Shooting into the Sun

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The sun would pop out then back behind a monsoon cloud. The others had gone to the cookie cabin for a peanut butter cookie. I stayed behind in the Tracker cooling off a bit from the hike we had just finished. The sun popped out like a spot light on this single yellow sunflower.

Before I could even get out of the car there was a lady out of her SUV with a camera in her hand shooting this same flower. Her vantage was the same as most, standing up looking down. When she finished I got out and went for the low road, shooting almost directly into the sun. I know she was thinking “Amateur”. Nobody shots into the sun.

I can’t blame her, I would have said the same thing if it had been me.  But I knew what I could do with this image.  And I could pick the flower or move the sun.  Therefore it was up to me to decide what the shot would look like when I put my hand to it not when I took it.

Get it right in the Camera

I’m a big believer in Scott Kelby’s “Get it right in the camera”.  Do as little in post as possible.  But as I stated above I couldn’t move the sun or the flower so I got the focus right and the subject right now I had to “fix” the light.

You can see the three images to the right.  Here is the progression.

1. As taken into the sun
2. Post process to HDR
3. Post process HDR  (remove distractions, darken background, increase contrast in background, increase saturation in background)

Quick Tip: When shooting outside in sunlight always snap on the sunlight hood.  It takes a few extra seconds and means you need to keep it in your bag, but it is worth the time and effort.

The final image is the mind’s eye result.  What do you think of the results?

Tags: HDR Processing, shooting into the sun

Transforming an Ugly Duckling

As Shot

I haven’t written much about HDR yet. I honestly have preferred to leave the HDR to the Lab and encourage everyone to be taking better pictures.

I’ve also emphasized shooting in RAW mode always. Since I started shooting RAW over 2 years ago, everything I shoot with the DSLR’s is RAW.

I also have deleted very few images since. Yes, there are a lot of them that are too dark, but I haven’t been able to bring myself to delete them. Instead I put them in cryogenic sleep till there is technology in the future that might take these images and turn them into masterpieces.

To the right you can see an example of transforming an ugly duckling.

Masterpieces ?

After HDR Processing

LOL, yes I exaggerate. But not as much as you might think. I’ve been going back over the thousands of images I have stored and have begun processing many of them using HDR.

As my technique improves and I find new ways of rendering images I sometimes go back and reprocess images I thought even HDR couldn’t salvage only to find with new settings they not only were salvaged but turned out to be remarkable.

HDRogenics

Yes, I do believe that is a new term.  I did make that up.  But even so there are some images you shouldn’t save.  Even though I have thousands of images in storage I delete the ones that are out of focus or blurred because I moved the camera.  Unless you have some artistic reason for keeping a hopelessly blurred image, delete them.  I often do in the camera before I ever download them to the computer.  Sometimes I can’t tell on the camera screen.  But when I view them, and they are blurred, I delete them.  I recommend you do the same.

But if it isn’t out of focus or blurry, (that’s in focus but moved, there’s a difference?) you might want to put those images in cryogenic storage for a shot at them in the future.

Tags: HDR Processing, Shooting RAW

HDR Images Don’t Have to Look Fake

HDR Processing Doesn't have to look "Fake"

Are you ready for this one. I’ve never been a fan of HDR. That’s right. Here I am running an HDR photo processing site and I’ve never been impressed with HDR rendered images. Why am I running an HDR lab? Because HDR doesn’t have to look “Fake”. HDR software is, well, software. It can be used to create surreal images, over saturated images, artsy images, gritty images, David Hall looking images, watercolor images, oil painting images, you get the idea.

But it can also be used to create great photographic images as well. Most producing HDR imagery aren’t after a photographic representation. They want the Gritty, the Over Saturated looks they can achieve using HDR processing. The same results can be achieved with Photoshop, but using HDR software it can be achieved very simply.

HDR Processing For Real Estate

In most of the examples I’m trying to show the extremes of what can be done using HDR.  If the camera is getting the exposure right there won’t be a huge swing In  Before and After.  Here are some of the things that will be enhanced.

1. Shadow detail will be brought out.
2. Colors will be richer but not over saturated
3. Reflections will have details in them
4. Same true for window reflections
5. In most cases the windows won’t be blown out (it depends on the number of exposures and if the detail outdoors is lost in the image)
6. Clouds and small details will be enhanced (limbs, leaves, doorways,small objects hidden in shadows, etc.)

HDR processing for MLS photos.

MLS images aren’t to supposed to be “artsy”  they are intended to represent what the outside, inside and amenities of the home look like.  The views from the home and from the rooms in the home.  This is where HDR processing really shines for listing photos.

I’ll say this a lot and often.  The best images for Real Estate are RAW.  Amazing details can be extracted from a RAW file.  Much more so than from a JPG which has already had a lot of data removed from the file, then compressed before saved.

Calling Athol Kay

This post was inspired by a comment left by Athol Kay about not liking HDR.  If I want Athol to see something I’ve written all I have to do is put his name in a post and it is like shining the light in the sky to call Batman.  With his Google Alerts set up he gets these light in the sky requests on a regular basis.  As he said with the name Dave Smith, it won’t work.  It reminds me of a line from “The Land of Point”  that goes like this “A point in every direction is the same as no point at all”.

I’m going to create a Gallery  HDR Photorealistic.  Where you can ask “Is it live or is it memorex”.  Is the photo above HDR?  There are three HDR Galleries already which are a combination of Artsy, Gritty, and Photorealism.  HDR Images Don’t have to look “Fake”.

Tags: HDR Images, HDR Processing