Art, Photography, Urbex and Visuals by Francesco Perratone and DoPe
Tag Archives: hdr
Hello!
A bit late, but here’s March wallpaper!
……Croatia, Sibenik
A very nice historical city, with narrow alleys and steep stone stairs, lovely for taking a walk in a warm summer evening!
The city itself has a turbulent but interesting past, it has been controlled by Byzantium, Hungary, Venice, then the Habsburgs and Austria, more recently Dalmatia, Italy, then became part of Yugoslavia and finally Croatia.
The ancient settlement became a city at least from 1066 AD, when a document from the most important Croatian ruler, Kresimir (Petar Kresimir IV) refers to it.
A note on the shot itself: the horizon line is difficult to spot, (you can guess it from the mountains far back on the right).
The coastlines from the city and the opposite shore are converging, so the overall impression is somewhat “unstable”.
However the mind clings to a vertical line, shaped by the reflection of the city in the sea water, the fortress up the hill and the cloud above….
I personally like it, but probably not everyone will!
The eligible patrons already got their download link 😉
As always here there are the available resolutions:
-For quad-HD monitors and the like: WQHD – aspect ratio 16:9 – resolution 2560×1440
-Full HD: FHD – aspect ratio 16:9 – resolution 1920×1080
Here’s this month multiresolution wallpaper for my patrons, you can find the original article on Patreon here.
You can see part of the ceiling from the basilica, from the Sanctuary of Oropa. The Ancient Basilica is where the statue of the Black Virgin is kept.
The Sanctuary itself is a beautiful place, many of my pictures come from there or from its surroundings, you can see it depicted in some of my works. Plus, many nice hiking trails and walks start right from the Sanctuary, it’s situated on the Alps, near where I live.
You can see more images and find more informations on the Sanctuary here.
The church ceiling itself is interesting because of the decorations and the white “stars”. The painted plaster is dotted (I think it was “hammered”, small parts were removed to produce the starred effect). That, combined with the different hue paints and the lights creates a very nice effect.
As a wallpaper it’s nice because of the black space for icons and stuff, and because of the framing that suggests a window “peeking” on another place.
The picture was taken a few days ago, on a cold 31st of December 😉
While the Sun was disappearing, those beautiful colors faded in…. the view is from the main bridge crossing Donauinsle , an island on the Danube. The area is mainly recreational, restaurant, bars, and nice places to take a walk or a run.
The church silhouette is from St. Francis of Assisi church, also known as Mexico Church or Kaiserjubiläumskirche. Unfortunately it was closed at the time, so I couldn’t take a look inside.
Looking in the opposite direction there was an equally magnificient view. A glass skyscraper was reflecting the light and colors, blending with the background.
Apart from the colors and contrast, I like the geometry and composition, with that nice slice of Moon peeking through the sky…
Enjoy!
My eligible patrons have access to different high resolution versions of the above image, to be used as wallpapers. you can check the Patreon campaign post here.
As (almost) all my works, this is available as a print on large canvas (limited to 10) or cotton paper (signed). If interested you can take a look at the shop. If it’s not available yet, you can contact me directly.
Here are some free works for download as wallpapers, as well as some animations to watch.
If you like this or other of my works, please consider supporting me on Patreon with 1$/month, or donate something through Paypal:
From Freiburg (Germany), Martin’s Gate or Martinstor, one of the ancient city gates.
Hello everyone! I’ve just completed a few jobs that were absorbing me during the last weeks (mainly 3d animations and some electronic assembly for video recording and wireless transmission).
So…. I’m finally able to get back to MatericLook and some (art)works! Months ago I sent out a survey to my subscribers… During the next days I will implement some of the precious suggestions I received back, thanks!
Germany, Freiburg: Martinstor
-The Place
A few months back I visited a dear friend during a weekend… he lives in Alsace, so we had the opportunity to visit Freiburg im Breisgau, a beautiful city in the Southwest part of Germany, close to France and Switzerland. Freiburg is very nice, with a beautiful historical center. It’s the ideal place where to take a walk and have a look at the stunning squares, a merchant’s hall and various gothic buildings, and the cathedral.
-The Work
The shot I used for this work has Martin’s Gate (Martinstor) as a main subject, surrounded by beautiful historical buildings. The lovely geometries of the roofs and top floors give a nice perspective and direct the eye toward the open sky…
I started from an HDR photography (single shot), so I created a few variants, each one optimized to better present a specific part of the image, in terms of lights and shadows. I then used the various parts to assemble more (and nicer) variations.
Then I experimented on each one with some filters and digital painting. This time I used a lot of different digital painting techniques, fully manual but also automated. The latter are almost always unexciting because you have basically no control on the type of strokes and direction… generating, in my opinion, patterns too “uniform” and uninteresting.
I wanted some specific effects I created during the painting. For example the lower parts of the buildings are “streaked”, following each building’s facade direction, to give a more dynamic shape. The sky at this point has a almost uniform “wormy” pattern. I wanted the clock face to look fragmented and a bit fluid, like if seen through a textured glass.
