandez
Great Image, perfect timing. For me no changes, as the cropping mentioned by others, will crop the beautiful sky too.   Posted: 03/26/2025 17:45:59
Drema Swader   Drema Swader
Yes, I was torn about losing the sky. That's why I cropped it like that in the beginning. But I think the vertical aspect ratio preserves enough of the sky to get the point across. Still, I would love to have saved more of the sky.

Thanks, Mike.   Posted: 03/30/2025 22:34:19