High Dynamic Range Imaging

I am getting my feet wet with High Dynamic Range Imaging or HDRI or HDR.  For the most part I see these images posted on the internet -- Flickr and the like -- and think...why?  Why would someone do that to a perfectly good photo?  Why cartoon or comic-book it up like they do?

Well -- I have seen some lately that don't come close to looking cartoonish (not that there is anything wrong with a cartoon -- but you know what I mean).  Some I have seen -- usually the more architectural -- look pretty darn good.  Still crossing over the threshold of a photo to blend photography and computer graphics -- but looking great.

These make me curious...

I kind of like them -- and that means I want to do one.  So far all I have done is download a trial version of some software and play with a couple old photos I had.  The software I chose is Photomatix from HDR Soft.  You can download it -- the full version -- play with it and if you like it buy a code that will remove a watermark from your finished photos.  I say I like this -- I don't know if I like it enough yet to buy the software.  My feeling has always been -- I like to take a nice photo with the camera -- or I woud rather spend time with my camera than I would with the computer.  Having the laptop has made this a little easier though.  Now my 'darkroom' work is done in the evenings, after dinner, sitting with my feet up and I am on the couch.  You have to admit there is not much worth watching on TV anyway -- so I might as well edit photos.

When you create an HDR photo you essentially have taken three photos of the same scene; one overexposed, one underexposed and one spot on.  Since I am playing with old photos -- I only have the one version -- spot on.  So I went into Elements to create the others.  I opened my photo (jpg) in Camera RAW and used the exposure slider to create one photo +2 exposure value and another photo -2 exposure value.  I saved each and of course the original.  Then it was time to move on to the stand alone program of Photomatix and let it do its thing.

From there I followed directions and created a couple photos I thought looked OK.  This is still very new to me and I don't know how much attention I will give it.  I know I need to find some excellent architecture and give that a go.  I have some old photos that would work -- but I really want to do it completely correct -- taking the three shots of the same scene and then merging those.  I have never really used that auto exposure bracketing feature on the camera -- now it will get a work out.

The photos on the blog today are the regular and the HDR version of my 'Drought at Line Creek.'  The lighter one is the HDR.  If you look closely, you will see the Photomatix watermarks in the photo.

Also -- funny thing -- after I downloaded the program yesterday and started to play I checked out a friend's blog.  Andy is a photographer I have known for a while.  Guess what his blog post was about yesterday....HDR!  Great minds think alike Andy!  For more info on HDR -- check out Andy's blog here: Light Centric Photography.

Another thing I did yesterday was download the 7 Photography Questions podcast on HDR.  Now I need to carve out a few minutes to listen to that.

Sometimes You Gotta Zoom

I love working with a prime lens.  That 50mm is not called a "nifty fifty" for nothing.  It is great and fun to use -- plus it is not a heavy lens!  But sometimes you need that zoom to help zero in on the interesting part of a not-so-great scene.  In the past I have used an example to illustrate to a class about photography.  As a painter -- when I work with a blank canvas -- I am filling it with something.  As a photographer you start with a big, full scene and try to narrow it to a certain part -- hopefully the most interesting part.   The best of both worlds is to take a photo of the interesting part and fill a canvas with a painting of it.

The photo on the blog today is a great example of seeing a piece of what is in front of me.  As I stepped out onto my front porch last Wednesday morning I noticed the fog through the trees.  I could see the sun becoming brighter and starting to burn it off.  Within an hour or two it would all be gone -- and in a few minutes the scene would have changed completely.  

The entire scene before me was not as pretty, or let's just say the aesthetics left something to be desired.  If I took the photo that portrayed all that I saw -- you would see the morning sun through fog and trees.  You would also see a regular suburban subdivision, a couple houses, the street, mailboxes, cars in the driveway, the works.  Not that there is anything wrong with that -- but it is very ordinary and the part with the sun, fog, and trees was a small part of it.  As the photo stands now -- who knows where that is?  It could be any place, any time and it fills the frame.

Many times I will tell people to find their subject and fill the frame with it.  Too much clutter or unnecessary elements confuse the viewer and detract from the subject.  There are two main ways to fill a frame -- both involve zooming.  You can move yourself closer to the subject -- or zoom with your feet.  If this is not possible or you would rather not -- use a zoom lens.  For my photo, I used my zoom lens.  I did not feel like putting on shoes (yep, barefoot again) to walk across my yard, the street, and into a couple neighbors' yards so early in the day.  This photo was taken from my front porch.  It captured the look of the part of the scene that I was interested in just as I saw it when I stepped out the door.

Also, I wonder if I had moved too close -- would the light and look remained the same.  I doubt it.

Nature Undisturbed News

If you haven't noticed by now -- I have added a link to the webpage for Nature Undisturbed.  In the upper left of the blog page you will find, "Click here to read more about Nature Undisturbed, a juried photography exhibit benefiting the Southern Conservation Trust."  

The highlighted title of the show is the link to take you there.

Macro

If I am taking a photo -- more than likely -- I am taking a macro photo.  I love macro.  Most people love macro.  It is fun and you can get some spectacular results.  Over a year ago I wrote a blog on macro called, "Could Your Best Macro Lens Be a Whole 'Nother Camera?"  I still love love love the macro capabilities of my old Canon S2 IS (and my even older Fuji S7000).

I have also gotten into the close-up diopters for macro enjoyment.  Lensbaby has their macro kit -- which is two of these -- one 4x and one 10x and you can stack those.  I have others to fit my Tamron zoom.  The first time I ever used a close-up diopter I thought I did something wrong until I realized that my old minimum focus distance was too far away!  When you use these -- you get close.  

Another piece of my macro puzzle -- extension tubes.  This fits between the lens and the camera body -- allowing you to get closer with your lens.  You decrease the minimum focus distance for the lens by using an extension tube.  The tubes come in different sizes and can be stacked to allow you to get closer and closer and closer.

The last thing that I have used to take a macro shot is a reversing ring.  If you are into really getting photos of something tiny or getting that depth of field that is a sliver of sharp focus -- think about a reversing ring.  This gizmo fits onto the end of a lens and allows you to mount it backwards on the camera.  You shoot backward through the lens!  How weird and how cool is that?  It reminds me of the look through a microscope.  Moving subjects are out of the question.  I like to think of the macro I get with a reversing ring as a "super macro."

Yesterday I took photos of an object using different macro methods.  I used an extension tube and the reversing ring -- and then I took a photo using the lens at the usual and customary minimum focus distance.   When doing macro -- be sure you have a good light source.  Getting in close will also block a lot of the ambient light.  If you are like me -- and you do not like to use flash -- and flash with macro is sometimes not a good thing -- have a nice, bright place to play with the macro toys.  I also bumped up the ISO to 400 when I was getting in very close -- even in my very well-lit area.

The photo on the blog today is a macro of the winking tomato king on my pack of grape tomatoes.   I used the reversing ring and an old Nikon lens to get this shot.  Of course, I had to convert it to black and white.