Actually, I cheated with these – all of the images are single exposures that were then modified in GIMP to simulate over and underexposure.

I then applied tone maps to the dark/light exposures and then composited back into a single one.

Results varied, and these were the four ‘best’ – I particularly like the Melbourne nightscape, as it produces a pretty good glow. I also like the long exposure one of my Dad, as it creates an even more ethereal feel to it…

[Show as slideshow]

One note – these are all tone mapped HDR images. This creates the rather vivid and strong glow you see in the images above.

Brightness mapped HDR images offer a more subtle effect – and can be quite useful in reducing the washout you can get with bright skies over shadowed subjects, for example. I’ll have go at knocking some of them up at a later time to show the difference.

Messing about in the GIMP again – this time I was inspired by some black and white shots to have a quick blast at playing with another image.

This time I picked a shot of a single subject and played with either desaturating the background or the rider. Desaturation was done on luminousity rather than lightness, as this seemed to reduce the ‘burnout’.

I couldn’t decide if it was better to have the rider in colour or the background – so I posted both.

You can see the full-sized upload here.