Fox Run Park & HDR Imaging

[GrayT]

First off, I just wanted to show everyone what HDR (High Dynamic Range) imaging can really do for your photographs.

The area I was shooting in was broad daylight, and a lot of shadows were being cast where I wanted to shoot. I just bought the Sigma 10-20mm lense and don't have a poloraizer just yet, so I'm making due with other options. I remember reading about HDR through this tutorial (http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/high-dynamic-range.htm) and thought I would give it a try finally.

Here is what was considered exposed through my camera's light meter, and here is what HDR did afterwords...

Before:
http://grayt.net/PHOTO/HDR/HDR1.jpg

After:
http://grayt.net/PHOTO/HDR/HDR2.jpg

I took 3 shots of this (on a tripod, this is key!) and then blended through HDR. I took an underexposed, exposed, overexposed. The underexposed and overexposed were by 2 stops for reference. I still need to learn to blend highlights with lowlights better... but I like how it came out overall for my first time. :thumbsup:

---

And here are the Fox Run Park shots...

1:
http://grayt.net/PHOTO/G/Illuminance.jpg

2:
http://grayt.net/PHOTO/G/FountainOfYouth.jpg

3:
http://grayt.net/PHOTO/G/Serenity.jpg

C&C welcome! :cool:

[Luv_Jeeps]

Did you use CS2 or Photomatix to do the HDR merge?

What I like:

Good colors in the merged image.
Good DOF in the merged image.

A couple of things I saw.... ;-)

Whatever the weird stuff is in the upper right of the image. :D
A bigger concern though is that I see 2 dust spots on your sensor.
The first one is almost at the top of the image, almost right in the middle.
The second one is more towards the left.....
both of them are in the sky.

Have you ever cleaned your sensor on your own?
You're shooting Canon, right?
I might be able to help, if you haven't done it before.

[GrayT]

I inherited the 2 dust spots about 3 days ago. Probably around the time that I changed the lense over to the 10-20mm. I've tried lightly blowing on the sensor but for fear of some saliva coming out, I didn't blow hard enough to remove the particles (Ha, I blew my camera)

I am going to get a cleaning kit from Wolf (just the little handheld blowers) to see if that helps the problem.

I do have a Canon. How have you cleaned them before? I would appreciate any help.

Thanks for the comments on the picture. I used CS2 to edit them. :D

EDIT: That crap in the upper right hand corner was a tree branch. Haha. As you can see in the final picture, I edited the dust particles and tree branch out. Looks quite a bit better.

[Luv_Jeeps]

Cleaning the sensor is an interesting experience.
While it can be done by us mere mortals, care does need to be taken.
I have done it on my Nikon D70 cameras, but have yet to do it on my D200.
Here's a good link to check out.
http://www.bythom.com/cleaning.htm
I use the Sensor Swab stuff, which you can find here:
http://www.photosol.com

I know that Wolf will do it too, but I think they send their stuff out somewhere else. Mike's in Boulder does them, and I believe that they do them in house. I asked about my D70, and I think they said something like 69 bucks and a couple of days.
I am in a different boat than some folks as I have 2 bodies, so being without one for a couple of days is not a big deal. :D
I couldn't stand to be without a camera for even a day.
Hope this helps. :beer:




I inherited the 2 dust spots about 3 days ago. Probably around the time that I changed the lense over to the 10-20mm. I've tried lightly blowing on the sensor but for fear of some saliva coming out, I didn't blow hard enough to remove the particles (Ha, I blew my camera)

I am going to get a cleaning kit from Wolf (just the little handheld blowers) to see if that helps the problem.

I do have a Canon. How have you cleaned them before? I would appreciate any help.

Thanks for the comments on the picture. I used CS2 to edit them. :D

EDIT: That crap in the upper right hand corner was a tree branch. Haha. As you can see in the final picture, I edited the dust particles and tree branch out. Looks quite a bit better.

[thenimirra]

Hey Gray, paging shutterbug Gray!

Does this process have anything to do with "bracketing" your shots? I just learned about this process in a class this weekend. I can basically set my camera to take three shots (one under, one over and then one correct exposure).

[ColoradoSkier]

My brother has been toying with Photomatix. I haven't spoken to him for a few years now, but he has some nice toys, so I check out what he is doing every now and then.

http://static.flickr.com/1093/581780894_b682e35e19.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/snwbeast/581780894/)

[Luv_Jeeps]

Hey Gray, paging shutterbug Gray!

Does this process have anything to do with "bracketing" your shots? I just learned about this process in a class this weekend. I can basically set my camera to take three shots (one under, one over and then one correct exposure).

Yep.....On my Nikon, I can set it to automatically braket the shots, up to 9 and tell the camera how much over/under on each shot.
It's a lot of fun to play with.

[thenimirra]

do you find this process to be useful? if so, for what?

[Luv_Jeeps]

do you find this process to be useful? if so, for what?

It can be, but others would just call it 'cheating' or something to that effect.
Some people use it to shoot in really tough lighting conditions, where they will take 3 shots and either pick the best one, or use all 3 (HDR Image) or layer them and get rid of the under/over exposed parts.

[lilgreenjeepyj]

Nice, but where the Psychedelic HDR shots??? You know the fake looking ones? :)

[thenimirra]

It can be, but others would just call it 'cheating' or something to that effect.
Some people use it to shoot in really tough lighting conditions, where they will take 3 shots and either pick the best one, or use all 3 (HDR Image) or layer them and get rid of the under/over exposed parts.



when I first got started in photography, I kinda thought Photoshop and all of its capabilities were "cheating" too.


But I think I'm slowly coming around to just how incredible Photoshop is.

[ColoradoSkier]

Another Photomatix pic from my brother:

http://static.flickr.com/1140/628672829_1f76651578.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/snwbeast/628672829/)