Photo of the Day - Summer Stroll

HDR and Moving Elements...

As many of us know, cameras today (at least as of this post) can only capture so much dynamic range per exposure and we use various HDR techniques to get around this limitation to get as close as possible to what the human eye actually sees.  HDR is meant for static scenes since the merge process relies heavily on the alignment of multiple exposures at the pixel level to give us the added dynamic range we want.

To that end, what happens when we get movement in between the exposure frames when we merge our files for HDR?  We get what is known as "ghosting" in our HDR output and this issue can be eliminated in many different ways.  Current HDR software out today such as Photomatix and HDR Efex Pro have "de-ghosting" tools that you can use to eliminate the ghosting in your HDR in the event that there is movement in between your frames.  Another approach is to simply grab a frame from your bracketed set and in Photoshop,  "mask out" any movement.

In the photo you see here, I decided to experiment a little bit and shoot my (7) bracket set from -3 to +3 since their was an incredible amount of dynamic range in the scene and wanted to ensure that I grabbed the detail from the shadows while preserving the highlights.  After I had taken my bracketed set, I sat and waited for people to walk by and when people walked by, I took multiple shots with a shutter speed fast enough to freeze the movement.  This was not a busy sidewalk by any means so it took me a bit before I had enough "walking shots".

When I came home and processed my HDR, I simply grabbed the frames that had people in them and just masked them into my HDR.  It was a really simple process which in turn, made for an interesting photo.

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I took quite a bit of photos after my bracketed set and masked in the people exactly were I wanted them. Quick Tip - Since I was shooting into the sun and wanted the people somewhat properly exposed, I dialed my exposure compensation to +1.5. Had I not done that, the people would have been underexposed

(7) bracket HDR 14mm@f/6.3 ISO 100

Photo of the Day - Sunset on the Bridge

Just after the storm passed by...

If you are shooting into the sun and want to get a similar photo such as this, HDR is pretty much the way to go if you want to ensure that you capture the entire dynamic range of a scene.  Given the amount of contrast in this particular case, one exposure would not have been enough as I would have had to either expose for the highlights while crushing the shadows or expose for the shadows and blowout my highlights.

I will admit that my HDR workflow is a bit convoluted and tedious but at the end of the day, I enjoy creating something that shows what I was able to see and feel in the photograph.  In this HDR, I used a total of (3) HDR programs to create the photo you see here which to most, can be considered a bit overboard.  My HDR workflow in a nutshell is to run my brackets through various HDR programs and the outputs are brought into photoshop where I mask each part of the photo I like from each output to get the final result.  Now if I remember correctly, I used HDR Efex Pro for the sky since I really loved how the algorithm brought the blues and oranges in the clouds.  I then used the 16 bit tonemapper in Photomatix to bring out the texture/detail in wood on the bridge and for everything else, I used the 32bit Photomatix plugin for Lightroom since I find that the greens with other HDR software can be a bit too "electric" for my tastes.  

I think I will make a video tutorial using this HDR at some point so I can better explain my HDR workflow.  Stay tuned....

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I had set out to capture this bridge in hopes of catching the sun peek through the clouds and luckily I was able to catch it within the 5 minutes it was out. This was one of those instances where I was at the right spot at the right time and to me, I think it really paid off.

(5) bracket HDR at 16mm@f/8 ISO 100

Photo of the Day - Sunset on the Cherry Creek Trail

Didn't even get to see the sun today...

It's been raining here in Parker for the last two days now and its expected to clear up by Friday afternoon which is a good thing since It will at least give me the opportunity to possibly catch a sunset shot before my wife heads out on her weekend trip.  As much as I love the warmth that late spring and summer provide, this cold and wet weather has brought fall, at least to me, a reality.  Since it's pretty dreary outside, I think a warm feeling photo is in order

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Cherry Creek trail is a trail that I frequently walk to get a bit of fresh air and to take photos.  I always find something interesting to photograph here and in this particular case, the setting sun along with the warm tones really lends itself to another peaceful evening on the trail.

(7) bracket HDR f/8@16mm ISO 100