HDR Photo of The Pasadena City Hall

I drove through Pasadena on the 110 to Mount Baldy the other day. We randomly passed by this cool-looking building that I had no idea existed. It was the Pasadena City Hall.

So, on our way back, we looked for it to take photos. (We being my wife and I). It was night when I arrived, so I had to do some Night HDR, which I find a bit more difficult than shooting regular HDR. Getting the colors to be right is challenging. I had to take some creative liberties to make it look as cool as it was when I was there. To create this photo, I had to do quite a bit.

My workflow went something like this:

First, I shot with my Canon 5dmkii and the Samyang 14mm f2.8, a great lens for this type of shoot. I shot a three-shot bracket, two stops apart.

I first did the lens distortion correction and proper color balancing before sending them to Photomatix.

Then, I did a very mild HDR effect to bring it all together. I brought it back into Lightroom, where I did a lot of coloring, gradients, and exposure adjustments. 

Then, I sent it to Color Efex Pro to give it a split-tone look to add a little style. Then, I returned to Lightroom for final spot removal, cropping, and sharpening.

Today’s Photo

The Night HDR photo of the Pasadena City Hall’s courtyard. It’s a pretty awesome place.