I just noticed that my last post here was written when I first heard about HDR, seems so naive now.. Since then I've pretty much been doing photography non-stop. For my birthday I was able to upgrade my camera to a digital SLR (Canon Digital Rebel XT) and a brand spanking new Tamron 11-18mm lens. I love 'em both.

My flickr continues to grow, I find the site somewhat addictive even, but it's a great way to waste time at work. There you can find a couple HDR's I've done (it's a lot less painless with digital, although I did get some from film as well).

I've also learned a lot in Photoshop--most importantly: how to use layer masks, adjustment layers, and the Curves tool.

I'm using Photoshop CS3, Photomatix, and a really awesome filter called Lucisart.

I find myself not only attracted to the art of taking photographs--composition, lighting, etc..-- but the ancillary acts of exploring urban areas and natural landscapes seeking out interesting perspectives and locations, keeping an eye out all the time for unique images of beauty and inspiration, appreciating things that would normally go unnoticed, and yes, playing with some really cool gear.

The act of sharing the works produced is very rewarding; sharing anything for that matter is an easy and cheap way of feeling happy, connected, alive...

My love and I are on our way to Spain in less than 1 month! Surely some good photos to come :)

Well I made up the name just now, and I'm not surprised if you don't know what I'm talking about.. because I've never heard of these techniques until a couple days ago, which isn't surprising either, because they are state-of-the-art.

Pictures say a 1000 words, so, take a look:


Incredible, huh? This is from one of my 'faves' on Flickr. He does amazing work, a lot of its appeal is in his post-processing skills.

He has a whole set of HDR work.

More

Amazing, huh? The name of this technique, HDR, is familiar to me from video game graphical technology, and the theory seems to be the same.

The video game innovator, Valve, debuted this technology a few years ago with Half-Life 2 and blew me away. Since then it's appeared in other games (including my current favorite, Oblivion) and really represents a huge step in realism.

The theory behind HDR is that the human eye can perceive a vastly greater range of luminance values (bright-to-dark) in a given scene than film or a digital camera sensor can capture at once.

For example, with a bright sunset (like this one) if you get the details in the clouds, you'll lose the detail on the backs of the chairs, or the umbrella. And if you get the latter details the sun will be bleached-out white and you'll lose that detail.

HDR allows this range of luminance to be integrated into a single shot, resulting in life-like (or more-than-life-like/surreal) images. According to wikipedia:

Information stored in high dynamic range images usually corresponds to the physical values of luminance or radiance that can be observed in the real world. This is different from traditional digital images, which represent colors that should appear on a monitor or a paper print.

In digital photography, this is accomplished by combining multiple exposures into a single image, for example, this image of the Eiffel Tower was created from the images here:









I've recently "obtained" a copy of Photoshop CS2, which as the ability to 'Merge to HDR'. Some of this guy Daniel's shots were done with Photoshop (my traditional tool), but the most impressive ones seem to be done with something called, Photomatix. I will check the torrent sites and try to get it asap.

My Next Project

Two weeks ago I went on a little photo trip and shot some nature photography with my new lens.
Now, I will get my feet wet with an HDR experiment.
My goal is to produce 2 new works:

1. a still-life indoor, set up with a little photobox,
   
2. and a city/urban jungle architectural shot.
   

Both will use HDR (I'll try both Photomatix and Photoshop) and compare the results. Check back soon!

The Technique

Based on what I've learned so far, I will have to:
Take at least 3 shots of the same scene, using a tripod, and varying the shutter speed to affect a bracketing range of +/- 2 f-stops.

If I had a digital, it could do it itself with Automatic Exposure Bracketing,

"The camera will automatically vary the shutter speed each time the shutter button is pressed, taking several exposures spaced by two f-stops."

But, alas, I'm still stuck in the film age, so I will instead just adjust the shutter speed by hand and take 3-5 shots (I think I can handle that).

Based on my understanding of the concepts, changing the shutter speed up/down two clicks (ie from 1/60th to 1/250th, or from 1/60th to 1/15th) is equivalent to stopping the aperture in either direction.

In early days of photography, available shutter speeds were somewhat ad hoc.[2] Following the adoption of a standardized way of representing aperture so that each major step exactly doubled or halved the amount of light entering the camera (f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, etc.), a standardized 2:1 scale was adopted for shutter speed so that opening one aperture stop and reducing the shutter speed by one step resulted in the identical exposure. (Shutter Speed wiki)

What to actually do:

1. Mount your camera on a tripod.


2. Set your camera to manual exposure mode. Select an appropriate aperture for your scene (e.g. f/8 or less if you need more depth of field) and the lowest ISO setting.


3. Measure the light in the brightest part of your scene (spot metering or in Av mode to point only the highlights) and note the exposure time. Do the same for the darkest shadows of your scene.


