Friday, October 15, 2010

Photography

I have really enjoyed experimenting with a new photography technique called HDR Photography or High Dynamic Range Photography. I really like the way Trey Ratcliff of www.stuckincustoms.com describes what HDR is. He basically says that we have all been an amazing place - take a picture - and then when we show someone we say something like - You really had to be there - or the picture doesn't really show it. That is because our eyes are so much more advanced than any camera. But we can cheat with cameras - that is where HDR comes in. What HDR does is take several pictures of a scene and combine them into one photo - so the really light spots are not washed out and the really dark spots still have detail - the same way your eye could see the scene. Anyway, here are a few examples I have taken over the past couple of months.

For the full effect feel free to click on the photo and go to the larger size on flickr


Ceasar's Palace
Venetian Grand Entrance


Ranch HDR
The cliffs out the front door of my grandpa's ranch


Ranch Flag
Same as the last picture but with a little patriotism added in!


Scum pond
Scum Pond - we hiked up a mountain to get here - so I took some pictures of it and everyone made fun of me. I think it turned out really cool though


Rainbow Bridge
The famous Rainbow Bridge at Lake Powell - bellow you can see the original (or one of the three that I used to combine above) The original is edited as I would have edited in the past. So hopefully you can see the difference and why I am excited about this new technique.

IMG_6332

8 comments:

The Harris Family said...

WOW!! That is so cool! Does it make that much of a difference on pictures with people in them? Seriously so cool.

Unknown said...

Really digging the Caesar's palace photo. Very nice.

Steven Foote said...

Do I recognize the guy in cargo shorts taking a picture of the ceiling in the Caesar's Palace photo? I like how shiny it makes everything in that picture.

Is it possible to do HDR with a point-and-shoot (perhaps with a tripod)?

lacie tidwell said...

that looks awesome!!! Love the pics!! and scum pond turned out amazingly!! nice work!!

Brian said...

Curious what process you're using, and especially what your stop range is. Almost looks too processed - maybe try just +/- a single stop? There's a photography site I like that has some great examples, and user advice and tips in the forums - dpchallenge.com.

Steven - yes it's possible, if you can adjust the shutter settings at all. Doesn't have to be an SLR.

Tyler said...

Couple of answers - You can do HDR with people but it is really hard because if they move at all it won't work - some cameras let you take a RAW image - this allows you to do a psudo HDR effect. I don't have any examples right now but there are a few on www.stuckincustoms.com

Steven - No idea who the guy in the shorts is - I just thought he was interesting and he was nice enough to not move for 45 seconds! There were probably 45 other people in this hallway at the same time.

It is possible with a point and shoot - I can show you sometime in person - The easiest way to do it is in bracketing mode - if your camera has it. If not when you shoot the three images you want to make sure you are only changing shutter speed and not aperture - if possible. You NEED a tripod. I have tried to do a few handheld HDRs and it is possible - but really really hard to get them to turn out decent.

Brian - these are some of the more processed images I have. I use Photomatix and Topaz Adjust on most of my images. I always shoot +2 and -2 because it allows more flexibility - the "processed" look comes from the process - not the source files - so I could go for a much more natural less dramatic look with the same images or I could go for an even more psychedelic look with +1 and -1 if choose too (if +1 and -1 were enough to get a good sampling of light - which in most cases it would be close)

Kristin Chesnik said...

Wow--very impressive! The Venetian should hire you!

my name is becky kelly said...

that is totally cool!
i'm glad you included that last one without the effect. lets me see the difference
i likey