Explorer's Lounge

[FrankMi]

Sometimes I come across architecture that captures my attention. In this case it's a lounge where for me, the colors, textures, and structure are interesting enough that I want to explore the details and see how the elements were combined.





A puzzlement. What is it about these elements that make them work together so harmoniously? Is it the shapes or perhaps the materials used? Could it be the lighting? It just looks so comfy and inviting and yet, so different from other locations.

I guess they have schools to teach folks how to do this but I would sure love to know how to put the rooms in my house together to look as nice as this.

[rpcrowe]

Frank, both the room and your image of it are very well done. Makes me want to visit there. IMO having a drink or coffee in those surroundings would be very pleasant!

I think, though, a small, non-intrusive border might show off this lovely image even a bit better.

[IzzieK]

Nice warm feelings...I envy those people who can have a nice place like this...

I wish I can put my house in order to look like this too, but the doggies find the family room very inviting to the point that even right after I tidy it up, magically a ball or a pull toy will suddenly appear from somewhere with a doggie 'attached' to it at one end...

[deetheturk]

Very nice Frank,and handled very well too

[Shadowman]

Nicely done.

[Donald]

A puzzlement. What is it about these elements that make them work together so harmoniously? Is it the shapes or perhaps the materials used?

I don't know, which is why I'm not an interior designer. But there is something not only about the brightness, but about the harmony and balance (and even the clashes in some instances) of colour and tone. Whatever, it is, it makes an impact. And i think this image is wonderfully well executed to show it off at its best.

How did you do it? Is it all room lighting? is there natural light involved?

[Downrigger]

Yes, really attractive and a wonderfully done image. What interests me is that it is amazingly, baroquely complex in pattern and color. So much the antithesis of the contemporary spare spartan simple black and white clean lines favored so much in modern design for interior spaces.

[FrankMi]

Frank, both the room and your image of it are very well done. Makes me want to visit there. IMO having a drink or coffee in those surroundings would be very pleasant!

I think, though, a small, non-intrusive border might show off this lovely image even a bit better.

Good idea! Should I try to match the tan or the blue for the border?

[FrankMi]

Nice warm feelings...I envy those people who can have a nice place like this...

I wish I can put my house in order to look like this too, but the doggies find the family room very inviting to the point that even right after I tidy it up, magically a ball or a pull toy will suddenly appear from somewhere with a doggie 'attached' to it at one end...

I know exactly what you mean Izzie!

Being as this is a public place it may not fit in with most folks décor or the hominess of having family pets around. I do, however, envy folks that have the knack of being able to apply concepts (like those seen here) to their own environment! I just don't have a clue as to how to accomplish that.

[FrankMi]

Thank you David and John for taking the time to view and for your warm comments!

[FrankMi]

I don't know, which is why I'm not an interior designer. But there is something not only about the brightness, but about the harmony and balance (and even the clashes in some instances) of colour and tone. Whatever, it is, it makes an impact. And i think this image is wonderfully well executed to show it off at its best.

How did you do it? Is it all room lighting? is there natural light involved?

It certainly caught my eye as well, Donald. It is mostly room lighting with all it's quirks. I think there is some natural lighting from behind the camera's position but it is minimal. The lighting in particular was pretty much as we see it here but I did try to balance the detail in the shadows.

One thing that is accentuated by the lighting is the color of the fabric on the curved chairs. Although it doesn't appear that way as I looked around the room, the fabric is identical on all of the chairs. I even moved one of the chairs around to verify that there wasn't more than one color fabric involved!

[FrankMi]

Yes, really attractive and a wonderfully done image. What interests me is that it is amazingly, baroquely complex in pattern and color. So much the antithesis of the contemporary spare spartan simple black and white clean lines favored so much in modern design for interior spaces.

I agree Mark. Perhaps the is someone with an interior design background that can explain why this seems to work. I know that if I tried to do something like this it would be a jumbled nightmare!

[Brownbear]

Hi Frank,

I think it is a beautiful photo of a gorgeous room. If I may I would like to ask (for my own learning benefit) how you approached capturing this image. I can see that you used a large aperture, slow shutter speed and fairly high iso, plus exposure compensation, for light I presume... And somehow with such a large aperture you still managed great depth of field.

And why did you choose center weighted metering?

Thank you.

[Manfred M]

Great shot Frank. The room itself looks really beautiful and your treatment of it work really, really well.

[Nancy Moran G]

Is it a cruise ship lounge? Looks very inviting. Well done.
Nancy

[bnnrcn]

A very nice photo... I also appreciate your curious mind:-)

[FrankMi]

I can see that you used a large aperture, slow shutter speed and fairly high iso, plus exposure compensation, for light I presume... And somehow with such a large aperture you still managed great depth of field. And why did you choose center weighted metering?

Hi Christina, this is one of those situations where you can't fully believe the EXIF data. In the original shoot, I did a three shot bracketed exposure in Aperture Priority which I frequently do in low light situations. Almost all of my images are taken with available light.

The EXIF data was from the overexposed image of the three image set. The normal image of the set used a more sedate f/5.6, 1/10 sec., ISO-1600, no exposure bias, and max aperture 3.34375. The hard part was bracing the camera for three relatively slow shutter speed shots without the aid of a tripod.

The bracketed exposure bias of +2, 0 and -2 resulted in shutter speeds of 1/2 sec, 1/10 sec and 1/40 sec respectively.

In post processing I did noise reduction on all three images to compensate as best I could for the high ISO then aligned and wide-cropped before saving them for processing in Photomatix.

I used Photomatix to obtain a tonemapped composite using the “Natural” defaults to even out most of the dark shadow and blown highlight details. It is possible that Photomatix retained the overexposed EXIF data for the tonemapped output. This result had better tonal range and was very close to the Normal image in exposure but still had bits and pieces of issues in the shadow and highlight details that I wanted to correct.

Next I used the tonemapped “Natural” image as the base layer to blend in the shadow detail from the overexposed shot with adjusting the Brightness and Contrast of the overexposed shot to get the best shadow detail. I then blended in the blown–out light fixtures from the under exposed image, again adjusting the Brightness and Contrast of the under exposed image to get the best detail in the highlights.

The last step was to warm the image slightly, crop, sharpen for output and post.

It wasn’t as much that I choose Center Weighted Metering but rather didn’t bother to change it from what I normally use as the lighting in the room was relatively even in spite of the multitude of lighting sources involved.

Hope this helps!

[FrankMi]

Great shot Frank. The room itself looks really beautiful and your treatment of it work really, really well.

Thank you my friend. I appreciate the comments!

[FrankMi]

Is it a cruise ship lounge? Looks very inviting. Well done.
Nancy

Right on, Nancy. This lounge is on the Coral Princess. Thank you for viewing and commenting!

[FrankMi]

A very nice photo... I also appreciate your curious mind:-)

Thank you very much Binnur! Sometimes that 'curious mind' gets me in trouble though!