4. Determine the number and value of exposures necessary. For this, take as a basis the exposure time measured for the highlights. Multiply this number by 4 to find the next exposure with a stop spacing of 2 EV. Multiply by 4 successively for the next exposures till you pass the exposure measured for the shadows. (Note: For most daylight outdoor scenes excluding the sun, 3 exposures spaced by two EVs are often sufficient to properly cover the dynamic range).


5. You can make use of Auto-Exposure Bracketing if your camera supports it and if it allows a sufficient exposure increment and number of auto-bracketed frames to cover the dynamic range determined in step 4. Otherwise, you will have to vary the exposure times manually.

So it looks like I'm on the right track, I'll take 3 shots of the same scene:

1. one 2 shutter-speed clicks below the proper exposure
2. one at the 'correct' exposure
3. and one 2 clicks above the proper exposure

...and we'll see what happens :)

Labels: HDR, processing

Planning on camping, hiking, and renting a boat or something.
In MD here, we have a online reservation system
Options:

1. GREEN RIDGE STATE FOREST(1h 59m)
   I've wanted to go here for a while, because they have an off-roading trail (to test out my XTerra). You can get a muddy off-roading through the wilderness, then park along the river, pitch a tent (ha) and chillax. Sounds nice.
   
   
   
   
2. GREENBRIER STATE PARK(1h 14m)
   Camping, boat launch, boat rental, camp store, flat water canoeing, hiking trails, picnic area, playground, swimming May-September (lifeguards Memorial Day to Labor Day), mountain biking and hunting.
   
   
   
   
3. DEEP CREEK LAKE STATE PARK(3h 1m)
   Maryland's largest man-made lake. Access is available for fishing, swimming, and boat launching.
   
   
   
   


4. SWALLOW FALLS STATE PARK(3h 11m)
   
   
   

Labels: nature, photography_trip

Well, to hold all the photos that I will be putting up and talking about, I've created a Flickr account. Here's the address:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rebelbodhi/

I've recently gotten all my 35mm photos developed from my trip to Europe last year, and I have begun processing them in Photoshop using some of the new tricks I've learned (see my first entry).

The picture to the right is of a female marble statue in the Louvre, Paris.

Labels: europe, processing

OK, this is the start of my NEW photo blog!

To kick things off, I've exchanged a couple messages with a great photographer who runs a little photo blog of his own that I have admired in the past.

I asked about this picture... I wanted to know how he achieved this effect where the edges fade to black. Turns out is was digital manipulation:

I usually refer to the effect as "vignetting." It's a digital manipulation. I select the edges of the photo, feather the selection, adjust the levels downward slightly, then apply a gaussian blur. I agree that it can, in the right circumstances, create a striking effect.

Sweet. Learning little-by-little.

I'm also fascinated by night and low-light photography--capturing dramatic shadows and uncommon perspectives. Long exposures are also really interesting, like this one.





35mm
Is what I've got, and I'm too poor to go digital with the SLR for now. I had thought that you needed digital to get great night shots--when I've provided CVS or whatever with low-light negatives all I've gotten in return is grainy, grey ugliness. But, according to my new friend this is not so.
I've been learning that the lens is very important (no shit, right.) not only for zoom and perspective, but for depth-of-field and the ability to shoot in low-light.

rebelbodhi, low-tech is my modus operandi. My workhorse camera is an all-manual, bottom-of-the-line Nikon film camera (FM10). The 24mm f/2.8 Canon would be an ideal lens for night photos of sweeping panoramas, although I've used everything from a 210mm f/5.6 on down to good effect.

The film for this graveyard photo was processed and scanned at a Walgreen's in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. I did the digital enhancements after I arrived back home in suburban Chicago. I prefer Kodak processing/scanning, so any outlet that offers it usually gets my business (Target stores usually offer Kodak). I admit that most of my shooting is for this blog and my Flickr gallery, so graininess hasn't been much of an issue. If someone requests an image for publication or photo enlargement, I'll have the negative rescanned at a higher resolution.

I shoot mainly 100 ISO (Fujicolor Reala is my film of choice). I also shoot a lot of 400 ISO. I've found that both work well for night shots, depending on the effect I'm after.

Well, considering the photo here is one of his, I'll trust him.

He also has a blog where he provides tips, like this one on shooting in moonlight.
I think this will be my first project: to get a moonlit photo with my new lens.
Look at the second example photo he has here, amazing isn't it??

So, let's get started!

• I'm currently bidding on a Canon 24mm f/2.8 lens, hopefully I'll win!!
  This will let me shoot dramatic perspectives and angles, as well as capture in low light.
  
• I'll pick up some faster/better film, like james recommends.
• And then I'll take a little excursion (with my beautiful girlfriend) this weekend or next to try it all out!
  

And then I'll take it from there... I'll post my best shots online, and maybe..just maybe.. someone might get some enjoyment out of them as I do from others'. Later!

Labels: lenses, night-photography