Here’s a detail of the final image (a bit less than half the final resolution). You can see different patterns and strokes all around:
I then identified all the parts I would like to have in my final image, proceeding to put them together (mostly through masking, to control how they overlap and dissolve into each other).
At this point I proceeded with the final steps… After some minor color and light corrections here and there, the lower part of the buildings needed some more darkening. I used a black painting “creeping” on them, following the painting patterns. Also the sky needed some movement through the dark/light “waves” in the middle-right. Plus some more chaotic patterns around the top and right border.
Last steps: some highlights/reflections accents on the gate rooftop. And slight modifications to all roofs’ tops to give them a twisted, more gothic and less perfect look. These also disrupt the shapes geometry and perspective alignment. I think it makes the work more interesting to look at.
And that’s all for now, I hope you’re enjoying the images and the description has been somewhat inspiring 😉
As (almost) all my works, this is available as a print on large canvas (limited to 10) or cotton paper (signed). If interested you can take a look at the shop. If it’s not available yet, you can contact me directly.
Here are some free works for download as wallpapers, as well as some animations to watch.
If you like this or other of my works, please consider supporting me on Patreon with 1$/month, or donate something through Paypal:
A work from the Armenia Photography series, a sunset view of the beautiful Amaghu Valley, where Noravank Monastery sits.
The valley is named after the river Amaghu, in some places it’s narrow, becoming a real canyon. Located in the Vayots Dzor region, is not far from the city of Yeghegdnazor.
The valley’s peculiar features (apart from the fascinating Noravank Monastery) are its cliffs, whose bright red rocks emerge on their sides. The drive to the monastery is nice and pleasant. This particular view comes from the bottom of the valley, before starting the short climb to the religious building.
For this image I used first of all the usual techniques, like HDR, multiple exposures and a small bit of digital painting. Then I started experimenting a bit…
I intensified the light/shadow contrast by using harmonious curves, with a “rhythm” similar to those extrapolated from classic sculpture. Finally I combined the dark and light areas with the existing luminance details, before applying them to the work.
I would say the results aren’t bad. In this particular image I followed the pre-existing land profiles. As a result the influenced areas are fitting nicely without a strong distinction.
I’d like to do more experiments in this direction, probably with other kind of images, more abstract, where the contrast can be stronger.
–
As (almost) all my works, this is available as a print on large canvas (limited) or cotton paper (signed). If interested you can take a look at the shop. If it’s not available yet you can contact me directly.
Here are some free works for download as wallpapers and some animations to watch.
If you like this or other of my works, please consider supporting me on Patreon with 1$/month. You will receive exclusive works and participate to the creative process!
I layered some effects and toned some areas to give a paint-like feel to the pic… It should convey calmness when put on your office screens, now that the holidays are gone! (At least here in Italy!) 😉
Also a forthcoming change could be perceived now that, after some work, the top of the trees look naked, with no leaves left…
The image is available in hi-res to my Patreon supporters pledging from $3, resolutions are the same as free wallpapers (4:3, 3:2, 16:9).
Hello everyone, back from my trip to Armenia, here’s a first related work.
A large abandoned soviet-era building in Jermuk, with a nice sculpture on the facade. It caught my attention, so I took a few steps inside.
At first it didn’t seem particularly interesting. Almost empty, with a relatively modern structure… but after reaching the middle of the ground floor the view is just great!
On both sides there are these very interesting statues, with series of 6 very large heads. A few of them have some lipstick or mustaches added by some “joking thug”.
The impression is definitely surreal. The grandeur of the building and the imposing visages offer a stark contrast from the crumbling stairs and flaking paint. The temperature adds to the feeling: it dropped at least 10 degrees upon entering the building. The cold suggests being inside a giant refrigerator fighting to freeze time, surrounded by a very warm sun, overheating everything else.
THE BUILDING
From the few information I was able to gather, it seems the building was indeed built during the soviet era by USSR government. The faces inside represent Armenian heroes and fighters for freedom.
If anyone can provide more info regarding the building and/or the faces, I’ll be happy to include them. The construction is currently undergoing some kind of renovation, as there are some construciotn materials outside, so it will probably not last long in the current state.
THE WORK
Also here I want to stay on the edge between a picture and a drawing/painting. I made the flaking paint very visible, but the colors brilliant and saturated, to remind the life that was once here.
I focused on the faces and the geometric structure behind, making them stand out a bit. Also wanted to keep the darkest areas not completely black, but suggesting that something’s there.
I then experimented something: In these dark areas I created a look somewhat similar to stains and saturated watercolors, to further the distance from a photographic look. I also used some black fading strokes to highlight details, on both the faces and the structure. You can better appreciate those touches in the details shown below (half of the final work resolution):
If you like this or other of my works, please consider supporting me on Patreon with 1$/month. By doing so you’ll be able to participate to the creative process and suggest the kind of works you like the most! Thank you
