Thats really cool graffetti.. great color and texture too

I just read that this is another HDR... How exactly do you do it with one RAW file? I've tried this many many times and I still end up with a noisy image.

:-)

Bret: for this one I adjusted the exposure 1.3 stops either side of the straight shot and then combined the three 16bit TIFFs in Photomatix. I didn't have any problems with noise, at least not with this one. Some of my HDR attempts, particularly ones that contain cloudy skies, have turned out quite noisy, but this one was ok.

this ones evil :)

I don't like pictures of other people's art

*joking*
sorry but someone had to say it :D

Thanks dave... I guess I'll try again.. most of the ones I tried were sky and cloud shots... i'll give it another go

Graphic, strikingt image. Great tone and colour. Awesome work. Who gives a rat's toss that someone painted something on a wall. You have created something entirely new.

I was gonna ask about noise but whats-his-face beat me to it. With Photomatix, I found that the fewer images I combined the better (ie less noisy) the result. I'd be interested to hear other views but the last one I did worked best with just two images combined - one for the sky and one for the ground.

Cool shot, I like this "other persons art" and the colors and tones in your photo as well.

This is a great capture. I really like the colors. To me, the black lines look more like a stencil cutout of the image. Red behind the eye and eyebrow looks like it is another layer in the image. It's amazing to get the multi-layered effect with a straight shot (beisdes the HDR thing).

These HDR images are brilliant. They really are. Are you using the 2.1 version? Or the freeware? Do you know what the difference between them are?
BTW, I never engage in the "other peoples' art" business. But, you may be interested in this: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/03/14/DDG3BHM72I1.DTL

What are you using to generate your HDR images? I've been playing with HDR a bit, and have thought about imlpementing the most recent of the tone mapping algorithms and releasing it as free software.

Hey its Mr. Clean!!! Awesome!

I like it but I prefer mine :D
http://www.mcfull.com/photo/Australia-Sydney-Glebe-Point/CMJN-67.htm

I feel that to document for history/posterity is a very important thing, transient art is always temporary and a one off and will be removed by some chap in a council hat with a spray gun. If a cool image of this art can be produced then great. I for one like this image, How many exposures were required to produce this shot - I love the blue saturation.

I'm a fan of graffitii, I've done some myself, and I love your pictures. enough said. don't worry too much about peoples opinions, unless they're good!

Wonderful composition and nice colors.

Funny because I put up a grafitti shot yesterday and got a call from a friend about this same issue of photographing (recording) other people's art. I'm not sure I know what to say....I'm like you I saw it, liked it and snapped it and guess what ....showed it to other people on my blog, I didn't claim it to be mine....so I don't get the arguement.

Great HDR sir Nightgale.

with the black background, this shot looks fab!

Uh-huh, and if you photographed a building would you not be appropriating the architect's art? But of course the architect did not create the neighborhood where the building stands, nor the weather or direction and quality of the sunlight that was present when you snapped the shutter. The framing, post-processing and presentation are all yours. So too with graffiti, you change it in the process of photographing it (the wall scribbler didn't use photoshop's HDR process, did he/she?) and make it something different, something your own. To Hell with the nitpcikers, then. Any photograph that has meaning for another viewer (in this case, me) is a photograph well taken.

To me, photography is only a passage on which we can enter somenes mind. This is a great image David...very... thrusting. Thanks for letting me into your mind.

The only wrong photograph is one, that isn't taken.

I know what you mean about people's criticism about photographing other people's art. I'm not sure why it is frowned upon. I do it anyway. I have seen two of your other street art images and have been searching for some in my area as well. I just can't seem to find just the right shot and have been inspired by yours. How much post processing do you do on them?

The cult of celebrity, city life anonymity and the desire to leave ones imprint- Isn't that a part of what we are all obsessed with anyhow?
A tagged wall, a gallery canvas, a global photoblog. Is there a difference?

For the record, I am an art teacher and a graffiti fan. Discussions with students about graffiti often ends up in discussions similar to those regarding 'fine art' images. Documenting such a non-permanent media is essential to its survival.

Nice shot DJN

This would seem like a great time to introduce a quote or parphrase from the great Garry Winogrand.

"I photograph things to see what they look like as a photograph"

I think that is just about right with this. Keep it going

I agree with you about documenting grafitti because I often do so myself. The greatness in this one is the HDR treatment and the angle of it.

Its one think to thake a photo of 'someone elses art' its another to do it well, and to make it your own. i love the mood and light of this image, well done!

I have exactly the same dilemma now, David, when shooting my photowalls. So often I see some higly interesting graffitis, pictures on the walls, which are extremely fotogenic. And what with architecture? Should we not take photos of buildings? They are someone else's pieces of art - someone would say. I think the point is that it's all about how we photograph them. You can present the same piece of art in thousand different ways on a photograph. And that's art again!

I don't se any problems whit shooting pictures of other people's art. But I don't think its right to give you the cred for the picture in that case.

Anyway.. Where is the challenge in photos like this?

i think John's Garry Winogrand quote is spot on. plus - graffiti is put on walls in public places - there is nothing private about it, so where is the problem shooting it?
nice shot by the way ;) i am intruiged about this whole HDR technique... must give it a go.

This is a beautiful shot! crisp and clear

Great art captured as great picture!

Thanks everyone.

Good street art capture.

I love it.. I never bypass the opportunity to shoot graffiti and stencil art.. This is a very cool capture David