Dave, I am not a photographer, but I have always appreciated your artistry, composition skills and I adore the shore and the sea. This is a fascinating shot. It almost looks "video game-ish"; kind of "hyper-alive". The space is absolutely stunning in complexity and I love the perspective. Can't tell if the house of worship has been abandoned or awaiting its rebirth. Hopefully the latter. Beautiful. Carlos

Great composition, I really like the fisheye lens. It's just a little too baked for my taste... By the way, really looking forward to your next tutorial!

I always try to make my HDR as unobtrusive as possible. I don't think these kinds of shots have a lot of atmosphere; i.e. I can't imagine what it would be like to stand there.

The higher res crops are definitely better because these are really about details: bricks, rather than walls.

Sonny/Andrew: you might prefer a black and white version:

.../archives/the_sagrada_familia_bw.php

It's only partially post-processed, but does look less "baked" and does give a slightly better sense of the space as a whole.

Beautiful work. I love your entire collection.

I love your work in general, but these kinds of HDR shots I don't care for. Too over the top for me. It starts to become more of an illustration than a photograph.

great work, I like your HDR treatment

I very much appreciate your blog and the pictures you post. However, like others who have commented before me, I have a certain aversion against HDR. This not because of the technology HDR itself, I use it in a very reduced form myself (usually with as little as two exposures). Rather, it is excessive exposure blending that in my opinion can easily destroy a picture. All too often, this technique aims at eliminating every form of shadows in a picture, thus creating the "video game-ish" look, depriving the image of its depth. What really makes a good picture is the combination, the contrast of light and shadow. Many of your most stunning pictures prove it .

Interesting, I hadn't thought of the impact of size on the overall HDR look. It makes sense if I think about it; you're essentially trying to ram a larger tonal range into an 8-bit photo with some local tone mapping trickery. If you then further reduce the image you're effectively breaking the tone-mapping algorithm that was run on the larger image with a second compression algorithm. Does it work better if you work on the final sized image first? Just thinking aloud here...

This is very intense :P I think I like it, haha. If I stare at it for much longer I might not tho ;)

I think there's just some subjects that really click with OTT HDR, and church interiors seem to be one of them, perhaps because they are already fairly outlandish buildings in themselves by modern standards. The Hi res versions are certainly a bit softer on the eye; I think perhaps the smaller images tend to emphasise the localised contrast increases more than the large ones - a case of too much punch.

You should visit Istanbul - I'd love to see this treatment of Hagia Sophia.

dave, this is cool but i prefer the B/W version. i love HDR (even the strong stuff!) but the colors in this one seem a bit... hand colored? like they are each in their own color atmosphere and not being effected together in a common light source. maybe a tone filter would pull them together a bit more. but what do i know!

Extraordinaire rendu en HDRI...
Le monument s'y prête bien !

Congratulations !!!

PS : Happy new year !

Great image but I'm afraid the HDR colour version really isn't for me, the black and white on the other hand really shows the image, superb composition and the amazing structure you've captured in this image. Beautiful shot but afraid I find the colour HDR image too distracting for my palette.

le delire superbe , dessin ou photo , grandiose

I'm not keen on Marmite, but have no problem consuming this type of extreme HDR effect.
They make me think of etchings, difficult to make and reliant to a large extent on the right subject and good craft. I had not considered the issue of scale in presenting them, but you're quite right that printing them large opens up a whole lot more interesting detail. I look forward to reading the book.
The only thing I find unsettling about this shot is the slight skewing of what is essentially a symmetrical view!

I usually like what you do, but in this case, I have the strong feeling that Gaudi would not understand why you choose to do it this way. it does not honor the great architecture.

Thanks everyone.

birgit: you're probably right about Gaudi.

Awesome HDR picture. Sagrada Familia is a wonderful place to photograph, but this has really is one of the best.

Fantastic work! I was there two months ago. I still need to edit most of my images shot in Barcelona, soon I'll start posting them.
Many thanks for posting the 100% crops. You are right about it, they look much better. I have the impression when you make an image smaller, everything get somehow "compressed" so it get a very local contrast boost and hence a saturation boost.

Ordinarily, I absolutely love your HDR work, as you keep it subtle. I think this one is a bit over-cooked on the HDR side. I love the symmetry of the composition and I think a little toned down this would be an awesome shot.

The textures are almost blinding, and the detail is incredible - so yes, it does look better at a higher res/larger image.

I do like it, I like how it is different, it still shows what you were looking at while showing, just, more. I mean it's digital art, with photography as the base? Who wouldn't like that? Plus? Fisheye HDR's are SO MUCH FUN!

On this one, I've got to say I'm in the "hate it" category - I find it too busy, and the converging parallels due to the fisheye lens do nothing for me either.

However, I really like the 100% crops - I think they're all lovely, and they make me want to see the place properly far more than the full image does.

Paradoxical, but true.

This looks exactly like one of Tomb Raider Underworld levels!

I have to admit that I really like this shot / treatment. I'm hit and miss with super-processed HDR, but this one really works for me. I really like the graphic / illustrative element of the image. To that end I see it more as an illustration / piece of art rather than simply a photograph. Nice work!

I've seen the book mate. Looks good. Love the graffiti. I was going to congratulate you but thought that it was under NDA so held my tongue. Focal is a great imprint.

Love this shot. Great detail, very dramatic. Reminds me of this guys work:

http://www.sirius2photo.com/photo/

I second [Ken's](http://kenmacgray.org/) comments above... I do admire your work, but the HDR is just not my cup of tea. I'm not so much the purist, regarding photography, as the late/great Galen Rowell was, but this type of HDR post-processing represents the other end of the spectrum and I'm not there either. Photoshop, and other apps, have ushered in a new era in photography, and we could question, in general, where the line now lies between photo and illustration. Would definitely spark some conversation, I'm sure.

hi David, this is such an extraordinary picture, - lintels particularly weird. Hasnt changed that much since I was there a long time ago.
Given the location, perhaps you could call it 'tonal cubism' (or dynamic cubism)
Jim

It's amazing how much detail you have managed to preserve in this one! Fantastic image and location!

Very graphical. I love all those lines.

Sorry, just don't get it. What is point? Looks all Sci-Fi and flat, such an awe inspiring flight of fancy as a building (love it or hate it!) this makes it look so so boring. Lose HDR it's just a gimmick!

Simon: yes, it doesn't look great at this size - that's why I linked the crops. As for HDR being a fad: while camera's remain limited to a relatively low dynamic range it's a technique that's here to stay. That said, my personal preference is for a more 'natural' looking result than this one.