Hermitage de Galamus

Located in the spectacular Gorge de Galamus, the mysterious Hermitage

de Galamus features a cave chapel and the lost entrance to a

subterranean world inhabitied by mammoths!

For more information check out http://www.perillos.com/galamus.html

I really like this shot! How did you get the forground in focus and the back gorund blury. I looks like it is an ariel view. What were your camera settings? Again, well done!!

...has everyone reaching for their camera. However, capturing the spectacular 3D view in 2D is not so easy, especially with the flat, shadowless light of an overcast sky. So I had to resort to a bit of PS jiggery-pokery to enhance the picture. I first highlighted the pinnacle of rock with spotlight filter (Render, Lighting effects) in the hope that it might look like a ray of sunlight had illuminated the scene. This improved the image but still did not separate it from the background. So next I selected the foreground (the magnetic lasso worked surprisingly well, tidied it up with the quick selection tool and refined the edge a little) and copied it to a new layer. I then used the Gaussian Blur filter to blur the background, darkened it a little and voila, the brain is fooled into seeing a 3D image.

 

As for the vantage point, there is a parking lot on the other side of the valley from where you look down on the hermitage. I have posted a picture of it taken from the road that you can just make out in the left of this picture.

 

http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=7161877

 

Just beneath the snow capped Pyrenees you can make out a parked RV. I tried to enhance this picture by sharpening (overlay/high pass) and increasing saturation of the foreground, leaving the mid-ground unchanged, and desaturating and gaussion blurring very slightly the background. I think it helps a little, but is not a dramatic as hermitage picture.

 

So, no, its not an aerial photo, but thats an idea, I like the way you think...Cheers! RickDB

 

Thank you for your comments which lead me to your great work. I like most of it and esp after your sharing of the PS ideas.

Being nosy and hv remake this photo and see if you like it.

...thanks for dropping by my gallery. PN is a great place to find inspiration, learn new techniques, and meet people from all over the world who share an interest in photography. I make a point of sharing my "tricks" as a way of saying thank you to all those who have helped me.

Now, looking at your rendition of the hermitage, you have definitely made the picture more dramatic, but I don't think it looks so natural, it is too obviously manipulated. I played around a lot with the layers before settling on a very subtle darkening of the background and the slight blur to give a quite dramatic 3D effect. I made a 13x19 print and it looks as if you could reach behind the foreground! I plan to go back later and photograph this again - hopefully with some sunshine to lend some natural drama. Cheers! RickDB